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siamese
stories
ring in the new
By Roger Norwood
While the Western New Year is
observed and celebrated in Thailand,
of course their real New Year is
Songkran in April. Nevertheless
the tradition of making New Year
resolutions is followed, albeit at a
different time of the year.
The Bangkok Post ran an article
on what their writer, Sumati
Sivasiamphai, thought would be
appropriate resolutions for many
Thais. She goes into great detail on
each but for this piece I will just
present a simple list of them:
1. Stop taking so many damn pictures
2. Stop your d*ckish driving habits
3. Stop with your in-the-box thinking
4. Stop the protesting already
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I’m sure most readers could think of
a few more suggestions but this list
does cover some of the main things
that most foreigners (and quite a
few Thais as well) would appreciate
the Thais to attempt to change.
Number 3 is the one that I believe is
the most important , and probably
the one that most people in authority
would fear the most. The Thai
education system and culture does
tend to churn out citizens who find
it difficult to deal with anything out
of the ordinary
It also leads to an unquestioning
population who will generally accept
what they are told, and is partly why
they will use phrases like ‘sabai
sabai’ and ‘mai pen rai’ (translate
roughly to relaxed and never mind)
and avoid conflict where possible.
And there is the rub - it would
change the nature of Thai people
and the welcoming and relaxed
impression most visitors have of
the country (long term expats will
generally have a slightly different
view on this).
This really is a case of being careful
what you wish for, and of course it is
entirely possible, maybe even likely
that this may happen of its own
accord, and the protests in Bangkok
may be an indication of this already
happening.
So ultimately I’m going to plump
for number 2 as the resolution I
would like the Thais to adopt, and
save some of those lives that are
needlessly lost every year here.
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