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Thailand: Culture

1. Thai habits The Thai are a proud nation of people with a long history and well-established, complex hierarchical structure of status. Starting with the Thai royal family and percolating down, everyone in Thailand knows and respects their place in society. A polite Thai (which is most of them) will usually immediately identify whether another is of higher status than them (usually deemed by age or wealth) and initiate the 'wai' - a submissive and graceful bringing together of the hands to the chest or beneath the nose (to show ultimate respect). Even on a social level they will refer to their elders as 'pii' (older sibling). In fact social grace is paramount and the formal suffix 'kha' (female) and 'khrup' (male) is added to the end of all sentences when addressing strangers, employers/employees or elders.
There are many other habits of etiquette which the foreigner will do well to observe, the most important being to avoid loss of face by losing your temper. The feet are considered dirty and should not be pointed directly at people or raised; shoes are usually never worn in indoor living areas and the head is sanctified, so avoid touching someone else on the head, unless they are an intimate friend. Contrary to popular impression, Thais are quite conservative and expect visitors to dress appropriately in formal public places. They are also discreet about showing affection, especially in public. Holding hands is considered taboo among the older generation. While Westerners tend to pick up the subtle tone of voice to indicate someone's mood, Thais read more into one's body language and general approach. Emphasis is usually placed on passiveness and although they are used to foreigners being abrupt, it pays to smile constantly and go gently. Eye contact is a common and important method of placing strangers at ease and there is good reason why Thailand is known as 'the land of smiles'. The Thai are incredibly patient and forgiving in an imperfect society and are happy to accept things as they are. The best you can do as a foreigner is to offer a soft laugh in testing situations, and say 'mai pen rai' (never mind) - a frequently used excuse. For most Thai people, even in the modern era, acting appropriately to maintain or improve your status is extremely important and this goes some way towards explaining their desire for material gain and wealth. Above all, they adore their King and greatly respect the Royal family; indeed his Highness King Bhumibol (Rama IX) of the current Chakri dynasty (and the world's longest reigning monarch still alive) is hugely respected for his compassionate servitude to the entire nation, along with Queen Sirikit.Thai cultural behavior is far reaching and subtle, and often creates some frustration for foreigners who are unaware of the cultural habits that may influence everyday business and service. For an in-depth, albeit slightly dated, insight we recommend Robert and Nanthapa Cooper's Culture Shock: Thailand (Times ISBN:981 204 157 5).
	2. Thailand: Cultural Issues 2.1 Cultural Identity and Development Process in Thailand The conflict between cultural identity and development in the Thai society does not seem to be a big problem. It can be said in general that there is no ethnic minority in Thailand. There are a considerable number of Chinese in Thailand but most, if not all of them, have been culturalized into the mainstream. The member minority group in Thailand is Thai Muslim, most of whom live in the South. There is very little conflict between Thai Buddhists and Thai Muslims. Our country, it can be said, is quite homogeneous, and consequently cultural identity does not pose a big problem. The pillars of Thai cultural identity are the institution of monarchy and the religion of Buddhism. The institution of monarchy has been in Thai society for more than 700 years, without any interruption. The king has been much respected, loved, and revered. In the time of crisis he is the one who would come down to solve the problem. The king is indeed the symbol of Thai identity. As for Buddhism we have accepted it as a way of life for almost 800 years. It is a force that culturally binds the hearts and the thoughts of the Thai people together. Some of us even equate Thai-nees with Buddhism. Buddhism is one of the most open-minded religions. According to the teaching in the Kalamasutta, a Buddhist does not accept anything merely because it is logical, said in the scripture or even taught by his teacher. Think for yourself and then try it in practice. If it is good then accept it. By its principle of no-self (anatta), it teaches us not to have a strong attachment to things. Everything is changing. There is no Being — only Becoming. Do not believe in permanence or identity. This may be the reason why Thais are quite flexible and pragmatic.
We Thais are not so conscious about self-identity. Perhaps this is because we are so pragmatic or because we are so certain about our identity. We never despise foreign culture or civilization. In the older time we accepted Indian culture, such as religion, literature, language and so on. But we modify them a little and make them our own. We adapt ourselves to them and we adopt them to ourselves. In the modern time we have introduced Western culture into our society. We believe that science, technology and other things from the West can help develop our nation. The majority of the Thai people do not have a negative attitude towards Westernization. Of course some, mostly intellectuals, do. Their criticism, it seems to me, does not receive much attention. The majority want to follow the West in the technological process and the capitalistic way of development. To many there is little or no conflict between development in such a way and cultural identity. The problem is not the conflict between identity and development. Of course there are some who complain about this. But for the majority the problem is two-fold. Firstly the material progress is advancing so fast that it creates social problems like morality, selfishness, drug addiction and so on. Secondly, many complain that the economic development of this kind makes richer the rich and poorer the poor. What they call for is not the coming back to self-identity, but solving these two problems.According to Buddhism, wealth in itself is not something to be despised. A man who gets rich in a morally acceptable way and is generous can be a good Buddhist. The ultimate aim of life is to live well. To live well means to have a balance between material well-being and peace of mind. But culture is not an end in itself. It is a means. Culture and everything else change all the time. This must be accepted. We have to admit, however, that culture is rooted in the heart of man and, therefore, plays a role in making life richer. When there rises a conflict between culture and development we should take the middle way. Cultural identity is a good thing, and material well-being is also a good thing. To a certain extent we have to sacrifice the one for the other. But we should not sacrifice all of the one for the other. We must not be too romantic to think that we can keep our culture unchanged. We must not be too serious to think that material progress is the only good thing for life.

2.2 Insurgency

In south Thailand, separatist religious groups demanding independence for the region has been active for decades. But they has seen much more violent since 2004. Since then , there were some incidents that provoked attention from the international community such as Krue Sae Mosque Incident and Tak Bai Incident.

There are numerous speculation of the organization of these separatist groups. Some military reports stated that they are linked with Al-Qaeda and Jamaah Islamiyah. Some says these separatists are trained in Al-Qaeda centers in Pakistan. People also say they have links with other separatist organization in the region such as Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines and Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia. Nevertheless, what does these Thailand separatist groups really involve with remains unknown.

2.3 Government Reaction

Thaksin government took a harsh stand in this matter. Thaksin granted extra increase in executive powers for the army to fight the insurgencies. After Thaksin was out of post, the subsequent government became soft on this and tend to reconcile rather than resolve by violence. But this could be that the new governments after Thaksin are fragile and they didn't want to bother too much with that.