Tekstit
The elections in Thailand are approaching and there are many who fear that the situation will again become critical with the battle lines drawn between the ”reds vs yellows vs (blues)”. For those who are not that familiar with the situation in Thailand, these groups are named according to the shirts that they wear. The reds support the ousted ex-premier, Taksin Shinawatra, whose younger sister will become Thailand’s next premier if the reds win the elections. The yellows are behind the present prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and are deemed to be monarchists. The blues are probably, or at least for the time being, not so influential group behind a long time member of parliament and minister Newin Chidchop from North-East or Isan as the Thais call the area. Here are some of my thoughts about the background for the actions and ideas of the Asians and the forthcoming elections. In my opinion these things form the basic of many of the things that happen in East- and South-East Asia and maybe also in the South-Asia but of that I have not so much experience. These things and actions following them can be seen in political life, business life and everyday life.
Those who live in these areas of Asia or those who are in touch with the Asians in their own countries should understand the meaning of “relations.” This is probably of Chinese origin where the phenomenon is called “Guanxi.” Every person belongs to a group and everyone in the group tries to build up new connections to other people they meet in their lives. When one in the group brings in a new member to this group of “insiders”, the whole group accepts him or her as their new “relation.” The social groups of the Asians are much more communal than they are in the West. In the West people have more personal relationships and these are not always friends of one’s “group(s).”
Those who are in one’s own group are the “insiders” and others are seen as “outsiders.” Outsiders can actually be the enemies or competitors of your own group. It is the duty of everyone in their own group to give help and support to other members of the group. It is very difficult for a Westerner to become one of the group members unless he understands and accepts this phenomenon. Whilst you do all you can for your own group, it is not considered inappropriate to lie or cheat the outsiders.
In everyday life in Thailand and in so many other Asian countries this is obvious when people send money home to their relatives who may not be able to find enough for their everyday living or even when children just want to improve the lives of their relatives. You can see this from women married to foreigners sending money home, from so many Asians working in other countries and sending money home to support their families and from people working in the construction sites and other jobs in Bangkok and other big cities sending money to support their children. This helping system is also part of business life where new relations can help you and your group to be more successful in business. Remember, many businesses in Asia are owned by ethnic Chinese and are also family run businesses. Now, why then shouldn’t “relations” be part of the political life as well? In the West we also have our own cronyist system, whether it’s called ”Dear Brother –system” or something else. Is this a good or bad thing? I’m not going to comment on this one here but it is a remarkable part of Asian life.
Naturally, we as Westerners can criticize this system but for me, it shows a lack of understanding the Asian way of seeing how the world works, if one can’t accept it to be part of the people’s behaviour. Naturally the outsiders are angry, annoyed and even jealous of the other groups helping their members but in a similar situation, they would and will do the same. If you can help your own group to achieve it’s targets, you gain a massive amount of face. Harming the other group, however, doesn’t mean you lose face.
Naturally, we as Westerners can criticize this system but for me, it shows a lack of understanding the Asian way of seeing how the world works, if one can’t accept it to be part of the people’s behaviour. Naturally the outsiders are angry, annoyed and even jealous of the other groups helping their members but in a similar situation, they would and will do the same. If you can help your own group to achieve it’s targets, you gain a massive amount of face. Harming the other group, however, doesn’t mean you lose face.
Everyone who has spent a bit longer time in Asia has clearly seen that corruption is part of everyday life. Naturally, as I mentioned before, it’s part of everyday life in the West as well but maybe the rewards are not so much in cash as in other benefits, which are maybe more difficult to be deemed as corruption. In the Asian societies corruption is more acceptable because it may be the only way to gain something, if you don’t happen to belong to a correct insider group. It opens you doors which otherwise will remain closed because ”you are not one of us.”
Going into politics, how does the Western concept of democracy fit into Asian life style? Not well, in my humble opinion. I think the Asians should not be told by West how to be democratic or equal but they must find it by themselves, based on their age old systems. Just think about the Thai society, where can you find equality there? Everyone calls others as “phi, nong, long, nah, puu, yai, look, nuu” etc (these are Thai words describing family connections: elder brother or sister, younger brother or sister, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother, son or daughter and the last one is used by children meaning “I” when addressing elders or by younger females when they talk to relatively older persons than themselves) thus showing their status compared to the one the talk with. It’s either lower (younger) or higher (older) than that of the other. This doesn’t mean that they use these words with their relatives only, it’s an everyday thing, even among friends.
Traditionally most East- and South-East Asian cultures are based on Confucianism which means that if you are below another person, you should obey and respect him/her and if you are above, you must take care of that person. This is the way the society used to work and to a very large extent still does. Naturally modernization and globalization are changing this age old way of thinking and behaving gradually or are they? If a village headman or kamnan (head of group of villages) orders those living in the area to vote for a certain candidate, will the people refuse. In most cases not, because you are part of the group and you should behave according to that. You don’t want to become a pariah. Same thing happens in business. If the boss (who often is the head of the family as well) orders something, it will be that way, there’s no negotiating.
For several years Thailand has politically been in a situation where the different groups, mentioned early in this text, have been in a collision course with each other. Each group of insiders want to get the power and are even willing to use violence to gain their goals. And I’m afraid these elections won’t be able to solve the problem. Also, at the present there is no clear authority in the country who could unite these different groups. How would it be possible to create new kind of politicians, it probably should be a totally new generation, who could forget their own smaller group of insiders and consider the whole country to be their own group? Failure to do so might again lead to a military group which, unfortunately, has often been the solution when the situation gets out of hand. Then again, the soldiers, also are an insider group of their own.
Going into politics, how does the Western concept of democracy fit into Asian life style? Not well, in my humble opinion. I think the Asians should not be told by West how to be democratic or equal but they must find it by themselves, based on their age old systems. Just think about the Thai society, where can you find equality there? Everyone calls others as “phi, nong, long, nah, puu, yai, look, nuu” etc (these are Thai words describing family connections: elder brother or sister, younger brother or sister, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother, son or daughter and the last one is used by children meaning “I” when addressing elders or by younger females when they talk to relatively older persons than themselves) thus showing their status compared to the one the talk with. It’s either lower (younger) or higher (older) than that of the other. This doesn’t mean that they use these words with their relatives only, it’s an everyday thing, even among friends.
Traditionally most East- and South-East Asian cultures are based on Confucianism which means that if you are below another person, you should obey and respect him/her and if you are above, you must take care of that person. This is the way the society used to work and to a very large extent still does. Naturally modernization and globalization are changing this age old way of thinking and behaving gradually or are they? If a village headman or kamnan (head of group of villages) orders those living in the area to vote for a certain candidate, will the people refuse. In most cases not, because you are part of the group and you should behave according to that. You don’t want to become a pariah. Same thing happens in business. If the boss (who often is the head of the family as well) orders something, it will be that way, there’s no negotiating.
For several years Thailand has politically been in a situation where the different groups, mentioned early in this text, have been in a collision course with each other. Each group of insiders want to get the power and are even willing to use violence to gain their goals. And I’m afraid these elections won’t be able to solve the problem. Also, at the present there is no clear authority in the country who could unite these different groups. How would it be possible to create new kind of politicians, it probably should be a totally new generation, who could forget their own smaller group of insiders and consider the whole country to be their own group? Failure to do so might again lead to a military group which, unfortunately, has often been the solution when the situation gets out of hand. Then again, the soldiers, also are an insider group of their own.
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