Thirayuthism | 17.03.05
This is the first of a series inspired by Slate’s Bushism and Kerryism.
First, a backgrounder for the uninitiated. Thirayuth Boonmi is Thailand’s foremost “academic”. That doesn’t mean he conducts painstaking researches or writes peer-reviewed papers. Instead, it means that he makes headlines whenever he criticizes the government, which he does all the time, regardless of which government it is. Readers of the Bangkok Post and The Nation should be familiar with stories (often lead stories) that dutifully and single-mindedly quote and paraphrase him and offer nothing else. What you may not know, however, is that such servile transcription of Thirayuth Boonmi is a ritual as well for the Thai News Agency — the most state-owned of the state-owned media — and relatively pro-(this)-government dailies such as Matichon. In brief, Khun Thirayuth enjoys virtually universal deference, and often genuine respect, from Thailand’s journalistic class.
As they say, birdbrains of a feather flock together.
Like Bushism and Kerryism, Thirayuthism isn’t an ideology. I’ve said it before (on my old blog) and will say it again: Just as a color-blind person cannot have a favorite color, Thirayuth cannot have an ideology. This is after all someone who thinks that the Soviet Union is part of the West and believes that realism is the doctrine behind the Iraq war.
Rather, and also like Bushism and Kerryism, Thirayuthism is a form of speech disorder. It should’ve been obvious but it isn’t. It’s not obvious to Thais because so many people they read and listen to — journalists and other “academics” in particular — suffer from this selfsame malady as well. It’s not obvious to Thailand-based expats because the Bangkok Post and The Nation sanitize (and sane-itize) Khun Thirayuth’s screeds through cherry-picking, paraphrasing, and creative translation. Besides, many of the their readers like his targeting so much as to be willing to ignore his substance anyway. And it’s not obvious to the wider world because the international media uncritically takes the Thai media’s use of the word “academic” — even “respected academic” — at face value and generalize even further.
This Thirayuthism series aims to give you a taste of what Thirayuth Boonmi is really like by quoting him in context. That should guard against the flaws that plague the Slate series. In addition, the Thai original will always be provided as an insurance against erroneous, misleading or corrupted translation, which, as I’ve learned from reading The Nation and the Bangkok Post, is always a possibility.
Now, without further ado, here’s a sample from Khun Thirayuth’s “research” presented at Thammasat University on February 27. It appears (meaning I don’t know for certain) that he read from this prepared text at the presentation and distributed it to the press afterwards. (A complete copy was published the next day in Matichon.)
1.2 ทรท.และสังคมควรวิพากษ์วิจารณ์ข้อดีข้อเสียของทุกนโยบาย เพราะ ทรท.พัฒนาทุนนิยมแบบโพสต์โมเดิร์นหรือหลังสมัยใหม่ อาจสุดขั้วจนทำทุกอย่างเป็นทุนจนไม่มีข้อจำกัด สฤษดิ์พัฒนาเศรษฐกิจทุนนิยมแบบสมัยใหม่ หลักของเศรษฐกิจโพสต์โมเดิร์นก็คือการมองว่าทุกอย่างไม่มีแก่นแท้ใดๆ ในตัว สิ่งต่างๆ ล้วนมีมูลค่า ถ้าระบบตลาดให้ราคา แม้แต่อำนาจรัฐ อธิปไตยของประเทศ ความเสี่ยงก็มีราคาได้ ทรท.จึงพยายามทำทุกอย่างในประเทศให้มีราคาเอามาเป็นทุน เช่น เอาเครดิตคนจน ประมงชายฝั่ง ที่ตั้งหาบเร่แผงลอย การพนัน หวยใต้ดิน ทรัพยากรรัฐ อำนาจรัฐ กฎหมายรัฐ เช่น ตั้งซุปเปอร์โฮลดิ้งรัฐวิสาหกิจ แนวคิดเช่นนี้ถ้าปล่อยไปสุดขั้ว สักวันในอนาคตก็อาจจะมีคนคิดลามปามถึงกับขั้น “แปลงพระแก้วเป็นทุน” จึงควรอย่างยิ่งที่จะต้องวิพากษ์ข้อดีเสียของทุกๆ นโยบายที่เกี่ยวกับเรื่องนี้
1.2 The TRT [Thai Rak Thai party] and the society should critique the advantages and disadvantages of every policy1, because the TRT develops postmodern or หลังสมัยใหม่ [Thai translation] capitalism. [This] may be so extreme that everything is turned into capital without limits. [Former dictatorial PM] Sarit developed modern capitalistic economy. The principle of post-modern economy is to regard everything as having no substance in itself. Everything has value2 if the market system gives it a price. Even state power, the country’s sovereignty, [and] risk have prices. The TRT therefore tries to make everything in the country have a price so that [it] can be turned into capital; for example, taking poor people’s credit3, coastline fishery, hawkers’ stalls, gambling, underground lottery, state natural resources, state power, state law such as founding super-holding4 state-owned enterprises. If this line of thinking is taken to the extreme, one day in the future there may be people who so much as presume to “turn the Emerald Buddha into capital”. So it is imperative to critique the advantages and disadvantages of every policy related to this issue.
Footnotes
- Thirayuth’s wording faithfully translated, although, of course, it doesn’t make sense. (One critiques a policy by considering its advantages and disadvantages.)
- “Everything has a price” was probably meant in the context, but Khun Thirayuth’s actual word is “value” (“มูลค่า”)
- He uses the English word “credit” (“เครดิต”).
- He uses the English word “super-holding” (“ซุปเปอร์โฮลดิ้ง”) (That a word? —ed)
Eloquent, n’est-ce pas?
There you have it, the first glimpse of Thailand’s premier intellectual, perennial media darling, and, incidentally, arch-critic of the Thaksin government as he is.
More to follow.
Update That presentation by Khun Thirayuth was the Bangkok Post’s lead story (“Thirayuth hits out at PM”) on February 28, 2005.
Update Thirayuthism 1½.
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