The Secretary-General of Thailand’s royalist Chaipattana Foundation, Sumet Tantiwechakul, has an obvious interest in the promotion of the sufficiency economy agenda. Recently, Thaisnews paraphrased Sumet’s advice to Thai entrepreneurs:
Dr.Sumet said they should stick to His Majesty the King’s initiatives on economy, especially the Sufficiency Economy theory. The theory will help them lay sufficient investment plans based on insights into the country’s geography and local people’s way of life. The secretary-general reminded Thais to aim at creating happiness in line with HM the King’s initiatives.
Sumet is also active in campaigning against alcohol consumption, as part of his wider efforts to encourage more “sufficient” lifestyles.
In our ongoing quest to better understand the direction of arguments about Thailand’s political-economy, New Mandala should also point readers towards the stockpile of related writings available at www.sufficiencyeconomy.org/ . It includes a small batch of English language articles that explain the ”theory” for an international audience.
Any New Mandala readers who are serious about understanding the future of Thai economic and social policy under Royal direction could do worse than spend an hour trawling through that site’s offerings. For Thai-readers, the Frequently Asked Questions section is particularly instructive.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Jon Fernquest // Jan 22, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Thank you for this link. The paper by Peter Calkins was interesting to read. Another fruitful line of comparison is Meng Tzu or Mencius, the Chinese philosopher. I’ve noticed many similarities when reading Meng Tzu, for instance the stress on **particular farming practices to build strength against external economic shocks***:
“If mulberry trees are planted around homesteads of an acre, then people fifty years old can be clothed in silk. If, in the raising of fowl, pigs, dogs and swine, their breeding times are not missed, then people seventy years old can eat meat. If you do not upset the farming schedule in a farm of twenty acres, then a large clan will never be hungry. Pay careful attention to education, basing it on the Rightness of filial piety and respect for elders, and the gray-haired people will not be in the streets carrying heavy burdens on their backs. There has never been a case where the people of seventy were eating meat and the black-haired people were free from cold and hunger, where the king was not well regarded.”
http://www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/contao/mencius.html
“…Mencius regarded the transformative power of a cultivated person as the ideal basis for government. In addition, he spelled out more explicitly the idea that order in society depends on proper attitudes within the family, which in turn depends on cultivating oneself. Also, he made explicit the point that gaining the heart/mind of the people is the basis for legitimate government, as it is the response of the people that reveals who has the authority from tian to take up the position of king. Only the ruler who practices ren [benevolent] government can draw the allegiance of the people, and such a ruler will become invincible, not in the sense of superior military strength, but in the sense of being without opposition. A ren ruler enjoys the allegiance of the people and is unlikely to confront any hostilities…”
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mencius/#4
2 Srithanonchai // Jan 23, 2007 at 12:24 am
Sumet simply is one of the most annoying proponents of royalist propaganda around. And with his actions, he hides behind the impossibility of critically taking him to task. Thailand can never be a democracy until such pockets of unaccountability are gone (but there are many other things that also need to go, such as military coups, megalomaniacs such as Thaksin, irresponsible newspapers such as The Nation, corrupt bureaucrats, narrow-minded activists, the political exclusion of the majority, etc.).
3 wave // Feb 3, 2007 at 12:14 am
เรารักในหลวง
4 Srithanonchai // Feb 4, 2007 at 12:27 am
รักในหลวงไม่ใช่หมายความาว่า จำเป็นต้องปิดสมองนะจะwave
5 anonymous // Feb 4, 2007 at 12:13 pm
เรารักในหลวง มากกว่าแก!
6 Srithanonchai // Feb 4, 2007 at 2:33 pm
ความเป็นพลเมืองที่ดีหมายความว่า ต้องคิดด้วยตนเอง ไม่ใช่เชื่อทุกอย่างซึ่งเจ้านายกำหนดไว้ ไม่อย่างนั้นจะมีระบบประชาธิปไตยในไทยไม่ได้หรอก
7 Sine // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:09 pm
i love my King
8 Teth // Feb 4, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I love the King more than you! You unloyal S.O.B who shouldn’t call him/herself a Thai!
May the King live a million years! Long live the King!!!!!!111111one
9 Srithanonchai // Feb 6, 2008 at 5:06 pm
The Bangkok Post of February 6 has an article on the sufficiency economy, or rather on the reality that contradicts this idea. The case is handicraft production in the North.
FOCUS / LOCAL HANDICRAFTS AND THE SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY
A revolution in the handicrafts industry
If there is any business that can fully utilise His Majesty the King’s sufficiency theory, handicrafts would be one. More importantly, the King’s sufficiency theory is not equated with self-sufficiency but with self-reliance. Sufficiency is taken to mean moderation: ”not too little” and ”not too much.” On the face of it, the handicrafts industry would seem to tick many of the boxes of the sufficiency economy _ at least in the popular imagination. It is spatially rooted in rural villages. It draws on traditional skills that link with Thailand’s craft traditions. Raw materials are locally sourced. The units of production are generally small and based on the household. There is a high degree of local ownership and control. And patterns of employment seem to be flexible, permitting inter-locking livelihoods to emerge that productively link farm and non-farm activities.
Full text at
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/06Feb2008_news15.php
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