“Thaksin Shinawatra can be proud of himself. Even though he is out there, he is still doing Thailand favours that he himself might not be able to imagine. My maid is now very keen to learn more about His Majesty the King’s sufficiency theory because she feels the prime minister in exile may have attacked it…
…Many still don’t thoroughly understand the sufficiency economy theory and Sumet Tantivejkul, an expert in the theory, is fully booked on the lecture circuit until March. Things could have been worse for him if Thaksin did not touch upon the issue through foreign media. The aftermath of Thaksin’s interviews has turned into a very positive trend – the public’s awareness is peaking and more experts have risen from the shadows to relieve the burden on Sumet. From the newsroom to my house (my maid was furious the other day, believing Thaksin is against the idea) everybody is very keen on studying and practising this theory.”
Excerpted from: Veena Thoopkrajae, “Why we are grateful to Thaksin (again)“, The Nation, 3 February 2007. The full article outlines a number of reasons why people should be thankful to Thaksin. It includes discussion of the Football Association of Thailand, Sumet Tantivejkul, academics and news media.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Pig Latin // Feb 5, 2007 at 10:12 pm
pro sufficiency economy and a maid? maybe Veena had two beforehand…
2 Vichai N // Feb 5, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Nicholas Farrelly and Andrew Walker are breaking new grounds, in my opinion, by translating in English the opinions of maids, cooks and village mothers of Thailand. And I do not refute Andrew Walker that these hard-working Thai helps and rurals have opinions . . I’ll be alarmed if they don’t.
Would Nicholas and Andrew REALLY wish to hear my maid’s opinion about offshore vehicles and her ethical discourse on nominees and tax finagling by the rich? She has opinions plenty, most learned listening to radio broadcasts from Sonthi L’s and reading Thai newspapers and gossips from neighbors.
I am just disappointed with you Andrew Walker, as usual.
3 Vichai N // Feb 7, 2007 at 12:07 am
There is a nice teaser question at Nation News: “What would you like to ask Thaksin” and readers are invited to pitch in:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/02/06/headlines/headlines_30026115.php
My question was: “Mr. Thaksin admitting now in hindsight that unboundless greed was indeed your honest mistake, would you then also admit to the virtue of ‘Sufficiency Ethics’ as learned by personal experience?”
What would be yours?
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