We haven’t featured anything on sufficiency economy for a while (at least not since its principle architect was identified by Forbes as the world’s wealthiest royal) so I was very pleased yesterday when a colleague passed me information about a scheme to take sufficiency economy to the world. It’s been organised by the Thai Research Fund, DTAC, Toyota and a couple of development foundations.
As you all know, these are dark economic times and the ray of sufficiency light shining from Thailand may well develop into a beacon that lights the way forward for other nations. A group that the Thai Research Fund refers to as the “12 gurus” is helping to promote sufficiency economy to the world. This apostolic dozen feature some big names on the international academic scene. They have each provided their perspectives on sufficiency economy. Here are some samples:
“Sufficiency Economy comes in when we wonder what kind of objectives we should follow. What should we expect from an economy, expect from technology? If you expect very much high performance, excessive performance, you bound to need a great amount of energy and materials. … “The question is why we should construct cars that are able to run at 200 km. per hour on a free way, when we use cars at the speed of 20 km an hour in the city like Bangkok. I mean that it is ridiculous. So why don’t construct cars that can run only 100 km an hour. Now, that will change the entire technology.”
Sufficiency Economy can also be applied to people in the urban area. Under Sufficiency Economy concept, people should medicate [!!!!] and contemplate about their needs allowing you to live up to the state of unattachments. “Inner happiness is more fulfilling than the happiness of different needs, the way out is offer great enjoyment and this is where I like when the culture and spirituality comes in the Sufficiency Economy concept.”
“Don’t try to concentrate the aggregate pigs [???] like GNP, nor only particularly on the objects of convenience such as income or wealth. You look at human life and say “what is sufficient in some ways” you could even say “necessary” for human life. In that sense, it is also the same question as “what is necessary for it to be a human life? … In fact my view is that democracy is not just about voting, it is also about having an open public discussion so that the public know their way to speak up their mind and it could be heard.
A lot of food for thought here. Enough to make you want to medicate and contemplate your needs!
This is presented as a scheme to take sufficiency economy to the world. But I suspect the real audience is closer to home. International endorsement of sufficiency economy thinking is much valued by its proponents in Thailand and this is a useful way of showing that international critics of the royal scheme have less gravitas than the gurus who can be assembled to praise it.
17 responses so far ↓
1 songtham tawinwang // Oct 28, 2008 at 2:51 pm
For sufficiency economy, how about the royal sister’s funeral and all its trappings. In a way, it can be taken to illustrate sufficiency economy, as the country and the people finance it. So if you can get out of spending on something, it’s sufficiency economy for you.
2 burin buranasin // Oct 28, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I suspect the gurus live the kind of life contrary to sufficiency economy. That’s usually the rule: the people who keep harping on sufficiency economy rarely rarely practice sufficiency. At heart, they would miss all those luxuries. Even while they hold a seminar, it’s got to be at a fancy place.
3 Plan B // Oct 28, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Sufficient economy is a new concept that I have heard only recently. I think it is a good concept. Everybody can decide to consume only what he needs. But the problem is that global economy relies on growth and if we stoped the growth by consuming less what will happen next?
4 jonfernquest // Oct 28, 2008 at 8:57 pm
“What should we expect from an economy, expect from technology?
If you expect very much high performance, excessive performance,
you bound to need a great amount of energy and materials.”
Not me. I walk everywhere.
Only a couple of safety requests as a pedestrian:
1. Not to get run over on sidewalk by motorcycle taxi.
2. Not to get run over by SUV while crossing street while holding the little flag provided as signal for SUV to stop.
3. Not to get hit by drunk driver or wild school girls on their motorcycle running red light.
4. Not to get whacked dead on the head by a public bus driving too close to sidewalk.
5. Not to get scorched and burnt alive accidentally by man drying pig’s head with blow torch on public sidewalk going through Klong Toey market from subway station to apartment at night.
6. Not to get hit by forklift using crowded Soi as convenient loading dock.
7. Not to get bitten by mangy looking but otherwise non-threatening looking Soi dog.
8. Not to fall through covered drain in disrepair and break leg.
9. Not to get pickpocketed again by ladyboy who jumps out, grabs your khai daeng, then wallet, then runs.
That’s all i ask for, please.
Then everything will be sufficient.
Surayud was going to do all this but you guys gave him a hard time.
5 Sidh S. // Oct 28, 2008 at 9:37 pm
As Andrew referred to the Forbes ranking, it’s also worth reading the complementing article, specifically on the CPB, also from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/magazines/global/2008/0901/032.html
The article gave more detail on HMK’s wealth such as of the USD35 billion worth of assets, USD31 – more than 88% – is in real estate holdings which appreciated significantly over the past decades. A quote from Paul Handley on the Crown Property Bureau’s approach to real estate management:
“It still has a below-market-rent mentality for long-term stability goals,” he says. “Or, look at it this way: They have no rate-of-return goals on some of their real estate, limited goals on others and nearly commercial on others.”
The article noted that lands held outside of Bangkok and those donated through the years have not been factored. It also noted criticisms (e.g. from NM) that recent investments seem to contradict HMK’s philosophy of “Sufficiency Economy”.
Fair enough, but then we should also keep things in context and perspective. SE was specifically highlighted by HMK during modern Thailand’s worse economic meltdown precipitated by the baht’s devaluation in 1997. It bought one of the world’s fastest growing economy then to a shocking halt and along with it trust and confidence in economic practices driven solely by greed and profit. SE’s moderation messages made sense for the less wealthy, the once-wealthy, and aspiring middle-classes. Let’s not live way beyond our means. For the poorest, small-scale farming (already practiced by many urban poor anyway) was practical basic survival – the fundamental fall-back plan for food security (interestingly another rising issue in sustainability literature – with effects of climate change hitting production leading to global food price inflation). Without food security, there would have been riots in 1997…
Naturally, SE message is lost in economic upswings – and greed was back in vogue over the past decade of strong global economic growth. That swing has recently hit a grinding halt, when the extreme-capitalist gods in Wall St dabbled with ethically questionable subprimes, which may precipitate in the worse recession in decades. It is at these times you hear messages on greed allied to SE coming from PMKevin Rudd to Alan Greenspan (who previously could do no wrong)…
Frankly I hope the recession does not eventuate and that this unprecedented concerted effort by governments and central banks worldwide (sadly, like what the Chuan Leekpai’s government had to do then, let the tax-payers absorb the risks) can help prevent the worse effects, which will always be felt most acutely by the poorest. Personally, I prefer that New Mandala can continue to laugh and sneer at SE than the world’s poorest suffering…
6 Ralph Cramden // Oct 28, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Damn all at NM – “you guys” – who gave Surayud a hard time and prevented him implementing new rules that make life easier for pedestrian sufficiency economy-ers. I wonder if ot was his fast cars and luxury watch collection that weighed him down just when he was about to do something.
7 Lleij Samuel Schwartz // Oct 29, 2008 at 6:42 am
Re: Sidh
I can’t speak for Andrew, but from what I see, he’s not sneering at the concept of Sufficiency Economics, per se; rather, he’s laughing and sneering at those proponents of Sufficiency Economics who seem to be saying ,”Do as I say, not as I do.”
For example, I don’t see too many criticisms of the economic thought of the Ven. Prayudh Payutto or of Ghandian swadeshi/swaraj.
8 nic // Oct 29, 2008 at 3:35 pm
all are sufficient, but some are more sufficient then others…
9 Istvan // Oct 29, 2008 at 5:32 pm
RE: Lleij Samuel Schwartz
Andrew Walker does reject the SE concept as a whole, see his paper “Royal Sufficiency and elite misrepresentation of rural livelihoods”, as well as various articles published here.
Referring to the king’s New Theory in his above paper he argues that “The notion that external linkages should only be developed once there is a foundation in local sufficiency is simply not consistent with the economically diversified livelihood strategies pursued by rural people in contemporary Thailand.” According to him these diversified income patterns are mainly due to the scarcity of fertile land… – Well, there is plenty of unused fertile land in rural Thailand. However, in part it is owned by middle-class Bangkokians as a “safe asset”. This means that the problem is rather the lack of state policies addressing the issue of unjust and uneconomical land distribution.
The New Theory is itself borrowed from the Gandhian concept of an ideal village economy: see Ishii, Kazuya (2001) ‘The Socioeconomic Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi: As an Origin of Alternative Development’, Review of Social Economy, 59:3, 297 – 312
10 Jae // Oct 31, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I think it is the tendency of some ‘Western’/hypercritical minds (isnt that what ‘Western’ academics get paid for?!) to take these things too literally. It’s similar to the idea that ‘if we all became Buddhists, the world would come to an end’.
There are good things in Sufficiency Economy – it’s the ‘teachings’ that count, everyone has their flaws, it’s a matter of ‘doing what you can do’. It’s up to the individual to ‘put it into practice’. But ‘oh it’s all so flawed!!!’ I hear many say … from an objective standpoint, yes there are many. Sufficiency Economy, as with more ‘religious’ practice, is more of a subjective pursuit.
11 Colum Graham // Oct 31, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Jae, maybe it’s a subjective pursuit for you, but these days Thai subjects can hardly be labeled citizens with any substance. How can you provide evidence for the amount of people who are subjectively moved spiritually by ’sufficiency’ versus those objectively defining their livelihoods by it? The convergence of spiritual aspects of being sufficient and the restrictions that this particular brand of sufficiency makes on political and economic development is tantamount to the worship of a python suffocating babies. You subscribe to the relativist blackmail that you have slandered in the review of Thailand: Beyond the Fringe.
12 Sidh S. // Nov 1, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thanks Lleij Samuel Schwartz #6 for pointing that out. I argue that Crown Property Bureau’s very long term approach to real estate is in stark contrast with the mainstream shortermism that led to subprimes that precipitated today’s global financial crisis. In that light, CPB has been, on the whole, practicing what HMK preached (with the exceptions raised by the Forbes article with recent high-end developments of course).
There also seem to be a lot of laughing and sneering to do these days – even The Economist seem to be chanting a new mantra (here through KAL’s cartoon):
http://www.economist.com/daily/kallery/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12532624&source=features_box4
13 Return of Thongdaeng // Nov 2, 2008 at 1:35 am
Colum, thanks for your words of wisdom. I think. But I amconfused about “the worship of a python suffocating babies.” I never see this. I live on a farm. Where you see this?
You say “these days Thai subjects can hardly be labeled citizens with any substance”
Why you talk like this? Why you angry with Thai people. You angry with me too. I feel. Is this true?
14 Sidh S. // Nov 3, 2008 at 9:45 pm
“The political uncertainty has dented investor confidence and government planning, but it has had one unexpected benefit: It has prevented the building of the sort of asset price bubbles that have amplified problems elsewhere in the world.”
in “Thailand Escapes Financial Meltdown: Past Lessons Helped Nation Lessen Risk”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303801.html?hpid=artslot
Who would have thought the Thai political crisis had any economic benefits! I say it’s still early days – and Thailand (and all others) will succumb in the scenario that the US and Europe economy further deteriorates…
15 burin buranasin // Nov 4, 2008 at 3:15 pm
All things said, don’t forget the book Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher (I hope I spell his name right). In the book there is an inspiring chapter on Buddhist economics. Actually, I think, this sufficiency economics originates with Buddhism. As the majority of Thais are Buddhist, I don’t see why we should get excited about this being a novel theory. The Buddha gave this out long, long ago, and many Thais have practiced it from time immemorial!
16 Srithanonchai // Apr 28, 2009 at 3:22 pm
The following government web site might be interesting for readers following the suffciency economy discussion.
http://www.chumchon.go.th/
It belongs to the “Sufficiency Economy Office for Community Development.” It is under the Office of the Prime Minister and headed, if I remember correctly, by Supatra Masdit.
Its Thai name is สำนักงานชุมชนพอเพียง. The opening page shows an advertisement that I found in Post Today, April 17, 2009, p. 3.
17 Nicholas Farrelly // Apr 28, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Thanks Srithanonchai,
Great link (love the luuk thung singer and the dancers on the front page!).
As an aside, before too long an Andrew Walker edited book titled Tai Lands and Thailand: Community and State in Southeast Asia will be jointly published by National University of Singapore Press and NIA Press. As the table of contents probably suggests, readers may want to bear it in mind for a different take on “chumchon”, and related issues, in Southeast Asia.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Leave a Comment
Please note: New Mandala encourages vigorous debate. However, for the moment we will only be publishing high-quality comments that make original contributions to discussion. There will, of course, still be space for pithy, humorous, eccentric and cheeky input. Short and sweet will usually trump long and involved. Repetitive ranting, unimaginative point-scoring and idle abuse will not be entertained. Comments which carry a real name are also more likely to be approved. Thank you for your ongoing interest and contributions.