The SE philosophy, a philosophy that was bestowed to his country by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been profoundly studied and adopted nation-wide since the economic crisis of 1997. One of the major forces driving the implementation of the philosophy on all levels of the society is the relationship between the King of Thailand and his people. The people of Thailand love the King. The King has dedicated all of his life to the people, and this has resulted in a strong synergy, which has translated into social and economic development…The SE philosophy could be of interest and could become a foundation for models of development not only in Thailand, but in many developing countries of the world.
- Extracted from: Oranuch Pruetipibultham, “The sufficiency economy philosophy and strategic HRD: a sustainable development for Thailand”, Human Resource Development International, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 99 – 110 [p. 108].
Back in the days when the concept still got lots of traction in Thailand, New Mandala devoted a great deal of time and energy to debating the merits of sufficiency economy. If you are keen for a flash-back, links to some of those debates are available here.
My problem with SE philosophy is that it seems to be used for practical purposes to keep people (“the masses”) in their place by denouncing excess, waste and materialism. At the same time, the proponents of SE (the elite, bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen, etc) have displayed massive wealth which can only be accumulated from greed, corruption and conflicts of interest.
Similarly, a complete lack of transparency and accountability on government and military spending doesn’t appear to match with SE theory – but for some reason that’s okay.
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As long as we still have the Lese Majeste law, its really hard to say how suitable the sufficiency economy is playing out, as the people who do the study can say anything bad about the royal project.
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Rather surprising that an academic journal can accept an article extolling a “theory” when the proposer of that theory, Bhumibol, is protected from any criticism whatsoever on pain of a 15 year jail sentence.
At the very least, the journal article should have included a disclaimer to that effect.
It is simply not possible in Thailand to say, for example, that the “sufficiency theory” is a vacuous piece of propaganda whose sole purpose is a public relations exercise for the monarchy, that its effect (if any) on rural development has been negative, and that in total contrast to the claims of the theory, the king has in fact enriched himself and his family over the last half century by establishing a political dictatorship – and stay out of gaol.
So if the Journal of Human Resource Development International wants to lend academic credibility to the propaganda of third world despots then perhaps in future issues it can enlighten us with other theories of development, proposed by, say, Kim Jong Il, Than Shwe and other assorted dictators in the developing world.
If “sufficiency economy” is to be taken seriously as a theory of development then first lift the lese majeste law and let the “philosopher” Bhumibol be exposed to the same criticism as all other academics are.
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….rather than Thailand being an example of a “Sufficiency Economy”, it is probably more accurate to describe the Thailand economy as a “Desire Economy” per the Dr. Saul analysis linked below:
http://bit.ly/aCHG2T
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The “Sufficiency Economy” lives, thanks to the Royal Thai Navy, now engaged, per the Pattaya Mail story below, in teaching a group of women from Laos, one of the world’s poorest countries to “buy only what they need to live” (I know, this is the same Thai Royal Navy with the mothballed aircraft carrier and the Russian submarines on their wish-list but everyone has their own level of “sufficiency” after all….)
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http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd4
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“Laotian women receive lessons in Thai sufficiency economy philosophy” by Patcharapol Panrak – Pattaya Daily Mail
A group of Laotian learned what Thailand’s “sufficiency economy” philosophy was all about during a visit to the Royal Thai Navy’s New Theory Learning Center in Bang Saray.
The 26 women from Kredtrakarn in Nonthaburi Province received lessons on independent family living and developing self-confidence during the March 16 field trip sponsored by the Ban Kredtrakarn Foundation and Women’s Protection Foundation. The Laotians were welcomed by Capt. Wirat Somchit, director of the learning center on the grounds of the Naval Recruit Training Center.
Cmdr. Samart Aror summarized the sufficiency economy philosophy espoused by HM the King, noting that individuals, families and villages should be able to grow enough food to be self-sufficient and that people should shun excess and only buy what they need to live.
Kamolpan Lakhan, a social worker with the Kredtrakarn Foundation, said it was hoped the Thai philosophy will help the Laotian women change their lives.
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SE philosophy(philosophy?) come out by the mouths of the richs and good wealth persons(especially, The Richest King). They treat and urge a social reponsibility to the lower-class to do somethings they can’t do by themselves. It’s just a reflection of nostaglia vision not too good to call it Philosophy. By the way, the Lese Majeste law can close your mouth or take someone to jail if we just talk about it in the negative way to the public.
RIP ma’ freedom
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The sufficiency Economic is just one in a thousand propaganda agendas this country has to accept. The rich want the poor to be always poor. Who does not want to be rich? The purpose of life is working hard and getting rich. For those who really want to know the truth about this country, you must open your eyes and your brain, you will be able to see the illusion in front of you.
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Find it interesting that in order to get access to this article, one must pay a fee of $30.00. Seems as if the cost of this propaganda militates against its usefulness as well as the SE ideal. Note that the following artcle, which preceds Khun Oranuch’s, is also available: “Faculty virtue and research capacity-building in the context of poorly funded universities: the case of the Royal University of Phnom Penh”, Ann Brooks ;Ly Monirith, Pages 83 – 98 . . . so near, yet so far . . .
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We can practice self-sufficiency by not buying this book. After all, this sufficiency economy is by no means original. The main idea has been copied from the Buddhist principle of moderation, and this was made popular in a way by the readable book by E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful. Today’s proponents of sufficiency economy no doubt got the idea from this book, but they are too big (or too small) to admit it. We can say, at least quietly to ourselves, “Thank you, my dear Buddha,” and listen to no propaganda. Then we can truly be at peace with ourselves.
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Sufficiency Economy “profoundly studied and adopted nation-wide” :
Little doubt now many Thais are studying how Thailand’s monarchy rose from being one of the world’s poorest, on King Ananda’s death, to now – by far – the world’s richest !
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For those who can read Thai http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/2006/special/bizNes/Porphant/Porphant%20.pdf
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Thank you for your interests in my article, folks. I wrote this article primarily based on two sentiments: 1) my gratitude for his Majesty’s attempts to better the country over the past 60 years, and 2) my profound interest in the philosophy as it literally guided my family to survive the previous economic downturns in Thailand. My family witnessed the end results and thus I wanted to ‘advertise’ the benefits of the philosophy to others who may already ‘suffer’ from other economic models that focus mainly on being excessively rich. Having the first-hand experience of adopting and using the philosophy, I began my own field/literature research on the impact of the philosophy on various businesses, small and large. I learned that the meaning of being “rich” differs from individual to individual. I learned that, in my country, even the lèse majesté law prevails; a great number of people will not violate this law, not because they are afraid of being jailed, but because they will not talk negatively about someone who has dedicated his whole life to the people of his country. Besides, I cannot see the linkage between the lèse majesté law and the benefit of the SE philosophy to people who may otherwise suffer from the poisons of excessive capitalism. In fact, criticisms of the philosophy are available to read and to hear through many media channels; no one has been arrested for their criticism of the philosophy so far. In fact, constructive criticisms were taken seriously as they helped enhance the implementation of the philosophy. People who put his Majesty’s words into a framework were those at the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, Thailand. The framework description states clearly that one of the major constructs of the philosophy is the Buddhist Middle Path concept…no need to reiterate that it was the Buddha who bestowed this noble concept on mankind. The SE philosophy only reminds us how important it is to embrace the concept and other moral ingredients in business operations these days. I learned that SE philosophy is simply a good alternative model which has been studied and adopted by a number of Thai people (including my family!). I learned that the leaders of other developing countries (more than 30 countries so far) have witnessed the practicality of it and have contacted the Thai government for field visits to study the philosophy. This is probably why an international journal like HRDI did not hesitate to accept my input.
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Oranuch:
Since “sufficiency economy” seems to be like a new religion, can you tell me where its temples are located? I would like to have a look who is figured as the main patrons. Also like to do an anthropological study of this new faith’ rituals.
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Yes, I’m sure the sufficiency concept is something many countries would like to copy, since it has been so successful here in Thailand. Let’s see how the SE philosophy works in practice:
1. As of 2009, Thailand ranks 91st in the World for GDP per head – below even Iran and Angola. Unlike Thailand’s “Happiness Index”, GDP/head tells us a lot about the quality and standard of living in any particular country.
2. The average IQ of school leavers is 86, which is the same as a rural farmer, and close to the level of a retard (80). Source: Ministry of Education.
3. The Thai King is the wealthiest monarch on the planet (Forbes rich list 2009).
4. According to a survey by the Asian Economic Development Council, only 16% of Thais believe that the rural poor should be allowed to participate in elections – the lowest figure in Asia.
5. The military spend 7% of the countries GDP and are wholly unaccountable for how they spend that money. There is no value for money accounting, no audit. Many items have recently been discounted as either heavily overpriced or just plain fake, eg. GT200 bomb detectors, Swedish jet fighters, an air balloon that doesn’t fly. The military even have the gall to travel the country and hold “workshops” in which they educate the poor in the SE philosophy.
6. Thailand has had 18 military coups since 1932 – just to prove how sustainable military Governments are.
7. The Thai Government regularly kills it’s own citizens to maintain power.
8. There are no democratic systems in place (eg. an effective legal system, or fair elections) to avoid widespread civil unrest such as we are seeing now.
So, I can see why so many countries out there envy Thailand and it’s well-thought out philosophies. I’m sure they will all jump at the chance to have these benefits.
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Have to agree with the sentiments expressed by Thai Capital.
And why, I hope you ask?
Maybe I’m living in a different Thailand than Khun Oranuch, the writer of this piece.
I find all this manufactured ‘evidence’ and rhetoric of a sufficiency economy all rather tedious.
Couple this with the many negative comments made to me by Department of Land Development technical staff concerning the waste, corruption and mismanagement of the rural economy, I cannot help but conclude that the sufficiency economy is simply another cleverly stage managed sham designed to maintain the impression (yet another) that all is well in Thailand.
Perhaps Khun Oranuch would care to tell us why the vast majority of the rural population still live from hand to mouth, have little or no opportunities in life and still wait patiently for handouts from the monarchy and government when times are hard – which seems pretty much all the time.
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