The rural poor are an entity of free thinking individuals. They should be treated as such instead of simply being pacified. There is no short term method for doing so, however. The elites in Thailand view the poor as fools who do not know any better. This is very ‘1984.’

“A survey of the entire inmate population of Thai prisons is to be conducted in an attempt to identify prisoners who might have been wrongly imprisoned, following a call by Justice Minister Charnchai Likhitjittha for prison reforms,” read a report from The Nation on Tuesday.

It would appear that some of those detained in Thai prisons are, heaven forbid, not guilty of the crimes they are being punished for. The logistics of interviewing every single inmate in a Thai prison must seem quite daunting to the justice minister.

I picked up on this bit of news because it seems very Thai. I’m not sure that openly criticizing the move is the way forward as I don’t want to be seen to be patronising Thai people (as I am often accused of), but it does appear rather a strange idea, especially given this bit of information, again from The Nation report:

“Charnchai raised the idea last week, based on his concern that a large number of prisoners might have committed crimes out of foolishness, due to their lack of education, or out of financial desperation, because they come from poor families.”

What it actually sounds like is that fools and poor people may have their crimes excused because, as I already said, the elites think they do not know any better. Who would have believed that some crimes are committed out of “foolishness,” as it were?

This highlights the need for education in Thailand. From my discussions on the coup and the current political climate, I am certain that education is the central means through which Thailand can emerge from this strange predicament.

On Monday night Prime Minister Surayud Chulanon, during his visit to the Philippines, made assurances that democracy would be restored within one year. His Filipino counterpart President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was full of praise for Thailand and made some rather bland remarks about the country’s political situation.

The point now is that this government is here to stay for at least another year. Unless the people of Thailand see fit to rise en mass and stand up for their rights then they will have to make do with extended martial law. In that case, the government needs to do something for the people. Social order policies are one thing, but what is most crucial is to instill some sort of knowledge within the masses about why they should care about the coming democracy and the future for their children and their children’s children.

Rather than simply excusing the poor for their actions because they are the poor, steps should be implemented to give these people a new vision. It is not a question of elevating them from the depths of the lower classes, but rather giving them a social identity and a reason to care about this.

Techno’ tags: Coup, Constitution, Bangkok, Thailand, Politics, Government