West isn’t all bad

When Noam Chomsky and his band of acolytes opine about the West and how the world would be better off without it, I feel an overwhelming urge to roll up a copy of the latest Bangkok Post and beat them over the head with it.

The rule of law, while far from perfect in Northern Europe, Australia and other bastions of Western, individualist culture, does actually exist in these places. The appalling case of blind eyes being turned to yet another murder by the spawn of an “influential person” is a harsh reminder that this is simply not true in Thailand.

In the 20 years that I have lived in Southeast Asia, I have lost count of the number of such incidents. The template is so similar in each case that it begins to feel like deja vu. The recurring nature of these incidents sends a message that ought to penetrate even the densest of skulls, specifically, that these slimy “influential people”, who create such a stench in fair Thailand, are bubbling up from the well-spring of Thai culture itself.

The Western notion of the right of the individual to flourish without the interference of wealthy jackasses is intrinsically good. The Thai idea that one’s value and rights should depend on one’s wealth and position in society (codified into law in the shape of the demented doctrine of sakdi na during the Ayutthaya Period) is not. NIGEL WOODWARD