So the Thai education system has earned itself some international publicity of the exactly the kind the Ministry of Education doesn’t want.

Thomas Fuller of the New York Times got insideNawaminthrachinuthit Triam Udomsewuksa Pattanakarn inPaknam to produce an article ‘In Thailand’s Schools, Vestiges of Military Rule’

Memo

To: Central Politburo, Thai Spring

From: Acting Temporary Director, Foreign Relations Section

Re: International Reaction

In response to our Dear Leaders’ wise and far-seeingcommand to report on the response in foreign countries to our Dear Leaders’ moving and eloquent Open Letter from Concerned Thai Citizens, it is with undying love and loyalty for our Dear Leaders that we respectfully report the following.

Dear me, I can hardly keep up.  A Prime Minister talks about democracy in something more than platitudes, and in front of foreigners.  And comes home to a chorus of boos from those whose recent contributions to democracy have included coups, live fire zones, and mass censorship of the internet.  How dare she mention the word ‘democracy’ 27 times in a speech at a forum on democracy!

My word how things change.

When I came to Bangkok, I remember there were 3 buildings of more than 7 storeys. One was the tapering triangular structure of the Dusit Thani, which set an aesthetic example which later high-rises studiously ignored. The second was the glass-and-steel Chokchai building, whose construction on Sukhumwit suffered the hiccup of a bankruptcy until the CIA was rumoured to have quietly helped with the financing so it could stick its satellite dishes on the top. And the third was Thai Daimaru at Pratunam, which was so nondescript it has long since been demolished in favour of something much taller and equally nondescript.