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Published on September 10, 2007

Viewing his mission as preserving "Thai-ness", the official expressed consternation that not only the Thai language, but also Thai dress and Thai food were under threat due to foreign intrusions and incursions.

Such concerns seem unwarranted and misplaced. The belief that Thai culture and Thai identity are in any way compromised or threatened by the use of foreign nicknames indicates a rather narrow and simplistic approach to what constitutes Thai culture and Thai identity. Nicknames should not be viewed as essential markers of Thai identity. The ministry seems to view Thai culture and Thai identity as static and stationary rather than as evolving and dynamic. Thais have, for generations, adopted, adapted and accommodated to foreign influences in their dress, language, forms of entertainment, sports, art, music etc. To have done so has not made them any less Thai. It might be pointed out that foreign nicknames are not a new phenomenon - 30 to 40 years ago such nicknames as Joy, Rose, Bow, Bird, Tony and Johnny were not uncommon.

Thai culture and Thai identity are in the process of transformation and the traditional culture of the past is no longer the social reality of today as it takes on new forms and patterns. In certain cases the adaptations made should be viewed as enhancing rather than destructive. For example, the Thai language has been enlivened, with panache and flair, by borrowing English words but adding a Thai twist and massage eg "blur", "(o)ver", "offside", "fan", "go inter", "American share" etc. Incremental changes in material culture, as expressed in dress, food, entertainment, art and music should not be deemed as affecting the essence of Thai-ness. Actually, an artistic Trojan horse within the Culture Ministry itself, the Contemporary Art and Culture Office, has gone against the rather conservative, and somewhat ultra-nationalistic grain of the official ministry stand. In its annual Artists Awards it has championed a more innovative reaction to change by supporting several anti-establishment, beyond-the-fringe contemporary artists. In another sense, it is to be sincerely hoped that the ministry in extolling Thai nicknames would not consider such derogatory Thai names as Pae (gimpy), Biaw (twisted), Aang (a person who stutters), Duan (stumpy) etc as denoting traditional Thai culture and identity.

Foreign nicknames should, as the Thai term "playful name" implies, not be taken too seriously. How delightfully playful are such nicknames as Benz, Puff, Tank, Bank and Atom. Is anyone less Thai with the nicknames Ball, Seven, or Green? Is a Thai soldier less a Thai with the nickname Boy? I have known a Mint, a Joy and a Nick who exemplify Thai-ness in their personas and a few Mu (pig) and Giap (chicks) who are more foreign than Thai in their thinking and behaviour. Nicknames and "clothes do not make the man" or woman.

In the West one is taught from early childhood that "a book should not be judged by its cover". Shakespeare eloquently cautioned "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". The Culture Ministry, if distrustful of foreign proverbs and literature, might profitably turn to traditional Thai proverbs with the same theme: "To choose or associate with people don't look at their faces", or "In choosing cloth, look at its texture".

If the Culture Ministry is so concerned with the need to preserve Thai identity and culture, it should rather look beneath the surface, beneath the cover, beneath nicknames. Thai identity should rather be measured by the underlying essence of Thai-ness as expressed in values held and "appropriate behaviour" based on such values. Such values and associated behaviour as avoiding confrontation and direct expressions of anger annoyance, hatred, displeasure; emotional equilibrium; compassion; sympathetic joy; gratefulness; loving kindness; respect for elders; and graciousness exemplify Thai-ness and Thai identity far, far more than a playful nickname. One should be more worried about Thai culture being lost if one who is called by the Thai nickname of Black, Pig, Red, Moon or Star is blatantly confrontational, intolerant, excessively emotional, ungrateful, disrespectful of elders, and lacks compassion.

One should appreciate that even those values associated with traditional Thai culture are being challenged by a new, and often antithetical, set of values identified with a burgeoning civil society and globalisation: individualism, egalitarianism, rule of law, public participation, good governance and attendant transparency and accountability, engagement and commitment, competition etc. The Culture Ministry should rather devote its energy and resources to facilitating and fostering constructive and positive accommodations and adaptations to the pressures for change. This would require a more nuanced response to foreign influences and not their automatic rejection out of hand and labelling them as detrimental and inimical to Thai culture and Thai identity. As far as values, attitudes and perspectives are concerned a transformed Thai culture and Thai identity will hopefully be able to accommodate increased levels of individualism and egalitarianism, rule of law and popular participation without totally replacing or compromising the traditional Thai values referred to above.

In the best of all possible worlds, constructive criticism and rational argumentation would become more acceptable; respect would have to earned; gratefulness, respect and obedience would be tempered by increased understanding and acceptance of rights of individual expression; and an increased measure of confrontation, competition and engagement would gain more approval assuming they were undertaken within the boundaries of the law and with a certain Thai sense of civility.

William J Klausner

Special to The Nation

William J Klausner is a senior fellow at Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Security and International Studies.