Living off our inheritance and running it down

In private letters to one of his sons, during the last three months of his life and his reign, King Chulalongkorn expressed regret that he had accomplished only 20 per cent of what he had set out to do for the country and the people. But that 20 per cent has been the great gift he left behind for the nation's inheritance. It is the 20 per cent that put us firmly and far on the road towards reform and modernisation. It was also his Herculean feat and wisdom that allowed us to be able to call ourselves the "Land of the Free" while all neighbouring countries fell prey to the yoke of Western colonisation that peaked during his reign.

During his 42-year rule, King Chulalongkorn brought about not only reforms and modernisation - to an extent never before seen in our history - but also the new heights of astute diplomacy and tact that were based on his unfeigned understanding of Western thinking, perception and way of life.

King Chulalongkorn clearly understood the need for a skilled and subtle balancing act when it came to our dealings with the Western powers. As such, he was able to find a compromise and preserve the nation's independence - not out of contemptuous commiseration on the part of the Western colonialists, but by earning their respect and by making them realise that by reaching conciliation with Siam at that time, their best interests, not just ours, were being protected.

It was a singular act of wisdom, courage, agility and foresight through which King Chulalongkorn initiated and executed his programmes of reform and modernisation. This prompted many Western historians to describe it as "revolution from above". Every one of his programmes was well thought-out, deliberate and never whimsical. It also took confidence and valour on his part to abandon many programmes that did not work, and replace them with ones that did.

Reform and modernisation could not have been possible without proper education. And here lay one of the greatest contributions of King Chulalongkorn. It was to be also one area where his regrets lay.

During his reign, he sent off a large number of his relatives and children - and later on, some commoners too - to study in the West. To learn the technology, science, mathematics, law and standards that would turn Siam into a "civilised" and prosperous society where people were free and treated justly. It was a time when, to use a modern term, human resource development was at the front and centre of our national agenda. It was the first time that a public school system had been established in our country.

At the end of his rule, according to his own account, he found that many of those Western-trained people had acquired advanced technological, legal, administrative and vocational knowledge, but many lacked the rectitude and conscience to make and implement the changes that were truly in the best interests of the country, not of any particular individual or entity. He also found that education did not necessarily make people more open-minded and more tolerant. Rifts deepened between the "Ancient school" and the "Modern (western) school" that would, in many cases, slow down his reform effort.

King Chulalongkorn's administrative and judicial reforms included the establishment of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice (the first introduction of the Western concept of the rule of law and a justice system), Public Works (the Postal Service, Royal State Railway, and power plants), and Public Instruction (to build teacher training schools, to teach subjects according to the European method, to compile and write academic texts, and to construct schools throughout the Kingdom). He created the Auditor's Office, the Privy Council, and the Council of State (which acted as a legislative body that would later on be replaced by a cabinet comprised of ministers who were regarded as equals). The King also created the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Thai Navy. He standardised the Thai script, and put newly acquired printing technology to good use. He made gambling illegal.

One major achievement of King Chulalongkorn that was recognised worldwide was the emancipation of slaves by peaceful and legal means. This took 37 years of his 42-year reign to complete, and not a single drop of blood was shed.

"Present-day Thailand owes much to the policies of reforms carried out by King Chulalongkorn the Great," says a document of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). "These measures contributed to Siam's ability, exceptional during the age of Western colonialism, to retain its independence."

These policies were his legacy and the inheritance he left for his country and the people.

Since his time, we Thais have been living off this inheritance. And all the while, we have been running it down by not building upon or adding value to what was started for us by King Chulalongkorn.

Take a look at the sorry condition of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) today and we will see that not only has there been no meaningful modernisation since its first establishment in 1890 by King Rama V, but this agency has actually gone back in time.

King Chulalongkorn, in his attempt to create an affordable means of transportation, bringing infrastructure and communication development to the country, stipulated that the RSR be a "not for profit" agency. Latter-day railway administrators and politicians have taken the term literally to heart and into a new dimension. They have managed to skim off and pare down income revenues as well as the quality of service to make sure that the agency never returns a profit. Nowadays, the country's logistics relies mainly on trucks, not railways. The latter could have made our production and transportation costs much more competitive.

Look at the sorry state of our canals, streets, city planning (or lack of it), public waterworks, and education system, and we may see how we, as a country, have run down our inheritance.

So the tears that linger are from all of us who live to regret that we collectively have wasted the treasure that was built wisely and laboriously, and handed to us so unselfishly by our great king. They are tears born of the realisation that we were given a precious chance of a lifetime, and recklessly blew it.