<p>As reported in this excellent <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-23/thai-junta-introduces-idealogical-boot-camp-for-kindergarten/8145362">ABC News column</a> drawing on a Matichon Online story, the Royal Thai Military has begun the systematic militarized indoctrination of kindergarteners.</p> <p><strong>Systematic Military Indoctrination of Thai Kindergarteners Begins</strong></p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.</em></p> <p><strong>IQ Redux</strong></p>

<p>When the Japanese scholar and translator, Hara Shintaro used the term 'Siamese imperialist' in a translation of a YouTube post by BRN, a Malay armed resistance organization believed by many to be the strongest and most active group in the Patani conflict, it was condemned not simply for being an incorrect translation but being “too harsh”<a name="m_7533375008648219930__ftnref1" title="">[1]</a>. Of course, it is not only the Thai state which does not take kindly to being described as an imperialist.</p>

<p>The McNamara Fallacy:</p> <p align="center"><em>The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes.<br />The second step is to disregard that which can’t be easily measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading.&nbsp; The third step is to presume that what can’t be measured easily really isn’t important. This is blindness. The fourth step is to say that what can’t be easily measured really doesn’t exist. This is suicide.</em></p>

<p>Years and years ago, when I was still trying to figure out who really ruled the world (I now know – it’s misogynistic, racist, bigoted braggarts with strange hair and an even stranger attitude to the truth), an unusual thing happened in Thailand.&nbsp;</p> <p>The civilian government of the day suddenly found a sliver of spine and tried to tell the military that their lethal-toys-for-the-feral-boys budget might not be as excessive as they wished.&nbsp; Predictable outrage from personages with starch-pressed uniforms and ditto minds.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Insults vs. Hate Crime, who will win this game of attention?</p>

<p>I assume we’ve all seen the video clip where Acharanat Ariyaritwikol drags an unresisting Kittisak Singto across Charoen Krung by the lapels, acting purely out of self-defence of course. He then punches him in the face 3 times because he thought he had a gun or a knife (a manoeuvre that is guaranteed to protect the puncher from being shot or knifed by the punchee). &nbsp;And finally he screams at him to kowtow to the broken tail light on his treasured Mini Countryman (which indeed cost a treasure)</p> <p>(And before we go any further, let me note the confusing names in this case.</p>

<p dir="ltr">For the past few years, the issue of human trafficking in Thailand has continued to be front page news. But instead of focusing on the many successes of the counter trafficking response, these articles have tended to highlight more of the inadequacies of the on-going efforts. As one of the first countries to bring the issue of human trafficking to the world stage in the early 1990s, this has been a terrible embarrassment among those who feel that Thailand’s past achievements have been forgotten in recent times. One thing is clear.</p>

<p>Perhaps I should take the opportunity of these troubled times to clear my conscience.</p> <p>It was the coronation of the person who has taken over the mantle of the longest-reigning monarch in the world.&nbsp; I was a pre-schooler still trying to figure out how the world worked.</p> <p>One thing that I couldn’t figure out was why, if I wasn’t old enough for real school, I still had to go to Sunday school.&nbsp; Only much later in life did I learn the delights of the Sunday afternoon naps that my father enjoyed while I was sent to The Schoolroom.</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><em>"All so that it would be a stronger world</em></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>A strong, though loving, world</em></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>To die in"</em></p> <p style="text-align: center;">John Cale</p>

<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/142881/width926/image-20161024-28409-114n5bi.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 426px;" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ff8c00;">Under military rule, social order is attained at the expense of economic growth while elected governments usually lead to political turmoil. </span></div>

<p dir="ltr">This column was first published as a lead op ed on October 14, then was overtaken by events. It asks the key question about Rama IX’s legacy, the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. Unlike Bhutan’s Buddhist-economic-based theory of Gross National Happiness, the PSE has made no progress internationally. The Prayut Administration controls the message regarding the PSE domestically. Whether it actually cares about the PSE can therefore only be measured by whether it makes the PSE work internationally.</p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><em>Gentile or Jew</em></p>