“Mai pen rai”. The philosophy that makes Thailand open-minded to (almost) everything

by Andrea
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“Mai pen rai”. The philosophy that makes Thailand open-minded to (almost) everything

“Mai pen rai”. The philosophy that makes Thailand open-minded to (almost) everything

Everything is going well in the “land of smiles”. LGBTQ+ rights, religious tolerance, extraordinary hospitality… or maybe not?

“Never think about it” is a national motto in Thailand, a socially and politically adopted philosophy. Means “don’t worry”, “let it be”, “nothing special”, or something in between — the expression has no direct translation into Portuguese, but is similar to the classic Spanish “no pasa nada”.

It is also used in the English style, as if saying “no problem” or “you’re welcome” (“you’re welcome”) after helping someone. Basically, “there is no stress”, as is also the motto in Cape Verde.

In Portugal, perhaps because there is always some stress, it is not used as much, but there is also a naturalness in helping others. “Mai pen rai” is, therefore, and for lack of a better translation, a kind of “no problem, friend, whatever you need, you can do it”.

And Thais like this motto so much that they have applied politically what they are par excellence: tolerant. Well, at least for some things.

When it comes to the rights of LGBTQ+ people, for example, they are “a paradise”, as described by . Of course it was a big fight, or negotiation as they mentioned calling it. “We don’t fight, we negotiated“, says a community member, Tinnaphop Sinsomboonthong. “We knew we had to talk to Thai society and, little by little, we changed attitudes.”

The first “LGBTQ+ Pride” march in Thailand took place just 25 years ago, but today the country already accepts marriage between people of the same gender — it has become one of the few Asian countries that allows it.

The BBC points out that the community chose the right political moment to call for change, and this worked in its favor. In fact, in the 2023 elections, the party that obtained the most votes in the country was the progressive “Move Forward”which defends this cause. However, a conservative coalition prevented the party from forming the government, but it was during the election campaign that the cause was most popularized.

Thais are, in fact, the personification of pacifism, they have this trademark, perhaps due to the fact that 90% of its population is Buddhista religion considered, as a rule, quite tolerant.

“Thai people are known for their warm hospitality and their genuine smileswhich reflect a positive outlook on life. This is due to a strong emphasis on harmonia social e mutual respect“, writes the travel website. It is the “country of smiles” par excellence.

Will it really be like that?

The data from Freedom Index position Thailand towards the middle of the world championship (with an index of 6.7/10), which evaluates 163 countries.

But, when compared with neighboring countries (Myanmar, sharing a large border, is the fourth least free country in the world), it is ranked quite well, only surpassed by Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. But, of course, one can always argue that a free people and a tolerant people are very different things.

Is Thailand the “paradise” of pacifism? Or is there something hiding behind this facade?

The Thai nation seems far from pacifism. With the conservative alliance “blocking” the progressive party, the political climate has been unstable since last year, which has led thousands of Thais to take to the streets due to the political and social situation.

Human Rights Watch has also in recent years numerous cases related to counterinsurgency operations in Thailand’s southern border provinces, notably where police and military personnel tortured ethnic Malay Muslims.

Furthermore, in February 2021, the Government approved, in principle, a law that gives authorities broad power to arbitrarily refuse registration of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and subject them to criminal charges.

Uighurs and a Thailand “caught” between the USA and China

This Tuesday, Thailand once again gained media attention by threatening to deport 48 men of Uyghur ethnicity, detained in Bangkok since 2014, to China, where the UN guarantees, according to , that they are running “real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if the men are repatriated.”

China already has a long history of persecuting the Uighur people, and these men detained in Thailand are currently “in life-threatening conditions” without access to lawyers, family or UN representatives,” Human Rights Watch said. .

Since the beginning of the year, these prisoners reported hearing more and more deportation threats by staff at the migrant detention center.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the matter involves judicial cooperation between two sovereign states”.

However, even though Thailand has a plan to deal with Chinese ethnic persecution, it was forgetting one factor, which the new Trump administration has already taken care of reminding it: it also has a political-economic alliance with the USA, who strongly oppose this persecution.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reminded the country that “Thailand is, in fact, a very strong partner of the US and a strong historical ally“, so “this is an area in which I think diplomacy could really achieve results due to the importance and closeness of this relationship”.

However, Thailand has already denied plans to deport the prisoners to China.

Still, not everything in the “land of smiles” triggers laughter, and, behind the flag of peace, there may be other faces, much less smiling.

Carolina Bastos Pereira, ZAP //

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