THERE SEEMS to have been a lack of preparation on Thailand's part for the launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, and administrations led by various parties over the past several years can be blamed for failing to make the public clearly understand what is at stake.
As a result, many Thais still do not understand the pros and cons of the AEC and the impact it will have on the country.
That issue aside, when we look at the variety of news generated by the Thai media, we can observe that there is a huge amount of negative news about the country - spanning a whole variety of issues. Put simply, there is so much negative news that we hardly ever hear or read about the good things concerning Thailand at the international level. Negative news regarding politics, issues of security and economic policy is consistently reported and is often used by foreign entities to gauge Thailand's readiness to enter the AEC.
Political upheaval since 2005 continues to this day, with little hope of the parties concerned finding any common ground. Let us not forget that those who hold political clout have hardly met to address the problems at hand, but instead are readily found voicing their own views at their respective forums.
Each side makes its political voice heard through the media, using rallies in order to generate publicity. And yet no one is paying attention to the numerous problems facing Thai society. Instead, they resort to pointing the finger at others, while insisting that they are in the right.
Years of division in political thinking mean that many things cannot be quickly resolved. But if Thai people can become less egocentric and self-righteous, we could find a solution. Thailand is ready for change, but those in a position to bring about that change wait for the other parties to make the first move, resulting in a stalemate. All they seem interested in is winning for winning's sake.
In the past few decades, some of our neighbours have gone through racial, cultural and even ideological conflicts that have led to civil war and even genocide, but they are now making progress, with all sides working together. Thailand is heading in the opposite direction, however, despite the fact that in many ways we should be more ready than our neighbours. The competitive edge that Thailand enjoys means nothing if those in the political divide are not willing to work together.
Thailand's readiness for the AEC in 2015 is therefore not assured. It's hard to predict what lies in store for the more than 60 million Thais as long as the Kingdom is prevented from moving forward by a small group of self-centred people, who insist on campaigning for their own interests.