The prominent Thai scholar, Chatthip Natsupha, has gone from
being a Marxist intellectual in the 1970s to a cultural nationalist advocate of a
genuine Thai essence which, he believes, is an antidote to the dominance of the
Western neoliberal capitalism. His case is not an anomaly. The intellectual path
from the Marxist left to the cultural nationalist right is well-trodden and
reflects broader changes in nationalism in the country. The cultural nationalist
Thai ex-left rejected what it called ‘bad’ nationalism and embraced a ‘good’ one.
However, its ideas were significantly drawn from conservative nationalism.
Such nationalism, which is widespread among the Thai intelligentsia, was an
important factor in their support for the military coup which, in 2006, ousted an
elected government on the dubious grounds that it was a proxy for global
capitalism.