Tom Plate's comments on Thai vitality and resilience in his Aug. 28 article, "Thai character trumps flaws of politics," were, in my opinion, spot on. He went on to say that due to this national character, Thailand would never become a "gloomy" Myanmar or North Korea. But if one looks deeper, Plate seems to be suggesting that Myanmar's suffering comes from the Myanmar people's lack of vitality, their inherent "gloominess."
Unfortunately, the friendly and kind Cambodians suffered under the Khmer Rouge, the gentle and positive people of Myanmar suffer from a corrupt and repressive junta, and so on -- regardless of the characters of the nations involved (if indeed, a nation has a single character in the first place).
Cambodians and Myanmarese are also Buddhists and "middle-way" seekers, but this doesn't eliminate the extremism of the few. A great, positive, energetic character is a wonderful Thai asset, but surely this alone will not prevent the nation's becoming a "disaster like North Korea."
If such an asset could accomplish that, we would have to say that every failed state was the responsibility of the characters of the various nationals themselves, not their oppressive leaders. I surely don't think Plate intended to say that.
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