THAILAND

GenEd 8
Thailand
 It is the worlds number one orchid exporter
 Not only the most delicate, exquisite orchid Thailand national flower, but it is also the
largest exporter of the floral treasure.
 Around 45% of Thailand’s orchid are exported out of the country and the rest are sold to
locals and domestic market.
 It is considered disrespectful to touch anyone on their head even a child
 In Thai culture, the head is considered to be the most important part of the body. As a
result, no one should ever touch the head of another person, even a child. As a sign of
respect and acknowledgment, Thais often try to keep their heads lower than the head of
anyone older than themselves or anyone in a higher position.
 Thailand is the only country in South-East Asia that has never been
colonized under European power
 The name Thailand in the Thai language is Prathet Thai, which directly translates to
‘Land of the Free’. It seems pretty apt then that this country is the sole country in the
whole of South-East Asia to never have been colonised by any European nation.
Considering that only very very few countries in the world have managed to escape
European rule, this in itself is a huge accomplishment.
Thailand
 Some of Thailand’s facts and figures in a nutshell
 There are 1,430 islands in Thailand, 35,000 temples and nearly 67 million
people comprise of Thailand’s population. Each year around 6 million tourists
visit the country and there are 11 million non-resident visitors (local and
foreign) who visit Bangkok, the capital, each annum.
 Thailand shares its borders with four different countries; namely, Myanmar,
Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.
 Thailand’s most exported crop is Rice.
 Birthplace of Red Bull
 Famous throughout the world, the popular energy drink, Red Bull was born in
Thailand. It was based on Krating Daeng, a sweet, uncarbonated energy drink
that was sold throughout the country and across Asia from 1976 by Chaleo
Yoovidhy .
 Later in 1987, an Austrian entrepreneur named Dietrich Mateschitz modified
the ingredients to better suit Western tastes and thus, Red Bull was born.
Thailand
 Thailand was once referred to as “Venice of the East”
 This was due to the many original buildings that were built on stilts over
the Chao Phraya River as well as the many meandering canals that were a
significant factor in Bangkok’s trading activities.
 Although there are still a fair number of pretty canals in the capital for
tourists and locals to enjoy boat rides along, due to the fact that Bangkok
grew larger in time, the majority of canals were filled and paved and have
become streets and pavements today.
 Thailand has the world’s longest reigning monarch in the world
 King Bhumibol Adulyade reigned from 9 June 1946, and at the time of his
death on 13 October 2017, was the world’s longest-reigning head of state
and the longest-reigning monarch in all of Thai history.
 King Bhumibol Adulyade reigned over Thailand for 70 years and 126 days
and was greatly revered by the Thai people.
 He owned a patent on a type of cloud seeding, an engineering degree from
Switzerland and composed Thailand’s national anthem among many other
impressive achievements.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning
monarch

 King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, of Thailand

has died at the age of 88. 
 The King was the Guinness World Record title for record Longest reigning
monarch (living) having ascended to the throne on 9 June 1946.
 His death means the title holder for the record is now Queen Elizabeth II,
Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and
Head of the Commonwealth.
 King Bhumibol was born in Cambridge in the US state of Massachusetts on
5 December 1927, his formal coronation did not take place until 5 May
1950. 
 He had reigned without interruption for over 70 years after acceding to
the throne following the death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol.
 Thailand is considered a development success story, it is still in the
category of a developing nation. Between the 1980s and 2015, poverty in
Thailand has greatly declined from 67 percent to 7.2 percent. However,
the country’s growth slowed between 2005 and 2015 to an average of 3.5
percent. Currently, 10.5 percent of Thailand’s population is living below
the poverty line.
 The reason that Thailand remains poor is imbalanced development. Due
to the critical poverty rate of Thailand in the 1960s, emphasis was put on
industrialization to boost the economy. This industrialization caused rapid
economic growth and poverty reduction, but development was not
widespread. To support industrial production, resources were centralized
to the capital and surrounding urban areas, thus depriving rural areas.
Because of this, 80 percent of poor people living in rural areas as of 2014.
 Concentration of development in urban areas means a lack of investment
in rural Thailand. For example, Bangkok houses only 10 percent of the
population, but it contributes more than 50 percent of Thailand’s GDP.
Highlighting the inequality, rural areas have a poverty rate of 13.9
percent compared to 7.7 percent in urban areas.
 “Why is Thailand poor?” one must look at the disparity
between development in urban and rural areas. Poor
people living in rural areas have very limited access to
public services that could help them out of poverty. To
gain access, rural poor persons must be able to afford
both the service and transport to urban areas.
 Education is an example. Many rural poor people
cannot afford education more than the six years of
compulsory schooling. The enrollment rate for
“tertiary education” was reported as 18 percent in
rural areas compared to 39.5 percent in urban. Due to
lack of education, many rural poor people are under-
qualified for higher paying positions, perpetuating a
vicious cycle.
 Thailand is classified as a developing country. Majority of Thai people work in
agriculture sector. They hesitate to use the new technology, because they
are not familiar with it. In developed country, technologies are the indicator
of economic and people’s wealth. If Thailand wants to be able to compete in
the international market, the development and implementation of
technology are required. In Thailand, information technology could be
utilized in order to develop high-quality human resource, develop own
technology, and increase the channels to access information among the
country.
 The problem of developing country is deficiency of people who have
knowledge in information technology. Thai government is rushing to develop
their people. There are many activities to develop high-quality people, for
examples, giving the scholarship, arranging the information technology
related test. Having sufficiency qualified human resource will increase the
speed of development of technology.
 Developing human resource, developing own technology, and increasing in
channels to access information are the examples of utilization of information
technology in Thailand. In my opinion, having good knowledge of information
technology leads to the success on competition in the global market.