Money Politics, Globalisation, and Crisis: the Case of Thailand.

• Author: McKinnon, John
• Position: Books

MONEY POLITICS, GLOBALISATION, AND CRISIS: the Case of Thailand Author: John Laird Published by: Graham Brash Pte Ltd, Singapore, 2000, 462pp.

This is a difficult book to review. I looked forward to reading it but was ultimately disappointed.

The title caught my interest. As somebody who has lived and worked in Thailand for ten Of the past 25 years I do not need much persuasion to keep up with what is going on. Besides, I am always in search of reading material for students. As a pre-cyber geriatric I scour the shelves of friends and bookshops to see what has been published every time I pass through Bangkok. I specialise in paperbacks. The method of evaluation has ritual qualities. If I have not seen a review, I quickly read the back-page blurb and check for a foreword. If it has a foreword, it must at least be serious.

I scanned Laird's text at Don Muang and caught his confession that he had `not attempted to be exhaustive in research' but was subsequently assured that the work grew out of his `research as a journalist in Thailand'. Good, a journalist, I would not have to struggle through the dense prose of yet another academic. Maybe under-graduates would be able to read it. I flipped through the chapter headings. Here was somebody who had the good sense to address important contemporary issues: the new constitution, the failure of money politics, defining a new quality of life, legislating for the environment, sustainable forestry and agriculture, the urban crisis.

This was when I made my first mistake. I bought a copy. When several months later I accepted a copy for review I had still not read it. At this point I must confess to one of the other strange behaviours associated with my compulsive acquisition of books on Thailand. Once purchased and placed on the appropriate shelf they are as good as read: first tasted at set intervals between lectures, and then, if they pass the tasting test, devoured. Laird did not do so well on the taste test.

My current work on a Karen community in North Thailand and the frustration farmers have experienced trying to convince local authorities that they can look after what little forest remains under their control better than anyone else has fallen on deaf ears. Currently before the Assembly is a Community Forest Bill that has somehow, remarkably, remained under consideration for nearly a decade. Passed in principle in October 1999, if given final approval it will allow the Karen to take charge of their...