The price we pay for living in a forced city state nation Thailand is now suffering from the worst floods in half a century. It wasn’t that much of a threat until the water hit Ayutthaya, a province full of ancient ruins and many of the country’s very important industrial estates and product distribution centers. The worst bit is perhaps the fact that water level remains high for at least a few months. Things had gone worse once the authority realized that Bangkok, our capital city and the only economic center of the country would inevitably suffer the same fate. Now you’re starting to see people who never once bother to think about the floods that damaged other parts of the country becoming panicked. You’re finally seeing the full media coverage on floods… only once it’s about to hit Bangkok. A tad bit too late, don’t you think? It’s been two months that the water has been destroying the homes, factories and farmlands in other provinces, and no one paid attention. That’s because other provinces in the eyes of the so-called more educated people in the capital are expendable to them, and it’s always been like this for how many years now? The gap between Bangkok and the rest of the country has remained so high, but people, influential Bangkokians who happen to represent more than half of voice of the country has ignored it for all this time. And what has made it so painful to think about this? The female deputy governor of Bangkok said this on Thai PBS a few days ago that if you think of Thailand as a human body, Bangkok is its heart. The country can afford to lose all other bodyparts and continue to live, but it cannot afford to lose its heart. This screwed up mentality is exactly what drives the perpetual political crisis we have today. Thailand has let Bangkok become too important in all aspects; whether it’s economical, social, and political. We taxpayers, regardless of which province you live, pay for Bangkok to continuously grow, while other provinces have to live of off what’s leftover. We pay for the mass transit systems in Bangkok that we’ll probably get to use only once or twice in our lives. WE, have forced Thailand to become a city state when physically it shouldn’t. Think about it, when Bangkok is about to get its fifth or sixth mass transit lines, people who live in secondary provinces like Chiang Mai, Phuket, Korat, Khon Kaen or Chonburi don’t even have any mean of reliable local transport. It’s 2011 and we’re still using song teaw taxi. The damage of this flood is a sunk cost. Given that we’ve spent so much in Bangkok, we now have to do our best to protect it. But after this, I hope we learn ourselves a few lessons, from crisis management and urban planning to growth redistribution. Thailand must not depend on just a single city. The fate of a city shouldn’t judge the fate of a country.

The price we pay for living in a forced city state nation

Thailand is now suffering from the worst floods in half a century. It wasn’t that much of a threat until the water hit Ayutthaya, a province full of ancient ruins and many of the country’s very important industrial estates and product distribution centers. The worst bit is perhaps the fact that water level remains high for at least a few months.

Things had gone worse once the authority realized that Bangkok, our capital city and the only economic center of the country would inevitably suffer the same fate. Now you’re starting to see people who never once bother to think about the floods that damaged other parts of the country becoming panicked. You’re finally seeing the full media coverage on floods… only once it’s about to hit Bangkok.

A tad bit too late, don’t you think? It’s been two months that the water has been destroying the homes, factories and farmlands in other provinces, and no one paid attention. That’s because other provinces in the eyes of the so-called more educated people in the capital are expendable to them, and it’s always been like this for how many years now? The gap between Bangkok and the rest of the country has remained so high, but people, influential Bangkokians who happen to represent more than half of voice of the country has ignored it for all this time.

And what has made it so painful to think about this? The female deputy governor of Bangkok said this on Thai PBS a few days ago that if you think of Thailand as a human body, Bangkok is its heart. The country can afford to lose all other bodyparts and continue to live, but it cannot afford to lose its heart. This screwed up mentality is exactly what drives the perpetual political crisis we have today.

Thailand has let Bangkok become too important in all aspects; whether it’s economical, social, and political. We taxpayers, regardless of which province you live, pay for Bangkok to continuously grow, while other provinces have to live of off what’s leftover. We pay for the mass transit systems in Bangkok that we’ll probably get to use only once or twice in our lives. WE, have forced Thailand to become a city state when physically it shouldn’t.

Think about it, when Bangkok is about to get its fifth or sixth mass transit lines, people who live in secondary provinces like Chiang Mai, Phuket, Korat, Khon Kaen or Chonburi don’t even have any mean of reliable local transport. It’s 2011 and we’re still using song teaw taxi.

The damage of this flood is a sunk cost. Given that we’ve spent so much in Bangkok, we now have to do our best to protect it. But after this, I hope we learn ourselves a few lessons, from crisis management and urban planning to growth redistribution. Thailand must not depend on just a single city. The fate of a city shouldn’t judge the fate of a country.

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