Colonial Amnesia

This article was written before I went to join "Community Development & Leadership Summit' 2011" ( the international summit ) @ Modern school Barakhamba road, New Delhi, India. And it was published in the "Future Societies - Challenge, Conflict and Change" book of this summit.

I chose this topic because I thought it's important thing that everyone should to realize. Every countries used to have many interesting histories. So, we should to learn them and be thankful our ancestors who sacrificed themselves for us today. Lastly, love your motherland very very much. Thank you :)

..... Colonial Amnesia ..... 
Petcharat Jitnarong, Benjamarachuthit Pattani School, Thailand


Colonialism refers to alien or foreign political rule or control imposed on the people of the ‘colony’. Colonialism can take many forms – it can be political, legal, economic, cultural or social. A method by which several foreign states explored, conquered and exploited large tracts of foreign land – and maintained this control over people who eventually ceased to control their own territories, resources and national destiny.

World history is full of cases in which one society gradually expanded by incorporating adjacent territories and ultimately settled down in these newly conquered territories. Nevertheless, in the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that gave access to more remote parts of the world. Fast sailing ships made it possible to reach distant ports and to maintain close ties between the colonizer and its colonies. Thus, the modern European colonial ‘project’ emerged when it became possible to move a large number of people across the oceans and to maintain political sovereignty in spite of geographical dispersion.

The colonies are arrogated by the superpowers. A colony is very much like an underdog – which has to bear misery and oppression, and must follow the commands of others. In that context, my neighboring countries – nearly all of them were colonized at some time or the other. But on the other hand, there are many countries that have not been colonized. And of course, one of them is Thailand – my motherland.

It was my belief that countries which were under the authority of another, though browbeaten, eventually achieved some progress. But I have realized that these colonies had to struggle and overcome great difficulties. Loss of independence and its pain is what these colonies had to endure.

Although Thailand has never been colonized, that does not mean that we have never felt the anguish associated with colonization. Today, we face a tumultuous problem in our country and constant fighting, which we have tried to fix. Some people might believe that we were lucky since we haven’t faced colonization. But I think that because of this reason, Thai people do not love their country fully.

Our predecessors sacrificed their lives for the welfare of their land. In the colonialism era, for our Thai ancestors, the important idea was to ‘defend the country for future generations’, even if that meant the loss of some land in order to save most. As Buddha taught us – ‘we have to sacrifice treasures to preserve organs and we have to sacrifice organs to preserve life’ – which means that the sacrifice of some outer provinces was necessary for the protection of the nation’s heart. We must learn from history the lessons of life.

In conclusion, I would like to say that there is a long-standing myth that Thailand was never colonized. Siam (The old name of Thailand) was being squeezed from the west by the British and from the east by the French. Siam had to give up large chunks of land in exchange for its territorial integrity. Only the middle core of Siam was unoccupied. You will notice that Thai people always smile at you when you come to Thailand – naturally because it is ‘The Land of Smile’.

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