Page Four

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday, May 3. |963

 

Umemoto: Confusion in laos, Efﬁciency in Thailand .

‘Ed. note: The following is the last of a two»part
series by Steve Umcmoto, Gl'ilmell travel scholar.

The atmosphere in Huey Sai is rather
strange, All about are soldiers, theii poorly kept
khaki uniforms cont ting sharply with the ma-
roon barets they wear. They are the remains of
the ‘itiving army that tied the Pl llets 1 st
summer There are over 1100 of them living with
tlleir iamilies ill has ily constructed bamboo
houses along the river. While walking among
these llnl es I couldn’t help but feel that the
men had little interest ill ally war or fighting.
The uniforms they wore were the only sign they
were soldiers as most of them seemed to spend
the day lounging around their homes, sleeping
in the shade of the hat or perhaps sitting at the
edge of the road bouncing a baby on one kliee.
The most interesting thing about them, how-
ever, was the fact that they all seemed to have
the necessities of life (including new bicycles
and transistor radios) which seemed very
strange for an area cut o‘i‘l' from its political and
military headquarters alld iii a country experi-
encing severe inflation. I learned later that this
group as well as other isolated non-communist
detachments are being supported almost wholly
by U. S. military old

We paid a visit to the American doctor at
the 15-bed Thomas A. Dooley hospital net ' the
fort. He told us that from what he has gathered
iii the last few months, the soldiers have a coil-
ception of neither what they are fighting for
nor against. Every day some of these same sol-
diers, who are so poorly trained that they 1 e—
qnently shoot themselves while cleaning rifles,
go marching off into the forest, ostensibly to
hold the area against the Pathet Lao. The doc—
tor told me that he got brave one day and ueiit
Walking ill the forest and came upon the patrol
just sitting in a clearing a few miles from

BEAT THE RUSH FOR SUMMER EMPLOYMENT!

town. Why hadn’t they gone further? They were
al'i'aid. There ' really very little keeping the
Patliets from taking the whole area.

Tile things We saw iii Laos certainly tended
to emphasize the ical ineffectiveness of the
present government in dealin' vith the situ-
ation there. Apparently the o ials from the
capital ill Vienti lie cannot even reach sncli
places s Ilucv Sai The much too large group
01' oil ials ill the village must work on its own,
spending a good part of the day sleeping and
playing tennis on'the coliit z oss from the post
office where the man will hire aii‘ . stamps be-
cause only a [001 would use them on letters that
would never go anywher

In sharp contrast, Tli lid is a relative p'
ture of governmental efficiency. Because Th2 ,
lalid is still technically in a period of revloution
(since 1958) and Lin marshall law (most pecr
ple never notice); all authority comes from the
top. For the most part the government maili-
tains tight control on all activities in the public
sector (and on many considered to be ill the pri-
vate sector). Tlle fact that the present Thai
government is author an is _certainly undisA
putable but the ‘uiipopu ar with the people’ tag
which has occasionally cropped up in the Ameri-
can press reveals iil my mind a lack of under-
standing of the Thai people, I am convinced
that the average Farming people (who make up
about 75%; of the population) of Thailand do
not understand nor care about the futlire ‘demo—
cracy' that the present regime is promising. The
average farmer believes the King is the head 01'
the government and he knows that he alld his
family have for the most part not been hungry
For many years because the government has
built irrigation projects and has helped him sell

his rice.

It isn’t always easy to accept the hospit
ol' the Thai country people for one might
lliinsell' sitting eross»legged on the floor for as
long as three or four hours at a time. As I was
in this somewhat uncomfortable position in a
village near Chieligmai a couple oi' months ago
I decided to take special note of just what my
host talked about iii all attempt to learn oi" his
chicl’ concerns in life. After politely speaking
first with me because [ \ l foreigner, he then
proceeded to discuss his plans (or planting this
year’s riee crop and his interest ill several sec-
ond cropsi After this he worked around to his
friends and family. He hoped that all his young
ellildren (having 4 already) would ‘be able to
go to school for 4 years and that the boys
would come back and help lliln in the rice fields,
Ill Thailand, this man with his 2 or 3 acres of
land is average, but in most of the rest of Asia
he would be rather well-to-do. Most important
of all is the fact that this man and millions of
others ill this country like him are satisfied and
have the necessities of life.

Authoritr mism may not be a popular word,
but in Thailand it has brought the stability
which has enabled the country to develop into
one of the most advanced agricultural countries
of Asia. Perhaps Thailand’s advantage stems
from the fact that her authoritarianism has al-
n ys been interl l, for this is the only country
of Southeast Asia which never came under :0—
loninl domination. Whatever the reason the peo«
ple of Thailand are today eating, growing, and
building while so many of their neighbors are
rioting, destroying, and starving. It’s little
wonder that millions of Thai support their gov-
ernment despite its corruption, favoritism, and
authoritarialiism.

Steve Umeinntn

Boa/ding Talks on World Peace

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like a

 

By Lynn Dcnller
s s; 1’. News Editor

Introduced as a man with
\\|th War and
Kenneth E Boulding,
ol economics at the
runner iy oi Michigan, spoke in
lien-lei: chapel last Saturday on
the Dynamics of Peace
"History and geography ale
four dimensional carpet
extending ihiough space. Tllis
arpct has pattei‘nsiblue back

 

a

‘gl‘ound (peace) with triangularled to living “1 a World \ihere
.iea checks (wai-i." he said. me are at each other's merCy.
Boulding listed the learning There-[ore we have lo learn to
process as the major key in u study merci.‘
(lerstanding the pattern of hisrl lie talked in lei-ms of “coil-
tory. “u is the process oi lhingsiﬂici management" instead of
becoming more Complex and peace -we must develop our
builds organizations Thus, tllelskills, )0, other Ways of getting
key to all processes is the learnr what you want without hiumg
mg opal-anon," one another "

‘ A pal‘lﬁst. Prof.

Boulding has;

written in the areas of social oinl '
iganizaiion and philosophy. Hei °

staled llial he believes man has aln aque
no instinct ioi- war—that the:

genellc element is suboidiliale.‘

"it l5 i|ll(‘ that you have to bcﬂonors Phel S
taught to hale,” he said, ,

“We have \0 learn War." he, .; _
continued, “and we learn ”.ng LP‘WCV hgil°;12»0fl’gv,lgnﬁ
because it pins on." He stressed - 0“” - ‘3 P “l e

has been huno on the soulh iiall
that mail has to lean] to uni er- I” V ‘ . .
stand the systems of peace "“15” “E “‘9 Mam ”311 mm at Giin~

. , , . l nell College.
i ,

, inc an official action of the
costly nnu too dangel'ou< But a .. >
the abolition or win» lS eilibal‘»lG”m‘eu BOM“ °I T‘US‘Eesv EX-

.1 . I, W > . , H‘pressing appreciation for like
liiigmoiu-bt-Lviiii‘cwsylic,’:,,”°L b“ long Contributions by the

‘Pheipsos.
Boulding spoke of a modern Thc m, mm,“ on the
clay uniuc system that cnmhnsiz. pmque ,5 (waded m ”honor 0,
es ihe "act oi worship oi the

Mr and Mrs. Louis v. Phel s

, .. , p

[suite ‘\\l10<0 dedicated service lo Grim
C(iilgl‘DS\ gives billions or dol-

nell is gratelnl" relncinbelcd"
llars lo dc>ilt|ctlon and not one, The "”531,“ M50 m“, at-
pumn- in uelrare. This l) oui-l

, tention to the fact that the
.vaiue \)~iclil. hui ii is nol Lom-

‘ . collcg ' "‘em ni women's
‘palibl-c u‘ih um continued ma. mmcmc 1m , know" as “The
lolirc, he said.

, Quad." u s constructed u (lt
in (lime to leach pram Boillr‘

liis siiper isioii (lur
“is «idmitlcd that ho lxnmi' ml and that lie iutci- sci-red the
c \- \va) ’Don't eliminate com

_ college as business lll' Inger
l t, but eliminate \‘iololice.' he from 1915 to i921, trc Slu‘el'
said. "We have in be condition-

 

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from 1921 to 1949, mid as s
rotary ol' the Board or '

 

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W ANTS YOU TO ,
ENJOY A GOOD .

MEAL THIS WEEK.

l
5 TEAKHOUSE

tees {mm 1927 to 19-19. Mrs.
Phelps scrvc‘d as dean of “mm
m during 1932.33.

The couple i‘eeenlly gal-c the
college a alumna farm in Jas-
‘pei' County as a mmi- contribu-
‘uon to the Ford Foundation
lMatching Fund program

In addilioli to his contribu-
tions lo the college, Mr. Phelps
lhas a long record at distinguish-
,mi service lo the Grinnoll com—
‘ muniiy,

Most recently he has chaired
,the community‘s long- lige plan-
lmng commisswn whose report
“as selected as one ol the best
in Iona and u-iii be used at
iLnyola Uniiersity in Chi go Ior
nradliatc woik under a , ices oi
he Nalional Institute ol Urban
iiev

 

 

