Is there a chance that our police and soldiers will stop using torture as a means to get a confession? Is there a chance that our country will become a strong democracy without fear of military intervention? Not a chance as long as our society still endorses the barbarism of college hazing.
There have been many explanations for the May 22 coup and the overwhelming support for the putsch by mainstream society. Some say it is the manifestation of ideological clashes and class conflicts from widening disparity and rapid social change. Others say it's simply a power grab game during the country's transitional period. I have my own theory: we are trapped in a cycle of coups and a culture of violence because ours is a culture of militarism.
Before I explain my culture theory, please let me express my deep condolences to the Saengrojrat family. On Saturday, 17-year-old Phokhai Saengrojrat collapsed on a beach during a hazing ritual in Hua Hin. He died before he reached the hospital.
Witness accounts of what happened differ. Villagers said the teenage boy went through a series of crazy and brutal acts as well as being forced to drink. The students who participated in the hazing said that is not true.
For his parents, there was no question about what had happened. Phokhai was their only child. Their pride and joy. He was so happy and excited to be in college, to finally become a grown-up. Now they have lost him forever, leaving an emptiness that can never be filled.
"My only wish is that my boy will be the last casualty of this rub nong ritual," said his grief-stricken mother Siriwimol Saengrojrat. Rub nong means "receiving the younger ones".
It's an impossible wish. No one keeps count any more how many teenagers have died during brutal hazing rituals over the years. Many parents have expressed the same wish when they lost their children. The brutal truth is Phokhai was not the first casualty, and he won't be the last.
The rub nong initiation ceremony is not a mere rite of passage. It is a militaristic cult of unquestionable obedience to sustain the heart of Thai culture — a submission to social hierarchy. It is the microcosm of how our society works.
When conformity is the goal, orders, threats, intimidation and the use of force are considered legitimate tools to draw total obedience. For those who take part, the reward is a sense of belonging and the promise of group support. For those who rebel, they are ostracised and/or face physical punishment.
Higher learning institutions here do not only tacitly allow this oppressive sub-culture to exist, they also defend it as an important tool to foster group harmony, respect to seniority, and their institutions' identity. To avoid criticism, they officially bar students from organising initiation events outside university premises. In practice, they pretend to turn the other way — until something goes wrong.
Last July, we were stunned by a video clip of a group of older students putting a plastic bag on a freshman to suffocate him before they kicked him as part of an initiation. If a student is killed or suffers severe injuries, the standard excuse is to blame the older students involved for violating the rules and abusing the system.
In the case of Phokai, it is even more depressing. Both the older students and college executives blamed it on Phokhai and his parents. The teenager had frail health with a history of leukaemia. Obviously eager to live up to the machismo culture of his vocational college, he joined the rab nong "party" without telling the other students of his health problems.
"The parents knew he was going to join the rab nong outside the campus," said a college executive. "Had they told us, we would have stopped it."
This is what an older student had to say about the tragedy. "I don't know why he didn't tell us about his health. He should have. Had he told us he was weak, we wouldn't have to be here at his funeral ceremony."
The media focus on this latest hazing tragedy is now on Phokhai's health and the need to have a "constructive" initiation ceremony without physical abuse and heavy drinking. A group of students have also petitioned the junta to intervene. They sincerely believe that the very system that endorses the use of violence to draw total obedience can stop the hazing culture for them.
Year after year, hazing kills a youngster or two which leaves their parents shattered for life. That's the visible damage. The less visible tragedy is the systematic killing of our youngsters' independent, free spirit. What chance does democracy have under this militaristic culture? Very little indeed.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.