By the end of the 20th century, many long resident tribal peoples had attained citizenship rights and access to education. Tourism was booming, public safety and quality of life were unsurpassed in the region. Lanna society remains tolerant while respectful of tradition, according full religious freedom. Well-managed power, health-care and public records systems bolster public faith in government and king. Transportation, water, communication and waste disposal infrastructure are adequate by international standards, and pursuit of higher education and other forms of self-improvement are gaining in popularity. Local language remains widely used, local customs remain well observed, living costs are low due to local self-reliance, the people are as honest and friendly as any, and prospects for major disruptions appear minimal.
As Thailand's political future depends in important respects on its monarch, and as two generations of royal monogamy have supplied a limited pool of potential candidates for succession, the Succession Law now allows women to succeed to the throne. Both Prince Vajiralongkorn and Princess Sirindhorn have been designated as heirs presumptive. Princess Sirindhorn's Foundation is preparing to open a museum of royal accoutrements and ancient stone engravings at Rai Mae Fa Luang in Chiang Rai. The return of Princess Ubon from the USA clouds the outlook; perhaps only General Prem Tinsulanonda of the Privy Council could accurately predict!
The Shan/Lanna/Lao well avoided something the ChaoPraya Siamese embraced: bureaucracy so overblown in extent as to cruelly limit personal freedoms and choice. The form of pyramidal structuring was Khom (mistakenly called Khmer), the bureaucrats themselves preponderantly Persian or Bramin-Indian. The greatest beneficiaries, though, outside of royalty itself, were Chinese itinerant laborers who achieved their goal of going into trading. The influence from Ligor which convinced Mengrai to propagate Theravada Buddhism and helped him ward off the Mongols eventually allowed a similar crippling influence in through the opposite door. A culture of ex-pat mercantile exploitationism soon gained domination over Lua/Dai laziz-faire co-operation. At least, though, this subjugation was to something less remote than the Mongols. Chinese secret societies though, have become a significant force in Thai society.
T'ai, Dai, Tai Yai, Shan, Lawa, Lue, Lua or Lao - for half a millenium these were the predominant people of non-coastal Southeast Asia. Southern China, northern Vietnam, Laos, inland Thailand, north Burma and Assam in India were theirs. There are regional variations within the larger culture, but their inter-relatedness is clear. The culture is one of rice-growing, sticky-rice eating, rice wine drinking, livestock tending, fun-loving communally co-operative people with distinctive traditional styles, notably in architecture, bronze work, weaving, tattooing, martial arts, fishing, music, language and spiritual beliefs. They never produced a maritime society, were rarely business oriented, and are hardly as closely related to the societies of Bangkok and Ayudhaya as is commonly supposed. The T'ai population may have reached 100 million, but now, most of these non-centralized, anti-bureaucratic people live under the domination of one or another autocratic big government. Those unassimilated into bordering societies and cultures live lives of fear, worry, dread and poverty. The Shan T'aiYai, less racially prejudiced than the central Siamese, more egalitarian and less impressed with formalities, certainly were also less capable of promulgating nationhood in the modern sense. But in the long run, the T'ai style of local self-determination within an allied confederation may prove more valid.
Thailand's place in the modern world remains threatened by issues including: unstable financial systemizing with pervasive indebtedness and what is called NPL (non-performing loans: many avowed debt obligations are never met); inequitable land distribution and confused water rights; insufficient focus on self-reliance; specious governmental claims of transparency and accountability; crazed governmental spending, especially on mega-projects requiring massive amounts of cement; inadequate education; class favoritism including class and gender inequality in the courts; cockeyed international aspirations, and freedom-of-expression suppression.
Hierarchical adherence promotes mismanagement at the least, hindering progress and undermining stability. Greed and ego blind decision-makers to poor quality in their own lives; they deceive themselves into feeling unaffected by their poor decision-making. Their descendents, though, are likely to face-to-face with the reality of these failings.
It was suggested that Thailand would enter the "First World" in 2005, and similarly that Chiang Saen will become a hub for transportation and commerce (with either the railroad extended to there, or the highways widened; Chinese river traffic appears problematic). A new, new kind of leadership is needed, to inspire youth to want to consume not just commodities but knowledge. What Thailand needs most is to find challenge, fun and ambition in seeking knowledge. Real education is worth much more than what it usually costs. Youth should be encouraged to indulge in discovery, and become able to glory in self-sufficiency. Surely fulfillment need not be fueled by debt!
The Brahmin Laws of Manu say, "Do not let the producing classes, the lowest castes, accumulate wealth. Dispossess them of their wealth as soon as they may gain it. They are there to serve the higher-caste people." This 'wisdom' is 2500 years old, and well out of date, although teachings of the Buddha, similarly old, I do not see as so. Popularly accepted circular reasoning, contrary to all evidence, still credits the powerful with moral superiority, by virtue of their good fortune (which the belief of many Thais holds they must have earned in a previous life). Nevertheless, the Lanna area now again affords quality of life to rival anywhere else.