Gryphon 1962 - Adm.monash.edu.au

THAILAND"The Land of Freedom"Thailand, the o nly country in South East Asiawh ich ha s never been coloni zed, has a popu la tionof 25 million people, and a area of 198,247 sq uaremiles (abou t the size of Fran ce or twi ce th e sizeof Ne w Zealand). The climate is trop ica l with asummer's (March- May] tem peratu re of 85 °-90°F.,and rainy seaso n (june-October) of 75°-90°F., andWinter (Nov em be r-Februa ry) of 50°-gO°F.The cap ital of Thail and, BAN GKOK, is a citywhi ch is brought to li fe by two and a half millionsof easy-going pe ople with a most friendly attitudeto foreign ers. She is built with a mixture of an cientSia mese T emples, houses and modern buildings.T his city is commonly kn own as "Venice of theEast " because of the riv ers around the city area.People wh o have been to Thailand will not onlybe impressed by the culture and the beauty of thecountry, but will be impressed by the intimatefriendliness of the Thais. He re is a n extract froman article written by a writer who visited Thailandrecently,"and I've learnt quickly to like it (Bangkok),as a hot, happy city of two a nd a half millioneas y-going, easy-to -get-on .with-peopl­Thailanders ha ve a most valuable touristattraction, i.e., their warm friendly nature:the natural impression is a warm, whi tetoothedsmile."The unique art of self-d efe nce which is nowon ly practised in Thailand is the Thai boxing.SOME FACTS ABOUT MALAYACHENG.My country, Ma la ya, with territory of aboutIifty thousand square miles, is sit uated at thesouthern end of Kra Peninsula, which is boundedby Tha~larn'l< on th e north a nd almost surro unde dby th e Sou th Ch ina Sea.Among a population of seven millions, the rac esare d istributed into 45'10 of Malays, 40'10 ofChinese. 10'10 of Indians a nd 5'10 of Europeans andothers .The climate is tropical, characterised by highhumid ity . The average tempera tu re varies betweenapproximately" 70°F. and 90'F. The rainfall isab out 90 inches, distributed fairly evenly thro ughaut the year.Ma laya is the mo st economically and politicallystable country in South-East Asia , It is a lso thenearest Commonwealth member -nation to Australiaexcept New Zealand . Pol itically, Malaya is afed eration, consist in g of eleven states. It is amonar ch y country and ruled b y Yang di -PertuanAgong (Sup reme Head) who is elected among theSult ans (r u lers) of eleven sta tes in a conferenceheld eve ry five yea rs. It is tr ying to adopt theBr-itish Parliamentary System with two H ouses.There are three relig ions widely followed by thepeo p le. Buddhism is very popular among theCh inese com m u ni ty while th e Malays and some ofth e Indians are Moslem or Hindu. Christianityis gro wing rap id ly amon g th ose people wh o a re wellin con tact with western cu ltures.Each ra ce de velops its own colou rful tradit ionalcult ure or way of living. So different. ' calendarsApart from being a traditional sport which ispopular with every sectio n of th e population , it isa most effective form of self-de fe nce, In thisboxi ng , ap a rt from th e fist, th e kn ee, el bo w, feetan d heel can be used on any pa rt of th e oppo ne nt 'sbody. He is however, forbidden to wrestle, th row ,or bu tt. Before each fight th e boxers perform anelaborate obeisance foll owed by stylised shadowboxing . The homag e is dedicated to all th e teachersand tr ainers. T his shado w boxin g is, of co urse,a lso mea nt to tunc up for th e figh t. Apart fromth e exciteme nt of usin g every a vailable weaponon hands a nd feet . Thai box ing is generallyaccompanied by traditional music wh ich is pro·vid ed by a flut e and drums. T his is meant to giveenco urageme n t and rhythm to the boxers.Other than this, th er e a re man y interestingthings which are rarely seen ou tside of Thailand,e.g., Thai classical dance, which is th e mostdelicate and impressive dance, the m arriage ceremony,religiou s rites and other ancient customsfor different occasio ns.Although most of the young Thais are modernminded , we are also fiercely proud of our ancientculture and history. We sh all lea rn all we canof modern ways in order to be able to survive inth e future. But this cloak of modernity is not tobe assumed at th e sacrifice of the past hi story ofThailand · . The Land of Freedom.PIAMTHIPMAN VS.ar e obse rved and each celebrates its own festivals.Amo ng th e Chinese community eight d ifferentdialects are widely spo ken. By old traditions ,Chinese are a bit conserv ative, but ha ve a verytight bond in the family circle. So the moralstandards are high -and th ey ar e very industriousand thrifty.Up to seco nda ry education level, four types ofsch ools are a vailable, i.e., Chinese, English, Malayanand Indian. Malay, being a national language,is compulsor y along with the individual motherton gu e in each scho ol. English is quite a commonlan guage to learn. One of the ob structions to th epath of democracy, illiteracy, is decreasing owingto the gradual growth of popular education.Am onl;\" the new developments, the H ydro-Electricproject III the Cameron Highlands is our largestengineer in g fea t. Our national economy is heavilydependent on the international markets of tinand rubber. Many national resources is one ofthe greatest prospects in our secondary industry.Like her e, there are many interesting holidayreso rts to offer tourists.In conclusio n, I would like to draw you rattention to our countr r which has a' highpotential .in tourism and industry. You ' are verywelcome to visit ou r country and see for .you rself.P leas e don 't just sit down and try to understanda country and know her p eople by a talk, a bookor som e a rticles.Finally. I hope you will include Malaya in theitinerary on your next overseas trip.28