Page 56 - The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Vol.XIII-2021

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XIII – 2021

science and technology into a foreign culture, one does not have to carry all the
philosophical baggage. In other words, one does not have to become, philosophically
speaking, either Aristotelian or Platonist, or a follower of any philosophical school

in the West, when it comes to transplanting science. One can indeed remain a staunch
Buddhist in one’s philosophical orientation, while at the same time engages oneself
fully in modern science and technology. Fuller’s account still requires that one
considers further conditions which would make it possible for other Asian countries
apart from Japan to become fully able to become knowledge producers thus fully
including science and technology into its mold, but that is quite straightforward.

However, Fuller’s account seems to be a little overoptimistic regarding the
ability of Asian cultures to absorb science and technology and to prosper from it.

Thailand has started modernizing itself around the same time as Japan, that is, in
19
the last few decades of the nineteenth century. Yet the level of scientific and
economic development in Thailand lags very far behind that of Japan. Something
else must be at work regarding why this is the case. According to my earlier study,
the root cause is that the Thai authorities were reluctant to embrace science and
technology fully - something that Japanese wholeheartedly did - for fear of losing
ther identity and their hold for power (Soraj Hongladarom, B.E. 2543). This practice

explained why the development of scientific and technological capabilities in
Thailand were kept at arm’s length, so to speak, and it was not allowed to challenge
the supremacy of the Buddhist worldview and the traditional social structure and
20
norms that informed the mindset of the authorities. The Japanese were able to
harness the power of Western science and technology very well, as can be seen
from their rapid industrialization, so much so that they could build warships that were
able to defeat a major power, Imperial Russia, in the Russo-Japanese was in 1905.
On the contrary, Siam had to buy warships and other armaments from the West and
it was not able to develop its own indigenous modern industry until very late.

*

19 See, for example, Sukanya Nitungkorn, 2000. “Education and Economic Development during the Modern-
ization Period: A Comparison between Japan and Thailand,” In: Southeast Asian Studies 38.2: 142-164.
20 See Hongladarom, ibid., and Soraj Hongladarom, 2013. “A Tool for Equality and Justice: Thailand’s BIOTEC
and Its Culture,” In: East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal 7.1v, 2013: 87-
101.

A Reflection on Nalanda Monastery as an Inspiration for Promoting Scientific and Technological Capabilities in
46 Thailand