<p>Beware!&nbsp; The ASEAN Economic Community, or AEC, will be upon us in 2015.&nbsp; And if Thailand doesn’t hurry up and get ready, it will lose out, and will be overwhelmed by those economic powerhouses who do these things so much better and more efficiently than Thailand, like, er, Lao. &nbsp;Or Myanmar.</p>

<p>Renowned historian <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/southeast-asia-centre/thai-studies-2014/speakers.shtml">Thongchai Winichakul</a> gave a stinging critique of the Thai study of history at the opening ceremony of the Southeast Asian Studies Institute at Thammasat University-Rangsit on July 18, 2013.</p> <p>Thongchai blamed the insular Thai-style teaching of history for Thais’ ignorance and unjustified superiority complex in national history and spotty knowledge about their immediate neighbours. He contended that the extreme Thai-centrism in the study of history—the narcissistic attitude about the nature and source of the Thai identity—has been a major factor in the failure of Thai education. He calls for a more self-reflective, critical and integrated way of learning history and building knowledge, that places Thailand as a part of Southeast Asia—not a singular diamond of the region that sparkles only in the Thai mind.</p> <p></p>