Religion and Society: Short Review Essay

Ajahn Joe [Norman Joseph Smith]

Introduction

This paper reviews the English portion of the web site for Wat Thai Buddharam Incorporated (“the organisation”). The site identifies Phramaha Ekkapong Janthapoon, as the author, being responsible for “Computur [sic] and Public Relation [sic]” (Janthapoon 2009). The site’s purpose is given as: to support the Thai Buddhist community with their “spiritual, moral and cultural needs”. The site identifies that most of the families that are members of the organisation are ethnically mixed, that is, a Thai wife and Australian husband. The organisation also claims to support mixed families and strengthen the wider community. Some blended aspects of the site indicate the organisation can do this, but missing aspects indicate it does not seem to do this.

Summary

The organisation’s English version of the site prints out onto 55 A4 pages. The site has three vertical sections: a margin at both sides and the information display area in the centre. The same header is at the top of each page’s information display area. The header contains three animated sections: at the top - the name of the organisation in English and Thai (the title bar); below and to the left of the title bar - a navigation pane listing the eight sections of the site - the eighth section of the site is a webboard, a discussion forum, which encourages interactivity; and below and to the right of the title bar - a slide show which integrates sound. Below the header are two sections: a thinner interactice section on the left with a Thai and Australian flag, which can be clicked to change the language of the page viewed. Below the flags are: the organisation’s name, address and phone/fax number.

The home page tries strongly to sell the organisation as one that benefits the member families and the whole community, not just the Thai community. They claim to do this by providing their Thai cultural program. The organisation says “For the broader public, this means greater understanding of diversity and cultural exchange.” It says the program will strengthen “the entire community through its youth oriented focus. Flow-on effects extend directly to the families and the broader community.” The organisation supports Thai immigrants by supplying a social network of other Thais. It claims to help them adjust “to Australia and help create happy households” and to benefit the whole community.

Critique

The navigation pane in the header of each page makes the site very user friendly. The use of colour throughout and the animation and sound in the header make the site very attractive. Even though the site has a discussion forum, I had technical problems joining using Microsoft Internet Explorer. The Thai version of the site displayed well using Microsoft Internet Explorer, but not at all using Mozilla Firefox.

The site is out of date in some respects. There has been an Australian Buddhist monk in residence since the 4th of January 2009, but there is no mention or photograph of him on the site as a new resident. This may simply be a processing time delay, but it's now late March.

There are gaps in the information in English and many spelling mistakes. In the section called “About Us”, the page for the history of the Patron Chief Monk only has his photograph and name and no other text. In the section called “Thai Culture”, there is a heading “Kathina Ceremony” but no text, which means the reader would have to contact the organisation for the information.

Australians are invited to the festivals, where they would enjoy Thai food, handicrafts, song and dance. The questions arise: “Are the site gaps in English text, indicative of what would happen at festivals?” “Are events bilingual?” No mention is made of this.

The organisation claims to support mixed families and strengthen the community, but only mentions direct support for the Thai parent, that is the Thai wife. The children are helped to understand Thai culture, language and religion [Buddhism], so they can appreciate their “mixed” heritage and communicate with their mother’s side of the family. These services could create social capital (Cahill 2004), but the question arises: “Are both sides encouraged to embrace and celebrate the other culture or are they just taught to know the differences, which may simply lead to toleration?”

The organisation helps Australian husbands and others in the wider community to learn Thai language and culture. Thai cultural practices and their significance is explained, but there is no specific explanation of Thai manners, or cultural philosophy.

There is no evidence that the Thai wives, the mixed heritage children, or the Australian husbands are helped to integrate Thai and Australian culture. The question arises: is this due to the organisation’s creating of the imagined other (Bouma 2007)? This lack of evidence indicates a prevailing mono-ethnic attitude rather than a pluralistic attitude (Various 2009) and that simply toleration of difference may be achieved rather than a true diversity (Rock 1999). Their religion is Buddhism, which is a non-monotheistic religion. As such, it would tend not to universalise beliefs (Gross 1999), but the organisation seems to fall into ethnocentricism (Marshall 1998).

Conclusion

Generally I find the site a good resource for Australian’s interested in learning about Thai language and culture. Not being able to read the Thai version, I cannot be sure what services are made available for Thai wives, but the English version indicates that there are no resources made available by the organisation for Thais to understand and appreciate Australian culture and language, or for Australians to really understand and appreciate Thai culture.

I would recommend resources be made available by the organisation for Thais, their mixed heritage children and their spouses to understand and appreciate Australian culture and language in relation to Thai culture. Otherwise “happy households” could not be achieved, as culture clashes could not be resolved.


References

Bouma, G. D., in Beyer (2007). Religion, Globalization and Culture. Religious Resurgence, Conflict and the Transformation of Boundaries, Leiden and Boston.

Cahill, D., et al (2004). Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia : A Partnership under the Australian Government's Living in Harmony Initiative. Canberra, RMIT University and Monash University. http://amf.net.au/library/file/Religion_Cultural_Diversity_Main_Report.pdf

Gross, R. M. (1999). "Religious Diversity: Some Implications For Monotheism." Cross Currents 49(3).
http://www.crosscurrents.org/gross.htm

Janthapoon, P. E. (2009). "Wat Thai Buddharam Web Site." Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.watthaibrisbane.com.au/.

Marshall, G. (1998). A Dictionary of Sociology. New York, Oxford University Press.

Merriam-Webster (2009). "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary." Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pluralism.

Rock, M. (1999). "Defintion of Diversity." Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html.