[mastazi]

I disagree. I’m a westerner but I have lived in South East Asia (Indonesia and Thailand), and my wife is Thai, I regularly visit her parents and relatives and we are pretty close to her family.

Obviously every individual is different and I can think of people I met there that don’t conform to that stereotype, but in general, yes I think that on average South East Asians have a tendency to avoid criticising anyone in a position of authority, or at least they do that less often than westerners. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it’s definitely there. When I speak of westerners I should point out that I was born in Italy and I now live in Australia and these two countries, rather than the USA, make up much of my idea of “western” (even though Australia is geographically located in the Asia-Pacific region!).

[tathougies]

Have you considered that Thai are unlikely to criticise authority because criticising the government can fall under lese majeste and result in severe prosecution?

[mastazi]

I don't think that's the case because:

1. I was talking about authority in general, you are not accused of lese majeste for criticising your teacher or your parents.

2. The other country that I mentioned (Indonesia) is a republic.