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CASE STUDY
HELPING RESTORE STABILITY
IN THAILAND
Thailand’s recent history is a tale of conflict and warring political factions, including the “Red October State of Siege” between leftist and right-wing groups.
Having observed the calming effect of The Way to Happiness, members of the Thai Way to Happiness team determined to help defuse the hostilities between the parties.
They started in Bangkok, handing out thousands of The Way to Happiness booklets at a nighttime rally of a left-wing group at the Grand Palace parade grounds and at a rally held by a right-wing group elsewhere in the city. By the end of the first hour, demonstrators were stopping to read the precepts. When placed in the hands of party leaders, The Way to Happiness became the single point of agreement between the two opposing groups.
The Way to Happiness team also distributed the booklet directly to the Bangkok civilian population: at the Khlong Toei produce markets, where Thailand’s working people have congregated for generations; on Bangkok metro trains; at stops along the Chao and Phraya River frequented by taxi drivers; and at the Wat Tham Mangkon Thong monastery.
They redoubled their efforts with Way to Happiness presentations in schools, engaging thousands of students in interactive instruction on the precepts.
After being introduced to the program, the top official of the Bangkok Royal Thai Police ordered immediate distribution of The Way to Happiness to the entire force.
The team also delivered seminars for 600 metro police and a special unit of the King’s Royal Army responsible for preserving the Thai constitution. Way to Happiness training then spread across all branches of the military: the communication center at the army’s strategic command post, the Black Hawk chopper teams of the Royal Thai Air Force, the Royal Thai ceremonial marching troops, the Royal Signal Corps and the King’s Guard.
In total, 10,000 people attended Way to Happiness lectures, 150,000 received booklets and hundreds of thousands more viewed The Way to Happiness on television. In just one year, the Way to Happiness message reached 13 million citizens of Thailand.
And with the booklet in the hands of more than 22,000 troops, an officer in the Royal Thai Army proclaimed, “Today there is hope for our future thanks to The Way to Happiness.”
