Team spirit

BANGKOK – You know you’re in a congested airport when your flight on arrival keeps circling around, taking a long time to land.

And you know you’re in a spacious airport when your plane takes a long time upon landing to taxi to its designated gate.

 The second was the case as my Thai Airways flight arrived late Friday night at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand’s principal gateway. I’m in this city for the annual Japan-ASEAN Media Forum commissioned by The Japan Foundation Asia Center. 

Suvarnabhumi had its share of controversies and delays during its construction, but when it finally became fully operational, I was green with envy. This time, the envy was keener as I remembered the recent chaos at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after a Xiamen Air flight skidded off the lone international runway. At least my flight was delayed by only half an hour in the departure from the NAIA Terminal 1.

But I became even more envious upon learning that Suvarnabhumi would soon be adding a second terminal. Construction is set to start next year at a cost of 35 billion baht and design cost of 329 million baht, and the new terminal is targeted to be fully operational by 2021 or 2022.

The winner of the design contest for the second terminal faces accusations that he plagiarized the work of a Japanese architect. The winner has denied plagiarism. Despite this controversy, Thailand will probably get the terminal project completed with minimal delay. 

I can’t imagine our country finishing a new terminal for an international airport in two or three years. For us, that would be the speed of light.

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Like other modern airports, Suvarnabhumi also offers intermodal passenger transport connection to the city center – by affordable express or commuter train, by bus, ordinary taxi or limousine service.  

It was easy for me to book a ride from the airport to my hotel in downtown Bangkok. The ride through the expressway took about 45 minutes, but this was probably because it was 11 p.m. I was told that the drive took two hours for another journalist who arrived on the same day amid a downpour during rush hour.

 Traffic is still awful in the streets of Bangkok, but at least mass transportation has vastly improved. On Saturday night it was tough to get a cab from my hotel to the shopping center. A valet advised me to instead take the light rail train service just a short walk from the hotel, which I did. The service is cheap and tourist-friendly, which was surely why I saw a lot of foreigners on the train. Bangkok also has a subway.

Intermodal passenger transport hubs not only help ease vehicular traffic but also promote tourism. Thailand’s capital teems with foreign travelers from all over the planet, and many of them take ordinary public transportation including the iconic automated rickshaw or tuktuk. The foreign tourists are everywhere, spending and contributing to the local economy. At the shopping center I ran into groups of Filipino travelers buying up Thai dried food snacks as pasalubong from specialty shops and the supermarket.

For many years now, I’ve used Thailand as a gauge of how much we have been left behind by our neighbors. Sure, the Philippines is Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economy. Isami Takeda, coordinator of the media forum and a professor of international relations in Japan’s Dokkyo University, pointed out at yesterday’s closing session that Japanese businessmen have invested heavily in manufacturing in the Philippines. He also noted that among all mega cities in Southeast Asia, Metro Manila is the only one with three Shangri-La hotels.

Also, as a Japanese journalist pointed out to me, they would be celebrating if they had our economic growth rate of six percent (a deceleration in the second quarter). But our inflation rate – the highest in five years – is negating the gains from that economic growth.

Not too long ago the peso and baht used to be neck and neck. As of Saturday the peso was trading at 1:63 per baht. Thailand has also surpassed us in per capita income.

Despite political turbulence, Thailand continues to draw massive crowds of visitors. Last year, the country enjoyed an eye-watering 35.38 million tourist arrivals – up by nearly 8.6 percent from the 32.58 million in 2016. Suvarnabhumi is being expanded because of the booming tourist arrivals. The Thais aim to increase the airport capacity from the current 65 million passengers to 68 million in 2019.

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We’ve even been left behind in sports. At the Asian Games in Indonesia, which includes states and territories in North, Southeast, South and Central Asia as well as the Middle East, I had to google the Philippine team’s medal standing because we didn’t make it to the Top 20 list published in the Saturday and Sunday issues of the Bangkok Post.

 I found out that as of Saturday night, we were 23rd out of 32 competitors in the overall medal tally. We were ahead of Iraq, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Bahrain, Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

China led with 72 gold medals, 51 silvers and 30 bronzes. Japan and South Korea followed. In Southeast Asia, host country Indonesia led the pack at fifth place. Thailand was seventh; Singapore, 16th; Cambodia, 17th; Vietnam, 18th and Malaysia, 19th. Fortunately, sports was not on the agenda at our media forum.

 A country’s standing in international sporting competitions also reflects levels of national development and competitiveness. 

 Often, countries that prosper are those whose people do not lose sight of the fact that even as they compete with each other to excel, they also need to work as a team because their country is competing with other states. This spirit is palpable in China, Japan and South Korea; you can feel it in Vietnam and Thailand.

 We’ve previously heard calls in this direction. It can still happen in our country.