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46
beginning of the destruction of the
nation." The doctor nodded assent.
Refugees - women leaving the home
and working - family life breaking
clown - juvenile delinquency! I have
found tbis, it seems, EVERYWHERE in
the world recently.
In September Madam Prime Minister
Indica Gandhi of India took twenty
minutes of our half-hour interview to
tell me about the tragic refugee problem
in India. Every day, thousands of home–
less, destitute, unemployed - and usu–
ally illiterate -
refugees continue
st reaming over the bordees of both East
and West Pakistan into India for the
al ready over-populated Indians to take
care of.
In Jordan the refugee problem has
been acute ever since the 6-day war in
1967. The one country which INVITES a
refugee problem,
and handles it sucress–
fully,
is Israel. I have known something
of this for severa! years, but last month,
on our February trip around the world,
Mrs. Golda Meir explained it to me in
more detail. This most interesting inter–
view, of February 7th, is reported in a
separate article.
The drug problem is acute here in
Vietnam, too. But although it is illegal
to sell marijuana (or hashish) here,
the bigger problem in Vietnam is
opium. This is spreading among our
American G.I.s even more than among
South Vietnamese soldiers. There is a
serious problem of education here, too.
There has not been, up to now, a sys–
tem of compulsory education in the
elementary grades, but compulsory
education will soon begin. As it has
been, many children will run away from
home to
avoid
school. Then it becomes
a problem after two
oc
three drop-out
years. They cannot start in again with
others their own age. And often it is
impossible for them to go back and
start over.
WHY IS IT? The most wonderful
thing we can know in the material cre–
atioo is the human MJND. Why are so
many mentally LAZY? WHY do so many
resist
educating their minds? WHY do
so many "blow their minds" with dope
or drugs - ruining their minds beyond
reclaim? WHY?
Here, as elsewhere, there is a tragic
shortage of teachers.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
Of course more and better education
is the problem in India.
Near mid-February - last month -
I visited Nepal for the first time. At
Katmaodu, the capital, with Stanley R.
Rader, our general counsel and adviser,
and Osamu Gotoh, Chairman of our
Department of Asían Studies, I had a
very interesting visit with Crown Prince
Birendra. One of his principie personal
interests is in a program he has insti–
tuted for getting education to their
mountain people. He explained their
program.
lt
appeared workable. After
the conference with the Crown Prince,
we decided to offer a limited joint
participation on the part of Ambassador
College m the Nepal educational
program.
The following day, toward evening,
we were received by King Mahendra,
and I announced to him our offer of
participation, which he gladly accepted.
The following morning his Minister of
Education had me on the telephone
before 7 a.m., to follow through on our
offer of participation. I told him to
work out details with Mr. Gotoh.
A couple of days later, at Bangkok, I
had a lY:z-hour audience with King
Bhumibol of Thailand. Sorne years ago,
in Chicago, Mrs. Armstrong and I saw
the stage play - called either "The
King and I" or, "Anna and the King of
Siam." I think the stage play was given
one of those two names, and the movie
version the other. In any event, the for–
mer Siam is now named Thai land. I
could not help thinking, here I was, not
play-acting, but in a very serious real–
life meeting:
"The King and l."
On this particular meeting, Mr.
Rader, Mr. Gotoh and I were
accom–
panied to the meeting with His Majesty
the King by Madam Sunirat Telan,
owoer of the famous Rama Hotel
(Hi lton operated), besides two or three
other Bangkok hotels, and industrial
interests.
At this point l'd like to digress by
telling you a little about this very
unusual and distinguished little lady.
For she
is
a tiny l ittle lady.
My
daugh–
ter, Mrs. Beverly
L.
Gott, first met
Madam "Suni" - as we called her -
at a banquet in D jakarta last December.
Our party had chosen to stay at the
May 1971
Bali-Beach Hotel oo the adjoining
island of Bali, instead of a hotel in Dja–
karta. We hosted a banquet one evening
in Djakarta, however. It was attended
by sorne seven or eight top key men in
the Indonesian governmeot, with their
wives. On these same days the King of
Thailand was paying a state visit to
President Suharto of Indonesia, and
Madam "Suni" bad accompanied the
royal party to Djakarta. She was in
attendance at the banquet.
I had been travelling a great deal -
then on the second of three round-the–
world trips within five months. On the
particular evening of the banquet I was
unusually fatigued. I ferried over to Dja–
karta with our party, but arriving at
Djakarta airport, I decided it was
unwise for me to push myself further,
and had our crew take me back to Bali
in our aircraft. These world tours are no
pleasure jaunts, but strenuous, hard–
working ordeals. My daughter, accom–
panying me as hostess at such occasions,
remained with Mr. and Mrs. Rader and
Mr. Gotoh.
Mr. Rader and Mr. Gotoh were bus·
ily engaged at the b<.'nquet talking to
the generals and goveroment officials
there as guests. This left it for my
daughter and Mrs. Rader to entertain
the wives and Madam TeJan. It was at
this banquet that Madam Telan urged
my daughter for us to make a stop at
Bangkok for an audience with His Maj–
esty the King on our forthcoming Feb–
ruary trip. Madam "Suni" said she
would Jike to host a banquet in my
honor at the Rama Hotel. So that set up
the visit to Bangkok, and the audience
with His Majesty the King.
Actually, on our February visit,
Madam "Suni" not only bosted the ban–
quet in my honor, but she also hosted
every luncheon and dinner during our
three-day stay in Bangkok.
And, more, she presented to the
King,
in
my
honor,
a contribution I
understood to be in the amount of sev–
era! thousand dollars (U. S. dollar
equivalent), in addition to multiple
shares of stock in ao industrial enter–
prise which she owns.
So back now to "The King and
1."
King Bhumibol of Thai land is a
comparat ively young man - about 44,