THAILAND - The latest move by our Culture Ministry - the decision to regulate the use of Internet cafes by teenagers and impose ratings on their favourite computer games - is rather intriguing.

If I were two decades younger and 25 kilograms lighter, my secret technique to sidestep these new Internet cafe regulations might be to always keep a T-shirt in my backpack so that I could "legally" play my games before 2pm. And since I would be barred from my favourite hangout after 8pm, I would have to cut down on football practice after school. Sorry Dad. Pardon me, Coach.

Then, after 8pm, when I am supposed to return home, I would not be watching two-hour episodes of soap operas filled with predictable plots and overacting and 24-hour episodes of wannabe singers living together in a TV-monitored house begging for my new mobile phone subscription and SMS votes. But, with my sister glued to the TV, I can use her computer and get back to my limitless cyberworld again, where I can chat with four girls at the same time on MSN Messenger while simultaneously browsing their bikini photos on Hi5. I have no other choices, do I? Premier League season is now over, and Euro 2008 is weeks away.

On the other side of the coin, a friend of mine questions why most times that the Culture Ministry comes into the news spotlight, it does so to pass comment on something "wrong" with the way we are living our lives. For example, last month, exactly like the same time last year, we were made to realise that we don't know how to dress and behave properly when celebrating our New Year's Day. My friend also wonders whether our cultural policy-makers would be better off putting their minds and efforts towards more positive ends perhaps, by promoting quality lifestyles for example.

A direct experience: a young cousin of mine was an online game addict. Every time I visited the family, I only got to see less than half of his face, as it was blocked by his flashing computer screen in his corner of the living room, otherwise known as his Internet cafe. His mother set the clock in the room 15 minutes ahead of the actual time and when she reminded her only son that it was time to do his homework or go to bed, it was usually 25 minutes further ahead. Partly because of his poor grades, she took him out of a Thai school and put him into an international one here. None of this worked.

Thanks to his hard-working and high-salary earning parents, he has now been in a US high school for two years. He is still playing computer games, but only when he has free time from tennis, squash, and football training, as well as dance rehearsal and painting practice - yes, he is straight. His GPA has improved significantly, and he is now applying to UCLA and Northwestern University, among other top colleges. No, he is not becoming a professional athlete or a ballet dancer: his goal now is to be admitted to a business school.

Of course, most us could never afford to do this, and giving overseas scholarships to the district's brightest kid, as our ex-premier did, hasn't worked either. Yet, obviously we can learn a little something from this example.

Instead of pointing fingers and saying that what they are doing is "wrong", let's give teenagers other options.

The way our teenagers spend their afternoons and evenings is a cultural issue, yet it is much more than that. This issue involves more than one government agency responsible for nurturing young minds and guaranteeing that we will have quality citizens in the near future.

Plus, the fact of the matter is, unfortunately, that our Culture Ministry receives one of the smallest budget allocations of all ministries - and every time the new Cabinet is announced, most of us working in the field of arts and culture respond to the name of the culture minister by asking, "Who?" Hence, efficient cooperation with other agencies like the Education Ministry and a larger budget for the ministry should be encouraged.

Otherwise, in the end, it might come back to a common daunting observation about our country, often voiced by our foreign friends - that Thailand, despite its immense natural resources, cultural heritage, skilled manpower, and great prospects for the future, still does not seem to know how to manage these elements. In other words, it is our politics that cause this country to remain a developing one.

No, putting the Youth Ministry in the newly amended constitution would definitely not be an easy way out here. --THE NATION, ANN