Bangkok Post: Opinion

Monday, August 31, 2009

Cruelty and heartlessness

Posted by Sanitsuda Ekachai

If decency is measured by how we treat those less fortunate than us, then we cannot call ourselves decent, given our heartlessness towards migrant workers.

One was 18, the other only 15.

Imagine their mothers' grief.

A week before the Rohingya tragedy, police in Samut Prakan province raided a cultural festival of ethnic Karen migrant workers while they were in the middle of a religious ceremony. It so happened that it was also Her Majesty the Queen's birthday and Mother's Day that day, so a ceremony to express filial gratitude and to pay homage to he Queen was also part of the festival.

Still the police thought what they were doing posed a threat to society. More than 150 workers were arrested and immediately sent to the immigration centre for deportation.

Many of them are legally registered migrant workers. Many have wives and children back here. Imagine their families' shock and agony...

This is probably the crux of the problem - our inability to imagine the suffering of the downtrodden, which narrows our minds and shuts our hearts - although we take pride in calling ours a Buddhist country.

Of course, we can continue pointing the finger at the ruthless Burmese junta for drowning us with endless waves of war and economic refugees. In fact, this is what many of us do to free our troubled conscience whenever we hear of abuse. But the blame game does not address another important part of the oppression problem - our own heartlessness.

It is estimated that there are more than two million migrant workers in Thailand. Most of them are ethnic minorities who have fled extortion, persecution and harsh poverty in lawless Burma. The Muslim minority Rohingya, for example, are not even recognised as Burmese citizens and, according to the Burmese junta, must be expelled. The Karen, meanwhile, are considered dangerous rivals who must be suppressed.

In Thailand, these people are often subjected to slave-like work conditions. If the Thai workers faced the same plight overseas, however, we would be fuming and frothing with anger against such inhumanity.

Whenever there arises a tragic case of rights abuse at home, we will hear human rights activists lecturing the authorities about Thailand's duty to protect basic rights and freedoms of migrant workers in accordance with various international declarations and rights conventions.

Mostly it is a useless exercise. Not because these rights are not locally applicable, but for these principles to materialise, the parties concerned must share a moral common ground: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

Which is not the case here. Why so? Ask the authorities and they will chime in condescendingly: "We need to protect our national security." The overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants is stealing scarce resources from lawful Thai citizens, they charge. Besides, these people carry with them a host of diseases. Their strange language and culture also make it difficult to monitor their criminal activities, thus posing a threat to society.

Being nice only attracts more of them to come, they insist.

Sadly, this heartlessness prevails because it strikes a chord with mainstream society.

It is not that we are inherently cruel. It is only that we are the products of racist nationalism which permeates every social institution in our society.

Yes, prejudice is human when we are still trapped in the "we/they" dichotomy driven by instinctive group preservation. But it is another matter when we let it grow into inhumanity to legitimise what is otherwise unacceptable cruelty.

We must rethink our racist nationalism. Not only to save our souls. When identity politics of the downtrodden can easily turn ugly, undoing racism is a necessity to save our children and our country from ethnic violence.

Read comment

Comment 1

jack date : 31/08/2009 time : 12:38

It seems to be an overreaction to an innocuous religious meeting , although I don't know the detail of the gathering which attracted more than 150 Karians. Maybe the authority is still unable to forget what happened at the Burmese embassy in Bangkok, and at the hospital in Laburi 10 years ago.

Comment 2

T. silapong date : 31/08/2009 time : 20:01

Can you imagine LA police raid Wat Thai in North Hollywood while the Thais are celebrating Songkarn Festival, claiming they are threatening to US homeland security?

Comment 3

Nobody date : 31/08/2009 time : 20:38

http://www.goodthaigirl.com

Another great article by the author. She does a great job at clarifying hard hitting issues that Thailand faces today. I like the moral high ground she takes!

Comment 5

Nils Bastedo date : 01/09/2009 time : 10:37

Dear Sanitsuda. I have followed your articles on this issue ever since I read 'Hidden Survivors'. This is an important issue, and I wish to thank you for trying to shed some light on it.

Comment 6

Chao date : 01/09/2009 time : 11:49

http://www.silverrush.net

I am pleased that you have addressed the issue perfectly. On mentioning Thailand as a Buddhist country, I think it is only by name, mainly they perform rituals, most Thai visit temples to beg not to learn anything. If they give, it's only to get more in return, a business transaction perhaps.

We live in hope still!

Comment 7

Henry date : 01/09/2009 time : 12:46

Just because of what happened with Ayudhaya, they feel they are given the 'green light' to treat the refugees from Burma the way they like. Shame on U Burma!

I visited Seam Reap last year and got to meet a few Cambodians (whose culture is nearly the duplicate of ours). At first they thought I was another nice and friendly European tourist. But when I told them I was half-Thai, they were not necessarily delightful about it, but still treated me nice. And I could sense that they have some serious issues vis-à-vis us.
Sad but true all over the world with varying degrees of offenses...

Comment 8

Sunthorn Skulpone date : 02/09/2009 time : 02:23

There are bad people and good people in every country. Mexicans will try to get in the United States to find works any way they can. Some of them died due to suffocation riding in the big truck. This is capitalism, profit at all cost. This is one extreme. The other extreme is communism, the government guaranteed everything. People work just to meet a quota then take a nap the rest of the day. China, during Mao's time, died from from hunger. So, may be, something in the middle is the way to go (like in China to day). Be careful, it may not work in Thailand. We need a new system building from the ground up, just for Thailand.

Comment 9

noi date : 02/09/2009 time : 13:07

I agree with you Khun Sunitsuda --The Thai loves white even the most ugly one and they dislike any body with darker skin than them-I hope they don't show it when President Obama comes to Thailand. They also dislike poor and working class people especially if they come from poorer neigbour countries. The Thai think darker,poorer people are more stupid and dangerous. That is why they have treated the Burmese refugees as such,not with any coherent policy just hatred and dislike. Most Thai are ignoring racial issues,they think how they treat other racial groups are correct as they keep reenforce each other behavoiurs and further more this racial behavoiur becomes systematically
institutionalised.
Only how we treat people who need our help indicates how far our civilisation has come--not the skytrain,new cars,shopping malls nor uniform medals and titles.

Comment 10

pierre corso date : 02/09/2009 time : 23:28

This is one of the most delicate problems to solve not only in Thailand but also in several parts around the world today. Laws and orders can't be litterally applied regardless human rights. However,we must not lose sight of reality that each country can't exist without its own obligations and system to protect its own citizens from possible danger and invasion coming from exterier ,which no one can deny their existence such as terrorism. It's always easier to criticize injustice and cruelty towards poor illegal immigrants who 've struggled to survive but it's impossible for any government even the richest one to accept and support every clandestine and refugee it's the last solution to be considered and we all know that this will be far from the best solution .Look at several European countries today like France,UK,Germany,Italy,etc.,they've welcomed millions of immigrants for decades. Many of them have integrated perfectly with their new land but many haven't made any effort,moreover,they caused more problems to their host countries despite numerous aid from both governmental and private organizations. Many of them simply get habit to wait for their monthly allowance to fall into their pockets without working while the natives have to work harder and harder to pay for all but get less and less help and consideration in their own land.

Comment 11

KP date : 03/09/2009 time : 18:15

The article does best to sum up the prevalence of Thai “racist nationalism,” as noted correctly by the author in the very last paragraph. Contextual identification of a social ill is the starting point. Many articles have well characterized it. Continued discussions on it keep it highlighted, but what good does it do if we do not identify practical solutions and action items to tackle this social evil? How do we as humanists, structuralists, pragmatists, or thinkers of some other form, shape, faith, or uncharacterized identity act as agents of change to alleviate it? How do we locally revise the thinking?

For those that are blinded by Thai nationalism need to understand what the term actually implies. It is a system of national collectivism and a very modern concept in comparison to the ancient civilizations Thais proudly claim lineages to. An honest nationalism needs to be founded on the comprehensive good of a nation; else examples of European Nazism and Fascism are strong deterrents to consider. Unless shared social context and solidarity and relative economic redistribution are practiced, it is by definition not nationalism as defined for self-determination. I here ask and challenge readers to explore what nationalism means to you? Not all forms of nationalism are good or evil; it is for us as a society to determine its relevance. Just because the French Revolution triggered modern nationalism and one of the cannons that brought down Bastille was a gift from a Siamese King does not rationalize nationalism as practiced by the Thais of certain creed and class today.

Secondly, we need to explore what racism is in real provisos. Honestly, most Thais understand and accept it is loathsome but do not think their actions are it. And falsely make clear differences between racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination. For whatever reason, the term racism in general is associated by the mass here to be an issue between the whites and the blacks. I remember watching Alex Haley’s “Roots” broadcasted on one of the locals Bangkok television stations in the early 1980s. Perhaps like me there were others very young at the time that watched it purely for entertainment and didn’t quite absorb its universal message. It does not always manifest in blatant hatred among people of extreme spectrums of skin color. Subtle racism can be equally heinous. I here also ask and challenge readers to explore what racism means to you? What does your conscious tell you are discriminations in our society and what do you think can be done to reduce or mitigate them?

Comment 12

jack date : 03/09/2009 time : 23:10

C10 I think you are asking for the moon. Unless you allow those illegal immigrans to conitnue to work with a wedge half as cheap as the alreay cheap Thai's average pay, Thai has no incentive to let them stay. Thailand can't solve every problems caused by neibhoring coutries. All conscientious Thais can do is to check overkills by Thai authority, I guess.

By the way, what is today's headline of The Nation? "PM Oh My words" Do the editors want to give a false impression that the PM changed his position, so what he "claimed" is doubious? Abhisit has been saying from the beginning that this is his voice but doctored. Editors. Plese be sensible. Sorry for off-topic.

Comment 13

Paul Garrioch date : 04/09/2009 time : 01:59

A good article. Well written.
And plenty of good and sensible comments from readers too.
Lets hope the compassionate and sensible attitudes can one day find more dominance in Thai politics and more so in everyday Thai life too.

Comment 14

la nina date : 04/09/2009 time : 05:48

It's well done piece of news that shed the light on the problem in Thialand. Not only it's a breach of human rights but an ignorance and abuse of power among the civil servant. Sadly, this problem is not faced by migrant but also the less fortunates in our society. We need an education and understanding of human rights, particularly, equal rights and treatment under the law, equal rights to access to opportunities and services provided by the State. It's not much I asked but it seems to hard to realise ... to bad for our beloved country

Comment 15

Mr.Nice date : 05/09/2009 time : 08:21

Culturally, Thai's are still stuck within a feudalistic mind set. Their intellectual development have not caught up with their material one, resulting in backward cultural behaviour as manifested in their treatment of nonThai human beings in their country. You can see evidence of this everyday, whether it's how the average Bangkok person snickers at the Isaan Lao fellow citizen, or the callous treatment of Malay Muslims who have lived in the South for centuries, and exploitation of recent political and economic refugees from the doomed state of Myanmar. It baffles me that Thai people can boast of being good Buddhists, when in fact one of the tenets of Buddhism is compassion to living beings and tolerance to people who are not of the same kind. There is a lot of superficial Buddhism like people making merit and chasing Jatukarm amulets, but sadly very little of the true essence of Buddhism demonstrated. Thais should know this better than anyone else.

Comment 16

Peter Eric date : 05/09/2009 time : 10:48

Thank you for your bravery in exposing a deep rooted problem in Thai society. Pride fueled by nationalism does not bring on good virtues such as meekness, moderation, understanding, compassion and gentleness. If we only show such attributes to those who treat us likewise what glory have we? Shouldn't we extend our love and compassion to those 'less fortunate' as well?

Comment 17

khris date : 05/09/2009 time : 21:15

http://yahoo.com

Like this problem, every country and society have. Its common.

As we all see, its not common in all the people.

But its very imporatnt for the police and the immigration officials to be fairly kind enough to ordinary immigrants who enter thailand, because of some social or economical reasons.
What is needed is just fair enough.
To further explain the just fairness - its not needed to shoot a missile to catch a mouse. And do the investigatiopns for the security of the country.

Will Durant's (a famous US historian and statesmen) wife once asked Will Durant to explain her the qualities of a gentleman. The answer was:- A man who is continuously considerate.

Considerations discretions are all important while in power or in normal life.

Comment 18

Kevin date : 07/09/2009 time : 09:29

Sanitsuda Ekachai,
Ma’am, I want to thank you for this hones dialogue. No human being can live alone. We are biological creature and we need to co-exist as long as planet earth continues to exist.
I was one of the thousands Cambodian refugees lived in Thailand and one of the thousands person once falsely imprisoned by Thai authority. It was so cruel and inhumane. At any rate, I have a post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) due to this inhumane treatment. I was only 10 years old.
I have no hate feelings toward any Thais. Yes, Thais are my cousin, brother and sister. I have hundred of Thai’s friends in U.S.A. I attended Thai’s temple in Houston, Texas and Denver, Colorado. My adopted mother is Thai. I speak Thai and once have a beautiful Thai’s girlfriend.
From my observation, Thai’s educational system taught their children to be fearful and hateful toward their ancient enemies such as the Khmers and Burmese. We got to start them young that love and life goes beyond our skin color and boundary. Love, kindness, mercy, and friendship go beyond one national identity.
Thanks

Kevin

Comment 19

KP date : 07/09/2009 time : 15:09

C15: Well stated: "Their (Thais) intellectual development have not caught up with their material one..." This is evident at so many levels. For example, though not always the case, but in many it almost seemed mandatory for Thai college students in the US to purchase a new BMW, Mercedes, etc. when they first arrived on campus, perhaps even before enrolling for classes!

C18: Thanks for sharing your experience.

Comment 20

Mekhong Kurt date : 08/09/2009 time : 01:43

Khun Sanitsuda, as others have already said, you've written yet another excellent commentary.

You sure must be brave to put your name out here in public on such a touchy, sensitive issue!

Kudos!!!. . .

Comment 21

Sint date : 08/09/2009 time : 06:09

Remember less than 20 years ago, suffocated to death in cargo containers, to USA, Australia and Europe were so many Chinese looking for better life. Why these countries rejected them? Now look at China. 30 to 40 years ago, (war created by USA) Indochinese escaped on sea with boats, risking natural disasters, robbery and rapes. Why these same countries rejected them? Now look at Vietnam. For more than one hundred years, daily sneaking into USA by Mexicans, it still happens today. Turks in Germany, Algerians in France, Indians in UK and the list goes on. I may sound cruel. But no one can change the course of history. Only time will settle things down. In Europe, there are white militants (already in strong political party position) who want to get rid of Muslims who have lived there for so long. Why nobody raise obection? Wars between Catholics and Protestants for many hundred years, and both worship Jesus Christ who preached unconditional love. Humans are intelligent, but also the most destructive.

Comment 22

nukembale date : 08/09/2009 time : 08:45

Majority of Thais are simling assassin. There are a few good one out there, but it is difficlut to find.

Comment 23

Vichien Wongsombat date : 10/09/2009 time : 10:00

Khun Sanitsuda, you are full of goodnesss of heart. If most Thai Buddhists have your goodness of heart, the people and country can be truly proud of being Thai. But, there is the ugly side in all Thainess, whether Buddhist or Islamic or Christian. It springs from greed. From those in authority (like the police) their heartlessness towards those less fortunate than themselves emanates from their desire for money. Take the case of last week at the police checkpoint 10km south of Mae Sai. A Buddhist monk with a "white IC" issued to ethnic minorities living in Thailand was stopped by the police who checked IDs of bus travellers from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai. This monk's IC permits him to live and move about within the town of Chiang Rai. It does not permit him to go to another town in Chiang Rai province, in this case, Mae Sai. But he was going to another temple in Mae Sai for some religious duties. The heartless police demanded 5,000 Baht from him to permit him to be on his way to the temple in Mae Sai. Of course he didn't have 5,000 Baht. They took what he got - 300 Baht, and let him go. This police officer himself was a Buddhist, but his heartlessness - or was it desperation for money? - made him commit this dastardly act of extorting money from a Buddhist monk on his way to do a religious devotion that he was invited to participate. I was so ashamed of the mendacity of this police and his callousness towards that inoffensive monk it angered me against the Police Force as a whole.

Comment 24

Ray date : 16/09/2009 time : 01:07

I just admit Sanitsuda Ekachai had the courage to identify the thai social problem.

It is sad that thai society is accepting and practicing the cruelty and jungle law in the 21th century.

This week, i went across an article that Thai Soldiers burned a Cambodia a boy alive.
His crime was cutting a tree. The punishment was not suitable with good society as all thai claim.

It does not matter how much thai and cambodian hate each other. It should have a way to treat human being.

Comment 25

Ray date : 16/09/2009 time : 01:11

I just admire Sanitsuda Ekachai had the courage to identify the thai social problem.

It is sad that thai society is accepting and practicing the cruelty and jungle law in the 21th century.

This week, i went across an article that Thai Soldiers burned a Cambodia a boy alive.
His crime was cutting a tree. The punishment was not suitable with good society as all thai claim.

It does not matter how much thai and cambodian hate each other. It should have a way to treat human being.

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