Taking the case of Bang Kloi Karen villagers, there is no further proof needed that indigenous people in Thailand have a hard life. It's an irony, given that the country in 2007 adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The government which makes use of them to promote tourism, when it suits, has always treated indigenous communities with prejudice and discrimination.
This year, Bang Kloi villagers camped out in front of Government House twice, to call for the government to step into the long-standing conflict with Kaeng Krachan National Park. Before that, they protested at the NRE which oversees the park office.
The Bang Kloi issue emerged earlier this year when a group of Karen left their relocation site at Lower Bang Kloi village to return to their ancestral land in upper Bang Kloi village, or Jai Paen Din village, which they were forced to leave in 2011. The villagers are trying to escape the land they were given as it has proved to be barren.
In order to end the protests, the government set up a working group and an independent committee to tackle the issue. Each time, the park officials took harsh action against them. ît appears the formation of the working group and panel is a tactic to end the protest, not the problem.
Karen people lived in the forest before the area was designated Kaeng Krachan National Park in 1981. But park officials nevertheless criminalised them for encroaching on the forest. The eviction, led by then park chief Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, was completed in 2011, in what is known as a Tanao Sri operation in which their huts and rice barns were reduced to ashes.
The operation was linked to the government's attempt to clear out the forest dwellers in preparation for Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex's bid to become Thailand's third Natural World Heritage site.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who signed the order to set up the panel last Tuesday has made it clear he will not consider their recommendation, which is worrisome and implies prejudice toward them.
Responding to reporters' questions, he said he does not blame the indigenous community for demanding land rights, but condemned "the people behind them", supposedly influencing the Karens as part of a malicious effort to stir up conflict in the country.
"Thai people" are not happy with Karen living in the forest, he said, because it is against the government's forest conservation policy.
His comments are problematic. First, he refused to accept that the case involves rights violations of any kind, preferring to refer to third parties as the culprits. Blaming unspecified outside influence is a tactic he often deploys to deflect criticism of his administration.
Second, he discriminates against ethnic people by treating them as distinct from Thais, even though they were born in the country and many have Thai ID numbers.
I have observed a similar attitude among bureaucrats sent to the community to solve the land rights issue, and whose sense of superiority can be overwhelming.
They dominate the discussion, hardly allowing community representatives a chance to explain their plight. In short, when it comes to forest management, they have the knowledge.
What they don't realise is that it is they who are the problem, not indigenous people.
Their perspective is so narrow that they only accept the rights of those in possession of an abstract "pure Thainess", enough to make them falsely assume the country as the land of Thais and that's it. It is an outdated perception that has plagued Thai society, only to be challenged lately by the younger generation.
I believe this perception is imprinted in the head of our leader too, and contributes to his lack of empathy and political will to improve indigenous people's livelihoods.
It may also explain why the government has never taken serious action to investigate the 2014 disappearance of Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen, a Karen activist campaigning for forest-dweller rights.
He was last seen with Chaiwat and his staff in Kaeng Krachan National Park. A probe by the DSI indicated that Billy was murdered.
For years, the belief in Thai superiority among government officials has been the source of hardship for indigenous people who, for them, don't qualify for the status as Thais.
The children of indigenous parents are often discriminated against in the education system, which ignores their multi-linguistic background and is one reason for their higher than average drop-out rate. Once teachers encourage them to learn the Thai language and adapt to the schooling system, they often become prominent students.
Similarly, if government officials could open up to the idea, they will find the indigenous people who have lived in the forest for generations to be full of wisdom and novel solutions on forest management and living harmoniously with nature.
For example, the Karens' traditional rotation farming method is recognised for its benefit in preserving the forest.
But prejudice has seen government officials pinpoint it as the primary source of deforestation despite all the illegal logging, expansion of large-scale farming, and resort and house-building in forest areas.
Collaboration, however, is a solution that can be found in the Western Forest Complex, where park officials and indigenous people work together to preserve the forest, allowing the latter to remain in their ancestral land.
Under a project titled the Joint Management of Protected Area in Western Forest Complex, both parties agreed on creating farm zoning in which indigenous people can plant crops. Park officials and civil society help to promote farming products to the market.
A similar collaboration could be pursued at Kaeng Krachan National Park if only the government leaders would open up their minds to the idea, and look after people's wellbeing regardless of race. There is no place for prejudice in society, whether here in Thailand or elsewhere.
Paritta Wangkiat is a Bangkok Post columnist.