From: hiranpru@theta.cs.unc.edu (Rom Hiranpruk)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Racism and Social Discrimination Thailand
Keywords: racism, discrimination, Thailand
Date: 7 Oct 92 05:18:34 GMT


 
     Based on the recent world events such as beatings of immigrants in
Germany, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, killing of a Vietnamese-American and
many other cases around the world. I think the topic of racism should be
explored a little further from a Thai perspective.

     I feel that the term "racism" is used far too often in cross-
cultural encounters when the situation is one of mistrust and
misunderstandings or disagreements among individuals of different
cultures. This is not quite the same as the heartfelt hatred and bigotry
that result in racial discrimination and social unrest that we find in
many countries. It is not just white against black, any nationalities and
racial groups can be involved.

     If we consider racism as a severe form of discrimination based on
perceived racial attribute of an individual, I know many Thais, from
their own expressed opinions, to sound just as racist as any person from
other nationalities that I have come across. However, the real danger is
that there are many more in Thailand who discriminate on criteria other
than race; using gender, political ideology, religious beliefs, accents
and dialects, food preferences, lifestyles, or socio-economic rank of the
person within Thai society, etc. Many of them are not even aware that
they do actively  discriminate other people based on some of these
criteria. Many do not see discrimination as a problem as far as they are
concerned since they are not the ones who suffered from it, rather they
are the ones exercising it.

     By being abroad for a long period of time, some Thais get to
experience the sense of being on the receiving end of discriminatory
actions. The experience may allow them to appreciate what they have often
taken for granted in their own treatment of fellow countrymen. But for
some this may simply be a reason to hate Farangs or Japanese. Even when
no discrimination is involved, cross cultural interactions is very
sensitive and  difficult to handle especially when dealing with how
different cultures handle differences of opinions. Misunderstandings
based on simple things like different sense and style of humor, language
barriers, and body languages can caused serious communication breakdown
and even lead to violent conflicts.

     There are many cases of people of one regional ethnic stock hating
another in Thailand. This is no surprise since Thailand as well as many
neighboring countries are not racially homogeneous. The country is made
up of dozens different ethnic groups although the majority of us have
similar physical features, especially those from the large towns and
cities which are often of mixed local ethnic and Chinese ancestry.
Although our country does not have the history of racial disharmony which
resulted from slavery and genocide as were the case for many other highly
developed countries of today, we should not forget that slavery in
Thailand was only abolished just over a hundred years ago, after the
emancipation of slaves in the United States. As for religious prejudice,
we may be tempted to take pride in never having a religious war. But do
not easily forget the many treacherous crimes to humanity that we let
happen in our Buddhist country, especially when it involved non-Thai
refugees. I can see as much hypocrisy in terms of morality and justice
double standards in our country as there are anywhere in the world. We
are not any better than most countries, but are we worse than most? What
could we do to make our home a better place to live?

     Thais have long tended to admire westerners or superpowers of one
nation or the other. Even today, there often are complaints of service
personnel giving better treatment to foreigners who are Farangs or
Japanese at the expense of the Thai customers. Perhaps this preferential
treatments that we tend to offer our guests are what make Thailand such a
nice place to visit. What is also interesting is the reverse
discrimination the Thai mass media and entertainment industry within the
past decade give to eurasians of mixed asian and caucasian parentage and
now even extend to those with mixed Thai and afro-american parentage. It
should be obvious to most observers that the Thai public accept western
form of physical beauty especially the caucasian look, judging from the
number of beauty queens, models, movie stars and singers with these
looks, some of which are acquired through cosmetic surgery. I have not
noticed the same extent of this phenomenon occurring in our neighboring
countries even in those that are more westernized than Thailand. 

     It should be noted that there is quite a difference between
patriotic nationalism and xenophobia. The attitudes expressed by many
Thais among themselves on the issue of what should be done for Thailand's
future often reflect the concern for the age old preferential treatment
of non-Thais at the expense of Thai nationals. But it should be stressed
that this is our own problem! It is the Thai people who are doing the
discrimination against ourselves by treating our own people with less
respect and less credit for their capabilities. We should not be confused
and blame the whole thing on others, regardless of whether there is a
condescending attitude on their part. The real problem is our own
attitude toward ourselves, not the superiority of an individual of
whatever racial or ethnic groups he or she belongs to. 

     Some friends told me that every country has discrimination of some
sort. I have heard many questions of the following sentiment: What is the
point of raising it as an issue of discussion, are we not one of the
lesser racially prejudiced country in the world? Is it a problem that the
people from upcountry are look down upon by the people of the big cities?
Is it a problem that although the people of the northeast (i-sarn) make
up the largest ethnic group they are the poorest group and have been the
target of all kinds of put downs from their own fellow Thais? Don't we
have more urgent problems on our hands now that need to be solved before
discrimination? I am not sure of the answer to these questions but I feel
that you cannot wait for everything to be ready before getting rid of
discrimination. It is difficult to give priority on what type of societal
ills should be dealt with first, but I feel that this problem has to be
recognized before a desirable future can be realized and the attempt to
eliminate social discrimination has to be an on going process that goes
along with other types of social and economic development.

     I hope to see a lot more tolerance to difference of opinions from my
fellow Thais who sometimes lash out strongly at Farangs and others who
for whatever reasons, are critical of Thailand. It is true for most of us
that it is difficult to criticize or make fun of ourselves and our sacred
cultural institutions. One can see evidence of this by noting that there
is hardly any of our ethnic jokes that we are the butt the jokes, when
you can find many for other cultures that do make fun of themselves and
even make fun of their government, royalty and religions. I believe now
is the time that we should welcome comments and criticisms and make use
of them to help prepare for our future. I trust that for the most part we
can differentiate between useless criticisms and constructive ones. We
should not forget that most problems we are facing in Thailand are of our
own making and the solution will have to come from ourselves. As for
those who are critical of Thailand, I think that it is good that they
care enough to point out the problems that they see so that these 
problems can solved by us -- our way.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai