From: sdurong@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (sripen durongdej)
Subject: Hiring Farang Again
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 21:18:52 GMT

From GODFREY@SSCVX1.SSC.GOV Fri Sep 25 18:30:05 1992
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Date:    Fri, 25 Sep 1992 17:30:01 -0500 (CDT)
From: GODFREY@SSCVX1.SSC.GOV
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Subject: Re: Hiring Farang in Thailand.
To: sdurong@watserv1
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Status: RO
 	
>>Khun Laurence,

>>Thank you for your response which you email me directly.  I think most Thai
>>users in SCT should not miss your opinion so I post it  here.  At least we
>>should learn what Farang really think about Thai people and Thailand when they
>>say they love Thailand they love Thai people, they want to work in Thailand.
 
Let me answer some of your questions, as a farang who worked in Thailand
(CMU).
 
One reason why farangs get paid more is that Thai people frequently charge
them at least twice as much (and often 5 times as much) as they charge each 
other for the same : housing, taxis, renting cars and motorbikes, food on
the street etc.  Do you, for example, know of ANY 
hotels in Thailand (other than the very smallest) that do not operate a two-tier
price structure, charging less than half the price to Thais?  Even the airport
hotel at Don Muang does this.
 
>>Do you know that when we, Thai students, first came to study here, the
>>university that we were sent for cultural orientation programme charged 
>>each of us Canadian $ 110 for welcoming us at the airport and put us in the
>>residence.  The real cost of taxi fare from the airport to the residence was
>>only Can $ 25.  What a rip off!  At the residence we were treated badly 
>>because we were foreigners not Farang.  We came to know later that what we
>>paid Can $ 35 for accommdation a night, we should have breakfast too.  But
>>we were not informed by the people in charge.  When we told them they said
>>it's the rule of the campus not to serve breakfast to us.  We were paid
>>only a minimum allowance.  Do you people pay Thai workers who work here 
>>twice or triple of your normal salary because they are Thai?  If there was 
>>a case, I'm sure you guys will make a real loud noise, right?

Take the universities - a farang foreign expert earns about twice as much as
a Thai Assoc Professor, but the Thai gets free housing, a permanent job rather
than a short-term contract, earns extra from corruption, bribes etc.  There
is no doubt that the average Thai professopr has a far higher standard of
living than his farang equivalent in Thailand, despite being paid half
as much.  In addition, the family of the farang are not entitled to work
while in Thailand.
 
>>If you really understand the situation in Thailand well enough or if you
>>have enough knowledge about the country you won't say such things.  Most
>>Thai government officers not only the university lecturers,but in general,
>>do not get free housing or housing allowance as Farang do.   What I
>>experienced the Farang rent houses, they paid 20,000 - 50,000 Baht a month.
>>What kind of houses? Wow, a real big one that I will never imagine I could
>>afford to live like that.  You also received allowance - big again for your
>>families.  What about Thai workers?  50 Bath a month to feed a kid!

>>Khun Anand, our ex-prime minister, used to ask some American reporters that
>>what about corruption in your own country?  Tell me Khun Laurence that you
>>don't have corruption in your government or agencies?  Since you mentioned
>>several times about corruption in Chula and Thailand, can you faithfully say
>>your country is and has always been free of corruption?  By the way, we learn
>>this word "corruption" from you, don't forget that.

>>You never heard the stories of Farang earn big extra money from corruption
>>while working in Thailand?  I have heard many scandals about this.  Beleive
>>it or not, I knew that one American preacher man corrupted during his work  
>>in Chiengmai.  What kind of corruption? Drug, smuggling across the borders,
>>cheating, cultural exploiting, ... you name it. 

Now I love Thailand and I am very fond of the Thai people, but I am in no
doubt whatever that if the Thais could dispense with the services of farang
workers they would readily do so.  The truth is that many of the farang who
work in Thailand have expertise that is rare amonsgt the Thais, that is 
the reason that they are paid well to work there.  I went to CMU with a 
PhD from England and 8 years of postdoc experience in my field, and in that
time I wrote the only international publication that the rsearch group had
ever had (excluding one written by a Japanese), got their equipment
working for them and did many things besides, but i still had to fight for
more than a year after I left to get the salary I was owed by the university.
 
>>I've heard, read and seen how you people treat the native indian and 
>>black people, I always ask why you people with expertise to teach the      
>>Third World can't even apply your own expertise in your own communities.
>>What about the garbage problems, what about the acid rain, what about
>>the wasteful consuming behavior?  Is that true to say you can see only
>>someone else's problems but not your own?
 
There is some truth in what you have to say about some farang workers in
Bangkok - many of those working in commerce are not very impressive, and
are there because they like the women or the boys.  However, the same is
generally not true of the universities - although some may have the same
reasons for being there, they are generally good in their fields and
freqeuntly do much more useful work than their Thai counterparts.  Now
those in commerce and industry are most often paid by foreign companies
and they cost the Thai people nothing - if the companies want to employ
drunken slobs who spend all their time in bars, that is their problem.
 
>>Farang do much more useful work than their Thai counterparts?  Who said
>>so?  From Farang side only?  What I heard from my friends who were 
>>counterparts said these Farang experts were lazy, they did not really 
>>know what they were doing, or they did not work hard enough as what they
>>were paid to, or they were just interested in going to Patpong only.

I would take the opposite point of view to you on the whole - I don't
believe the Thais pay higher salaries to farang because they think the
farang are better, they pay them because they think they get more than
their money's worth out of the farang and they frequently laugh behind the farang's backs because they are taking
advantage of them.
 
>>Wow, this is really interesting!!  What we laughed behind you was because
>>you think you are superior while your acting is not!!

Having said all that, I still think I would encourage any farang who wanted
to go to work in Thailand - it's a very interesting experience.  However,
I personally would never again work for a Thai university or a Thai company,
only a foreign-run outfit.  
 
>>Khun Laurence, from your previous news you posted in SCT, you said
>>something like you WANT Thai people to be this and that...
>>We, some Thai students here, discussed that WHO you think you are.
>>Are you the farang who go to Thailand with the attitude that you people
>>can dictate the Third World?
regards Laurnce
 >>regards, Sripen



Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai