BRIDGES NOT FENCES
A Roadmap to Lasting Peace?
Thailand has long been a country divided, but the recent polarisation has left the nation teetering on the brink of civil war. While all the recent blame has been laid squarely at the feet of the red shirts, Bangkokians should also accept their share of the blame. Find out why here...
The government hopes that its recently announced 5-point roadmap will help the country reconcile its differences and avert more civil unrest. While it may be an effective short-term solution to the current crisis, it will take a lot more bridge-building on all sides to heal the ill-feeling that permeates the very core of Thai society.
There can be no denying that the red shirt movement has gone far beyond any acceptable level with its ongoing demonstrations. The pro-Thaksin red shirts have crippled one of Bangkok’s most crucial commercial districts, prevented thousands of ordinary people from earning a living, intimidated countless local residents, disrupted a vital commuter service, and set up illegal roadblocks and checkpoints on the nation’s highways.
Emboldened by the mass hysteria of their mob-rule, they have terrorised hospitals, kidnapped police and civilians, and intimidated anyone who disagrees with their campaign of terror. And despite their claims to be unarmed civilians participating in a peaceful protest, they have used armed force to kill and injure security personnel and civilians alike. The list goes on.
The whole country is suffering from this madness, not least the vital tourism sector. However, it is in Bangkok where the worst effects are being felt as several companies in the central business district are prevented from going about their daily business. Inevitably, it is the smaller firms and the low-income employees who suffer the most – ironic as the UDD claims to follow a socialist workers’ ideology.
While a silent majority of Bangkokians have always opposed the red shirt movement – predominantly because of its support for fugitive former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra – they were at least initially tolerant of the red invasion of their city. However, as the tactics of the reds have become increasingly invasive and aggressive, so has the tolerance of Bangkokians been replaced by hostility and anger.
Bangkokians demanded their city back. Reds demand equality. It began with an exchange of insults when the two sides faced off across Rama IV Road, but the words were soon replaced by bottles and other improvised missiles. The next night it escalated further as M79 grenades were fired into the Silom crowds, killing one, injuring almost a hundred and terrorising thousands as the country edged closer to civil war.
While the average red shirt protester has genuine grievances, their naivety and gullibility have been cruelly exploited by evil manipulators who have hijacked their cause for their own personal gain.
Force fed on propaganda, these previously peaceful country folk have been incited to commit criminal acts that are tearing their own country apart and which run contrary to the democracy they claim to be fighting for.
The predominantly working class red shirts are rightly condemned for their terrorist actions, but it is in Thailand’s institutionalised class divide where the root of the problem can be found.
Yes, the reds have broken the law and committed terrorist activities. But crime and terrorism can only thrive when poverty is rife and the class divide excessive. Yes, poor and uneducated country people have been manipulated by ruthless individuals to serve their own agendas. But they can only be manipulated if they have been victimised and marginalised already.
For too many generations, the people of Bangkok have looked down upon their country cousins and mocked them for their dark skin, their perceived stupidity, their lack of education, and their poor and simplistic ways. For too many generations, the people of Bangkok have exploited their country cousins as cheap labour – almost every middle class Thai household in Bangkok has at least one upcountry maid or servant.
The ugly side of this exploitation reared its head again last week when a 53-year-old Bangkok businesswoman was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in jail and ordered to pay 200,000 baht in compensation for keeping a 14-year-old girl from Buriram in slave-like conditions and regularly assaulting her.
The Bangkok Post reported that the girl was forced to work from 4.30am to midnight and had to eat leftover rice with chilli powder, or food left over by her employer’s family. She rarely received her 2,000 baht monthly pay and was hit repeatedly with a wooden chair, belts and metal rods to the head, chest, back and knees. When the girl collapsed from severe head and body wounds, she was sent to a hospital where doctors only saved her life by draining blood from her back. Her remorseless employer claimed the girl had been in an accident.
Whether we like it or not, those downtrodden masses have been roused from their political slumber and given a voice. For centuries, they have meekly accepted their lot in life as the nation’s farmers, maids, servants, taxi drivers and prostitutes. But the peasants are revolting and they can not be treated like second class citizens any longer. They are Thais, too.
There can be no amnesty for the instigators of violence, but many of the reds are victims too.
We all want peace but if the roadmap is to work, we need to build bridges, not fences or this WILL become a class war.
Paul Snowdon – May 9, 2010
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Have your say...
Kate
08 May 2010, 23:05
Excellent article as usual, Paul.
I agree that the snobbery between Bangkok and 'upcountry' is one of the
roots of the current conflict. In fact, I heard a story last night about a
worker from Isaan and now living in Pattaya, whose mother was urging him to
join the red-shirt rally in Bangkok. He declined, saying that he wasn't
interested or politically minded. A couple of days later, however, upon
reading a newspaper editorial which was apparently asking why 'the country
bumpkins weren't getting back on their buffalo and go back to picking
rice,' he rushed out to get a red shirt and headed straight to Bangkok.
OK, so I'm not 100% certain how accurate this story is, but if true, it
also raises the question of how responsible is the press being to try to
ease the situation as it seems in this instance, that it's feeding the
flames of social inequality.
Chris
09 May 2010, 03:26
Good stuff Paul !!!
Tom
09 May 2010, 06:57
An exceptional article and explains the major problem with Thailand.
Although, Thailand is not the only country in SE Asia with this problem.
Across this region, the cities are rich and becoming well developed while
most of the country is quite the opposite. This means the majority suffer
for things out of their control and are looked down upon because of it.
Of course, there has been some winding up but I think they have a valid
reason to be unhappy with the way things currently are. ... See more
I am not a supporter of either side (The only red shirts I like are
Charlton Athletic F.C.).
Even after being here for 7 years, I still can't see why people are
disregarded because of their skin colour. If I was to do this, it would be
considered racism.
I guess these are habits that are set in generations and can only be
squashed by educating children not to be so narrow minded and treat others
as equals.
