racha Posted September 25, 2002 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 ''PS: will be glad to report honestly on my next trip about how it feels to be a foreigner in Thailand, in 2003, since i intend to do a lot of traveling around the country. '' P127, You will not notice any Anti-foreigner sentiment just travelling around the country meeting the local people Im sure about that, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racha Posted September 25, 2002 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 The thread title came from the story but did not all fit in when pasted... The full title for the record is Anti-foreigner sentiment runs high at local chamber meeting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 Sounds like good old-fashioned protectionism to me. Except the import, rather than steel or somesuch, is tourist services. Can you blame the Thai's in the tourist industry for not wanting to compete with better educated, better funded, better organized people for their tourist dollars? Don't think the Japanese/Europeans are too popular to american steel workers either. What I don't get is the "Most of the foreigners are small investors who take work from Thais- We should have big investors who don?t negatively affect Thais" comment. Is this guy clueless? Small business people (travel agents, tour operators, scuba outfits) tend to plow most of their income right back into the local economy because they live there. Big companies, like Novotel, hire low paid Thai workers, well paid foreign upper management, and take all of the profits out of the country to pay their stockholders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 P127, right you are .... politicians (no parentheses). sorry but that kinda stuff just makes my blood boil. all i'm trying to do is earn a crust (and not a very big one at that), legally, in a country i like living in. racha, cheers for brightening up my day with that one, i'll dig out some of Purachai's (Interior Minister) stuff to rival that !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 Hi! In reply to: [color:blue]Don't think the Japanese/Europeans are too popular to american steel workers either.color=blue> There was an interesting article about this in a Swedish newspaper some time ago when mr. Bush wnated to impose import taxes on stell. The reason for the tax was to protect the unmodern american steel mills against competition from modern restructured mills in Europe an Japan. The article pointed out that one of the main consumers of steel in the US is the car industry which has a significant part of the export. By making the car manufaturors pay more for the raw material they would lower the car export. Consequently they might save a few jobs in medieval steel mills and lose other jobs in the car industry. Perhaps car workers don't vote for Bush but steel workers do. Obviously free trade is supported by the US only when they benefit from it. The point is that protectionism rarely works as it is intended to. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 Your experience as a tourist/retiree not working in Thailand will be very different than one trying to start a business in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2002 Report Share Posted September 26, 2002 The guy does have a minor point, over the last year or so I have seen many farang opening up small businesses that could just as well be done by the locals - bookshop, internet cafe, etc., though 300k is prob a bit over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted September 26, 2002 Report Share Posted September 26, 2002 I know. I tried. But i don't think any difficulty had to do with anti-foreign sentiment, ie. xenophobia. Everyone has his funny and annoying stories of dealing with thais, esp. starting a business, Bu since my attempts were 12 years ago, I'd be hard pressed to say difficulties had anything to do with anti-foreign sentiment, it's just that trying to do business in a 3rd world mentality (bending laws, pace of things, different business culture than home, new "kid" on the block, etc...) country has always been, well.... a trying experience. I think you can find people who tried in the 70s and 60s, and they still will have tales about that trying aspect. Actually, it could be alot of countries in any continent. You know, in Corsica, they bomb any mainland outsider's local business, though they are french too. A lot more "xenophobic" than a PM from Phuket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted September 26, 2002 Report Share Posted September 26, 2002 Not so surprising that this MP was from Khon Kaen, with the problems they have in that area. The current government is certainly more likely to impose restrictions and difficulties for foreigners. "Thai rak Thai" says it all. But who can blame them? Its not that easy for Thais to work abroad, so why should Thais treat foreigners different? It will also amaze me if teaching English will continue to be the job opportunity it is for foreigners in Thailand today. One would have thought that they made themself abundant after a while, and would be replaced by Thais... Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted September 26, 2002 Report Share Posted September 26, 2002 Its not that easy for Thais to work abroad, so why should Thais treat foreigners different? There are more Thais working abroad than westerners working in Thailand. Remember the row with Taiwan? I find it humorous that these protectionist policies only result in lower wages for Thais since there is less competition for skilled labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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