Anti-foreigner sentiment runs high

[pattaya127]

their TRUE feelings

 

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you missed the point. when farangs will encounter such physical abuse, it will be time to worry. I am well aware of the defiance about foreigners, mostly borne out of jealousy for succesful foreign businesses, and the rest being a never-dying culture shock between East and West. You just have to make the choice if you prefer to live there, or go home where you will no doubt never have to over-hear pakistanese taxi drivers rant about foreigners.

 

 

 

PS: you guys seem to see a big anti-foreign tsunami, but you will stay in LOS (for the expats arguing), because you know very well it's all riplets, little annoyances that could happen in any country, that will never amount to much.

[check_bin_krap]

"So what? You think thais vote for Taksin, after much pondering about his programs. He got elected because he was the new Kid on the block, and his electoral troops were well-trained. besides, I don't think provincial, less rich thais give a deep reflection about foreigners all being world bank invaders of their industrial infrastructure."

 

 

 

Its simply not possible to ignore the "Thai rak Thai" profile. To try to say this does not matter when people are voting is underestemating Thais. You don't need to ponder a lot about the program to get the message. Its enough to understand 2 Thai words...

 

 

 

Cheers!

[pattaya127]

which is exactly what i meant, a few words thrown in, promises of riches, and you'll get elected. I am quite sure many thais, especially poor, have already awoken from the "thais love thais" dream. They do worse things to each other than to foreigners, rain or shine, in groups or individually. Still, I doubt "T rak T" must absolutely be translated as "T hate farangs". If you have a chance to talk with thais about their politicians, you will see it easily gets into personal comments, and where the guy got his power, occult or transparent. very rarely do you hear about a "good politician who wants to do things for the people". I am not underestimating thais, they basically vote for a guy as do other nationalities....for the wrong reasons.

[Guest]

"you guys seem to see a big anti-foreign tsunami"

 

" You guys need to come up with something serious, that compares to my previous examples, or being abducted from a resort and held hostage in the PHillipines."

 

 

 

You guy seem to be going for the Mega Carpal title,may be for that reason U need to split your message in several posts and overstate others' statements.As every time I get in an argument with U,I'll leave it there

 

Time for Bo Kung pao

[Guest]

>Its simply not possible to ignore the "Thai rak Thai" profile. To try to say this does not matter when people are voting is underestemating Thais. You don't need to ponder a lot about the program to get the message. Its enough to understand 2 Thai words...<

 

 

 

i don't know if you have ever been involved in how politics is done here on village level.

 

i have, and i don't hear in all those discussions anything about farang, and that is not because i am sitting in. no, it is because a lot more important topics are discussed about.

 

for example, which politician will give what to whom, what are the development projects of this party compared with the other. which candidate is more likely to be trusted.

 

the puyaiban is sitting with other villagers and tells them how he sees things, lao khao or beer is drunk, the elders discuss different points, etc.

 

 

 

what do you people think? that all those millions of thais have nothing else to discuss than how to get rid of us farang? sorry, but there are a lot more immidiate problems to be taken care of.

 

the thai rak thai was mainly voted for because they promised the farmers that they are going to do something to get them out of the incredible misery they are in. if they deliver is a completely different topic.

 

but their presumed anti farang policies have not played any role for the vast majority of their voters upcountry.

 

 

 

you cannot compare the kind of people who vote for right wing parties in the west with the vast majority of voters of the thai rak thai. those people are also not the small elite of business people one other voter described, they are the millions of farmers who have very direct problems which have never been properly adressed by any other government (and maybe also not by this one). and those problems have not much to do with farang living in thailand, and they are also not that stupid that they do not know that themselves.

 

you cannot conclude out of all that a rise in xenophobia under the thai population. this is outright paranoia.

 

 

 

true is, that thailand has the laxest visa rules of most asian countries. there is hardly any asian country left where you can life for years on a tourist visa, only interrupted by visaruns to penang. i don't know many other asian countries where working illegaly is as easy as here, and where such a huge amount of westerners do exactly that.

 

apart from that, thailand is still a heaven for international crimesyndicates, be it drugs, be it human trafficking. several governmental agencies here are deeply involved in that shadowy world, and that is not a secret, nor has that anything to do with anti foreigner sentiments, it is a fact.

 

 

 

thai governments have always shown a certain amount of xenophobic attitudes and are overly protective, sometimes they are getting tougher, sometimes they cool down a bit. and compared to other countries in the region thailand is a lot less tough in that aspect. that i guess is one of the reasons so many foreigners are able to live here.

 

 

 

just look at the way how politics are done here at the different levels of society, not just what you read on internet boards or in the bangkok post, but the reality. but for that you have to get involved, speaking the language is a definite advantage.

 

things are a lot more complicated than "thais don't like foreigners".

 

 

 

honestly i am getting a bit tired of all those very uninformed political discussions here.

 

 

[Guest]

...speaking the language is a definite advantage...

 

 

 

I was wondering when you'd get around to saying that

[check_bin_krap]

I agree with a lot you say Fly. And sure enough, I don't know much about the political process on village level. I haven't said that foreigners get a rough deal in Thailand either - quite the opposite has been voiced by me in this thread.

 

 

 

Politics are not created on the village level though. The cities are in the fore front. New movements in society starts in cities. I would still claim that a party which flags "Thai rak Thai" might actually think they can win votes with it. True, it does not mean "Thais don't like foreigners". I would rather interpret it as "Its time to put Thais and Thailand first". What this means long term remains to be seen. To just laugh it off and ignore it would be careless.

 

 

 

Cheers!

[Guest]

>To just laugh it off and ignore it would be careless. <

 

 

 

definately!

 

one of the things people should think about would be legalising your stay here. the days of living almost indefinately on a succession of tourist visas might be over soon.

 

 

 

thailands politics are definately not created in the villages, but elections are won there, not in the cities. this discrepancy has caused a lot of problems in thailand's recent history, including one very gruesome civil war.

 

 

 

>What this means long term remains to be seen.<

 

 

 

well, that's the interesting part of it, nobody can say how the future here will look like, short and long term. there are just too many variables now.

 

 

 

what's the old chinese curse? "may you live in interesting times"

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

how else are you gonna sit with the village elders, get pissed with them and discuss politics?

 

in my case i have no choice. it's a catch 22 situation, of course i am considered rich (which i am not), i am the provider, the head of the family (a bit strange at times, a farang doing dowry negotiations, solving conflicts...). so i gotta fullfill that role there (which i did not choose to be in), so that people do not get tempted to take the piss. and speaking thai in that situation is very important as none of the people there speak more english than "hello farang"...

[pattaya127]

I just stayed with the topic. I do not deny any undercurrent of defiance against foreigners, but the 1st post was clearly about it being on the rise, ie. something new and ominous. I was visiting Wat Prhatet panom in 1990, kids were clearly doing insulting gestures at me, adults thought it was funny. This stuff can happen anytime, any country. That was all my point.