Why Thailand's Poor Remain Poor by Phairath Khampha 19 March 2002 Why is it that despite Thailand having been an major Asian economic tiger, prior to the 1997 economic crisis, with double-digit economic growth figures, the majority of Thais are still so poor? What is the problem? And how best can the worsening poverty be alleviated? These questions have been analysed in countless, and costly, poverty studies which, more often then not, are weighed down by unintelligible tables and data with promises of more researches rather than tangible solutions. Fed up with being told what their problems are, since they know very well it is the greedy and extremely corrupt, dishonest economic and political elite that is behind the poverty, grassroots movements have done their own analyses and found a common culprit: the state's draconian policies which steal natural resources from villagers to give to big business. And they are very clear about what they want done about it. Some 6,000 farmers rallied in Thailand's Northern Region. Among their demands: land reform, land rights, participatory forest and river management, participatory water resources management, and measures to mend the damage done by big development projects that enrich the elite through corrupt siphoning of development funds and big business. Interestingly, their rally received little media attention, if any at all, because the media is owned by the self-serving economic and political elite although the demands of Thailand's majority touch the very core of poverty problems in the country. The mainstream media's view of the poor is that they are unimportant to national politics; the focus is wholly on the more sensational images of the people's struggle, and more for the entertainment value it renders in the news than as an attempt to vocalize the issue and possible solutions. This media obsession with political elites has built massive frustration. For if politics were to be interpreted as who gets what, what would more political than the poor trying to change the rules so they get their fair share and society is more equitable? It is unfair, though, to blame the media alone when the voices of the poor are left to blow in the wind. One reason why poverty remains a non-issue in Thailand is that the privileged classes created a set of public beliefs that justify the poverty and injustice they need to exploit Thailand's masses. Take the belief in karma--that one suffers in this life because one was bad in one's past incarnation and so has to pay the debts incurred by one's past evil deeds. If this were true then why do the rich, who become so by carrying out horrifically evil deed, have such good lives? Or the belief that people are poor because they are backward and lazy, a claim that breeds public contempt, not sympathy, for the disadvantaged. The state has been instrumental in shaping an image of the poor as dim-witted, as people who lack initiative and are driven by short-term gain, as people who need guidance and the controlling hand of officialdom. Worse, the poor are portrayed as encroaching on forests, a threat to "national security". But Thailand's economic and political elite's activities are driven by nothing else than short-term gain, but at the expense of everyone else. It is the economic and political elite who, through corruption, abuse of power and twisting of the laws, encroach on forests and often profit from activities that are much truer threats to national security--the drugs trade and the sex slave trade. These prejudices are regularly reinforced in the public mind, thanks to the authoritarian education system that prevails in Thailand. Many who work in the media subscribe to these prejudices as a result of systematic brain-washing. But are not many Thais caught in the same trap? This is why the Community Forest Bill before the Senate in March 2002 faced such vehement resistance from the upper house. The bill was an effort by people's movements to have a greater say in forest management. After all, mandatory management by the Forestry Department caused widespread corruption, the destruction of Thailand's forests and violent land rights conflicts which could lead to civil unrest. Opponents refuse categorically to allow human interference in rain catchment forests--and, in doing so, operate more from fear than from facts. The fact is that many communities made the forests their home long before they were demarcated national parks or wildlife sanctuaries. Their sustainable forest use and conservation systems have been well documented. The bill aims to encourage forest dwellers to protect forests in exchange for sustainable, subsistence forest uses under quite strict rules. Yet, many city greens and senators, stuck with old prejudices, do not believe the villagers can take care of the forests. It says volumes about the Senate as the essence of the people's bill was rejected. It also illustrated why the poor remain powerless. Quite simply, because the rich and powerful want to keep them that way.