The problems involved in being "mixed race" in Thailand

[JAG]

So many Thai systems, web based and bureaucratic, are simply unable to cope with "Lok khreung".  My daughter is trying to get a motorcycle license - she is 19, a Thai national and has an English name and looks Caucasian. The system initially refused her because her Thai ID card photo "didn't look like her".

 

Off we went to the Amphur office for a new one, because she is under 20 I had to accompany her, much group examination of my passport, sucking of teeth, phone calls to higher ups and photocopying of many pages of the passport and her birth certificate. Eventually, armed with a new ID card she went back to the driving license office. Refused - the system (computer and human) wouldn't accept she was Thai!

 

Probably going to have to hire one of those agent chappies to get her one!

 

Just about all Thai systems and their operators are unable to cope with the combination of an English name, western features and Thai nationality. There was the occasion some years ago when her school ordered her to get her hair dyed black! Some may remember the mushroom cloud over Chiang Rai! She wasn't allowed to join the army cadets at school ( didn't mind that one). She was initially refused by the COVID vaccination programme, then when she had COVID the health system tried to charge her as a foreigner. 

 

She works part time as a waitress in a restaurant. She has already been interrogated by the Labour Department for working without a work permit!

 

About the only organisation which seems to have no problems is her University - but then they have plenty of International Students, and probably regard her as one!

 

It is petty, venal, ignorant, annoys me and upsets her, although she is quite stoic about that. Xenophobia, petty nationalism, racism (certainly had that at school) or just ignorance, perhaps even stupidity?

[ikke1959]

In Thailand everything that is not according to their mind is wrong, no matter who or what.. And easy things are always made difficult. They can't think, find solutions or help...only answer most time is mai dai kha... while solutions are easy... This is a problem indeed, and the same problems have foreigners at immigration.. Come with 3 different things and they can't do it, it must be done separately...90 days, address notification and extension visa... I will get 3 numbers and 3 queues....This is the same.. No matter how much proof you show in their mind she look to much foreign so she is foreign.

[save the frogs]

sorry, maybe a bit off-topic but i met a thai girl with a non thai name on her passport.

when i asked her about this, she insisted it's common that thai people use english names on their passport.

i found this hard to believe and concluded that her father must have been non-thai, maybe the last name sounded like it might have been from africa. 

but why doesn't she come out and say it? people are ashamed of this or what? 

 

[hotsun]

Its alot better than japan ive heard, where the mixed kids there are considered by the japanese as some form of cancer.

[BritManToo]

My 13yo son doesn't have any problems and he doesn't look like a Thai either.

Not sure why the amphur office would want to see your passport, after registering his birth I've not been there when he got his ID card.

[JAG]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My 13yo son doesn't have any problems and he doesn't look like a Thai either.

Not sure why the amphur office would want to see your passport, after registering his birth I've not been there when he got his ID card.

The Amphur insisted that under the age of 20 she had to be accompanied by a parent. Her mother (my ex wife) was not available.

 

As for the passport, who knows why! I went to buy an induction hob from my local Sinthanee a couple of weeks ago and they wanted my passport! Didn't show it, and they wouldn't sell it, next door no problem!

[MalcolmB]

Pattaya seems to be full of these half kids.

[JAG]

6 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Pattaya seems to be full of these half kids.

But I doubt whether many of them have the faintest idea who their father is, don't have "western names" and if they do know who their father is, I doubt it he functions as such.

[ThreeCardMonte]

I believe it’s an advantage for the males

 

Look like young farang, speak fluent Thai, understand Thai culture.

 

Thai babe magnet!

 

Better opportunities for TV, commercials, modeling work for the attractive ones.

 

Same as Philippines.

[Nick Carter icp]

6 hours ago, save the frogs said:

sorry, maybe a bit off-topic but i met a thai girl with a non thai name on her passport.

 

 

 

   Where did you meet her ?

[save the frogs]

11 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Where did you meet her ?

what difference does it make?

[Nick Carter icp]

47 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

what difference does it make?

 

   Just wondered . 

Sex industry related ?

[save the frogs]

11 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Just wondered . 

Sex industry related ?

 

Not that I am aware of .. I don't think so, but you never know 

[SAFETY FIRST]

8 hours ago, JAG said:

because she is under 20 I had to accompany her, much group examination of my passport,

You're making your life difficult. 

Let the mother do these tasks 

 

My children do not experience any of the challenges you explained above. 

 

[NickyLouie]

8 hours ago, JAG said:

So many Thai systems, web based and bureaucratic, are simply unable to cope with "Lok khreung". 

 

 

Total BS

 

If she has a Thai ID , she is Thai and can do anything else a Thai national can.

 

BS Post ........

[fredwiggy]

2 hours ago, JAG said:

But I doubt whether many of them have the faintest idea who their father is, don't have "western names" and if they do know who their father is, I doubt it he functions as such.

You could say that about a multitude of locals here also.

[JAG]

27 minutes ago, NickyLouie said:

 

 

Total BS

 

If she has a Thai ID , she is Thai and can do anything else a Thai national can.

 

BS Post ........

It's not a BS post @NickyLouie. It is what happened.

 

You can take a running <deleted> at a rolling doughnut!

[Keeps]

9 hours ago, JAG said:

 

 

It is petty, venal, ignorant, annoys me and upsets her, although she is quite stoic about that. Xenophobia, petty nationalism, racism (certainly had that at school) or just ignorance, perhaps even stupidity?

I can't believe 3 retards gave you thumbs down for this post. Says more about them than the post.

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Combination of ignorance, stupidity and throw in a little xenophobia.

 

I'm glad that your daughter seems to be coping with it fairly well. No doubt many more such challenges ahead unfortunately.

 

Best of luck.

[still kicking]

32 minutes ago, NickyLouie said:

 

 

Total BS

 

If she has a Thai ID , she is Thai and can do anything else a Thai national can.

 

BS Post ........

B/S answer

[JAG]

1 minute ago, Keeps said:

I can't believe 3 retards gave you thumbs down for this post. Says more about them than the post.

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Combination of ignorance, stupidity and throw in a little xenophobia.

 

I'm glad that your daughter seems to be coping with it fairly well. No doubt many more such challenges ahead unfortunately.

 

Best of luck.

Thank you - with my "Pollyanna of the internet" head on, the thumbs down emojis may have been because they think it is a shame.

[Keeps]

Just now, JAG said:

Thank you - with my "Pollyanna of the internet" head on, the thumbs down emojis may have been because they think it is a shame.

Possibly but probably would have been the broken heart 💔 one. (which seems utterly pointless but the Mods still haven't taken the hint to restore the old system).

 

Judging by some of the responses/respondees I have my own opinion on this. 

 

I bow to your sense of benevolence.

[youreavinalaff]

9 hours ago, JAG said:

So many Thai systems, web based and bureaucratic, are simply unable to cope with "Lok khreung".  My daughter is trying to get a motorcycle license - she is 19, a Thai national and has an English name and looks Caucasian. The system initially refused her because her Thai ID card photo "didn't look like her".

 

Off we went to the Amphur office for a new one, because she is under 20 I had to accompany her, much group examination of my passport, sucking of teeth, phone calls to higher ups and photocopying of many pages of the passport and her birth certificate. Eventually, armed with a new ID card she went back to the driving license office. Refused - the system (computer and human) wouldn't accept she was Thai!

 

Probably going to have to hire one of those agent chappies to get her one!

 

Just about all Thai systems and their operators are unable to cope with the combination of an English name, western features and Thai nationality. There was the occasion some years ago when her school ordered her to get her hair dyed black! Some may remember the mushroom cloud over Chiang Rai! She wasn't allowed to join the army cadets at school ( didn't mind that one). She was initially refused by the COVID vaccination programme, then when she had COVID the health system tried to charge her as a foreigner. 

 

She works part time as a waitress in a restaurant. She has already been interrogated by the Labour Department for working without a work permit!

 

About the only organisation which seems to have no problems is her University - but then they have plenty of International Students, and probably regard her as one!

 

It is petty, venal, ignorant, annoys me and upsets her, although she is quite stoic about that. Xenophobia, petty nationalism, racism (certainly had that at school) or just ignorance, perhaps even stupidity?

Our daughter, now 23, has never had any issues at any time with regards to what you've posted. Even when I've been with her, she's been treated just as if she was Thai.

 

She does have a Thai Christian name. It certainly helps to keep her Thai identity.I wanted that for her. A Thai name, my surname and an English nickname. Best of both worlds.

[JAG]

6 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

Our daughter, now 23, has never had any issues at any time with regards to what you've posted. Even when I've been with her, she's been treated just as if she was Thai.

 

She does have a Thai Christian name. It certainly helps to keep her Thai identity.I wanted that for her. A Thai name, my surname and an English nickname. Best of both worlds.

It may be a question of where you live. We are in rural Chiang Rai, and almost certainly she is the only "white Thai" in the Amphur - probably a bit of a novelty in the city as well.

[GreasyFingers]

32 minutes ago, still kicking said:

B/S answer

B/S answer from a B/S person. Not you, from the post you quoted.

[youreavinalaff]

17 minutes ago, JAG said:

It may be a question of where you live. We are in rural Chiang Rai, and almost certainly she is the only "white Thai" in the Amphur - probably a bit of a novelty in the city as well.

Rural Buriram. She was the only mixed race student in both primary and secondary school.

 

Your use of "white Thai" is strange. 

 

I don't know everyone in our district so wouldn't know how many mixed race there are. 

[JAG]

43 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

Rural Buriram. She was the only mixed race student in both primary and secondary school.

 

Your use of "white Thai" is strange. 

 

I don't know everyone in our district so wouldn't know how many mixed race there are. 

"White Thai" - I was casting around for a phrase - that one was used by the school to try and explain why she couldn't join the school Army cadets.

There is a bit of a "back story" to that one which I can relate by PM if you are interested.

 

Whilst I too obviously don't know everyone in the district, in oh, 12 years I have never come across any other mixed race children.

 

She was also the only "mixed race" child in her school in Chiang Rai, although there was an American boy, and a French girl there for a time. I was also a teacher there.

 

Maybe Lucy has been unlucky, maybe your daughter has been lucky. Lucy's problems have all eventually been resolved, annoyances rather than major obstacles, and  I suppose it is only half a dozen events over the last 7 years. Nevertheless, it has been a feature of her young life, and the latest, the driving license business, is particularly annoying.

[simon43]

I would comment that you should come down hard on any Thai official who refuses your daughter her legal rights as a Thai.  If she has a Thai ID card, then next time, take your mobile phone and at the first sign of refusal I would start videoing the official whilst explaining thet they are being plastered all over Facebook for refusing a Thai person her rights.....

 

I have no time for petty minded officials (as is exemplified by the shouting match between me and a female Thai immigration offical at the Thai-Malaysian border a few weeks ago!).

 

I won.....

[NickyLouie]

3 hours ago, JAG said:

It may be a question of where you live. We are in rural Chiang Rai, and almost certainly she is the only "white Thai" in the Amphur - probably a bit of a novelty in the city as well.

 

Naw you're a total drama queen 

 

Thai ID = Thai person 

 

stop moaning about false injustices 

[Packer]

In a list of things that never happened, the OP's story never happened the most.