Thai opinion: Attitudes could affect the benefits of the AEC

[webfact]

STREETWISE
Attitudes could affect the benefits of the AEC
Achara Deboonme



BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Published in a Thai magazine, the short story "Sakulthai" starts with the life of a young man. Although born in the South, famous for the hottest and spiciest food in Thailand, the man feels that bland dishes are better for his stomach. He remembers his uncle's wife, who was kind enough to make him dishes to his moderate taste. Yet, the aunt - born in the North - was disliked by others in his family. Fed with rumours, his uncle chased her away one day, believing that northern women were less trustworthy than southern women.

Moving to Bangkok, the man became a regular customer at a food stall whose female owner was from the Northeast. She recalled a miserable life while living in the South, as her ex-husband's family couldn't stand the smell of pla ra, the northeastern-style fermented fish. Whenever she wanted pla ra, she had to sneak away from the house. Her miserable life ended when she could no longer tolerate her ex-husband's adultery.

As the young man ate lunch at the stall one day, a Myanmar worker broke a plate. The stall-owner's son berated her, "Your country crushed Ayutthaya and now you break my mum's plate?"

I have to admit that the author was clever at revealing people's negative attitudes into one story. It shows what Thai people in the four regions of the country think of each other. It also shows some Thais' attitude towards migrant workers from neighbouring countries.

Given that the job market in ASEAN will be wider open for certain occupations after the AEC comes into effect, will these attitudes erode the full benefits that regional integration can bring?

Certainly, yes. In expanding overseas, Thai companies need to send some Thai managers to those countries. If these managers carry with them negative attitudes, successful operations are not guaranteed.

Top executives of Thai companies operating in Laos admit that cross-cultural communication is a very sensitive issue. Some Thais still feel superior to Lao folk. The small landlocked country has a per-capita income four times less than Thailand's (US$1,266 in 2011 against Thailand's $5,474 in 2012). Lao people get agitated at this attitude. Tour guides often tell Thai visitors that they hate the phrase "Thailand and Laos are brothers", as Thailand considers itself the elder brother. They prefer the word "friends", as this indicates equal status.

The part of the story about the Myanmar worker is also interesting. It is estimated that half of about 4 million Myanmar overseas workers are in Thailand. A labourer who can work in Thailand for 10 years might collect enough money to buy enough land at home for a rubber plantation. Others get married here and have no plan to return home.

The AEC means that investors in all 10 ASEAN countries will enjoy the same privileges. That means a foreign company can operate anywhere and enjoy zero tariffs on their products shipped to any other member country. In time, Myanmar will join the AEC and many workers might be lured back home, particularly if they have experience of living and working in Thailand.

At the World Economic Forum earlier this year, Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed her wish that these overseas workers return home to rebuild the country, but only if the workers wish to.

Foreign companies are eager to invest in the country, and job agencies now advise them to bring overseas workers, as they possess skills that local workers can't offer. This is seen at job fairs in countries with many Burmese migrant workers, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

"More than 300 people applied for work at a recent job fair in Singapore. Right now, our company receives about 15 application forms daily. Some companies have about 800 applications on file at one time," said Pyae Sone Min, online marketing executive for Career Development Consultants.

At the moment, there are vacancies in communications, logistics, information technology, food products and services, and human resources. These sectors need skilled workers, but Myanmar's employment market is filled with unskilled labourers.

One Thai company executive said he was afraid that Myanmar workers would return home to new prospects. But he hopes that equal benefits with Thai workers will encourage them to stay onhere. He realises that the effects would be significant if hundreds of these workers became disgruntled and left Thailand en masse.


-- The Nation 2013-09-17

[Thai at Heart]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

[Tatsujin]

Did they run out of ink? Where's the end?

[kurnell]

2015 will be chaos. Workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia etc will out-work, out-smart and out-attitude the Thais in Thailand and it will all come crashing down with protests, demands for pay rises etc.

[scorecard]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

The sub heading is: BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Nothing in the body of the piece relates to the sub heading. Strange.

Actually I don't agree at all with the last few words of the sub heading.

I recently gave my third year bachelor students (BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration) a course project (small teams) about AEC. I started that lesson with 'What can you share about AEC?'

About 50% said 'what is AEC?' Others offered some ideas: 'An agreement for Singapore to help Thailand.' and more. Not one student could share a comment anywhere near the real answer.

Eventually the point came up that AEC and the re-emergence of Myanmar could affect Thailand. Lots of comments from the students that 'it's not fair that people from Myanmar could have better opportunities than Thailand....'

[MaxLee]

"Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean. non-existent, as if they care,

Thailand's view on ASEAN: "Burma has attacked Ayutthaya, so the Burmese are our slaves; Khmer people are temple robbers; Filipinos are our alternatives for expensive Falang for teaching English, ASEAN Thailand

[Thai at Heart]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

The sub heading is: BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Nothing in the body of the piece relates to the sub heading. Strange.

Actually I don't agree at all with the last few words of the sub heading.

I recently gave my third year bachelor students (BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration) a course project (small teams) about AEC. I started that lesson with 'What can you share about AEC?'

About 50% said 'what is AEC?' Others offered some ideas: 'An agreement for Singapore to help Thailand.' and more. Not one student could share a comment anywhere near the real answer.

Eventually the point came up that AEC and the re-emergence of Myanmar could affect Thailand. Lots of comments from the students that 'it's not fair that people from Myanmar could have better opportunities than Thailand....'

The effects will take some time, but yes Thailand's arrogance over their neighbors will come home to roost. It's not fair? Thailand has had a 40 year head start on Burma. Look how far they didn't get......

[NongKhaiKid]

2015 will be chaos. Workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia etc will out-work, out-smart and out-attitude the Thais in Thailand and it will all come crashing down with protests, demands for pay rises etc.

I'm sure that with the usual Thai attitude to the outside world there will be the thought that Thailand won't benefit much from the AEC whereas it will get massive rewards from Thailand's membership.

[ggold]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

The sub heading is: BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Nothing in the body of the piece relates to the sub heading. Strange.

Actually I don't agree at all with the last few words of the sub heading.

I recently gave my third year bachelor students (BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration) a course project (small teams) about AEC. I started that lesson with 'What can you share about AEC?'

About 50% said 'what is AEC?' Others offered some ideas: 'An agreement for Singapore to help Thailand.' and more. Not one student could share a comment anywhere near the real answer.

Eventually the point came up that AEC and the re-emergence of Myanmar could affect Thailand. Lots of comments from the students that 'it's not fair that people from Myanmar could have better opportunities than Thailand....'

It Just shows that they don't like competition, and Thailand may just find it isn't the hub of everything in a few years time. Meanwhile it's business as usual at the trough.

[worgeordie]

Most likely a rise in prices across the board,like when UK

joined the EU, and there is no way I believe that Thai's

have a bigger awareness of AEC than other members

of ASEAN .

regards Worgeordie

[hellodolly]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

The sub heading is: BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Nothing in the body of the piece relates to the sub heading. Strange.

Actually I don't agree at all with the last few words of the sub heading.

I recently gave my third year bachelor students (BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration) a course project (small teams) about AEC. I started that lesson with 'What can you share about AEC?'

About 50% said 'what is AEC?' Others offered some ideas: 'An agreement for Singapore to help Thailand.' and more. Not one student could share a comment anywhere near the real answer.

Eventually the point came up that AEC and the re-emergence of Myanmar could affect Thailand. Lots of comments from the students that 'it's not fair that people from Myanmar could have better opportunities than Thailand....'

The effects will take some time, but yes Thailand's arrogance over their neighbors will come home to roost. It's not fair? Thailand has had a 40 year head start on Burma. Look how far they didn't get......

I ran out of likes. I like it

I was wondering what will happen to the unemployment rate that at the moment is so low in Thailand and would be non existent if there were no foreign workers here. Also The higher wages may attract people but when they discover the cost of living it will certainly disappoint many of them.

I would think that for the sake of it's own citizens the Thai government would try to put the brakes on the run away cost of living. It was refreshing to read an article that wasn't claiming teach all Thais English and Thailand will be OK.

[MaxLee]

Most likely a rise in prices across the board,like when UK

joined the EU, and there is no way I believe that Thai's

have a bigger awareness of AEC than other members

of ASEAN .

regards Worgeordie

I never really thought about that contrast comparison. Europe has the Euro, and Southeast Asia the ASEAN,.... interesting thought.

[arminbkk]

I must admit I don't know all the ins and outs about ASEAN. I know the first step is an open job market and open borders for travel etc.

But will ASEAN also have a single currency in the future? If so, what's the Thai stance on that?

It doesn't happen often that a Thai will talk about ASEAN, but usually when one does it always is about how

bad Thailand will probably do, how unprepared they are, the competition, uncertainty about what exactly will change.

Haven't heard a confident positive comment from a Thai on ASEAN so far.

[noitom]

2015 will be chaos. Workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia etc will out-work, out-smart and out-attitude the Thais in Thailand and it will all come crashing down with protests, demands for pay rises etc.

It will be a circus, that's for sure.

[TackyToo]

“The AEC means that investors in all 10 ASEAN countries will enjoy the same privileges.”

This will not be accepted here. Thailand will create all kinds of hidden obstacles to prevent equal rights for the other nine members. I can already see special visa rules, mandatory tests in Thai language, Thainess and Thai culture etc. It always reminds me on Animal Farm: all animals are equal- but some are a little more equal. And to use another expression of the animal kingdom: if you want to p… with the big dogs, you got to lift your leg. I doubt this country will or can do.

[andid]

It may help if some of the commentors and readers here also educated themselves about what the AEC is and is not ..... its not only the Thais who don't understand.

[bigbamboo]

I see in the article that Thais consider themselves superior to their Lao neighbours, citing their superior per capita GDP in this case. This is quite normal amongst local rival nations all over the world. Malaysians consider themselves superior to Thais (maybe their superior per capita GDP here is a factor too) and of course Singaporeans could consider themselves superior to everyone else in ASEAN on that basis too.

Not the same as back in the old days of British Empire when we did not feel the need for vulgar boasting about our superiority. We assumed everyone already knew that anyway.

[Thai at Heart]

Lack of a conclusion could leave readers confused about what you're really trying to say....

The sub heading is: BANGKOK: -- Recently, I came across a very interesting short story in which the author confirmed the regional perception that Thailand's awareness of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is relatively higher than many of the other nine member countries of Asean.

Nothing in the body of the piece relates to the sub heading. Strange.

Actually I don't agree at all with the last few words of the sub heading.

I recently gave my third year bachelor students (BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration) a course project (small teams) about AEC. I started that lesson with 'What can you share about AEC?'

About 50% said 'what is AEC?' Others offered some ideas: 'An agreement for Singapore to help Thailand.' and more. Not one student could share a comment anywhere near the real answer.

Eventually the point came up that AEC and the re-emergence of Myanmar could affect Thailand. Lots of comments from the students that 'it's not fair that people from Myanmar could have better opportunities than Thailand....'

The effects will take some time, but yes Thailand's arrogance over their neighbors will come home to roost. It's not fair? Thailand has had a 40 year head start on Burma. Look how far they didn't get......

I ran out of likes. I like it

I was wondering what will happen to the unemployment rate that at the moment is so low in Thailand and would be non existent if there were no foreign workers here. Also The higher wages may attract people but when they discover the cost of living it will certainly disappoint many of them.

I would think that for the sake of it's own citizens the Thai government would try to put the brakes on the run away cost of living. It was refreshing to read an article that wasn't claiming teach all Thais English and Thailand will be OK.

We all know that the unemployment figure is nonsense anyway. It's not much good if half the population is rice farmers, but there are a shortage of car engineers anyway.

[Thai at Heart]

I see in the article that Thais consider themselves superior to their Lao neighbours, citing their superior per capita GDP in this case. This is quite normal amongst local rival nations all over the world. Malaysians consider themselves superior to Thais (maybe their superior per capita GDP here is a factor too) and of course Singaporeans could consider themselves superior to everyone else in ASEAN on that basis too.

Not the same as back in the old days of British Empire when we did not feel the need for vulgar boasting about our superiority. We assumed everyone already knew that anyway.

I lived in a country, that played beggar thy neighbour so vehemently as Thailand towards Laos etc. That was Greece, towards Turkey. Look how far feeling superior and resting on their laurels got them.