Inequality not the only factor in Thai unrest

[webfact]

Inequality not the only factor in Thai unrest
Taro Nishijima
The Yomiuri Shimbun

TOKYO: -- Thailand today looks stable on the surface. There have been no major clashes between progovernment and antigovernment citizens recently, though there was a bombing incident and a demonstration by prodemocracy students voicing antigovernment slogans in central Bangkok.

“Thais were fighting each other with weapons in their hands before the military coup [in May last year],” Thai Justice Minister Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya told me recently. “You will never see such a scene now. Security in Thailand has been significantly improved thanks to the law enforcement by the National Council for Peace and Order.”

As the justice minister said, you could feel security is improved under the strong authority of the NCPO led by the military and chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, leader of the coup. But the root of political instability still remains.

In Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum, where more than 100,000 residents are said to live, many are dependent on unstable incomes and lead impoverished lives.

According to aid officials in the slum, a majority of the residents earn only 10,000 baht (US$294) a month. Some port workers and cleaners receive a daily wage of only 300 baht ($8.82). Many houses in the slum do not have air conditioners and can do nothing but keep windows open to deal with the tropical heat even when the temperature gets close to 40 C.

However, in high-end department stores about five kilometres northwest of the slum, air conditioning is so strong that you need to wear a jacket. The stores house many shops of super-premium US and European brands and galleries exhibiting luxurious sports cars, including one with the giddy price tag of 25.9 million baht ($761,300). I wonder how this looks to the eyes of people in the slum who manage to get by on small daily wages.

According to a senior university lecturer in Bangkok, they think they can do nothing to change their impoverished state in “this life” but have high expectations for the “next life.” That is why many people feel content with the current state of affairs, even though they are struggling to make a living, he added.

Quite a few Thai elites seem to agree with his opinion because a distinctive way of thinking based on Thai Buddhism exists in their background. However, people dealing with the problem of poverty deny the view outright.

Full story: http://www.asianewsnet.net/news-78004.html

-- ANN 2015-07-13

[Lex Talionis]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Huh? What? Leave me alone. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[zaphod reborn]

Wealth inequality causes many problems, but Thailand's civil unrest has more to do with the inability to overcome the desire for revenge. Elites are on both sides of the political divide and exploit the impoverished for their own purpose and profit.

[Fat Haggis]

Security in Bangkok where the world revolves around, but it's still going to shit down in the South, I'd step back from bragging rights Mr Justice Minister General.

I guess he didn't have to go and tell the families of the soldiers killed down there last week how there loved ones died ?

It's always about Bangkok and yet people here, smart people here too, cannot believe that there's a them and us divide going on, then Bangkok Elite will always call the shots.

Sphincter muscles the lot of them!!

Edited July 13, 2015 by Fat Haggis

[than]

Wealth inequality causes many problems, but Thailand's civil unrest has more to do with the inability to overcome the desire for revenge. Elites are on both sides of the political divide and exploit the impoverished for their own purpose and profit.

Totally Agree ....

"It's about the people to be guided, not whether educated; he is not worthy of being "

Voltaire

[smutcakes]

Personally i would be a bit surprised if the majority of those living there earn as much as 10K per month.

[deckape]

Wealth inequality causes many problems, but Thailand's civil unrest has more to do with the inability to overcome the desire for revenge. Elites are on both sides of the political divide and exploit the impoverished for their own purpose and profit.

^^^ What he said

[fred Kubasa]

" Unrest " ?. Impossible as we are told daily how life froe everyone has improved and they are all happy !

[chainarong]

This of course is all hypothetical but if Abhisit hadn't been the nice guy and had moved sooner to dispel the anti social gathering that burnt down the city block and if Ms Yingluck had moved faster enough to disarm and control the outta control hot heads and thrown Suthep in the can , all this wouldn't have happened , but of course as with all things if the PTP hadn't been such bad managers and didn't try to bring Thaksin in through the back door in an the under handed Amnesty Bill Suthep wouldn't have been a problem and Commander in Chief ( There will be no Coup ) General Prayut - o would have retired. .

[wabothai]

Correct, Thailand looks stable on the surface, (surFACE) .

Any other mention will be met with either inprisonment or attitude adjustment.

[Thai at Heart]

Wealth inequality causes many problems, but Thailand's civil unrest has more to do with the inability to overcome the desire for revenge. Elites are on both sides of the political divide and exploit the impoverished for their own purpose and profit.

One side would like to maintain its monopoly..

[Strangebrew]

Hine sight is 20/20 in this life or the next there wil l be rich people and poor people fact of life. The real question should be is this it is what you do in this life that will decide how your next life will be. l