I'm Lao and so what?!
The fact that people from the Isan regularly experience disapproval and discrimination is not only limited to ordinary people but also affects monks. In an article on the Isaan Record, a former monk, Professor Tee Anmai (ธีร์ อันมัย, Thie An-mai) talks about his own experiences. This is his story.
Twenty years ago I was on a crowded bus, it was rush hour and people were coming back from work or school. Next to me stood a group of 4-5 students. I was lost in thought and paid no attention to them, until suddenly I heard what they said:
“Damn, what a farmer's cock” (ไอ้ … แม่งเสี่ยวว่ะ)
“Yep what a goddamn country bumpkin outfit”
“So retarded Lao, haha” (แม่งลาวมาก 555)
I looked at them and exclaimed “I am Lao and so what?!” (ลาวแล้วไงวะ!?!). They froze and the smile faded from their faces. They disappeared among the other passengers and retreated to the other side of the bus. The bus was so quiet without the talking of these teenagers, but instead I heard their voices echoing louder and louder in my head. It made me gloomy.
I thought back to the time, thirty years earlier, when as a simple farm boy I was given access to further education after primary school. This thanks to a training program for novices. After three years I completed this training at the Wat Pho Pruksaram temple in Surin province and I realized that if I wanted to complete a high school education and university education, I had to do it in the orange robe. I went to Bangkok and took an entrance exam at the Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University of the Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit Temple, located near the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
What was even more difficult than the exam was finding a temple in Bangkok. I was a novice who had not yet completed his 3rd level Pali exam, and worse than that, I was an Isan novice. That made it all very difficult.
“A Lao novice, hmm?” was the reaction of most of the monks and abbots in Bangkok to "orange carrots" from the northeast like me. It was equivalent to a rejection to enter the temple. Even after I received a positive exam result, I could not find a temple to join.
The words “Lao novice” coming from the mouths of Bangkokian monks was an unconscious, automatic response that amounted to discrimination. If you had asked me how I felt then, all I could think was “Yes, I am Lao and so what?”.
During my three years of high school, not a single temple took me in. Fortunately, there was a monk in Wat Makkasan who let me stay on the porch of his monk's hut (กุฏิ, kòe-tìe). I slept, studied, and did my homework exposed to the sun, rain, and wind. Sometimes my father came to visit, and I would lie to him and say that I shared this room with this monk but only slept outside when that monk was not there. It wasn't until more than ten years later, when I found work, that my father learned the truth. He then said, "My boy, what a terrible time that must have been for you."
It is only the secular world, but also the religious world where people from Isan are looked down upon. In my time as a novice, I always heard the other students say that it would be extremely difficult for an Isaan monk to pass the ninth (highest) level of the Pali exam. They also said that it would be impossible for a monk from the Northeast to become Supreme Patriarch. The case of Phra Phimonlatham, a prominent Khon Kaen monk who was arrested and imprisoned in the XNUMXs for alleged communist views, was cited as an example.
Just a few days ago, a friend from Khon Kaen sent me some sound clips from the Clubhouse social media app. In it, Isanians were completely disgraced by insults and contempt. I tried to calm my friend down by saying this is part of a military directed Information Operation (IO), but actually I knew better. No, it is an expression of deep-rooted contempt for the Thai, who take pleasure in looking down on others and discriminating against them.
Look at the textbooks of today. Who was a friend of our country? They were all enemies… We proudly blow our own horn and tarnish the reputation of others. Stories of how our country has been surrounded and attacked throughout history, a story of trauma and pain, full of invasions and massacres instead of good neighbors. How the Burmese burned down Ayutthaya, how Thao Suranari (ย่าโม, Yâa Moo, grandmother Moo) fought against the Lao from Vientiane. But the history books barely mention that the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace was actually stolen from Laos after the Thais burned down the temple where the statue stood.
Regionally, Thailand discriminates against its neighbours. It belittles its neighbors like a small colonizer does in the Mekong basin. Even within Thailand, the country has always been a colonizer. The country was built by the aristocrats from Bangkok who overthrew the provincial leaders and took over their power. They have also been fond of committing coups for over a hundred years. They forcibly impose their identity on others, exercise cultural hegemony and marginalize local customs. They have no room for diversity and compromise. That is why we abuse the human dignity of others and violate their human dignity.
Rudeness is everywhere, both at the state level (both secular and religious) and also at the societal level. It is "Thainess" that is the problem. Other than that, that ill-advised, silly Clubhouse session wouldn't have taken place at all.
So if someone were to label me as "so damn Thai", then I really need to re-evaluate myself.
Sources: a somewhat abbreviated translation of
- https://theisaanrecord.co/2021/11/21/im-lao-so-what-english-version/
- https://theisaanrecord.co/2021/11/11/im-lao-so-what/
See also:
- https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/isaaners-zijn-geen-thai-wie-mag-zich-thai-noemen-het-uitwissen-van-de-plaatselijke-identiteit/
- https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/echos-uit-het-verleden-luang-wichit-wathakan-en-het-creeren-van-de-thaise-identiteit/
- https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/phra-phimonlatham-onafhankelijke-democratische-en-rebelse-monnik/
Nice article Rob,
My Isaan wife has also been referred to as an ignoble isaan by airport staff at the airport in bangkok.
Discrimination against dark skin is very common in Thailand.
Hence the whitening skin cream.
Discrimination based on area origin, the North East or the Deep South is also a thing.
Discrimination on wealth, descent and opulence is standard.
The country is full of contradictions.
However, Thailand remains a beautiful country, especially if you don't delve into it too much. ;-)
I had to laugh at your last comment, Mr Pig. So wherever.
I once read the story of a somewhat dark-skinned doctor from Isan with an accent as he himself wrote. He too was discriminated against.
But the worst part is that we civilized farangs are left behind. 🙂
Yes, Thailand is really great in that! The biggest abuses just below the shiny surface. It's the friction that makes the shine?!
Jan,
One of the experiences I will not forget was my long stay in an expensive hotel in one of the suburbs of Bangkok.
I stayed there for a few months for work.
I went there every night to eat in the beautiful dining room and the bill went straight to the boss.
On one of the evenings, like every evening, I was assigned a nice table and I had a view of a seemingly very wealthy Thai family who were dining with about 10 people.
The older madam was beautifully dressed and jeweled.
What struck me was the child in the child seat and also the very young nurse.
The caretaker of about 12-14 years old immediately stood out because of her very dark skin color, which stood out very much in the company of the extremely white Thai company.
She had to hold the baby still and feed it, while the party was amused.
I don't know if you can picture it, but it looks just like the pictures on our golden coach. It was just a slave, also under age, who was allowed to go home to her family once a year for free accommodation and food and received a generous salary of a few hundred baht a month.
The glossy surface was definitely there and the friction was with me.
It really hurts me to read this line.
“Thailand, however, remains a beautiful country, especially if you don't look into it too much”
As if I should be ashamed of my future choice
You should not be ashamed of your future choice. Many, including myself, have made this choice. There is a lot wrong everywhere and especially in Thailand it is so realistic and no different.
Unfortunately, discrimination occurs all over the world, including Thailand.
All we can do is reject it
And where you experience it, subtly or not choose sides (for the discriminated).
Nice article Rob V,
Reminds me of an incident a decade ago. My wife had lost her Thai identity card and would apply for a new one on our next family visit. Although she has been living in Belgium for years, she was still registered with her son in Bangkok and that had to be done there.
She was told at the town hall that she had to prove that she was Thai. A birth certificate did not exist (was already a problem at our marriage), but armed with her Thai passport, our marriage certificate, a copy of the lost identity card, her son's tabien job, birth certificates of her son and daughter (which were also present) a new application was made.
The official looked at the papers but did not want to issue a new card because there were doubts. The fact that she had a Thai passport was also not sufficient proof for her. It turned out that during the major floods of 2011, quite a few Thais had reported their identity cards as lost, while they had actually sold them to illegal immigrants from neighboring countries. But mostly – she added – because she looked like a 'Khmer' and not a Thai.
My wife is pure Thai (no mixed blood) but mainly Isan. Within a minute the whole waiting room was on stilts because the suspicion that she was Khmer was taken very badly by her. The servant disappeared and after a few minutes a person in charge appeared who listened to the whole story again, went through the papers and disappeared in turn. Then a new officer appeared and made an almost inaudible apology for the behavior of her older colleague, and fifteen minutes later she had her new ID.
I like to hear the various stories, sweet, bitter and sour, from all kinds of people from a country that is very dear to me. This one stood out to me and therefore this translation. The Isaan Record has added value for me with the backgrounds they cover.
Discrimination and related abuses naturally occur everywhere, so it is important to listen to such experiences and thus get a better, concrete picture of these wrong things. Then hopefully you can respond better to this in the future. It is difficult for people to be ashamed of all this or to publicly distance themselves from it. That would be an impossible and therefore absurd task. But what one can do is realize where things can go wrong and hopefully not make such mistakes or make fewer such mistakes and possibly take action if you witness such abuses yourself. It starts with awareness, knowledge and that is why it is important to listen to others and their experiences. Then draw your own lessons from that.
To speak for a moment in the present.
The Isan speakers often take great pride in switching to their own language in Bangkok as soon as the opportunity arises. At such times I feel discriminated against and ask if they can have the courtesy to speak in Thai so that I can learn and understand something. Such jerking behavior does not contribute to mutual understanding, especially when one cannot even speak Thai intelligibly due to the lack of correct pronunciation. Perhaps the own uncertainty is the biggest cause of maintaining this fact.
The opportunistic way of life also does not lead to many similarities or understanding with or from people who manage to survive in the Bangkok jungle and often came from Isan themselves.
What I did find amusing is that the writer referred to himself as “baby carrot” (บเบบี้แครอต), baby carrots. I've seen monks here and there refer to themselves as carrots. Funny, right?