Aunt Pao, an outspoken and beloved protester
(can Sangtong / Shutterstock.com)
Worawan Sae-aung has been involved in protests since 1992 for more democracy, a better environment and more social services. This feisty lady is spotted at many a demonstration, and is now in the spotlight as the website Prachatai has named her 'Person of the Year 2021'. She is affectionately referred to as "Aunt Pao." I am here summarizing a longer article on Prachatai.
Person of the year
Meet Worawan Sae-aung, an elderly fruit seller and regular protester, known for her sharp tongue. She has been on the frontline of almost every protest in the past two years. The editors of Prachatai have chosen Worawan as Person of the Year 2021 for her courage to stand up to the authorities and her unwavering support for the grassroots movement that has now grown into a diverse range of social issues, from constitutional amendments and monarchy reform to Community rights and the right to bail.
Despite her reputation for being rude, young activists who call her "Aunt Pao" know her as a kind and courageous person. For the 2021 Person of the Year report, we spoke to Worawan about why she continues to stand with young people in pro-democracy protests, as well as young people who know her as "the aunt" who is more than someone who swears at police officers. We also spoke to academics who have studied the pro-democracy movement about the impact of people like Worawan on the movement.
Working together with young people
“I am democratic and I am part of the new generation,” Worawan said of herself as she took part in a protest by villagers from Na Bon District in Nakhon Si Thammarat against the construction of two biomass plants in their community at the government building. For her, being part of the new generation is not about one's age, but about being progressive.
Worawan said she has joined pro-democracy movements since the 1992 "Black May" protests and the 2008-2010 Red Shirt protests. A regular at pro-democracy protests in 2020-2021, she said people are joining the pro-democracy protests not only because of the economic downturn and reduced quality of life since the 2014 military coup.
She said that after the coup (2014), the NCPO government shut down several markets, including those in Khlong Lot and Tha Prachan, without compensating the sellers. When the Sai Tai market opened, she tried to rent a stall there, but low sales combined with rental and travel costs meant she couldn't make any money.
(can Sangtong / Shutterstock.com)
She said she found that the economy had further deteriorated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of which are being felt by the working class, and that she was unable to earn enough money to cover costs. The police's constant proliferation of protests also means they can't make money setting up booths at protests. “When Covid-19 came, they didn't close 7-Elevens. They closed not the malls, but the small shops. Do you think that's fair?" Worawan asked. “Why is our country not perfect? It's because you don't take care of the poor.”
She also thinks that state care for seniors is insufficient. Currently, Thai citizens over the age of 60 receive 600 baht per month from the government, but Worawan said this is nowhere near enough for day-to-day living.
“At 600 baht, that's 20 baht a day. If I have to take a taxi one day or if I get sick one day, it will not be enough because you have 20 baht per day, and what can I do with that? Every day you have to spend at least 200 baht, right? And if you need to run errands or go somewhere, a taxi ride will cost more than 100 baht. 300 for a round trip,” she said.
Worawan believes that every citizen should receive basic benefits and be cared for from birth without having to become a government employee because everyone pays taxes regardless of their occupation. “People with ranks have their social security, but we only have 30 baht to go to a doctor. It's nowhere near the taxes we've paid all our lives. Why don't they take care of the poor?" she wonders.
For Worawan, an amendment to the 2017 constitution is necessary for the country to become fully democratic, which must happen before new elections are held to break away from the existing power structure.
Worawan thinks the use of violence against demonstrators, legal prosecutions and detention of protest leaders is designed to instill fear among the demonstrators, but young people are not afraid, even if their parents are. “Every parent loves their child and worries about their child. They would tell their child 'don't do it or you will be arrested'. This is how Thai people are, but they don't think about what democracy is. It's our right. It won't end today. It won't end this year. It doesn't just stop with our generation. We have to do it. We have to make everything better, right? We have to keep fighting until the end,” said Worawan.
Aunt Pao in the eyes of the new generation
Student activist Wanwalee Thammasattaya said the public doesn't see Worawan's friendly side as her image in the media often focuses on berating police officers, but Wanwalee knows her as a "red shirt aunt" who has long been part of that popular movement and someone who has a sweet smile, which makes her feel safe at protests.
Gender equality activist Chumaporn Taengkliang said she first came to know Worawan after they were both arrested when police dispersed protesters who had occupied the Chamai Maruchet Bridge on March 29, 2021. She said that while they were detained along with other female protesters, Worawan tried to improve the mood in the room and led them in a yoga session telling them this is how they could stay sane. Chumaporn also discovered that Worawan is a caring person and sees her as a kind of mother figure.
Meanwhile, iLaw (a human rights organization) photographer Chanakarn Laosarakham said that she found Worawan scary at first, but after interviewing and photographing her during protests, found out that Worawan is a nice and funny person who always smiles for the camera and likes to dance during protests.
Fight with your body
Worawan gained popularity after images of her went viral from the January 16, 2021 protest at the Victory Monument and when she punched a police officer in the crotch. But perhaps one of Worawan's most iconic actions was during the September 28, 2021 protests, when she completely stripped herself in front of a line of police officers to protest police brutality. Worawan said stripping naked in front of the line of riot officers was worth it if it distracted officers from arresting or beating protesters. She didn't feel ashamed.
(can Sangtong)
For her conduct during the protest on that day, Worawan was charged with violating the Emergency Decree and committing a "disgraceful act" by exposing herself, an offense under Section 388 of Thailand's Penal Code.
The power of the powerless
For Kanokrat Lertchoosakul, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Worawan's participation in the protest is a reflection of how different generations came together in the pro-democracy movement 2020 – 2021 and represents people who are not leaders but have a lot of influence.
Meanwhile, Prajak Kongkirati, a lecturer at Thammasat University's Faculty of Political Science, said Worawan's actions, including using nudity as an act of protest, is a classic non-violent method, which can also expose the injustice of state officials against the people. He said such actions might change the mind of other people, not the authorities, if they come to see how unjust the state's action is.
“This is the most important thing. If the entire society can change its mind, it will be a lasting victory,” said Prajak.
Prajak sees Worawan's presence as representative of the diversity within the pro-democracy movement and the space it gives individuals to act independently.
Kanokrat assumes that Worawan is popular because she is an ordinary person who comes to protests and acts independently, and because she is unafraid and acts creatively in a manner similar to methods used by young protesters. Kanokrat also noted that Worawan's curse-filled speeches make her relatable to angry young people. The young people who feel that they are not being listened to although they speak politely to adults and therefore have to try other forms of language to get the attention of the media.
“In light of this, I think Aunt Pao is now being chosen as Person of the Year where it is not about Aunt Pao as an individual, but telling adults that this is an example of someone who understands young people and stands by them and tries to to encourage them in the midst of their hopelessness,” said Kanokrat.
***
So much for the summary. See the full article on Prachatai here: https://prachatai.com/english/node/9657
NB: I have a thing for Thai names, so here's an explanation. Worawan Sae-aung is in Thai วรวรรณ แซ่อึ้ง. 'Wora' (middle, high tone) means 'highest, best, beautiful woman'. 'Wan' (mid tone) means 'color, hue, family, caste'. These two words appear in many Thai names. And about the surname: 'Sae' (falling tone) comes from Chinese and also means 'family, clan' and 'aung' (falling tone) means 'quiet, quiet, speechless'. Together makes Worawan Sae-aung translate to 'Dear Family' and 'Speechless Family'. Nomen est omen?
As for her nickname: Pa Pao is of course ป้า เป่า. Paa (falling tone) is aunt (father's or mother's older sister) and Pao (low tone) means 'to blow, whistle'.
Indeed a very spicy aunt who has not fallen on her mouth. In many (live) video reports you see her standing in front of the riot police. The agents then let them know in very clear expletives what she thinks of their actions. Sometimes she also appears in photos where she, like many other protesters, is standing with sharp, funny and/or ambiguous protest signs. I can appreciate that, someone who is clearly in favor of a just and democratic society and against the curtailment or suppression of activists who fight for a fairer society.
In addition to the images of her getting naked and sitting with her legs wide in front of the riot cops, I also remember another scene somewhere in the second half of last year. Then some people were arrested at Victory Monument and Aunt Pao shouted something to the officers who took the detainees away. She hit the van in which the detainees were sitting with a plastic bottle and yelled at the driver. Then she stood on the back of the plank / footstep of the van, but it then drove away with her still hanging on the van. That was a bit dangerous.
I can imagine that the demonstrators would find her entertaining. The rest of Thailand thinks she's Ting Tong anyway. If you stand naked in front of the police, you lose all credibility anyway. So she couldn't have done better.
You're absolutely right, Peter. So it's also very good that she was charged under the anti-naked ass law. Also nice that the Thai police do not bombard peaceful demonstrators with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets. Fortunately, no protesters have been arrested and convicted yet!
Quote:
"The rest of Thailand thinks she's Ting Tong."
That is not true. Yes, some think she's off the mark, many find her entertaining, but most have an appreciation and a certain awe for her ("I wish I had the guts"). That's what I get from the Thai-language media. There are practically no negative opinions about her.
This tough aunt stands for her opinion; there are too few of them.
Read today that a minister, nicknamed Rambo van de Isan, wants to ban Amnesty International in Thailand. State-dangerous activities. Does he have too many twists in his brain? After that, all other human rights watchdogs will also be removed. Can the regime take its course….
There are elements that can be extracted that are not entirely correct or in proportion to reality. Apparently throwing sand in the eyes is part of this kind of thing, but read and judge for yourself.
“When Covid-19 came, they didn't close 7-Elevens. They did not close the shopping malls, but the small shops” – non-essential shops in shopping centers were closed, as were certain businesses such as catering and contact professions in other areas. If you did not fall under it, you were open by appointment or not, as HomePro did.
“People with ranks have their social security, but we only have 30 baht to go to a doctor” – every registered Thai can use this system and is therefore assured of proper treatment when visiting the hospital. Is 30 baht really the big deal to go to a hospital to treat your heart problems?
"It's nowhere near the taxes we've paid all our lives." – income tax is paid by a very small part, all foodstuffs bought on the market are free of the VAT of 7%, which has been reduced for years. How much is actually paid in taxes by the majority of the population? The bulk comes from import duties, corporate taxes and, of course, alcohol, tobacco and fuel. Is she referencing the last 3 what the 30 baht thing is trying to solve?
“Every parent loves their child and worries about their child. They would tell their child 'don't do it or you'll get arrested' – if dumping your kids because of divorce and therefore not providing maintenance or lodging with grandpa and grandma is part of it then so be it.
You're right, Johnny. For someone with a monthly income of 600 baht, 30 baht for a hospital visit can't be a problem! In the Netherlands you also have to pay 50 euros before you see a doctor! Just skip a meal and you can go to the doctor!
Yes, Johnny, in Thailand the poor majority pay relatively more taxes than, for example, in the social Netherlands. 85% of Thailand's tax revenue comes from VAT, business taxes and excise duties on fuel, alcohol and tobacco, which weigh on all residents. Income tax in Thailand is responsible for 15% of tax revenue, in the Netherlands for 40%. Just about.
And parents only 'dump' their children with grandparents because they have to earn money elsewhere out of poverty. Bad right? Or don't you think so?
Aunt Pao has quite a few points.
The story you tell Tino is simply incorrect. If there is a pension of 600 baht, then there is no way to live, but guess why can people survive? Is it the healthy air?
Well, Johnny BG, that 'rara' question of yours is easy to answer.
Although, you write stories about your Thailand experiences here that make me suspect that someone with an open mind to Thai society should actually know that. But! So no, I think.
Well, that was the case in the Netherlands in days gone by and it is still the case in Africa and other parts of the world: state pension is not the 'local' AOW or any other government provision, but pension is the contribution of 'your children' and the more the better. In Thailand it is customary that the house of mom and dad goes to the youngest daughter, or to the youngest son, and that he takes care of the oldies until they go to heaven.
The poor old age provision in Thailand is meager. Extremely lean. I've seen them in the post office of Nongkhai (where I come/have/have lived for thirty years) where those oldies are allowed to cash a check for - all the way! - 600 baht and they tremblingly endorse the check and show their plastic card to get that to receive cents. Those poor people then go home with their daughter/son where the money probably ends up in the household pot.
And when the food comes? The oldies are coming back! They have to take care of the small children after school and clean the house and do the laundry for the whole neighborhood, but come back when the food is distributed on the table. There is hardly any money for care and the old people are slowly being neglected.
You say above that they live off the air. That will be your opinion, but it won't work. It is an injustice that affects old people who have financed their children and grandchildren for years.
So, my sincere advice, Johnny BG, learn a thing or two about Thai family life. I have the impression that you know a lot about obscure karaoke places with willing (or forced…?) hopping naps, but I think the real Thailand eludes you.
When the food comes here in the houses of myself, the neighbors and the family, the elderly get to eat first. With my 68 years I also seem to belong there so I also get my food with the old people. Then the others come. They also often do not eat at the same table as the old people, but in the kitchen or in a corner.
Take a good look around Thai family life… yes, I do. And I really see something VERY different from you.
In a moo job in Bangkok? No doubt, Chris. But my Thai life takes place in a remote village in the Isaan and things work really differently there, with the poor.
I live in a village in the Isaan
It's a little different everywhere, Chris. I have seen what Erik writes and also what you mention. Where I lived, Chiang Kham in Phayao, an ordinary village, the food was put on the table and everyone joined when they wanted and got up when they were full, sometimes the young first, sometimes the old. I don't believe there is one and the same pattern in Thailand.
My son had to learn in the Netherlands that everyone sits down at the table and gets up together.
Erik,
Nice advice like that, but what my response was about is that it is a long story in which it is not checked whether she is telling the truth. Then Tino takes something out and it is chewed further. Distracting not to talk about the truth is a pattern more common among the saviors of the Thai people.
It is not for nothing that people move to the city and when they have found the promised land there they have little appetite for that sad happening at village level. At the most, visit once or twice a year for the sake of form, but with the knowledge that you will get the worst off financially. You won't hear that whining about the emptying in Nongkhai, but you will hear it all the more in the areas where it has to be earned and imagine that those people will also finish their work one day. What do they get then?
With the knowledge that the government will never help pull that just another plan and right they are.
dear tina,
I think you know better anyway.
1. There really is no one who has to live on 600 Baht alone. Solidarity among Thais (family, friends, the neighbourhood) is extremely high. Everyone contributes. In the Netherlands we do not do that because we have all kinds of facilities for this: from social assistance to benefits. In Thailand you have your loved ones. I see it here every day. People with little money are always helped, even if they have to go to the doctor. And on the way back home they buy food for them.
2. If you only have to live on 600 Baht, you really can't pay much VAT. Not from an income of 5000 baht per month either.
3. Well, those parents. I know a few young families with children who have dumped their children with grandparents. Really dumped. I can get really angry about that. Some now have a good income (50 to 100.000 baht per month) and yet they refuse to take care of their own children. I don't want to write too lazy right away, but I do want to be very and very easygoing. The mother: staying in bed until 10 o'clock, a lot of shopping and drinking coffee out of the house and eating out almost every day (and not on the corner of the street). I see the pictures real EVERY day on my facebook. But the children live in a poor village in the Isan with grandma who is fobbed off with 5000 Baht and (unfortunately, for God's sake) is also happy with it.
1 You're absolutely right, Chris! I really didn't know that people helped each other so well in the villages! They also all get a telephone to call their (grand)children in Bangkok. Clothes are collected for them and repairs are done by the neighbors, right?
You probably also know what a single 85-year-old man without family in a slum has to do? With only poverty-stricken neighbours? Tell! call prayut?
2 I see it now. Paying 600% VAT on 7 bath per month is the same as 7% VAT on Prayut's monthly salary of 250.000 bath per month!
3 Yes, I have seen a case of that. I was at a cremation of a grandmother who had to take care of a grandchild, and who could not even buy milk for the child. I occasionally gave her 500 bath. I occasionally gave her 500 bath. She committed suicide and during the cremation there was gambling and I kicked the gambling mats away with my foot. Un-Thai behavior. Fortunately, the vast majority of parents take good care of their children.
I'll tell Aunt Pao to stop demonstrating Don't have to anymore. 600 bath per month is enough.
The last time, otherwise it will get annoying.
1. Clothes are often given to the poor free of charge and not only by expats. They have a lot of second-hand clothes: 10 or 20 Baht each. Good for recycling. 80% of my shirts are second-hand, bought in the temple; I'm also not afraid of ghosts of the dead in my shirts. I wash them first and then the ghost is drowned.
2. 7% of 600 = 42 Baht; 7% of 250.000 Baht = 17.500 Baht. That is more than 400 times as much. So there must be 400 times as many poor as generals to contribute the same amount to the national revenue from VAT.
3. Most parents do indeed take good care of their children, but in addition there are – don't be alarmed – 3 million Thai children (20%) who do not grow up with their parents. (the Nation, 2014). Much more than in the other neighboring countries, which are poorer. There is already talk of a lost generation. Have a post in preparation on this topic.
Finally, indeed.
As for number two, about VAT, you're right, but that's not what it's about.
7% tax on 600 bath income per month has a much greater and more negative impact on the taxpayer than 7% on an income of 250.000 bath.
I look at the influence of the tax on the income of the person, you look at the revenue for the government. Fine, but those are two different things.
well chris,
1. I am glad that, thanks to the Dutch welfare state, I am not dependent on charity, so that I do not have to wait every day to see if I still have food, clothes, accommodation, etc.
2. I have a dark brown suspicion that someone with a monthly income of ฿250k is not spending ฿250k every month. (Especially if that person and his family live on a military base for free.)
3. The fact that 3 million Thai children (20%) do not grow up with their parents does not mean that they have been left to fend for themselves. It is also possible that the children have been placed with relatives so that the parent(s) can work many hours somewhere far away for a lousy wage.
In my 'in-laws' I have a case of both:
A (single) mother who leaves her daughter with mother and father – who often work far away – in order to earn as much money as possible in Bangkok by working overtime in the factory.
A mother married to a foreigner who has more or less abandoned her son from a previous relationship. Her gambling addiction will be partly to blame.
In preparation for that posting, don't forget to also look at the minimum wage, income and purchasing power of the parents of those children and remember that Thailand is in the top 3 of income inequality worldwide.
I look forward.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, VAT is an important tax that everyone pays every day. I think that's what Aunt Pao is referring to: we all pay a lot of taxes for many years, but then when we get old, we get a penny. You can't get by on 600 baht, then you have to get help from others. That dependence makes things difficult, uncertain. Your children or third-party help may also stop for various reasons, be insufficient or you may feel embarrassed to knock on the door of others (who may not have it easy themselves). Conclusion: if we work and pay taxes all our lives, can we enjoy an old age with sufficient income and access to care? And right she is.