Peoples of Northern Thailand - Hilltribe Issues

(With acknowledgements to the Mirror Foundation - see www.mirrorartgroup.org)

Hilltribe issues in Northern Thailand

The hilltribes of Northern Thailand find themselves in a challenging situation. Confronted with an alien economy, new agricultural techniques, strong cultural influences from the city and an uncertain future, a number of issues and problems have arisen within the community. Traditionally most hilltribes practice swidden agriculture, the slash and burn technique which lays waste to large tracts of forest for the purpose of cultivation, moving on after a few years before the soil loses its fertility. Many Thais and conservationists believe this is hugely damaging to what little remaining forest there is in Thailand.

In 1976 the Thai government announced a program of "integration" of the hilltribes into Thai society. This required them to abandon their unsupportable agricultural techniques and moved them out of what have now become conservation areas and national parks. The stated intention was to allow them to become fully independent Thai citizens, but this process has been slow as the hilltribes have encountered numerous economic and social problems caused by adjustment into a new system.

Approximately 50% of all tribal people in Thailand do not have citizenship. Immediate Thai citizenship is awarded only if both an individual and his parents were born in Thailand, and it is only considered if one has been resident in the country for over three years. Those without citizenship are denied access to any of government welfare benefits. The school certificate awarded at age 15 is stamped non-citizen, meaning that all further education must come at the individual's expense, far beyond the budget of an average hilltribe family. Thai citizens are charged a standard flat rate of 30 baht for every treatment received at government hospitals, but people living in Thailand without proof of Thai citizenship are obliged to pay the full price. Without citizenship it is impossible to vote, buy land, travel outside your district, work legally or even own a vehicle. A non-citizen is effectively a non-person.

Such a position of weakness has detrimental effects upon hilltribe communities. In an effort to become Thai citizens, villagers fall prey to corrupt local government officials and police. Struggling in a foreign economy and alien markets, they find it very difficult to adapt agricultural methods which have been established for hundreds of years. The slash and burn method can no longer be sustained in the little remaining forest, yet they have no skills, no methods, no support and often no land or technology to farm in the way of lowland Thais. Hilltribe people seeking work in the cities are exploited by unscrupulous employers who take advantage of the the villager's lack of citizenship. Even hilltribe people with Thai citizenship are exploited due to their ignorance of their rights and distrust of the due process of law. Sexual abuse, financial exploitation, child labor, child prostitution or often a combination of all four are all common in Chiang Rai city.

Drug abuse has become rife in the majority of hilltribe communities, bringing with it problems of child neglect, crime and fear. Many tribes traditionally grow opium for medicinal and shamanistic purposes, but in the search for income, many people have become entangled in the infamous Golden Triangle drug trade. In more recent years the demands of the drug market have shifted from opium towards the production of methamphetamines, a drug hilltribe people do not know how to use properly and, therefore, abuse.

In the face of these adversities, the distinct cultures of the tribal peoples have begun to erode. Prejudice from the Thais, although never violent, is still prevalent in a mocking form. The Thai word for Akha, E-gaw, is pejorative, with undertones of backwardness, simplicity and femininity. Thai words for other ethnic groups hold similar connotations. Gradually this constant low-grade barrage of intolerance and cultural misunderstanding, combined with the newer influences such as television, cause many members of the hilltribes to become ashamed of their own cultural heritages, thinking of them as "backward" and "basic".

Missionaries have been bringing Christianity to the area for more than a century and many have done exemplary work in the area, spreading their message peacefully without challenging the basic precepts of the native cultures. However a large number of villages have undergone a more aggressive conversion process which encourages the village to equate all aspects of their culture with a non-Christian, paganistic ethic which should be shunned.

With the encroachment of the cities arrives an unsympathetic education system. This generation of hilltribe children is the first that has the opportunity to go to school and gain a different perspective on the world, a fantastic opportunity to gain skills useful in the modern world. The irony is that many hilltribe children are unable to pay the bills necessary to attend higher education without citizenship, and leave school at the age of fifteen. It is more common than not that Thai teachers will belittle a tribal child's ethnic identity, thus many become ashamed of their home and culture, which they come to view as primitive. Instead of going home, they travel to the cities in search of employment, stepping directly into the cycle of exploitation.