Publication Code: Y93D
by Akin Rabibhadana
The paper addresses the transformation of Thai Society during the twentieth century. Its causes may be traced to six major processes, namely (1) consolidation and expansion of the State, (2) commercialization of agriculture, (3) population increase, (4) industrialization, (5) urbanization, and (6) increasing rate and means of communication. The rate of change varies from place to place as well as from one institution to another. Because of the unevenness of change, perceptions of change as well as world views and values held by different groups and categories of people are different as well. It is impossible therefore for the paper to cover all aspects of the transformation and its impacts. Three issues are thus selected for consideration: (i) local institutions and their weakening, (ii) the relationship between laborers and their employers, and (iii) interactions between officials and the people.
With regard to local institutions, leadership and family are considered. Expansion of the power of the State into the rural areas had taken away the leadership role of the village elders and replaced it with the headman (Phuyai Ban) who, in all practical purposes, was a representative of the central government, an official. Development projects made the position attractive and lucrative for unscrupulous persons. At the same time, changes in rural areas, especially those arising from the commercialization of agriculture and road construction, caused the rise of entrepreneurs and construction contractors. These entrepreneurs entered politics and became kamnan (sub-district headman) and phuyai ban (village headman), assuming roles as local bureaucratic elites. They worked less as representatives of the villagers, having become representatives of the State, and they used their positions to enrich themselves and promote their businesses.
For kinship institutions, the paper concentrates on those of the North and the Northeast. It has found that as inheritance practices changed and the migration of women increased, the status of women, as the essential linkages between related households in the village and owners of property, has declined. The relationship between parents and children has also changed, and seniority is less respected. The paper made special note of the migration of young women to work in factories and the prostitution industry and their burden of having to support their parents economically. The two types of work in town lower their status, and they have now become like a valuable commodity in the eyes of their fathers.
The commercialization of agriculture, construction, and economic development in general have given rise to the institution of chao pho (God Father). The chao pho are generally provincial businessmen with followers in the villages. They are major vote collectors for politicians,and a number of them re involved in illegal activities.
With regards to relationships among new occupation groups, industrial laborers -- especially women -- and their employers are selected for consideration. Of the factories there are different categories -- registered factories and unregistered factories, and large-scale factories (over 500 workers) and small-scale factories (under 100 workers). It is noted that the majority of factories do not cooperate with researchers. Most small factories refused to allow their workers to be interviewed. Such acts in themselves tend to show that they have something to hide, and rough and unfair treatment of their workers is to be suspected. Even in the factories where research could be done, it is found that there is almost no job security, and the number of accidents is quite high. Most workers (81.9%) do not know about the legislation for employment or severance compensation. Very few workers are members of trade unions. The research found that different attitudes towards the relationship between factory owners and employees may operate to the disadvantage of workers. The paper makes note of the various industrial and construction-related accidents the Thais have experienced recently. These disasters killed hundreds of people, and often female workers were the most prominent victims.
The paper deals as well with the relationship between officials and the people. It notes that the State has tried to assume administrative burdens that exceed its capacities, the result being that its practices are incompatible with the needs of a modern, industrialized, and complex society. Since the Reformation in the Fifth Region, a huge bureaucracy has expanded its role in Thai society. Thailand became what has been called a bureaucratic polity in which power was held by officials. In such a polity there are no measures of control over the bureaucracy by extra-bureaucratic institutions. The officials became the King's servants, and with centralized education they considered themselves superior to the populace. The bureaucratic policy ruled supreme until it was challenged by the commercial elites and the middle class beginning in the 1970s.
It could rule for so long in part because of the lack of mass communication. The bureaucratic polity did not have much contact with the mass of the population for many decades, and in effect could not exert its power so as to cause much difficulties for the population. Moreover, until the 1960s, natural resources were abundant enough so that those who were oppressed could escape and live on their own without having to deal with the State.
Thai officials came to look down on the people. Development projects and activities were conducted in a top-down fashion. Popular participation then was minimal. After World War II with inflation and low salaries, corruption became rife in the bureaucracy. Both of these factors worked to generate inequity in the bureaucratic polity's dealings with the people.
Numerous phenomena of inequity are dressed, ranging from the distribution of income, maltreatment of female workers, and encroachment on public land by those with connections to officials. The closing section of the paper builds on the analysis of these conditions in an attempt to probe into the future.
December 1993