[AndyColemants]

I have been watching Thai TV dramas (lakorns) on YouTube and such. Never having been to Thailand, I'm wondering how much what I see reflects current Thai reality. One peculiarity is the servants that crouch on the floor in rich people's houses. They are usually ugly or stupid, most often both. Being stupid, they keep making mistakes. When they do, their bosses (employers) hit and kick them.

So - how much of this is fact? Or is it all just fiction?

[domeffire]

There was this case in 2007.


Bangkok businesswoman gets seven years for enslaving servant
Asia-Pacific News

Apr 25, 2007, 2:39 GMT

Bangkok - Thailand's criminal court sentenced a Bangkok businesswoman to seven years imprisonment for physically abusing and enslaving a 13-year-old servant girl, media reports said Wednesday.

The verdict, handed down against Wipaporn Songmeesap, 50, by the Bangkok Criminal Court on Tuesday, marked the first time in Thailand's legal history that the kingdom's anti-slavery law has been enforced despite widespread slave-like conditions suffered by domestics and labourers, said the Bangkok Post newspaper.

'This is a landmark case that will help many other victims of slavery fight for justice,' said human rights lawyer Sitiwan Vongkietpaisan.

Wipaporn, who was released on bail and will appeal the verdict, was sentenced to seven years in jail for hiring a 13-year-old girl in 2003 and forcing her to work under slave-like conditions for a year.

The girl, whose identity was not revealed, was made to work from 4 a.m. to midnight daily and was allegedly beaten with an iron rod, belts and a piece of furniture when she failed to perform her duties.

After a year of unpaid labour, she was sent back to her home in Buri Ram, a province in Thailand's impoverished north-eastern region, with infected wounds on her head and back.

The village headman was stunned by her condition and had her admitted to a hospital and later placed in an emergency home where she has since recuperated and is now attending school.

Thai human rights groups pressed the case against Wipaporn, a mother of four, who listened to the verdict Tuesday with no show of emotion.

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The chances of the b**ch offender actually spending any time in jail was slim of course. Out on bail and a hundred thousand baht or so paid to the family of the girl would see her walk free.

[VipInoLo]

Sometimes the master treats there servants like a slave, but hitting them is considered very bad behaviour. Personally I believe know matter who you are, every one deserves respect, and that includes animals.

[JacomoR]

The lakorns project a basic belief amongst central Thais that Isaan people are ugly and stupid, which justifies their exploitation. I see how these hi-so Thais behave here too. My wife is Isaan, but she has a permanent resident card and is authorized to work in the U.S. She works in a restaurant where most of the other employees came over on tourist visas and are not authorized to work here. They talk down to her in a way that implies she is simple. She just plays along and laughs to herself at how stupid they are. They try to (incorrectly I might add) correct her English, but it is clear that she speaks better than any of them. I wonder why they think they are so high when they are working for substandard wages and sleeping at the owner's house, whereas my wife doesn't even "need" to work and lives in her own house. This bigotry has a long history and "New Politics" is simply this old belief system repackaged. After all, Isaan people are too uneducated and unsophisticated to vote.

[AndyColemants]

The lakorns project a basic belief amongst central Thais that Isaan people are ugly and stupid, which justifies their exploitation.

But I was asking about servants in lakorns, that is, not about Isaan people. Your reply makes me think being a servant in Thailand means that one is, in fact, from Isaan. Is this correct?

[JacomoR]

Well, the one incident cited above involved a girl from Buri Ram. Most laborers and servants are from the poorer areas of Thailand. A minority also come from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, etc. If you are around Thais and Thai culture long enough, you will begin to see just how deeply rooted and socially accepted exploitation of Isaan people is. That is why the Isaan people supported Thaksin. He treated the people in the north like people; like they were worth paying attention to.