TAKE US AS WE ARE OR GO HOME
Re: “No one likes us, we don’t care” (PostBag July 5).
I lived happily in England for more than a decade and I still have an enduring soft spot for foreigners. They are most welcome here, and our country has historically always benefitted from their presence.
Many of my friends are from overseas. Based on dozens of conversations over many years I can report that nine out of 10 consistently report that they choose to live here because: “It is far better than living in my own country.”
They say they enjoy many privileges, freedoms and a higher standard of living than back home. They of course complain about immigration and land ownership, but accept that there are good reasons for these restrictions.
Despite enjoying a lifestyle far beyond the dreams of ordinary Thai people, foreigners are fully accepted here, and welcomed anywhere in the kingdom. Local people happily put up with farang ways, which are often at odds with theirs. We are not called the Land of Smiles for nothing.
The trouble is that very few foreigners learn to read and write our language beyond an elementary level, if at all. A Thai newspaper is gobbledygook to them. Ditto, a serious television broadcast. Few can hold a serious Thai conversation sufficient to grasp the vocabulary used and the nuances of subjects discussed.
My point is that most foreign residents here live in an artificial expatriate cocoon. They are educationally and culturally ill-equipped to grasp the intricacies of Thailand and the Thai people. It rankles therefore when they take the high moral ground and disdainfully look down on us, while happily enjoying the hospitality and acceptance we offer them.
Yes indeed, we do have a lot of faults, and yes, we already know about them!
If you are content to live here, we are content, too. Do therefore stay with us, enjoy the many advantages you have, but do not rock the boat. In conclusion, and with all due respect: If you are not happy here in our Thai home then please return to your own. You will not be missed.
Dusit Thammaraks