However, one can regularly see changes in the mood of the country towards foreigners being preceeded by such ridiculous stories.

I have seen it all before within Thailand, when things are not going well economically, socially, politically, the large finger is produced to point it at the farang/bogeyman under the stairs. Whilst being constantly reminded that I have no right to worry about how Thailand is run, I refuse therefore to believe that the farang is the fountain of “trouble” within the country.

Thailand is a wonderful place, my wife is Thai and I have many Thai friends. However, this type of simplistic nonsense really does colour people’s opinions in Thailand, and I had to say my bit.

I do not pretend what goes on inside a completely Thai/Chinese/Japanese/Frenc household in terms of social interaction, and obviously from her research neither does this stupid professor or reporter.

Most egregious example of this is the science section of the Thai broadsheet, e.g. Thairath. It reads like a freak news section, which probably reflect the level of understanding of the editors there.

papaya – from South America
chile – from South America
peanuts – ?
cane sugar – ?

give me a “mac-kraphrao mu” burger any day.

The Thai newspapers periodically print this kind of nonsense from such and such a professor/ajarn, as though it provides some kind of moral superiority.

To print such blatently slanted stories is very dangerous and xenophobic and is a complete smokescreen.

To quote about the demise of Thai culture as though eating somtaam is some kind of a right of passage the Thainess shows how naive the intelligencia of Thailand really is.

This article is extremely xenophobic and whilst I have no doubt about the origin of some of these marriages it is no business of mine, let alone an Assistant Professor of Nursing (what does she know about statistical analyis of relationships). These kind of articles are convenient smokescreens to divert attention away from the true social problems of Thailand.

Why were these women attracted to marrying foreign husbands?

a. My Thai husband left me and gave me no money so I couldn’t provide for me and my kids. I had no choice but to go and work away in BKK/Pattaya etc etc
b. He has a steady income and has bought us a house so I can take care of us.
c. My kids have clothes and food enough now

The list goes on and on. I know people sometimes think it unsavoury for older europeans to marry younger Thai girls, but in all reality they are saving a generation of Thai women who had no hope. Very few Thai men will marry a divorcee, or a woman with a baby. The Thai “upper class” deride these women, so what option does Thai culture give them.

I have worked and lived in Asia and Thailand for 11 years and have been married for 5. I am 32 and my wife is the same age and we know the difficulties of mixed marriages, we do not need a half baked survey from a Pooyai in the University with no relevance printed on the front page of a newspaper.

I quote” It cited the example of many Thai wives now being keener on eating Western food and almost forgetting somtam – the region’s popular papaya salad dish.”

If the survey was conducted in Khon Kaen, Udorn and Roi-et to the best of my memory, Khon Kaen has on Mcdonalds and One Pizza hut. Roi-et none and Udorn maybe one of each. Whereas there must be one million somtaam restaurants so where is this flood of fast food?

In any case why shouldn’t a wife cook what her husband wants to eat?

“said her team interviewed 231 Thai wives in Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Roi Et and found that foreign son-in-laws had caused the community-oriented Northeasterners to become the more individualistic and give less attention to social interaction.”

a. So what?

“Thai culture in these families was thus overshadowed by Western culture, with the families’ own consent, due to the pride of having foreign sons-in-law, she said. ”

a. How on earth can you deduce this from a question. I very much doubt that the question was asked “Do you feel that Western culture overshadows Thai in your house?” This is a blatent opinion of the researcher from hearsay.

“The researchers also found most wives interviewed were either not interested or less enthusiastic about traditional Thai holidays – such as Buddhist Lent and Makha Bucha Day – compared with Western holidays like Christmas Day or Valentine’s Day. ”

a. Is this not true of the whole of Thailand as a rule, shops in Bangkok have Xmas lights and are covered with hearts at Valentines day. Meanwhile, Songkran, Loi Kratong are still alive and well in the whole of Thailand. Do the Chinese community not close up shop in Chinese New Year to celebrate, or the Indian and Moslem community celebrate their festivals? This statement may well be breaking the consitiution fo Thailand.

“”In some Khon Kaen villages, with dozens of women marrying farangs, Christmas Day is no different from the movies with real traditional Christmas celebrations, while many Northeastern festivals were forgotten,” the academic said. ”

a. This is a complete falsehood, since I live here and have seen reality and anyway, so what if a foreigner wants to celebrate Xmas. Is it hurting Thai culture? I would say less so than Coyote dancers inside a temple.

“With the obvious increase in wealth of wives married to farang, due to their husbands’ financial support, some 90 per cent of residents surveyed said they wanted their daughters to marry foreigners, Supawatanakorn said. ”

a. Is this not a sad indictment of Thai society that really needs investigation?

“However, the cross-cultural marriage weakened the children’s language skills as parents spoke to them in a mix of Thai and English, which confused the kids and made them less fluent in the Thai language, she said.

The children’s English skills were limited to basic daily communication due to the parents’ limited educational background or a less stimulating social environment”

a. And the biggest lie of them all, the best way for children to become bi-lingual is to have two languages in the home.

As you can see this entire article is basically hearsay and rumour based on social stereotyping and has no place on the front page of a newspaper. There are a myriad of beneits to cross-cultural marriages which of course have their onw inherent cultural and social difficulties also. They are not the business of a brainless ajarn.

If I had held the survey and asked:

a. Do you feel more financially secure now you have a foreign husband?
b. Do you feel more confident in Thai society now you have a successful marriage?
c. Do you believe your children had a better future now you have a secure marriage?

The headline would have been “Farangs spark social and economic revival in Isaan”.

I have calmed down a bit since the orginal article was written, but this kind of high school research deserves no place in a newspaper. What is more worrying is that an Ajarn really thought it OK to conduct it in such a way and draw such xenophobic deductions.

More interesting will be the political attitudes of the children of these marriages (the luuk khreung) who grow up in Thailand and how they may influence local politics.

And for the record, I am a Farang who has been married to a Thai national for 20 years and I have spent extended periods of time in rural Thailand rarely eating western food.