I agree with polo – I cannot count the number of times that citizenship has been mentioned for the hill tribespeople, often in the same breath as border control and domestic security. Although safety is a crucial element along Thailand’s perimeter (particularly with Burma/Myanmar), the issue of the hill tribespeople’s citizenship, in this latest announcement as before, is likely to be nothing more than a drive to register rather than an official recognition of these ethnic minorities and their lengthy residency (often from birth) in Thailand.

However, when citizenship for the hill tribespeople issues arise, several other considerations must be made, which often involve questions that are unlikely to be answered.

First is the conceptual differences between ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationality’ are often confused in Thailand. They may be similar legally (can someone comment on this?), but are certainly different in a social, ethnic context. Although the Thai for citizen and national is often the same – ประชาชน (bprà-chaa chon) – Thais insist that they are Thai, not citizens of Thailand, and would be offended otherwise. This, however, is not the case for the hill tribespeople, who are labelled citizens to be incorporated into the social systems, however limited, to allow for better monitoring by the central Thai government. They are never really permitted total and complete access to and acceptance into Thai society.

Second, the granting of citizenship, although welcomed for its improved access to healthcare, education, electoral rights and so on, is more often a political tool to integrate younger hill tribespeople – Thainise – into mainstream Thai culture than a true gesture of official recognition. This pseudo recognition is, in effect, a two-sided sword, both which sting the hill tribespeople: by recognising their existence, the hills tribespeople are offered a glimpse of Thai culture and educated to work within its systems, but this also incurs a removal from their hill tribe communities and traditions, effectively causing cultural isolation. The granting of citizenship has never been an official recognition of ‘true status’ as it rarely (if ever) leads to ethnic minorites becoming fully participating and accepted members of the Thai state.

I wonder if anyone else has any opinions on this. It is an incredibly difficult situation – is a pseudo status (with strings) better than no status at all? – that requires sincere and in-depth discussion and research. Sadly, the latest (and late) announcement by the Thai government is unlikely to include any revised (read: improved) considerations for the hill tribespeople and their state-recognised status, and it will only continue the stream of previous round-ups that all too regularly occur.