Well and good for exalted foreigners to come for a time,
get their thesis papers written
then when they are gone home,
make commentary on how it’s just not working in Thailand.

The people out there aren’t rich yet, and that’s bad.
And that’s the fault of the King of Thailand who took action to help.
You believe what you write?

The Royal Projects certainly do improve conditions,
and probably at enormous outlay of money to achieve it.
They invite people like you to study, that’s more generous than I am.
They impose organization and order…which does not come naturally.
The scourge of opium in the Golden Triangle is all but wiped out.
That alone counts as a worthy accomplishment,
even if their farms didn’t grow the finest most expensive produce in town.

I’m a foreigner here for a time and a season…
one day I will leave and never look back.
I farm with migrant Burma labor.
They are happy enough with B100 / day, working less than half their days.
They have no concept of conservation…if they have it they spend it.
They have no idea of diligence for an effect greater than their need today.
They will steal at night from the same farm they received a wage from in the day.
It’s not so much that they are poor in money,
but rather poor in any sense of preparing for tomorrow.
If you paid them B150 they’d still be as poor
because they’d spend it frivolously,
and you’d be able to complain they don’t make B200

I outright challenge you well meaning folk with snappy keyboards
to show concrete results with the people you champion on screen.
Come out here and start a farm with the tribes you champion,
and show us how shiftless wandering people can do far better
than the tribes who are smart and work hard.

Reading here one could assume that all Northern Thailand hill tribes are exactly equal
except where they live and how they dress.
I read that the hard labor classes are severely taken advantage of.

They are separate tribes because they are fundamentally very different.
There is one very good reason
the Hmong, Lawa and Lisu
hire Karen, Akha and Shan to work,
never the other way.
Those who notice fundamental difference in people groups
are labeled racist…
but it doesn’t change the differences.

Yes, the Thailand government had headaches with the Hmong.
They came in and tore the mountains down in a very short time.
And how does one tear the hills to shreds with hand tools…by continual hard work.
The fact that they are a problem to the Forestry department,
is evidence in itself that they are set apart.
So their diligence is misguided,
they still are resourceful
while less fortunate tribes sit and starve,
except for when the Hmong hire them.

i spent several weeks with sgaw karen villagers in chiang mai province earlier this year (also conducting research for my MA thesis, although not specifically on the royal projects)…

the supposed “success” of the royal projects could not be confirmed by the villagers i encountered either… indeed, most of them were also facing increasing debt… furthermore, the projects’ introduction of chemical fertilizers has endangered their clean drinking water supply…

thus, the villagers i encountered overwhelmingly felt that the royal projects (coupled with the outlawing of the practice of rotational swidden agriculture on which they have traditionally relied) had not improved their lives, but had made their situation more precarious…

i therefore agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that measuring the success of these projects in monetary terms alone leads to a highly distorted picture… i also agree that the paternalistic attitude of the thai authorities leads to a lack of consideration for the needs and wishes of the people on the ground…

would there be any chance i could get a copy of your thesis?

many thanks and all the best

david