No laughing matter at the Police Academy
COMMENTARY No laughing matter at the Police Academy Sanitsuda Ekachai Bangkok Post August 29, 2006 If you are working overseas under dire stress, how would you feel if your community's religious gathering, which gives you a sense of psychological security, was raided by the police and berated by the mass media as a territorial invasion? If Thai workers faced such a crackdown and humiliation in their host country, we would certainly hear endless outcries for a diplomatic apology and redress. We would also definitely consider those perpetrators to be fools, culturally insensitive to the point of being barbaric. Last Sunday, we became such perpetrators ourselves. And we have not shown any sign of being perturbed for having sunk so low. You see, it is an age-old tradition of the ethnic Karen on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border to hold a spirit-calling ceremony in August. Wherever they are, they would try to return to their home villages to attend the ceremony to ensure family happiness and to free themselves of all bad luck in the year ahead. The ceremony has a special significance for the Karen migrant workers who fled Burma's political persecution and dire economic hardship to toil here in what is near slave-like work conditions. Since they cannot return home, a group of Karen elders are invited to perform a sacred ceremony to tie the youngsters' wrists with sanctified thread that will protect them from harm. For recreation, apart from sporting events, there is cultural entertainment for the crowd to celebrate their ethnic identity, to reassure themselves that they are not alone and rootless in a hostile land. While each pocket of ethnic Karen migrants holds their own spirit-calling ceremony in their vicinity, the grandest takes place in Nakhon Pathom, given the heavy concentration of factories which hire ethnic Karen migrant workers there, and in nearby provinces. I was there last year to educate my 10-year-old girl about ethnic cultures and the beauty of cultural diversity. She returned home all smiles, with her wrist full of sacred threads and _ mummy hoped _ with some immunity to counter the prevailing ethnic prejudices in our society. What happened at the Karen's grand spirit-calling ceremony in Nakhon Pathom this year showed that it is not only my girl who needs some education to undo ugly ethnic chauvinism. The spirit-calling ceremony this year took place at the Police Cadet Academy at Samphran. Since it was the 14th year in a row that they have held the ceremony in the province, no one expected any glitches. The happy event, however, turned into a nightmare when hundreds of policemen staged a crackdown, netting some 600 Karen for deportation while the rest fled for safety in panic. The next day, the headlines in many vernacular papers shouted the same message of xenophobic nationalism: ''Tens of thousands of Karen seize Police Academy!'' screamed one. ''Rampant fear as hundred thousand Burmese invade Police Academy!'' exclaimed another. The morning news on TV and radio was not much better. As footage of the raid was aired on the screen, one female anchorwoman sternly asked the policeman in charge: ''So have you nabbed the hua choke?'' The words, meaning ''leader of trouble-makers'', clearly showed her ethnic prejudice. Another radio news anchorman tried to suggest there must be something fishy going on in having allowed the Karen to improperly use the Police Academy. They just could not see that the Samphran policemen were out of their minds. Blinded, too, by deeply-seated racist nationalism, they just could not see that raiding a religious ceremony was a serious violation of human rights. Without respect for different cultures, how can we ever hope to douse the fire in the deep South? With the spirit-calling ceremony ending in disaster, the ethnic Karen must shiver at the thought of their year ahead. The future is also grim for us Thais if we still allow our racist nationalism to run wild with impunity.
COMMENTARY No laughing matter at the Police Academy Sanitsuda Ekachai Bangkok Post August 29, 2006 If you are working overseas under dire stress, how would you feel if your community's religious gathering, which gives you a sense of psychological security, was raided by the police and berated by the mass media as a territorial invasion? If Thai workers faced such a crackdown and humiliation in their host country, we would certainly hear endless outcries for a diplomatic apology and redress. We would also definitely consider those perpetrators to be fools, culturally insensitive to the point of being barbaric. Last Sunday, we became such perpetrators ourselves. And we have not shown any sign of being perturbed for having sunk so low. You see, it is an age-old tradition of the ethnic Karen on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border to hold a spirit-calling ceremony in August. Wherever they are, they would try to return to their home villages to attend the ceremony to ensure family happiness and to free themselves of all bad luck in the year ahead. The ceremony has a special significance for the Karen migrant workers who fled Burma's political persecution and dire economic hardship to toil here in what is near slave-like work conditions. Since they cannot return home, a group of Karen elders are invited to perform a sacred ceremony to tie the youngsters' wrists with sanctified thread that will protect them from harm. For recreation, apart from sporting events, there is cultural entertainment for the crowd to celebrate their ethnic identity, to reassure themselves that they are not alone and rootless in a hostile land. While each pocket of ethnic Karen migrants holds their own spirit-calling ceremony in their vicinity, the grandest takes place in Nakhon Pathom, given the heavy concentration of factories which hire ethnic Karen migrant workers there, and in nearby provinces. I was there last year to educate my 10-year-old girl about ethnic cultures and the beauty of cultural diversity. She returned home all smiles, with her wrist full of sacred threads and _ mummy hoped _ with some immunity to counter the prevailing ethnic prejudices in our society. What happened at the Karen's grand spirit-calling ceremony in Nakhon Pathom this year showed that it is not only my girl who needs some education to undo ugly ethnic chauvinism. The spirit-calling ceremony this year took place at the Police Cadet Academy at Samphran. Since it was the 14th year in a row that they have held the ceremony in the province, no one expected any glitches. The happy event, however, turned into a nightmare when hundreds of policemen staged a crackdown, netting some 600 Karen for deportation while the rest fled for safety in panic. The next day, the headlines in many vernacular papers shouted the same message of xenophobic nationalism: ''Tens of thousands of Karen seize Police Academy!'' screamed one. ''Rampant fear as hundred thousand Burmese invade Police Academy!'' exclaimed another. The morning news on TV and radio was not much better. As footage of the raid was aired on the screen, one female anchorwoman sternly asked the policeman in charge: ''So have you nabbed the hua choke?'' The words, meaning ''leader of trouble-makers'', clearly showed her ethnic prejudice. Another radio news anchorman tried to suggest there must be something fishy going on in having allowed the Karen to improperly use the Police Academy. They just could not see that the Samphran policemen were out of their minds. Blinded, too, by deeply-seated racist nationalism, they just could not see that raiding a religious ceremony was a serious violation of human rights. Without respect for different cultures, how can we ever hope to douse the fire in the deep South? With the spirit-calling ceremony ending in disaster, the ethnic Karen must shiver at the thought of their year ahead. The future is also grim for us Thais if we still allow our racist nationalism to run wild with impunity.
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