Thailand's Two Sleeping Nations

...This is a warning call, an urgent plea for an active social and labor policy in Thailand now...

...She is a lush country...

...Public health and education have made great strides: The DDT mark and the grade school stand out in the remotest villages...

...X-ray and penicillin...

...We can warn the generals and admirals in Bangkok that they are living on time borrowed from an Oriental patience which is nearing exhaustion, that a working class impoverished in the midst of wealth is an element of subversion, that economic development will not insure political stability unless the people feel they have a share in it...

...Understandably, they have trouble making within the span of one generation a mental adjustment which, after 1800 years of professing the brotherhood of man, we took a century and a half to achieve and...

...Technology and administration have been modernized to a remarkable degree, but human relations are being kept frozen in the mold of the servile age...

...As things now stand in Southeast Asia, any such unrest would doubtless be Communist-led...

...Cash in on their slumber as long as it lasts, and after me the deluge...

...These circles are not troubled by considerations of social justice...

...Wages are extremely low for the bulk of unskilled and semiskilled workers, barely enough for rice and a modicum of clothing and housing: only in a small number of highly skilled occupations are they adequate...

...Few of them know Thailand beyond Bangkok, the fashionable beaches of Hua Hin (Bangkok's Atlantic City), and the pretty dry-season resort of Chiengmai (Thailand's Colorado Springs...

...At all times of the year, her face is a pastoral symphony of green hues ranging from the near-yellow of the rice seedlings to the near-blue of the palm trees...

...One is: Do nothing...

...Foreign exploitation" has a bad press these days, so the humane responsibility shown by these companies should be acknowledged...

...an unknown but certainly high percentage of owners are deeply in debt, mostly to the middleman who is also the local banker, generally Chinese...

...Raise his working and living standards...

...He responds immediately and, indeed, movingly...

...Housemaids crouch on their knees when serving at the tables of the rich, and seem to do it as a matter of course...

...The workers often showed surprise and gratification when I visited the factories...

...Impressive irrigation projects regulate and distribute more evenly the rich flow of water...

...Higher wages...

...He does not bark...

...Thailand is an island of peace and order in a sea tossing with unrest, subversion and civil war...

...Many workers explained to me that they looked to the paternal farm as a refuge in the event of an emergency and, possibly, in old age, but not as a source of income and a place to raise a family...

...The jungle in the north yields a variety of valuable timber, notably teak...

...Overtime is not necessarily paid, or paid at rates higher than standard...

...Nor is this all...

...They were happy that someone cared...

...If his own government does not assume leadership today, the Communists beyond the Mekong River will do so tomorrow...

...Whatever is done for the Thai worker will go a disproportionately long way toward giving him a sense of "belonging...

...What, I was asked, did I think about labor in Thailand...

...The Thai Government has declared that it wants to raise the standards of Thai workers, but it hesitates to carry out its intentions...

...Hours of work are generally excessive, for a seven-day week of 56 to 63, and even 84, hours prevails in all but a few private and public establishments...

...Nor does the choice of action greatly matter...

...The absence of a Communist movement in Thailand suggests two alternative courses...

...This may be due to some extent to police efficiency in stamping out all organized opposition to the Government...

...The reaction was polite, forgiving smiles...

...We have no ax to grind in that country, only the plowshares of freedom, and everyone knows it...

...While unflinchingly taking the country into the age of concrete and steel, crane and lathe, printing press and movie...

...If the country is to remain free, it will have to accept the social together with the technological and organizational norms of the 20th century...

...Management, put on the spot, conceded a lag of two months...

...Hence, they are assumed to be pillars of the present order...

...We can, moreover, actually demonstrate fair labor standards...

...The plea is realistic...

...A few bright spots relieve this overall picture...

...For the underdog of Thailand is not going to sleep much longer...

...Life and property are safe...

...Here were two different worlds, a contrast shocking, disturbing and ominous...

...On one occasion, I had interviewed plantation workers concerning wages, and as the figures obtained agreed with industry conditions in the region...

...American aid to Thailand will reach some $40 million in the fiscal year 1955-56, much of it going for various kinds of public and defense work...

...With all Asia on the move, this experiment in inconsistency cannot possibly succeed in the case of Thailand...

...Child labor is widespread: match factories employ girls as young as 7. Children of 14 and 15, and women, are used on operations far beyond their physical strength-the casual visitor can watch them on construction sites carrying 120-pound cement bags and heavy loads of concrete mix and tiles, often over steeply rising ramps...

...don't stir up trouble...

...I traveled and actually walked through jungle areas, unarmed and often with only one companion, and never saw a bandit...

...America could encourage Thailand to catch up with herself...

...the need of the hour is for a show of good will...

...It is by no means unusual for a manufacturer employing 50 to 100 workers, a man who has never been outside the metro politan area, to make a trip around the world by plane, or to send his sons to college in Old or New England...

...The question is not: Will he wake up...

...And there is practically no middle class, save possibly for the Chinese traders and the higher ranks of the civil service...

...What had I done for them...

...They take privilege for granted...

...Better food, clothing, housing...

...Miraculously, with Communism on the upsurge in her very back yard, the underprivileged are quiet...

...A network of airlines, railways and highways links the major regions...

...There is, in addition, a certain trend away from agriculture...

...The workers were clad in rags, fed on glutinous rice, quartered in hovels, employed ten hours a day, seven days a week at a daily rate of about 20 cents...

...Ludwig Hamburger was commissioned by the International Labor Office to survey working conditions in Thailand...

...He does not even whine...

...The people are rooted in the traditions of Oriental deference and subservience...

...Answer: Four months ago...

...The perils inherent in this disparity are often minimized...

...If there are any radical intellectuals, they have no active following...

...The rulers of Thailand are not under pressure: they can give of their own accord...

...Ventilation is poor as a rule for the men who sweat it out at the workbench in the tropical heat, though I noted plenty of electric fans in the offices of clerks and supervisors...

...American martinis, Scotch whisky, Danish beer, Dutch liqueurs, Swiss cheese, English cigarettes, and ten elaborate Chinese dishes served by a bevy of butlers...

...Water flows richly, meandering through rivers, rushing through streams, dancing through brooks, parading tight-laced through canals, spreading in the terraced rice-fields, sparkling everywhere under the tropical sun...

...a rich and unaware ruling class...

...Available drinking water is full of dirt in many cases, and sanitary conditions deplorable and conducive to disease...

...and many of them do not care...

...The smiles of the country are not convincing...

...So ever-present is water, and so close to man, that the Thai language has five different words for it...

...Brought up in a world where the rich and wellborn enjoyed unquestioned preeminence, they are now called upon to take steps which will in due course lead to a broader distribution of wealth and bring the "lower orders" into society...

...We can offer our assistance in mapping out such a policy, and we can also suggest that favorable consideration be given to the recommendations of the International Labor Office for raising Thai living and working standards, a realistic program developed at the request of the Thai Government and submitted in 1954...

...the adjustment must be made...

...To a high degree, this is wishful thinking...

...They would waste them on liquor and women...

...These are the homes of the workers, who operate in conditions which recall the early days of the Industrial Revolution in the West...

...This report is based on more than a year's direct observation of the Thai economy...

...The other course is: Wake up the underdog and befriend him...

...In allocating funds for the construction of buildings, roads, camps, etc., we are in a position to influence conditions of work...

...The more you give the people, the more they will demand...

...Give him a stake in his own land...

...More than any Asian nation, she is in a position to create in fact what Communism merely promises...

...A large number of farmers are sharecroppers rather than owners...

...Not until they were asked did the workers indicate that the wage rate they had cited amounted only to a hope...

...Accidents are frequent, since it is unusual for flywheels, pulleys, transmissions, saws and catwalks to be properly guarded...

...existing resources are adequate for the purpose...

...Wage payments may be delayed for weeks or months, but it is customary in many industries for the worker to receive a substantial advance on the wage which he never actually works of, with the result that he becomes tied to the job like a feudal serf to the estate...

...I saw Thai ladies in splendid hand loomed silk and brocade...

...As in the rest of Asia, a handful of rich are very rich...

...Almost every reasonably well managed business in Thailand, including the Government, which employs a third of all industrial labor, can absorb the cost of such items as simple protective equipment for hazardous machinery and operations, seats that do not topple over, electric bulbs that do not glare, a well to supply good drinking water in the dry season, reasonably clean toilets, and a first-aid box...

...to a person of superior rank one does not offer information not specifically requested...

...Many industries can well afford to eliminate child labor and the employment of women in unsuitable operations...

...in many cases, have not yet achieved...

...The bulk of Thai, it is pointed out, are rural and own their farms...

...In fact, the makings of social unrest arc visibly present in Thailand at this time...

...Thai leaders nonetheless allow brick walls of indifference to stand between themselves and the common people...

...In previous reports on Thailand, the ancient kingdom called Siam by Western travelers, New Leader correspondents have concentrated on its autocratic political regime, headed by Marshal Pibul Songgram...

...It is perfectly possible to raise Thai working and living standards substantially...

...The rulers of Thailand are engaged in an agonizing reappraisal of age-old...

...A minority of employers take good care of their workers, including some, though by no means all, the foreign companies operating in Thailand...

...I submitted that the gap between the living standards of the rich and the poor was deeper than the nation could afford...

...We are trusted...

...With foresight and determination, our Thai ally can be turned into a showplace of wealth and social justice for all Asia...

...Yet...

...Our people are perfectly happy...

...The underdog of Thailand is not aware that he can demand a better deal...

...When they travel, they go overseas, following their bank accounts in Zurich, London and New York...

...The country is integrated, developing, and well policed under a reasonably stable junta of generals and admirals...

...At the same time, we can reassure the Thai Government that, as in other countries, the workers, if properly treated, will be only too willing to add to the wealth, strength and stability of the land...

...The Government's firm hand also checks all subversive activities, even in the southern border region, all jungle, where an overspill of Communists from Malaya would seem inevitable...

...correspondent Richard Deverall summed it up in two words as "corrupt fascism...

...The masses are very poor...

...Human decency as well as enlightened self-interest suggested that the standards of the poor be raised...

...Thailand's Two Sleeping Nations In a rich, fertile nation, the small ruling class, living in fantastic luxury, pays little attention to the wretched millions, while the poor are still hardly conscious of the injustice being done them By Ludwig Hamburger Two years ago, I visited a Thai province bordering on the Mekong River, half a mile of water from seething Indo-China, a bare 200 miles from the battlefields of the Vietminh...

...A very small outlay would make the place of work a safer, healthier and more comfortable spot, and would pay dividends in terms of increased productivity...

...Communism is around the corner, but no one is facing the issue, which, in Thailand as throughout Asia, is that of providing a better life for the people...

...Let sleeping underdogs lie...

...Young farm people shift to industrial and other non-farm employment as public health cuts the death rate and swells the family beyond the number of heads the farm can support...

...they had not been told, and one does not ask questions...

...There is an abundance of food??fish and crab, coconuts, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, tangerines and many delicious tropical fruits nameless in our languages, in addition to rice, the principal product, staple food and export item of the country...

...But these extraordinarily propitious circumstances represent merely a moratorium of history-an opportunity to remove existing wrongs rather than an excuse for continued complacency...

...Thailand's problem is the contrast of the two scenes: a poor, inarticulate working class...

...cherished tenets and traditions...

...The case of Thailand is unique...

...With all this, Thailand is under populated: Only 15 per cent of its land was under major crop cultivation in 1952...

...plainly, the foreigner did not know Thailand...

...That was new to the men...

...Elementary facilities to insure workers' safety and health are missing from most work sites...

...That evening, I was guest at a dinner party in a beautiful villa...

...They had never known anvone to take an interest in how they worked and lived...

...And yet, one is ill at ease in Thailand...

...Here are the gracious villas and the shining cars of Bangkok, representing incomes-often enormous-from foreign trade, manufacturing, lending at fantastic interest rates, and (last but not least) graft...

...Quite a few establishments are prosperous enough to raise the wages of at least the lowest-paid unskilled workers and yet maintain broad profit margins...

...the rate of literacy reaches an estimated 70 percent, a record high for Asia...

...This is the answer of most of the vested interests in the country, Thai as well as European and American...

...It is: When will he wake up, and who will lead him...

...Though all the makings of a Communist movement are present, there is no such movement in Thailand at this time...

...We can urge that children below a certain age be excluded, that women not be used in heavy or hazardous operations, and that reasonable standards of safety, health and welfare be observed...

...Question: When did you last receive wages...

...They cover up anxiety as much as they reveal serenity...

...malaria is on the wane...

...Developing a new social consciousness is the principal task before Thailand today...

...A ghost stalks this Garden of Eden, the dim realization of an unsolved social problem...

...Building construction is booming, existing industries are expanding, new ones opening...

...The south mines tin and grows rubber...

...They are not aware of such matters as the worker's safety, health, housing and the more subtle desire to "belong...

...The sky and earth give Thailand all the appearances of the Garden of Eden...

...It does not increase payrolls to pay wages when they are due rather than late or in advance, and to make out an itemized pay slip so that the worker can check the composition of his final wage...

...All this and much more can be accomplished without massive dollar aid, however desirable the latter may be to help develop the country over a longer period of time...

...I met construction hands and tin-mine workers who, hired a day or two before, did not know the wage at which they were being employed...

...I called it a day But then I heard a report that the men were not being paid at regular intervals, so I resumed the interviews...

...I had taken time out to watch their operations, to sit down and smoke a cigarette and occasionally share a meal with them, to ask questions, and to listen...

...I saw a tobacco station growing seedlings for sale to the farmers and processing the harvested leaves, a large business in a prosperous industry...

...More fundamentally, it is due to the state of mind of potential Communist followers...

...The Bangkok installations of Standard Vacuum and Shell Oil insure their Thai personnel reasonably high standards in terms of safety, health, welfare, hours and wages...

...Save for a small enlightened minority, the men and women who own the villas and cars are remote from their own people...

...When cornered, they point out the obvious truth that no one actually starves in Thailand...

...A weekly holiday...

...They revel at the banquets of this last refuge of 19th-century capitalism...

...He is, it appears, fast asleep...

...The class of wage earners engaged in and dependent on nonfarm work, already large, is growing...

...We are popular in Thailand...

...Highway workers stand at attention before their chiefs, and do not seem to mind...

...In many other cases, farm ownership is more apparent than real...

...Now we present an economic and social portrait of Thailand, a picture quite different from that of India or Indonesia but challenging in its own right...

...On the other side is the picturesque squalor of the slums of Bangkok, the delight of the fleeting visitor, which can be seen, less picturesque and more squalid, all over Thailand...