Expats who speak up for ordinary Thai people risk hi-so retaliation
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It’s amazing, but lately Somsak Pola and I have been agreeing with each other (“For some expats, basic freedoms in Thailand stop at the right to shop”, yesterday).
He’s absolutely right that many (hopefully not most) expats don’t give a damn about the Thai people, only their own personal comfort.
No matter how many letters I’ve written about how many Thais who are still suffering terribly – politically and economically – expat letter-writers like A Johnsen and Clara Holzer couldn’t care less.
Ironically, I’m the one often accused of being disrespectful to my “host” country, when I’m one of the few expats speaking up for the “little” people in this country, who are not the ones who write letters to The Nation saying how wonderful and fantastic everything is in Thailand.
Eric Bahrt
Chiang Mai
