“They said that they'll leave no one behind, but we've always felt that we're cast aside. Likewise, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people who don't matter in this punctured boat are being abandoned. And, we always identify ourselves as those ignored people. We're left to die”.

 

As part of the people of Chao Ley (who are indigenous fishing communities), Mr Witawas Thepsong - the Coordinator of the People of Chao Ley and Vice President of the Indigenous Tribal Council in Southern Thailand - has a deep knowledge of the sea's volatility. Today, the COVID crisis puts Thailand in a difficult situation, similar to a ruptured boat in danger of sinking. A small group of its passengers, notably the ethnic minority and indigenous populations, is at risk of being jettisoned.

 

The health crisis and subsequent economic upheaval compound the problems they have been facing. These include socioeconomic and political issues, such as being prevented from depending on nature, having no identification cards and being unable to speak Thai fluently. As a result, the ethnic/indigenous communities do not receive adequate assistance from government agencies. This can leave them at greater risk and more vulnerable than other populations in these hard times.

 

 

The Shan are one indigenous people who can be found both in the countryside and in the cities including Bangkok and Chiang Mai. They include both Thailand-born Shan (who have been in Thailand since the time of their ancestors) and Shan migrants (who have come from neighbouring countries).

 

They continued to face problems from both limitation of movements due to the policy of closing construction worker camps - Section 9 of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations B.E.2548/2005, No. 25 authorised the closure of public spaces in urban areas between June and July 2021 to contain the spread of COVID-19 – and from legal challenges. The latter issues reveal the gap between laws and reality, given that even though migrants have a right to mobility, it has never been reflected by their lawful rights in practice.

 

“The measures prohibiting labors from leaving their camps have meant that migrants whose work permits have expired can’t renew them. So consequently some Shan people have been forced to live illegally”, remarked Ms Sangrawee Suwirakarn, Vice President of the Taiyai (Shan) Education and Culture Association (TECA).

 

“When there's a problem with their documents, many employers immediately reduce their wages without any negotiation. In general, the minimum wage is 300 Thai baht, but the indigenous workers are paid only 150 Thai baht. They’ve got no choice. They need to survive, so they have to work”.

 

She gave an example of a Shan woman, whose case the TECA has recently followed up to offer advice and assistance. Seven-months pregnant and abandoned by her unemployed husband, she felt completely helpless. She could not even return home to her parents because of ongoing travel restrictions.

 

A number of Shan people in Thailand do not have any national ID cards. This turns Shan villagers into stateless persons without any state protection. Some ethnic minority people have been registered, but their cards carry the number “zero” – a kind of government-issued identity document, starting with zero, that is issued to migrants or for persons who are in the procedure of proving their right to Thai nationality – which means they do not have the same rights as Thais and so their access to COVID vaccination is limited.

 

Apart from the usual problems of statelessness, the lack of ID cards and the inability to speak Thai increase the challenge of receiving vaccines via online registration as all digital communication channels are in Thai.

 

“[I] don't want [the Thai government] to discriminate [in health care] and in helping out each other. In situation like this, everyone is a fellow human being, and [the prejudice] will increase more discordance and inequality as it makes the villagers feel rejected to be treated inhumanely, rather than being respected as a person”, Ms Sangrawee said.

 

Imagine that only one out of ten ethnic people is being assisted by the project "We Stand Together".

 

The idea seems terrifying, but this is the reality proposed by research from the Indigenous Peoples' Foundation for Education and Environment (IPF). The work examined how indigenous peoples accessed the first wave of government measures between March and July 2020. It found that only 10% of the total population of ethnic minorities received such government aid.

 

Furthermore, the Foundation conducted another survey looking into the impact of COVID on remedial measures within eight communities and four ethnic groups, namely the Karen Plong and the Mlabri in the north and the Mani and the Moken in the south. These communities are more vulnerable with many overlapping problems than the other indigenous groups.

 

Like the cash support of the 5,000 Thai baht scheme, the most vulnerable groups (comprising older adults, people with special needs and children under six years old living in poor families) only received 5.6% of the available COVID related aid. Those working in farming and fisheries (the occupations which most people engaged in) only received 10% for the aid measures. Because they did not register their land for the purpose of agriculture, some villagers have lost their land rights due to forest reclamation orders. The loss of lands in Karen Noi Pha Rung Ngarn Village, Chiang Mai Province, is one example of this.

 

The scarcity of electricity plays a major role in cutting off the village from accessing various remedial measures. These are predominantly available via online registration but the ethnic minority communities often live in remote areas with limited Internet connections via their smartphones.

 

“The research also provides recommendations for stakeholders, including, firstly, the importance of collaboration within the network of government organisations. The agencies which already maintain the minorities' house registrations should be able to access the data in order to monitor which ethnic minority families have already been assisted by the state [so they can assist those still waiting]. Lastly, the process of rectifying the statelessness status, which normally takes four to seven years to complete, should be cut short as it causes minorities to lose access to government services”, Ms Kanchana Maran, one of the researchers of the survey study, pointed out.

If Thailand were a boat, as the Chao Ley people say, then it is dangerously holed. How will we survive? Will we need to sacrifice some of the people?
 

One way to exit the crisis is to follow the captain's orders. Another way may be helping each other.

 

The Chao Lay, the Shan (Tai Yai) and other ethnic minority groups have begun to discover various solutions. One idea was to prepare their own, self-designed COVID response plan, which began to select specific sites for the locating of quarantine areas or community food depots in response to the situation.

 

The indigenous peoples believe that their network is strong and ready to connect their cultures regardless of their different languages.

 

In spite of such creative initiatives, the grassroot plan needs support from the government.

 

Members of the indigenous populations believe that their communities can manage themselves, but the state must empower them by decentralising power to local communities and championing local governments which are close to the ethnic minority families to implement development plans. The way forward is a solution from the bottom up.

 

This article is translated by Teerada Na Jatturas