Being an expatriate is an interesting experience, as it affords many people the first chance to experience what it’s like to be a member of a group on the fringes of mainstream society – to be a minority.
How the recent arrival perceives how they are treated, and the spades of ire and indignation they may feel, probably says as much about how they viewed and treated foreigners in their homeland as how they are actually treated in their new adopted home.
Phuket is an island almost solely dependant on income generated from foreigners through the conduit of tourism and residents. As such, it is essential to treat them, sorry I mean ‘us’, well.
Thai law stipulates that, by and large, looking after tourists should be done, apart from in a few instances, by Thai people. But what if Thai people are unable to do the job?
This may be because they are unable to speak the language, are not trained to a sufficient level to provide an acceptable level of service, or are simply unable to relate.
Foreign workers have been in the news again this week. On Monday night, a group of female Russian entertainers were arrested on Patong’s notorious walking street, Bangla Road. They were whisked away, while the relevant papers, permits and documents were checked over.
However, if not those particular group of foreigners, then their foreign brothers and sisters will certainly be back working in the clubs before the weekend.
They are needed on Bangla Road, as there are a certain section of foreigners who desire to see their performances. It’s a simple case of foreign supply and demand.
Earlier on Monday, in a scene that was reminiscent of the anti-Russian protests in Bang Tao just a few months ago, a group of Chinese-speaking Thais gathered to complain about the Chinese national tour guides they said were ‘stealing’ their jobs.
As foreigners they shouldn’t be working, they said. One can't but wonder if the welcoming reception the grandparents of these Phuket-born men and women of Chinese descent received would have been any warmer.
I would argue that at least these foreigners are working. They are not a drain on the - albeit woefully weak - Thai welfare system.
They are working because there are opportunities to do so, opportunities provided from a general capacity for foreign nationals to have greater social mobility. This is the world as it stands in 2013. Why they are working is an easy question to answer, why there is a need for them to work is another, slightly more difficult one, as is why it appears Thailand makes it so difficult for foreign workers to work legally.
How Thailand will stand in 2015, with the establishment of the open-border Asean Economic Community, remains to be seen. But believe me, foreigners are not going away. It's a problem, a question that needs to be addressed logically, rationally and immediately.
People now flock to all corners of the world to live and work. There is no going back now.