The following is an outcome of a research project conducted by MPCD/SEAMP's Highland Research Institute (HRI) between 1989 and 1991, under auspices of the Canadian Government sponsored IDRC (International Development Research Council), Ottawa. Research was done in 12 different villages of 6 ethnic groups on various altitudes and by highland students and staff of MPCD/SEAMP. A Thai researcher, Mr. Sanit Wongprasert of the Tribal Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, was also involved. The research was published in Lore 1992 (Geusau 1992b). This report reflects the situation in the mountains in 1991. Our MPCD/SEAMP–HRI team hasÊ tried to update this study with some data from 2002, as between 1991 and 2002 the trends towards the negative impact of development have increased.
For centuries, the northern mountainous region of Thailand has served as a refuge for mountain minority peoples of neighboring countries. (We prefer the name ãmountain peoplesäÊto the more derogatory word ãHill Tribeä) Only 1.5% of Thailandâs population consists of mountain minority tribal peoples. Some, such as the Karen and Lawa, have lived there for centuries. Others, such as the Akha, Hmong, Htin, Khamu, Lahu, Lisu, and Yao/Mien, have migrated to the region because of various political problems, such as wars, economic, and other social pressures in their native lands. Such migrations began in the middle of the 19th century in great deal as a consequence of wars in Southern China, Burma and then later Vietnam war related problems in recent times.
These groups are quite different in terms of language, culture, history and psychology and those living in Thailand are but a part ofÊ their peoples, who are spreadÊover Burma, Southern China, Laos and Vietnam. The total number of these peoples in what formerly was known as the ãGolden Triangleä and now is often called Mekong Quadrangle is estimated to be about 20 million people.
In 1991 there were between 530 and 600 thousand tribal mountain minority peoples living in some 2,200 villages and other locations dispersed throughout the remote highland areas of northern Thailand. In 2002 this number has increased substantially; demographics as given by the Tribal Research Institute of a census in 2000 report the existence of 10 ãtribal groupsä occupying 3,492 villages with 153,821 families and a population of 866,749 persons, (see demographics). Given the lack of nationality papers of many mountain peoples being refugees, besides strong urbanisation and difficulties of counting in border areas, the real number of highlanders seems to be much higher.
These highland communities have posed political, administrative, economic, and social problems for the several subsequent Thai governments over the last 50 years. However, it is also recognized by many that highlanders make an important contribution to the regionâs economy, through tourism, cheap labour, environmental knowledge of medicinal and traditional color plants, extremely artful and intricate handicraft, and the cultivation of plants which only grow in temperate climates.
Poor children
Poverty
Sickness
Highland languages are quite distinct from Thai, as are their customs and laws. Highlanders have become known for their sophisticated cultures, key to which is their intricate adaptation to, and knowledge of, the ecological environment in the mountains. Illiteracy, poor health conditions, low life expectancy, and insecure socioeconomic conditions have been common problems in the highlands over the years. These problems have been aggravated by an additional influx of highlanders from neighbouring countries, as a result of political oppression in Myanmar and the changes occurring in Laos after the Vietnam War.
As well, the poor lowland peasantry of Thailand and ethnic Chinese from Yunnan Province, Peopleâs Republic of China, have been migrating to the Thai highlands over the last 30–40 years. The ãTribal Mountain Peopleä have factually also become a minority of an estimated 900,000 people on a total mountain population of roughly 6,3 million peoples (Civit Bondoi 1991).
To tackle these issues, the Thai government, with the help of various international agencies, has planned the highlandersâ development programs since the 1960's. The quite idealistic objectives of the program have been:
Since 1969 until the mid–1990's, at least 22 government agencies supported by many international funders have been operating in the highlands of Thailand. The international agencies supporting projects of education, health, and crop replacement included the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Canadaâs International Development Research Center (IDRC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), The Thai/German (GTZ) the Thai Norwegian Projects and the World Bank (Tapp 1985). Besides this there have been many smaller foreign Thai government related projects such as the Netherlands' Coffee project, the Japanese (JICA) Pine–Tree project and the ãRoyal Projectsä, the last promoted by His Majesty the King of Thailand.
These and other agencies, the projects they have supported, and the several national development programs (Master Plans) introduced after 1961 (the last one being 1996–2001) have tried to emphasize regional development in the highlands. Within the region, they have tried to focus on education, agriculture and medical care. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the mid–1990's, many programs were implemented to develop the Thai highlands. Most of these government related programs, worked through some of those 22 Thai government agencies having jurisdiction in the mountains, such as the Public Welfare Department, the Agriculture and Education Department, etc. Since the 1980s studies have looked at the impact and implications of development programs on highland communities, including Lee (1981), Cooper (1984), and Tapp (1985, 1986), (Kampe 1993). Critical analysis of these development projects have increased over the years and concentrated on the ãincreasing gapä between the increasingly poor and a smaller group of extremely rich people in the country. In the beginning of 21st century 10 out of the 60 million people in Thailand live under the ãpoverty lineä of an income of (often a lot) less than 1 US$ (about 40 Baht) a day, and most of those are to be found in the North (Bangkok Post ... 2001/2002) including most of the ãtribalä mountain peoples. This means that most of them have economically ãde–developedäor impoverished in spite of all the development projects. It was thus somewhat ironic that by the mid–90's most foreign government related funding agencies withdrew from Thailand. At that time it was estimated that Thailand could not be considered a ãdeveloping countryä anymore as the ãPro Capita Incomeä (average income per person) seemed to have raised, while Laos, Cambodia and Burma seemed to lag behind.
How is it possible that in spite of many years of highland development projects, poverty has still increased in the majority of highland villages, can only be understood by looking into the different aspects of the problems faced by the Mountain Peoples – being of political, economic, social and cultural character.
In the Thai Government's view, before 1983, many political problems seemed to arise from the infiltration of insurgent elements in highland tribal communities. That is to say, the Hmong were thought –often incorrectly– to lean towards communism. This had lead to the ãHmong warä, from 1968–1972. In 1972 there was also a student revolt at the Thammasat University in Bangkok against the dictatorial rule of Marshall Sarit (?). This rebellion was repressed violently by the army and police. After this many students escaped to the mountains of the North, especially to Hmong villages in Nan Province. It was thought that they were schooled there by communist infiltrators from Vietnam. Many of them came back and received Royal Amnesty in 1983. (Bangkok Post, October 1986). However, for a long time, the lowland Thai population as well as the media have seen the highland people as ãcommunistsä.
A constant and even worsening trend, reaching into the 2000's is that the highland minority peoples are still seen as inferior people whose language, economics, sociocultural customs, and religion are at a more primitive level than those those of Thai lowlanders. Highlanders are therefore often supposed to have no sense of national belonging or national consciousness. They are seen as separate, cohesive groups. Awareness of, and interest for, highland minority peoples amongst the Thai population is minimal and it seems that the gap between Thai and mountain peoples and Thai lowlanders is rather widening, than narrowing down, in the new millennium. (Pannada 2002)
As a result, incorporation policies formulated in 1967, such as the formal granting of Thai citizenship, have been constantly behind in their implementation. In some provincial districts, the proportion of the population with Thai citizenship is as low as 10% (National Statistical Office 1986). In 1988 the following developments could be observed: The Government introduced –in that year– the so called ãBlue Cardsä. These were intended to register as many highlanders as possible, but granting the card did not include the granting of citizenship. In fact: those possesing a ãBlue Cardä are forbidden to move from their village.
In 1992 the government issued a decree, indicating that all those who had entered the country before February 28, 1986 would –as a matter of principle– be able to obtain Thai citizenship. Temporary improvements could be observed in the 1990's, in the upper North of the Chiang Rai Province and particularly thanks to the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, named after the late Mother of His Majesty the King. As a result of this ãGreen cards with Red Borderä were issued. These cards do not give a right to obtain an ID–card either. The granting of the ãrealä ID–Cards indicating that citizenship is obtained stagnated again under the last (Thaksin) government. This has, for the first time, provoked a strong popular movement, called "The Assembly of Tribal and Indigenous Peoplesä, which linked itself with "The Assembly of Poor Northern Thai farmersä. The problem for the many highlanders who have no ID–cards, making up an average 40% or more than 350,000 people who don't have citizenship, are unable to possess motor–bikes, do business or go to schools. When traveling they are often arrested by the police. Of those 350,000 people more than a half are from mountain people families who have lived in Thailand for several generations already. Others –in most cases– can be called refugees. The land rights of highlanders is another problem that remains unresolved.
For latest data See: The Assembly of Tribal and Indigenous PeoplesÊof Thailand (see Assembly of the Poor website for information and a petition letter for the Thai government) andÊMiqjur Mawlehgu (to be added).
Deforestation in Northern Thailand
The community forest surrounds a village
Village surrounded by forest
An elephant pulls logs down the hill
Logging
Akha terraces in Xixuangbanna
Swidden fields
Real estate started on the mountains
Cutting opium poppies
Opium Smoker
"Haw" Chinese pony caravan
The Thai government and some scholars have argued that the excessive production of annual crops on steep slopes through swiddening (also called ãslash and burnä, or shifting agriculture) is ecologically, economically, and socially inappropriate, and this has been one of the arguments for the governments to relocate highland villages to the lowlands (Government plan). Other scholars have argued that given the requirements of small communities in tropical or subtropical environments swidden agriculture or shifting agriculture is not necessarily harmful in the case of low population density allowing long fallow periods during which the community forest can recuperate (McKinnon andÊ ???). The example of the Karen is also given because of their conservationist attitutes towards the forests (Hinton)Êand itÊ has become increasingly clearÊ that other groupsÊ basically have the same rules, but less access to water sources (Tooker). Another opinion defends the position that monocrop systems, as in the case of massive growing of crispy cabbage by the Hmong, are the only viable alternative to swidden agriculture (Mann). However, some recent studies have shown damaging effects of these systems on the mountain ecology of northern Thailand. As for Thailand the debate on swidden agruculture practices has come partly to a halt after a logging ban, issued by the Chatichai Choonhavan government in 1988. The reinforcement of it (versus the mountain peoples at least) has put slowly an end to most swiddening. After the ban the illegal logging by logging companies did not decrease, however, but increased. Burning of bushes or Imperata grass can still be observed in the dry period and its a common practice of both lowlanders and uplanders, as the ash of burned vegetation contains many nutrients for rice and other plants to grow.
See also ãAkha and Terracingä in Oerzar texts
In 1967, it appeared that more than 2.24 million hectares of forest had been seriously affected by shifting agriculture of mountain peoples in northern Thailand, and that this figure was increasing by 40 thousand hectares every year. Between 1985 and 1998 the forest cover of northern thailand diminished by nearly 6%. In the year 2000Êsurveys suggestÊthat forest has been reduced toÊ ????ÊÊ Rai (one rai is 1600m³) Some scholars, however, have disputed these findings and criticized the conclusions drawn from remote observing techniques. From a satelite one could –at least at at that time– observe deforestation, but it was not possible to see who had cut the trees. Over the years and centuries Thai peoples have used trees to build houses and the forest stock seemed to be endless. Over centuries wood has also been an important item for export. At that time already the joke was that satellites cannot see the elephants and trucks of the logging companies. In Thailand, like in so many other countries, there is a tendency to blameÊminorities for all these evils. Whatever the case, the state of northern Thailandâs forests is serious and may ultimately lead to economic and social disturbances in the country.
Agricultural or ãindustrialä reforestation and social forestry programs have been initiated to cope with this situation (in, for example, the Sixth National Program of Thailand: 1986-1991). It seems, however that these programs have rather increased deforestation. Several very large areas were first deforested completely by government-related or private agencies in order to plant eucalyptus or pine trees for industrial purposes (for making plywood, paper etc.) As a result of this soil PH decreased (i.e. acidity incresed), destroying the local forest biodiversity. In other cases golf courses or resorts were built or –with increase of the value of mountain land in the 1990's– real estate was started. An underlying issue of the problem of deforestation, reforestation and the rise in the price of mountain land is that nearly none of the mountain peoples have any land rights on the soil their villages stand on, nor on the surrounding forests and the often distant fields where they plant rice and crops. In the past Mountain villages obtained permission to settle from local authorities and were give usufruct, that is, the right to use the land for their and others' benefit. Since 1988 the national government has taken over the economic policy regarding mountain land. Several decrees were issued that mountain peoples, living in so called ãwatershed areasä (higher areas, often mountain ridges, where sources of streams and rivers originate) would have to be moved to lower areas (1988, 1992, 2002) or that smaller villages uphill would have to join larger communities downhill (Villagization 2002). At the same time a 1988, and now a decree issued in 2002 states that those having entered Thailand after 1986 are supposed to go back to Burma (where most dont have a legal status either).
One conclusion is that mountainous areas and resources of forests, people, minerals and land are increasingly seen as commodities for profit making by city based business and government agencies, at the expense of the locals. This is also called ãInternal Colonialismä.
See Mountain Peoples' Legal problems (to be added).
The Opium Act of 1959 banned the sale and smoking of opium in Thailand, as requested by the UN and the USA. It took a very long time, however, before the ban of opium growing was implemented, as the interest of so many people of all layers of Thai–society was involved. Officially however the mountain minority peoples were blamed and it was cited as one reason, besides deforestation, to relocate them. It was also often incorrectly suggested that mountain peoples were growing opium mainly for their own consumption.
The often maintained thesis that opium growing is part of the traditional culture of Hmong or Akha is equally incorrect. Opium growing has entered the minority Burmese and Thai mountainous areas only gradually in the 20th century as a result of the British opium-wars with China between 1840-1854. The reason was that the British wanted to replace the paying for tea, silk and other colonial products in silver with paying in opium and tried to impose this by force. As a result the Chinese started to encourage growing opium in the higher areas of Yunnan and Szechuan, from whrere it spread gradually. (Opium War books) According to older Akha the opium Cultivation reached Burma in around 1910 and the higher border areas of Thailand only in the 1930's.
The opium poppy grows best in a cool climate and at altitudes above 1,000 metres. As such, it has been an ideal cash crop for the impoverished mountain populations of Thailand, as its easy to transport and worth its weight in silver. Particularly during the Vietnam war the demand for opium and its derivate heroin increased enormously particularly from the side of the US GIs stationed in Thailand. (McCoy 1965; Chivit Bondoi 1991). Factually the French and the CIA in Laos, beside ethnic liberation armies and warlords, especially the defeated Kuomintang groups and the so called Haw Chinese, all started to depend financially on opium production by mountain minority villagers in higher border areas. The producers themselves often received only a small part of the profit. A result of opium growing was certainly opium addiction, being partly a result of increasing health problems, partly a result of impoverishment, depression and a lack of future prospectives (because of lack of land rights; lack of nationality papers, etc.). Opium is an excellent pain-killer and anti-depressant. The Akha would say, that ãThose who grow it dont smoke, but those who dont grow it smoke itä.
Already in 1965, the United Nations Survey Team on Economic and Social Needs of the Opium-Producing Areas in Thailand set out to determine the extent of opium production. The Team sued two methods in its survey: interviewing and aerial survey with ground inspection. However, only by the 1980s, the Thai government believed that it was able to reduce opium production through effective law enforcement, crop replacement, and education. Crop replacement, as it has been practiced by the ãRoyal Projectsä contributed to this more than anything else. Many crops, such as coffee, tea, apples, pears, peaches , strawberries, flowers, makademia nuts, carrots, and other vegetables able to grow in higher colder temperate climate were introduced. According to government sources a large drop in opium production was observed between 1984 and 1986. It was no secret, however, that combatting opium production was not completely full hearted from the side of the government officials having jurisdiction in the mountains. It was only in the mid–1990's, when besides opium also heroin and other drugs, like the methamphetamine based ãYabaä (or speed pills or extacy pills) started to penetrate all strata of Thai society, that it was tried to make a radical end to opium production on Thai–territory. In how far this has succeeded is not clear.
Villages in located in lower areas, which had not been able to grow opium, were unable to profit from the ãopium replacementä projects. However, a host of other development programs have been active in the mountains between the 1960' and 1980's. Several government agencies and functionaries and researchers have questioned the regional development impact of these programs on both opium-growing and non-opium-growing highland communities (Kampe); the latter (non-opium growing communities) accounting for about 80% of the highland population in Thailand between the1960's and the 1990's. As for the opium growing villages: only a few families were able to profit from the opium and equally from the crops replacing them as they required a lot of investment.
A net result of all these problems has been, that since the 1990's a massive urbanization of mountain people to the cities started to take place, leaving those without ID-cards and the elderly in the villages. This resulted in a quite substantial increase in addiction again, in spite of years of de-addiction programs. (Chivit Bondoi 1991)
Addiction to opium and other drugs did not stop in a large amount of mountain villages because the root–causes of the problems: Lack of land rights, lack of nationality papers, equal acces to education and in general ãfuture prospectivesä, were not tackled with. Opium, heroin and amphetamine related drugs remain very much available in the mountains in the 2000's because of the opium and other drug production in border areas of Burma. Drug caravans and transportantion have thus always passed the Northern mountains. In the 1980's and 1990's they were dominated by the famous warlord Kuhn Sa leading his ãShan United Armyä or ãMong Tai Army.ä In the late 1990's and beginning 2000's this was taken over by the so called United Wa State Army. In 2001/2002 the Third Army is controling these areas politically, which also has engaged in drug de-addiction activities. It cannot be said that they are completely unsuccesfull.
See Akha and Opium (to be added)
Since early 1987 the discussion on swidden agriculture, deforestation, reforestation (with eucalyptus and pine trees), and land use in general started and escalated in the northern highlands of Thailand, not only involving the mountain peoples, but also an impoverishing ethnic Thai peasantry. Debate has focused on the question of blame. Whose fault is the escalating deforestation, depletion of land resources, erosion, and illegal logging: the mountain peoples themselves or, rather, the government or commercial agencies? (McGaskil) This debate has culminated in discussions on land rights, land use, and the resettlement of ãhill tribesä in the Thai lowlands.
Slowly since the late 1980's another dimension not the purely economical and political, came into the debate. A problem of the ãdevelopment-ventureä had been so far that it was assumed that the mountain peoples were non-educated people; that is without knowledge, culture or history. They were rather seen as the ãobjectä of ãdevelopmentä than as subjects. In the 1970's and 1980's MPCDE foundation (currently known as MPCD/SEAMP) and ãCulture and Developmentä NGOs (AFECT, IMPECT), originated from the foundation, started to emphasize that development has to be based on the traditional knowledge and experience which mountain peoples have already built up over centuries. Gradual and increasing marginalization into forested mountain areas, besides the need for a minimal dependence from lowland/majority peoples helped to build up an amazing knowledge regarding plants, animals and soil and also human resources, their use for survival and their conservation. (See DIARA texts and Oerzar). Subsequently, some development agencies, government organizations, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) have begun to focus on the ãsocialä or ãculturalä dimensions of development. In some cases, issues of ãindigenous knowledgeä, ãindigenous managementä, and ãtraditional medicineä and ãparticipationä have been included in projects descriptions. However, little has been done to determine which social and cultural elements and which indigenous environmental knowledge could become integral elements of development. A document from the Thai Ministry of Education (1987) went so far as to say that
ãThe government should analyze and research all dimensions of activities directed at hill–tribes and employ these results in the revision of government policies and operational programmes of all Ministries and Departments concerned [and] provide an information-base on peoples and conditioning in the hills [as a means for this revision] ... If the current trends in the northern mountains and government action ... are not soon corrected, a definite negative lmpact on the lives and cultures of these people, the environment, and national security will ensue. The participation of tribal peoples and the use of their resources is key to successful regional development.ä
Another warning came from the side of some Thai academics, recognizing that existing development programs suffered some serious deficiencies, came to the conclusion of the following shortcomings (see Chayan Vaddhanaputhi 1986):
Analyzing the impact of regional development upon highlanders in northern Thailand in 2002, 16 years after these quite strong warnings, it proves that most of these analysis made in the 1980's have proved to be correct.
Villagers still have no legal rights regarding ownership of land. Several villages have been told over the years, by the Thai Ministry of the Interior, other Departments or the Military dealing with problems of national security, that they would have to vacate their sites; this often regards sites that the villages have occupied for quite a long time already. Over the years many plans of resettlement have been formulated and in quite some cases succesfully. It seems that arguments for resettling, such as national security, problems of deforestation, watersheds spoiling, villagization etc. are valid only for minority peoples and not for others. At the same time, these government institutes fail to indicate where the villagers might resettle or have settled them on unproductive soil. .
In the Mae Chaim, Mae Suai, and Mae Chan areas, it appears that lowland companies are able to rent or purchase land near or even within village fields. Company activities include coffee production, agrobusiness, agro-forestry, golf courses, resorts and real estate. As land in the mountains cannot be legally bought or sold, villagers find this situation very puzzling, and the results can be quite disturbing. In practical terms: villages dispose on less and less land. As they are not able to practice shifting agriculture the fertility of the soil diminishes and they often have no money to buy fertilizer.
As a result, land used to plant rice or cash crops is lost, resulting in increased malnutrition and disease. Also, companies employ villagers at very low wages; some companies pay their workers only once every 3 or 4 months. as a result, employees borrow money from the companies to buy food, money that is paid back through wage deduction, leaving some people without income. Some companies also run gambling operations, in which villagers loose their money.
The project team has also noticed the appearance and dramatic rise of a phenomenon hitherto unknown among the highlanders: suicide. Usually accomplished by drinking of strong insecticide, about half of the suicides occurred among younger, unmarried people. Lately, in the 1990's this trend has been increased, also amongst older people. The main reason for this trend appears to be the growing disparities in wealth. A small number of families are becoming richer and a majority of families poorer. This is creating marriage problems in the villages. Among the Lisu, for example, the poorer boy may no longer be able to pay the bride-price for the girl he wishes to marry. In despair, the girl takes her own life. In the case of the Karen, several young couples have committed suicide because their parents would not permit their marriage. Other suicides are the result of young villagers being unable to seek a new future in the cities and feel ãtrappedä in the mountains. In the 1990's the problem of HIV/AIDS and the increased use of amphetamine based drugs have increased this trend. National or private family planning projects, to some extent forced upon villagers, have also created social and psychological problems, sometimes resulting in suicide. A related trend among minority peoples in the mountains is the increase of violent conflicts in family, village and intervillage level. This violence has increased with the partly with the use of heroin and Yaba. Another reason are the conflicts between the Karen and the Burmese. This has lead to some situations seen as ãterrorist attacks", like the occupation of a hospital or embassy by break-away Karen groups in 1989 and 1999.
A similar phenomenon is the dramatic increase in drug abuse. Alcohol, opium, ganjia, heroin and methamphetamine (Yaba) addiction have been on the rise in most highland villages. Over the last 15 years, the number of addicts has doubled or even tripled in some villages, in spite of increased efforts of de-addiction. Villagers attribute this trend to deteriorating health conditions and an increased sense of ãfuturelessnessä. Another cause is the deterioration of family relations, particularly between men and women. The role of the highland man has corroded more quickly than that of the woman. This has laid a heavy burden on the woman, resulting in marital friction and sometimes divorce.
The water sources are diminshing
In the rainy season roads are in a bad condition
forced labour
Road systems
In other cases poorer highlanders engage in smalle scale drug-trade, in most cases for others. Anyway they often get caught by the police. Northern Thai prisons are full of highlanders, arrested for drug-trade, lack of ID-cards or cutting trees for logging companies. Summary executions of small time drug-dealers are not exceptions anymore. Nor are torture orÊ ãeliminationä of imprisoned highlanders, taken to prison for de-addiction, an exception. In spite of some unfortunate casesÊof torture the presence ofÊ well trained military units of the Third ArmyÊ is seen, byÊ most villagers, as an improvement. The real culpits of drug trade, illegal logging and related ãtrafficking in humansä, called ãInfluential figuresä, generally remain unpunished.
See also Amnesty International Thailand 2002 report (also available as a .pdf file)
Driven by poverty and the obligation to help their parents, younger girls often make their way to the city in search of work, to help their parents in the mountains, and sometimes also in hope of finding a husband or a brighter future. However, this sometimes leads to prostitution and drug abuse (see Chivit Bondoi 1990) The number of girls from Highlander families, going voluntarily into prostitution, seems much lower than what is generally assumed. A high percentage of young girls from Northern Thailand, Burma, Southern China and now also Laos is engaged in prostitution because being ãluredä into it.
See also: Urbanization and Prostitution (to be added)
Most villages do not have an adequate water supply equally divided over the village. When water systems existÊ they consist ofÊÊ waterÊ pipes and reservoirs, connected to sources on a mountain-slope higher than the village. There seems to be two reasons for lack of water in the dry period (December–May): increased deforestation for commercial purposes and, according to the villagers, increased temperatures over the last few years leaving streams dry during periods of no rain.
During the rainy season, between April and October with peeks from June to September, roads in and out of highland villages are oftenÊ impassable. These roads were originally built for reasons of national security (against communists believed to hide in border areas) or to allow the Royal Forestry Department an easy access to forests for logging. As the threat of communism has subsided and much of the forests had been denuded, there no longer seemed to be an interest in maintaining the mountain roads. Only a few of the larger, Chinese market towns near the border had an early and good road access and electricity. Haw Chinese towns, often related to the previous Kuomintang army of Chiang Kai Chek have been established, since the 1970's, all along the borders of Thailand with Burma and Laos, the best known of them being Mae Salong in the Northern Mae Chan District.
The Thai government saw these settlements as a better shield against communism in surrounding countries than the ãtribalä chiefs on which the Thai government originally counted. But, Kuomintang or Chinese Refugee villages tended to be centers ofÊ drug-trade. In the 1990âs some roads also have been constructed leading to some so called ãTourist Villagesä (See Akha and tourism).
See Akha and Haw Chinese (to be added)
Mountain schools do not follow the regular Thai curriculum
An akha boy wanting to study has made himself
glasses out of bamboo
Learning to "wai"
In spite of promises to upgrade mountain basedÊ school-education, only a relatively low amount of mountain villages has a well functioning elementary schools and high schools are not or almost not existing in the mountains. Efforts to upgrade the mountain-schools by introducing also ãculturalä education in the so called ãnon formal educationã and ãadult educationä systems failed unfortunately. Most mountain schools are not able to give more than ãalphabetizationä in Thai, mostly for children. These systems in general donât follow the normal Thai curriculum, and also leave a great deal of the older villagers, especially women and children from poor villages, without the knowledge of Thai. It is difficult to find committed Thai teachers and local mountain people who are advanced enough. Salaries given by the government tend to be very low. The unequal access to Thai education, especially for the women and the elderly, being well educatedÊin ecological, agricultural and moral matters, had many negative side effects as they lacked the skills needed in the cities. Another problem is thatÊ those, not having ID cardsÊ are unable to go to the officialÊgovernment schools.
SeeÊABU Akha Women Program andÊMPCD/SEAMP policy of education (to be added)
After 1995 electricity systems have been expanding in many areas in the mountains and one is also sees telephone booths in some villages. As the arrival of electricity had its advantages itÊis also seen asÊnegative byÊthe elderlyÊand by those who have studied. AsÊ inÊmost villages educational systemsÊare insufficient, a high percentage of villagers is unable to readÊandÊthe entry ofÊTelevision, being often of low (moral) quality regarding violence, treason, sex, and advertisements, had the tendencyÊtoÊdestroy interest in traditional education, traditionalÊknowledge, morality and songs. As a result the cultural gap between the young and the old is increasing; the youth are not interested in the ritual ceremonies or traditional knowledge of the elders. Consumerism, entering by road, radio, and television, is creating unrealistic expectations about an artificial world of luxury. SeeingÊthe increasing gap between their own livesÊ and theÊãmodern globalizedä world through the TV-setsÊalsoÊmake mountain people villagers believe, correctly, that their economic interests are being neglected in favor of the city-based ãnationalä economy.
Increased contact with the ãoutsideä and lowland world has, over the last 50 years, resulted in an increase in new (so called ãcivilizedä) diseases such as small pox and measles, to which HIV/AIDS has been addedÊsince the late 1980âs. Traditional medicines andÊalsoÊseveral traditional treatments are still used, but mainly by the older. OlderÊherbalists, who have time to collect the medicinal herbs, are also still active in ãtraditionalä villages, but the biodiversity is heavily threatened by deforestation and reforestation. Interest in traditional medicine is declining in the younger generation. Primary health care systems exist in the lowlands in the form of smaller clinicsÊand health-stations in smaller towns, besides hospitals in larger cities. These facilities mostly serve ethnic Thai people. Just the transportation costsÊare too heavy for those from remote villages. Clinics and health-stations in the lowlands have, moreover, have noÊout-patient servicesÊfor mountain villages,Êbecause of language barriers andÊlack of information aboutÊmountain villages.
In several mountain areas those not having ID-cards cannot receive medical help. This still results in a relatively high mortality of mountain peoples. Average life-expectancyÊ is stillÊaboutÊ43 yearsÊas compared withÊ60-65 years in the lowlands. Problems have also increasedÊafter the Thaksin Government introduced the ã30Bt per treatmentä policy. Even people with ID cards donât receive sufficient help as local clinics and health stations cannot afford the expenses and often send people home with just a few cheap pills even when in a very bad health situation. (Bangkok Post)
SeeÊMPCD/SEAMP – Self Help Primary Health Care
To what extent have development projects seriously accounted for ãindigenous knowledgeä, ãtraditional technologyä, ãindigenous managementä and ãtraditional environmental knowledgeä? ThisÊincludes traditional herbal medicine and medical treatments, the use of ethnobotany in agriculture (knowledge of soils, water, fauna, flora, and natural pesticides and fertilizers), knowledge about nutrition, handicrafts (materials and colouring), indigenous education (oral texts and songs), and laws and value systems related to the environment. UnfortunatelyÊmost development projects did not have any interest or knowledgeÊofÊthis wealth of knowledge, built up over centuriesÊand had the tendency to see this as ãsuperstitionä.
As forÊthose going to Thai-schools: schoolbooks would mentionÊminority peopleÊmainly as those not following the rules of hygiene. Thai-research about traditional knowledge (wisdom) was (with some exceptions) hardly doneÊandÊin the past noÊanthropological faculty would teachÊor encourage studentsÊtoÊstudy minority languages andÊtraditional knowledge. CulturalÊrevivalÊmovementsÊand efforts to conserve traditionalÊorally transferred knowledge, trying ãTo save what can be savedä mainly came fromÊolderÊ highlander peoples themselvesÊor fromÊoutsiders and InternationalÊOrganizations, like the UNESCO, IFLAÊ(International Library Association) and the Japan Foundation.
Village Mission
"Korea Poetry and Praise Missions" in an Akha Village
Traditional village leaders are no "village priests"
The "Pirmas" are not "spirit priests" but reciters of
archaic texts
Ancestor paraphnelia
A mainÊagentÊtoÊthe destroyÊhighlandersâculturesÊand traditional knowledge, including traditional morality and customary law came from a side from which most modern westerners would not suspectÊit to comeÊfrom: ãThe Christian Missionsä. One would not expect it to comeÊfrom that sideÊasÊbetween about 50 and 100Êyears agoÊcustomary lawÊand moral systemsÊofÊminority peoples in the South-East Asian sub-continent wereÊlauded byÊthe French, German, Italian, AustrianÊand in some case AmericanÊmissionaryÊ researchers. (Vial, Rockwell, Schmidt, Vanicelli, etc.) These were puzzled by the highÊmoral and legal standardsÊandÊmeaningful ceremoniesÊofÊthe Yi (Lolo), Naxi, Hani and AkhaÊin Yunnan. Some theories evenÊassumed thatÊdivine revelationsÊand lawsÊhad followed otherÊroads than the Jewish/ChristianÊreligions.
The brand of missionary enterprises coming into the areaÊafter world-war IIÊis not so easy to understand, even from a modernÊ Christian point of view. Mountain peoples traditional cultures, called ãanimisticä, are, together withÊBuddhism, seenÊasÊinventions of the devil, besides primitive and barbarian. Becoming ChristianÊmeans that one has to abandonÊoneâs ancestors, ceremonies, moral and legal laws, traditional knowledge and related ceremonies completely. Becoming a Christian by baptisingÊin some of these groups even requests theÊceremonial destruction ofÊ ancestor paraphnelia.
Ironically several missionary groupsÊenteredÊtheÊmountain villages in Northern Thailand, after beingÊexpelled from ChinaÊandÊlater from Burma, where they were seen as western colonial infiltration. Oversea Missionary Fellowship (OMF), American Baptists, KoreanÊ Fundamentalists, Churches of Christ, New Tribe Missions, Taiwan/Hong Kong basedÊsyncretistsÊand conservative Italian Catholics, all behaving likeÊmultinationalÊcorporations seemÊto be fighting forÊclient-souls offering promises of study, drug de-addiction, prosperityÊand so on. One can findÊvillagesÊin the mountains with church buildings of severalÊdenominations and sects. Ê Several of these groups would not even be recognized asÊChristianÊbyÊthe World Council of Churches because of their distortion of theÊChristian message. One wouldÊthus have aÊproblem in findingÊChristian highlandersÊwhoÊare aware of the personalityÊand the basic message ofÊ Jesus of Nazareth. However, there areÊexceptionsÊof quite unselfishÊworkers with respect for ãtribalä cultures (often older than their own!) amidstÊthese groups of often quite fanaticalÊseducers ofÊ the increasingly impoverishing highland population.
SeveralÊ mountain peoples leaders see Christian proselytism as a major danger, as with respect for the ancestors it destroysÊcustomary law, moralityÊand a wealth of traditional knowledge ãfrom the insideä. ResearchÊhas alsoÊproven thatÊunfortunately, basic rules ofÊmorality, interpersonal relations andÊuniversally acceptedÊhuman/communalÊlaws or commandments, asÊcan be found in quite austere traditionalÊcustomary law systems, have sufferedÊafter mountain peoplesÊenter Christianity. In most cases efforts ofÊdrug de-addictionÊafterÊa ãNew Lifeä has started, generally failed and certainly the numberÊofÊHighlander girlsÊfromÊ Christian villages going into prostitutionÊÊ in the lowlands, is much higherÊthan those from traditionalistsÊ and the younger generation from villages whichÊ have become Christian seemÊ to be more uprootedÊ morally than the ãTraditionalistsä (Ueda 2002).
One can of course blame the missions or the missionaries, especially ifÊ there are proven cases of insincerityÊ andÊ un-christian behavior or methods ofÊ ãconversionä, such asÊintimidation orÊpaying offÊignorant headmen, as has been noticed by some. Or: some missionaryÊ linguists have not followed epistemicsÊin their translationÊof basic conceptsÊ in mountain peoplesâ languages. InsteadÊ they projected their own prejudicesÊand conceptsÊin their views ofÊ ãCustomary Law Systemsä. ButÊ the main question which has to be answered is: Why Mountain peoples with such strong culturesÊand who have resistedÊChristian conversion over many years as dangerous, seem to have lately started adoptingÊ a Western religion, which is soÊfar away fromÊ their own thinking and from theÊ traditions of theirÊancestors? Research intoÊthis question yielded the following quite pragmatic answers:
1. Poverty makes it impossible to followÊ the complicatedÊceremonialÊand other moral rulesÊ ofÊ the traditionalÊ customary law; Christianity is easier and also the moral rules are less severe. IfÊ theÊ customary law wouldÊÊ adaptÊ more toÊ changing circumstances, such as reduction of the numberÊ of ancestor services, people would notÊ become Christian.
2. Christian NGOâs have more money thanÊthose fostering and adaptingÊ traditional valuesÊ and also seems to give more ãOutsideÊ Prestigeä to mountain peoples as WesternÊorganizations, in a situation of increased discrimination. In other words becoming ChristianÊ isÊ a kind of mistaken effort to adapt to modern life and get equalÊ treatment by the lowlanders and outsideÊ agencies.
3. Some who became Christian feel deceived as, after initially gettingÊ financial help, they subsequently had to pay for the salaries of theÊministers / teachers (Sala). There are some movements of returning to their own cultures.
See also: Akha and ChristianityÊ(to be added)ÊandÊThe Concept ofÊ NehvqÊ in Akha Culture
There has been a tendency in village families to shift from subsistence farming to wage labor; As in the past almost every family had its own fields, in the last 10 yearsÊãinside villageä wage labor, in which the poorer work for the richer fewÊfor money and food, has increased. As a next step there has been, since the 1980âs alreadyÊ an increasing tendency towards looking for wage-labor outside the villages. As wages from lowland Thai farmers to highlanders (especially
See Urbanization (to be added).
Increasingly, children are being sent to lowland schools far from their native village because they want to follow a normal curriculum. After finishing high schools its difficult for mostÊtoÊgo back to their village, also because parents and families in the mountains need their financial helpÊand prefer them to have lowland jobs. Several scholarship systemsÊ and hostels exist but they are not yet sufficient. Also: mountain peoplesâchildren who are going to lowland schoolsÊand educational hostels/boarding schools missÊtheir own village-educational system. This sometimes leads to moral and cultural uprootednessÊespeciallyÊwhen their culture and ancestors are depictedÊlike barbarians or evil pagans, asÊ in the case of Christian hostels. As a reaction to several missionary enterprisesÊthe MPCDEÊ Foundation andÊ related NGOâs for ãEducation andÊ Cultureä originatingÊ from it since the early 1980âs have tried toÊ match Thai–school education withÊ cultural education in mountain peoplesâ ownÊ customary law and moral systems. . MPCD/SEAMP has started to publish traditional educational textsÊ before the older generation of ãCultural Specialistsä is dying. A net result ofÊ exitÊ ofÊ the most clever children from their villages has beenÊ that of so called ãbrain drainä. This has öin some cases– weakenedÊ theÊ younger generation of village–leaders. Quite a high amount of traditional knowledge could be savedÊ by documenting herbalÊ knowledge andÊ archaic oral texts. .
See: MPCD/SEAMP; DIARA; AFECT; IMPECT; ABU Akha Women Educational andÊ Cultural Center, their historyÊ relatedÊ educational scholarship funds.
As a reaction to massive deforestation and with the hope of gaining land rights, highlanders have begun to plant fruit trees in their fields. This trend has increased since it was suggested in 1988, thatÊ ãimprovement of land ä with fruit-treesÊ instead of rice and maize/corn might lead toÊa so calledÊ Nor Sor Sam -document, eventually leading to official ownership in 10 years. It is not clear in how far this is still valid in 2002. There has been a strong tendency to plantÊ lynchee, lamyai, mango and rambutanÊand other fruit trees in the upper Northern provinces. Another reaction to deforestation by logging companies has been. to increase forest management aroundÊvillages; It has correctly been noticedÊover the years already that mountain peoplesÊtake well care of their forests and do have, traditionally, quite severe lawsÊand regulations regarding their village community forest. Village forests produce food for people and animals, traditional medicine and color plants for handicraft, when well tended. It has been somewhat like the villagesâ traditional ãsupermarketä for a great variety of products, besidesÊoffering protection. It has been also correctly observed that in the Northern areas where most ãmountain peoplesä live, deforestation has been as severe as in other areas. RecentlyÊ the interest in traditional herbal medicine has also increased again in Thailand. (Anderson 1995)
See IDRC SeminarÊÊ 1992Ê andÊ TEKAM project (to be added).
In areas of severe land loss, there has been a tendency toward increased handicraft production and husbandryÊtrade. This can be partly sold locally, in some villages or onÊ some roads in the mountains and partly in Night Bazaars of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai; or in the so called Weekend Market in Bangkok. TourismÊinto the mountains of Northern ThailandÊ is stillÊ an important source of income, but ãmass–tourismäÊand so called ãeco-tourismä do not always benefit the locals as companies get bigger and bigger, the outcome for villagers smaller and smaller. New initiatives by the PATA (Pacific Asia Tourist Association) have been leading to the establishment ofÊ a certain amount of ãlodgesä, such as the Lisu Lodge being followed by others. Certain educational touristÊ companies are still able to have someÊwell informed guides, but they become an exception.
Some negative aspects of tourism in the mountains also exist: In many villages, tourism is encouraging and promoting opium smoking, inducing young children to beg, and, in several cases, devastating village fields and trees with elephant rides for tourists. In general a lack of information and understanding from the side of companies and tourists is a main problem. Tourism is ãanti-developmentä because it attracts customers by depictingÊvillagers as primitive, non-developed and frozen in such a state. Tourists are shocked finding out that villagers ãdress upä in traditional costumes for them as the main reason for the ãmass touristä is to come home withÊ pictures of ãprimitive tribesä.
See:ÊAkha and Tourism; Golden Triangle PeopleâsÊ Art and Handicraft.