“Inequality in Thailand”
by Weerawut Hongsa (Mini)
When we think about inequality, we tend to think
that the economy is the main draw. Inequality in the economy may lead to
inequality in many aspects too. Information inequality in the economy of
Thailand may come as a surprise to learn that the evidence shows inequality is
shrinking. There is still a significant divide between rich and poor in this
nation of sixty-seven million. Thailand’s Gini index[1]
was thirty-ninth in 2010, according to World Bank data, making it lower than some
countries in South East Asia. Income of Thai people is upper middle.
Why do we still have the poor in Thailand? One of answers besides inequality of income is that it comes from the habits of the poor people, they do not practice saving their income, and they spend for parties rather than to save it for their essential needs in the future. They spend very wastefully for drinking alcohol and gambling. It is not that they have no income but they do not save money. If this habit is not fixed, Social inequality will continue to be there.
Why do we still have the poor in Thailand? One of answers besides inequality of income is that it comes from the habits of the poor people, they do not practice saving their income, and they spend for parties rather than to save it for their essential needs in the future. They spend very wastefully for drinking alcohol and gambling. It is not that they have no income but they do not save money. If this habit is not fixed, Social inequality will continue to be there.
Jesus said “If you wish to be complete,
go and sell your possessions
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21, NASB).
But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, the blind… (Luke 14:13, NASB).
For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them…
(Mark 14:7, NASB).
As Christians, God supports us to be generous to
the poor, help them sincerely and generously. We should offer equal opportunity
to the poor as others have. The poor people are always there in the world,
because there is always someone who gets less than others. However everyone
should have enough for their basic living.
Right now, the urgent concern of Thailand is not
economic problems. The country's problems of the past 4-5 months were related
to politics. There were anti-government protests, which caused the military to
ruling the country. There is an issue of inequality of thought and having unequal
rights and the using of democracy to destroy opponents. The majority do not care
about the minorities at all. That is why people who do not have the opportunity
to take their ideas and their entitlements rise in numbers, with the rise of
the corruption of the ruling class. There is a substantial increase in
opposition from many people, who drove out the democratic governments. I have
seen that in Thailand, although there is the problem of income inequality, at
this time thought equality issues and equal rights are more important for,
development to continue of Thailand.
As the Bible says, “Do nothing from
selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as
more important than yourselves; do not merely
look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2: 3-4, NASB).
We must be humble and respect others, do not seek the good things for ourself only but for the others as well.
We must be humble and respect others, do not seek the good things for ourself only but for the others as well.
Question:
Do
you agree that equality of thought and equal rights are more important than equality
of economy? Why?
Sources
K. Bird and K. Hattel, E. Sasaki.
Eldis, “Poverty, income inequality, and microfinance in Thailand” http://www.eldis.
org/go/home&id=64924&type=Document#.U9zvbhY56YU (accessed
Aug 2, 2014).
Purnell Newley. The
New Yorker, “The Red Bull Heir and
Inequality in Thailand”, http:// www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-red-bull-heir-and-inequality-in-thailand
(accessed Aug 1, 2014)
The World Bank. Data: GINI index, September 12, 2013, http://data.worldbank.org/
indicator/ SI.POV.GINI (accessed Aug 1, 2014).
[1] The World Bank. Data, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI (accessed Aug 1, 2014).
Gini index measures the extent to which the
distribution of income or consumption expenditure among individuals or
households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. The
Gini index, in which zero represents perfect equality and a hundred reflects
perfect inequality.
In response to your question, I will put it this way:
ReplyDeleteThe strength of an economy depends on the social, moral, and spiritual values of the citizens. The manifestations of these values may be reflected in the educational and legal condition of the people. The economy will improve if more people are have access to good education and the law allows them to improve and innovate.
Good education inspires the creative capacity of the people to find ways to earn and develop, economically. Good laws allow them to have freedom and focus in their market. Freedom, as they are allowed and defended by their laws. Focus, as the State gives them scope and limitations so that they would not unethically exploit their business, customers, and employees. :)
Thank you Obed for your opinion, it is so great.
DeleteI believe that the leader of the country are responsible for controlling the gape between the rich and poor even though it is impossible to make all the people to live equally. If the country has a good policy, at least there will not be very poor group who have no food to eat and place to stay. Of course as Christian, we must find ways to help those in need as we'll.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge for the Christians like us, is the change of mindset, we need to be more comprehensive in our approach and plans in dealing with the deep level of the issue, rather than on the surface level.
ReplyDeleteThough in this broken world it is quite impossible to have, even to think about equal thought and equal rights, for me the equality thought and equal rights are more important than equality of economy. Do you know how many percentage of the total population of Thailand living in poverty? When you say poor people what is the standard to measure the poor or rich?
ReplyDeleteI think we should not worry about the poor issue; there will be poor people always around you.
It's worth to read this article. The definition of inequality may depend on how individual accepts and how the society establish on each issue as inequality itself can be categorised by means of social affairs, economics, politics, education, knowledge, work, religious and so on.
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog! Family is the smallest unit of a nation. In order to better understand the national inequality problem I think it is good to look into the families. Are there any forms of inequality there that are hard to notice on the surface? I just thinking aloud...:)
ReplyDeleteThank you sir
DeleteEvery poor or developing country has its own version of inequality. And it seems that they have their own version of their reasons why such. Personally it is very tiring to think about alleviation of poverty and inequality. we think of all these things, government do something about it, foreign countries even help but to no avail. so what is the problem? it is the mindset? is it the culture? is it the background? is it the government? I came to the point of resorting to just live with it and leave it...because we are in this fallen world.
ReplyDeleteteaching them how to fishing as well as giving them fish to eat at first. but don't forget to buy them fishing tools.
ReplyDeleteThat issues is happening in many countries, Christian can help transform community by the power of Gospel. Other side, can show love to others by action, help others in their need.
ReplyDeleteAn empowered individual will result to empowered community, institution and country. This issue is most commonly observed among Asian countries. May the Power of the Gospel lives on...
ReplyDeleteBY NAMCHAM: Inequality and poverty are the problems of every country and society. The root problem lies in the mindset of the people. Those who think that they are poor remains poor while those who are able to overcome that mentality goes on to overcome many obstacles in their lives and become successful later. And for this, we need to educate the minds of the people and remove the stigma that have so clouded their petty minds. For those who dare to dream big and high, the sky is the limit!!! P.S. Behind every concept of equality is the biblical support :-)
ReplyDelete