I was really frustrated by this article in the NYT today, particularly this part:
“Mr. Nattawut makes about 2,000 baht a day, or about $67, selling sugar cane to passers-by, good money in a country where a typical factory wage is 8,000 baht (about $269) a month.”
According to those figures, Mr. Nattawut, a mahout (elephant handler), is making about twice as much as I am, and after basic expenses I still have the money to support myself in a city (which costs a whole lot more than in a rural area) and save money for vacation and moving back home. 8,000 baht is not a lot per month to live on, but it can be enough (maybe not in Bangkok, but living in/near Bangkok is a choice, and most of these workers come from rural areas). I know a lady in Khon Kaen who gets along on 4,000 (which is not enough) and she has a son.
Elephant exploitation is a really important issue, and every time a mahout asks me to buy sugar cane (that he already owns) so his mal-nourished elephant can eat, I feel horrible anger. I understand that everyone wants to make the best living that they can, but that’s no excuse to so blatantly abuse and exploit an elephant. No matter how much I agree with most of the points made in this article (especially about the uneven distribution of wealth between urban and rural areas), I don’t appreciate the NYT giving an unfair assessment of the situation by not providing a fair representation of the cost of living in Thailand.
Although not as extreme as drug dealing or prostitution, this problem has similar causes and results from similar rationalizations. When people are poor and good jobs are scarce, compromising their morals for the often-fulfilled promise of wealth (and 60,000 Baht a month is wealthy*) becomes almost too tempting to pass up. Attempts to control the situation will never really be as effective as examining the root causes of the problem, whether the issue is dangerous criminals, loose women, or dangerous elephants on the loose.
*The latest data I can find is from 2001 (without wading through a whole lot of online pdf files), and then the average combined household income was 12,185 baht.
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2 comments:
That reminds me of the horses in New York City. The city is no place for any kind of animal, including dogs - Let alone majestic, huge elephants.
I'm not an animal lover... but i disagree with the animal exploitation.
also, you might have seen the chicken, pigs, and fish at the CPF dome at the agriculture fair.... I felt so bad to see them stuck there in the cage... they can't run, they can't fly, they can hardly move... then they will end up to fill our stomach... oh..not yours, but mine...
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