What have you done for me lately?

I have one thing to ask: what have you done for me lately? My name is Bunkirt Wongkamlhai of Moo Baan Khon Raag Yaa, Yasothorn, and I ask you, what have you done for me lately? I ask you this because we here in Isan have been hearing that you privileged folks have been saying bad things about us, that we are ruining the country with our voting choices in the election, that we sell our votes to the highest bidder and that we are rolling back the clock on the progress of Thailand.

Dear Privileged Folks, let me paint you a picture. I have been a rice farmer all my life, as had my father and his father before him. It’s not an occupation that will make me rich, but it’s an occupation that feeds my and your belly. I have a fourth grade education, as do most people I know, many have even less. This is not because I am lazy and don’t want to better myself, but because government after government has failed to provide for us free and compulsory education.

That’s why our lives have changed so little from what they were 50 years ago, yet still it is us who feed the country. I wake up at 4am every morning and toil the field until dark. Yet I still can’t afford to educate my children, or buy them proper clothing or provide them with proper shelter, but still it is because of me that you, privileged folks, have rice in your belly. My wife used to work in a factory until a work accident left her paralyzed. We were only compensated a meager sum, as government after government fails to protect us from greedy landlords and money merchants who only care for profits. My oldest daughter works in Bangkok and sends home money every month, the money that helps to feed and cloth her younger siblings. I don’t dare ask what she does in Bangkok; I don’t want to know. All I know is this; she does what she does so that her brothers and sisters do not have to go hungry and that they wouldn’t have to grow up and do what she does.

Dear Privileged Folks, what have you done for me lately? I’m not asking you this because I expect you to do something for me. I am only asking because I want to know what it is that you want from me? What do I owe you? Why must you spew anger and hatred for me and my choice in government? You ride around in your nice cars, live in your fancy condos and vote according to your conscience, good for you. You have access to education and information that helps you to make choices in life, good for you. What do I have? Why should I vote for a certain party when I don’t even understand most of the things they talk about? Why should I vote for the people who can’t relate to my life and experiences? Why shouldn’t I vote for the people who have given my village one million baht? Why shouldn’t I vote for the people who give me healthcare access for 30 baht? Why shouldn’t I give my vote to the highest bidder? The bid that goes to feed and cloth my family. If you want me to vote for another party, then I would have to ask, what has that party done for me lately? You may say the million baht funding and the healthcare scheme and such are shady, dubious and bad for the country. I am not educated enough to argue wi But I ask you this: How do you expect me to worry about the future of Thailand’s democracy and economy 10 or 20 years now, when my children may go hungry tomorrow?

Dear Privileged Folks, you vote for ideals, you vote for the future; good f one day I hope to have that luxury. But today, for me ac of millions like me, we vote to survive, we vote to live a day. It’s a shitty deal that still keeps us poor and starving, that. But what’s the alternative when my kids are crying in hunger? Please do not forget, despite your high-rise buildings
and fancy living in the city, we the majority of the country live as a ‘grass roots’ society. Government after government failed us. You, the privileged segment of society, ignore us. fine. We ask nothing from you. But please, do not expect make the same choices that you do, because we do not live same reality. You may condemn me for my choices. You condemn me for letting my daughter work in a dubious profession city. You may condemn me for selling my vote. But you have looked into the eyes of your family and see only h despair and hopelessness, you have no right to demand anything from me. It is for the rich to give, not the poor, for w nothing to give.

There are so many of you with so much a so much that you can’t even possibly spend it all in two life Yet there are so many more of us with so little, living in pc That is what is wrong with this country, not because I sell rn to the highest bidder. There will always be the rich and the always be the poor, I understand that, it’s the nature of t But no one needs to live in poverty. When the majority country has to live as I live, it is the society as a whole th failed. Please understand, there are rules and exceptions world. In Thailand, I, the poor farmer, am the rule: You privileged folks are the exception. You are a facade; I am r I will sell my vote over and over again, so that thy family survive and hopefully one day we won’t have to live as we But we’ll never get to that day if we don’t sell ourselves 1 That is the absurdity of our existence.

Dear Privileged voting according to your conscience won’t change this cc for the better. Doing something your country once ever years isn’t going to change a thing so please do not be righteous. If you want to make a change, here’s something you might want to do for me: Get into your fancy car and to my village. Leave your hi-so parties, social events, your shoes and partying and glamorous lifestyle for a few days and your eyes to recognize my existence. Come to my hut a down and have a talk with me, and together we might find to change this country for the better.

Keeping it real in the rice field Bunkirt Wongkamlhai of Moo Baan Khon Raag Yaa, Yasothorn

Bangkok Post Editorial