We gather

We gather
to give thanks for my 25 years.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Living with oneself

How do you live with yourself when having so much money, power and status gives you (or so you think) permission just to walk all over the little people that you see there below you?  These are the "hi-sos" of Thai society.  "Hi-so" is the local slang for those in Thai 'high society'. 

This is a question I face often living in such a strongly hierarchical and somewhat ruthless society.  I see the "hi-sos" of society from afar and I see how they treat their underlings, and I don't like what I see.  .

My latest case comes through my neighbour.  His great Thai friend who has his own little business in Pattaya had a motorbike accident last week.  He had been hit from behind by another bike whose rider was speeding with his mates and lost control, thus hitting the friend's bike and causing significant damage to both bike and person.

For a week, the poor guy has been receiving treatment and hurting and off from his business.  His bike is in need of serious repair.  Then a week after the accident, he met with the parents of the lad, who had caused the accident with his reckless riding, and their lawyer.  This was to allow negotiations and settlement to occur between the parties.  It happened at the police station and lasted six hours.  The basic aim was to allay and accept blame and then have the aggrieved party compensated.  This is the way justice works here.  Accidents and wrongs are dealt with like business deals.  Needless to say, you have to be wary as the more powerful party is more likely to win the case, and that is what happened here yet again.

The parents of the other and better placed party claimed that their son was not at fault and so there was no payment due from them to the friend.  That was it.  They did however offer a smaller sum than was justly due as a way of showing good intent. So the friend who was not to blame got the blame anyway and went away luckily not having to pay himself, while being kindly granted a small pay off.  I find this appalling.  Sadly this is so typical of what happens here when the so called "hi-so" cause grief to others.  They are just able to walk away taking no responsibility for their action.

They may get away with it but I ask myself this question - how can these people live with themselves?
Human trafficking, sex trade, under age sex workers, drugs, corruption - surprisingly (or so they say) found all in one this week at a very large and well known massage parlour in Bangkok run and frequented by the local population.

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