As 2015, when the long-awaited Asean Community will be formed uniting peoples from its 10-member nations into one multi-nation, it is time each people begin shedding their deep-seated prejudices, said one of Thailand’s foremost media figures in Chiangmai yesterday.
“It’s time borders became bridges joining peoples together, not walls keeping us apart,” Montri Im-ake, head of the community radio station in one of Chiangmai’s suburbs told the forum organized by Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation.
Peoples on both sides of the borders including the hosts and the migrants should be re-educated prior to the formation, which is 3 years aheaddown the road.
Ms Panaporn Paiboonwatanakij, a researcher from Mae Jo University agreed. “The media presentation on migrants is mostly negative and one-sided,” she said. “It should instead be two-sided.”
According to the university’s research, attitudes of the people, whose main source of knowledge of migrants is the media, are understandably negative. Migrants are see as lawbreakers and disease carriers.
However those who are working with migrants from Burma say they are hardworking, religious and fond of merit-making. “Most of the clothes we wear and the new buildings we use today are the fruits of their labor,” seconded a participant.
Another discussant, Khuensai Jiyen, Editor of Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), urged both the media and the education institutions to work together to enlighten the public. “Where there is understanding, there will be no ill-feelings,” he said.
There are an estimated 3 million migrant workers in Thailand, including more than 100,000 in Chiangmai alone, according to MAP Foundation.
