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570408
Thu, 07/09/2020 - 10:34
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[TNA] COVID – 19 Makes Me See Inequality Even More Clearly in Thailand

By Santiwithi Phrombut

Prior to the 13th of March, I had kept following the news about the outbreak of a novel coronavirus 2019 that caused COVID-19 in other countries, monitoring the situation in China, South Korea, Japan and Italy. At that time Thailand reported only 75 COVID-19 cases. Yet, I feared that my country would encounter the same situation as those countries. My fear was finally realized when actor and singer Matthew Deane Chanthavanij, who is always seen emceeing the boxing matches at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, wrote on his instagram that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The situation that was seemingly under control had become chaotic since then. At the initial stage, Thailand reported single-digit rise in infections. It then recorded a daily tally in double- digits and triple-digits respectively. On March 22, the country recorded 188 new coronavirus infections, its largest daily increase, bringing the total to 599. The daily rise in new infections prompted the government to announce the temporary closure of certain businesses and places where there are mass gatherings, such as stadiums, fresh-food markets, entertainment venues as well as shopping malls, taking effect on March 23. For many Thais, shopping malls are the places where they meet, enjoy shopping, eating, watching movies, etc. Shopping malls are also the workplaces for many people, especially those employed in the service sector. Most employees working for food shops in shopping malls are from the rural area. They are not highly educated and get a minimum wage of 300 baht per day. Thousands of these workers are scattered at 138 shopping malls across the capital city of Bangkok. These workers lost their jobs and became unemployed immediately when the shopping malls were closed. Having no job, no pay and no savings, they decided to leave the capital and return to their hometowns. Most of these workers are from the Northeast, the country’s poorest and least fertile region. (2) Gumpanat Photo But it was not easy for them to travel home because of the Bangkok partial shutdown. The government was trying to control inter-provincial travel in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus from Bangkok to the provinces of their destinations. I went to take a look at an old apartment located behind one of the largest and most famous shopping centres in Bangkok and found a number of service sector workers who just lost the jobs in the shopping centre. Many of them still stayed at the apartment because they could not manage to travel home in time before the lockdown. Twenty-eight-year old Gumpanat Tanwima from the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani was one of those who were unwilling to stay but they needed to because they had no choice. Gumpanat used to earn 380 baht a day or about 12,000 baht a month. He paid 2,200 baht in monthly rent for his apartment and 3,000 baht in monthly installment for his motorcycle and sent home another 3,000 baht to his parents. But when the shopping mall and the food shops inside were all closed, he did not know where and how to make money. He was feeling overwhelmed by stress. When I left him after an interview, I saw him using a 20 baht banknote to buy 2 pieces of bread and a bottle of sweet drink for his lunch on that day. Apart from Thai workers, there were a number of migrant workers from neighbouring countries- Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar- who also worked at the same shopping mall as Gumpanat did. At the apartment where Gumpanat lived in, I also met Che and his wife, a Myanmar couple of Karen descent, kept staying in their room with some food they had stored, including 20 kilograms of rice. (3) Myanmar Worker Che Che and his wife decided not to go back home in Myawaddy because they were afraid they might possibly have gotten infected with COVID-19 from some people inside the shopping mall they worked and if they returned home in Myanmar they might transmit the disease to their 2-year-old child and cousins there. On top of that, the Thai- Myanmar border had already been closed, making their travel impossible. The couple, therefore, had to stay in Bangkok and were trying to use their 10,000- baht savings as frugally as possible. I have met so many of these people with great anxiety and worry shown on their faces. A great number of Thai workers in the service sector are the most vulnerable when it comes to a crisis leading to a lay-off. These workers receive a fixed daily minimum wage and rarely have savings. Some of them cannot find the way out and decide to take their own lives. As a reporter, I have met people from all walks of life, especially those who make ends meet. I have seen a huge difference between the haves and have-nots in the country. The gap or inequality between the rich and the poor has apparently been growing in the past 5 years. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Thailand between 2015 and 2018 increased from 7.2% to 9.8%, and the absolute number of people living in poverty rose from 4.8 million to more than 6.7 million. Income inequality remains a critical issue in Thailand. Wealth is never distributed fairly to low income people. Wage freeze remains in effect. Labour income decreases, affecting all workers including those in the agricultural sector. The hardships they’re experiencing even got worse when the coronavirus arrived. “Inequality” is what I can see even more clearly in the wake of COVID-19.

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