Early last month I wrote about a Thai fairy tale in which a wise king encourages rural people to return from the city by granting their village the radiant “tree of sufficiency.” Well, in the real world things seem rather different. Today’s Bangkok Post carries this important story about Thailand’s fundamental demographic transition:
More than half of Thailand’s 63 million people now live in cities as a growing number of Thais trade in their ploughs for more urban pursuits, an urban planning professor said on Wednesday. The country’s urban population jumped to 50.9% in 2006, as officials expanded the definition of urban zones and counted unregistered residents, said Yongtanit Pimonsathean from Thammasat University. Dr Yongtanit added that Thailand’s urban culture has changed in recent years, with the population becoming older and more diverse. The number of foreign workers, for example, has doubled from 2002 to 2006 to 66,099. Nearly half are working in Bangkok. “The increasing number of foreign workers, especially the young urbanites, has brought about the awareness of the different way of life and living traditions,” he said.
At the launch of the report yesterday, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) urged governments of developing nations in Asia to improve their policies on helping the growing urban poor. Garimella Giridhar, the UNFPA representative in Bangkok, said massive urban growth in Asian cities is imminent and unavoidable, and governments could do better than just trying to drive poor people out.
“It [the increase in urban poor] is not that bad. To take it as bad is a misconception,” he said. … The report warned that urbanisation, if unchecked, will breed pollution, crime, sexual diseases and other social problems. But it also suggested that governments try to view urbanisation as an opportunity. Cities create environmental problems but they can also create solutions, it said. Concentrating populations in cities can contribute to the long-term sustainability of a nation and its economy. It said no country in the industrial age has ever achieved significant economic growth without urbanisation.
The report suggested that governments accept the right of poor people to live in cities, provide good and affordable housing, adopt sustainable land use to minimise the ecological impact and join international efforts to support strategies for future urbanisation.
I wonder how much the advancement of the rural poor is constrained by an electoral registration system that sees a songkran-like exodus back to the villages on polling day. Are the political voices of the urban poor being fully heard in the urban places where they now pursue their livelihoods? Or we still stuck in a mindset that idealises the virtuous poor as a loyal peasantry living in bucolic villages?
The imaginary king’s sufficiency tree is unlikely to prove very attractive to the rural-urban migrants participating in Thailand’s demographic transformation. But it probably helps to nurture the nostalgia of those who would welcome a return to long past days.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Andrew Walker // Jun 28, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Here is an earlier Bangkok Post piece relevant to this topic:
Saturday June 23, 2007
CULTURAL CHANGE
Most Thais now live in cities, busy urban areas
Thailand is bracing for a ”third population explosion”, a term referring to a phenomenon in which more than half the country’s population, or about 32 million people, live in the cities and urban areas, a research study has found. The phenomenon has led to change in sexual behaviour, particularly in women in urban areas as many live more independently and are more open to sex, according to the study.
Pramote Prasartkul, a demographer attached to Mahidol University’s Institute for Population and Social Research, said the findings go against a traditional belief that most people live in rural areas. The trend, he said, is in line with a United Nations prediction that by 2008 more than half of the world’s population will live in urban areas.
According to Dr Pramote, the urban population covers people who live in cities without transferring their house registration, and commuters.
He said urban growth should raise alarm about potential impacts on various issues including environment, quality of living, and crime.
Researcher Orathai Rucharoenpornpanich, who studied impact of urban growth on sexual behaviour, said women who live in urban areas tend to be more open to sex. She said there is no significant difference between sexual behaviour of men in urban and rural areas.
About 40% of single women living in Bangkok have sexual relationships and the number is 1.2 times higher than in the urban areas in the provinces and 3.3 times higher than those in rural areas, Ms Orathai said.
The findings also show higher cohabitation and higher divorce rates among people living in cities, she added.
”For cohabitation, women in Bangkok are educated and independent, so they do not see the need to commit themselves to marriage. Having several boyfriends is fine and spices up their lives,” said Ms Orathai.
Her research work, Sex in the City, will be presented at a seminar, entitled Nakaratpiwat and Withee Cheewit Muang, to be held by the institute next Friday.
The researchers say the government should be aware of the change, and design a better HIV/Aids prevention scheme to cope.
”An HIV/Aids control unit exists only in Bangkok, but other big cities like Chiang Mai also need one,” said Apichart Chamrasritthirong.
He said a stiff conservative social order may no longer be appropriate, given the change.
”For instance, we may have to admit the fact that condoms should be handed out in education outlets to combat HIV/Aids,” he said.
2 Oberver // Jun 29, 2007 at 11:34 am
What about that other fairy tale, the one that talks of Thailand returning to democracy? Any update on that one?
3 Roger // Jun 29, 2007 at 3:15 pm
What about that other fairy tale that Thailand WAS a democracy to start with? Any backdate on that one?
4 Thai Bloke // Jun 30, 2007 at 2:13 am
The whole tabian baan system is a wonderful way of manipulating the rural populous.
We all know that the population of Bangkok is probably 15mn, but probably less than half of the people have any vote in the town. To vote you need a permenant address. It is as if the landed gentry of Bangkok are importing their own servile workforce.
The sheer cost alone of maintaining this ridiculous system, alongside the aforementioned exodus for songkraan and elections show that the snotty nosed elite in Bangkok have no desire what so ever to allow the poor a proper role in the country.
5 Jon Fernquest // Jun 30, 2007 at 3:08 am
“The whole tabian baan system is a wonderful way of manipulating the rural populous.”
It is so incredibly difficult getting through the bottleneck point of Morchit Mai bus station in Bangkok to get back to your rural home, that a lot of people just take a relaxed weekend, not surprising.
Reforms in the jot tabian baan system would have to number among the reforms that the paper calls for, allowing people to vote in, and have a say in, their temporary Bangkok residence.
“the findings go against a traditional belief that most people live in rural areas”
The definition of city is fairly broad including Chiang Mai, for instance. 15 minutes out of Chiang Mai and you’re in paddy fields. Mae Jo is an agricultural university and town only 20-30 minutes out. Bangkok is classified as a mega-city. Chiang Rai will probably be an urban area one day.
6 Srithanonchai // Jun 30, 2007 at 4:08 pm
allowing people to vote in, and have a say in, their temporary Bangkok residence. >> Nothing legal hinders migrants to register their residence in Bangkok. Then, they can vote here. I don’t have any figures, but it seems that many migrants do not have a “temporary” but rather a permanent residence in BKK. Or does the typical long-term Isan taxi driver in BKK still spends most of the year in his village of origin?
7 James Haughton // Jul 10, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Re 6: It’s my understanding that you have to have a legitimate address to vote. That excludes most urban slum dwellers who don’t have property rights.
8 James Haughton // Jul 13, 2007 at 11:45 pm
The report referred to is the UNFPA report “State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the potential of Urban Growth” and can be downloaded from here: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/
An extended version of the article also appears on the UNFPA website here: http://cst.bangkok.unfpa.org/396_3337.asp
9 Thaibloke // Jul 14, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Do they get to vote for the mayor of Bangkok? I don’t think so. I
In the UK we have the Watford gap, something similar would be the Don Muang Ditch.
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