Do unto others ...

Buddha says: `Respect others', the Thai media says: `Make a mockery of others for money'. A new short film competition aims to redress the balance in favour of hilltribes people

What does the public learn about hilltribes people from the media? That they are indigenous groups with exotic cultures and ancestral beliefs that help them live in harmony with nature? That might be the case with in-depth newspaper features or television documentaries, but when it comes to entertainment in the media, especially in films and soap operas, Thailand's ethnic groups are stereotypically portrayed as oafs and buffoons.

So far, this year alone, five Thai films have featured hilltribes people as hillbillies. In Jaew and Payak-rai Sai Na, the Karen characters were depicted mispronouncing the Central Thai dialect for comic effect.

In Pleng Rak Lookthung Lanna, one female hilltribe character was shown speaking with a heavy accent that intentionally produced sexual innuendos. A teen bubble-gum film, Na Na Cha, features a tribal boy from northern Thailand defecating in a sink because he mistakes it for a lavatory.

In the movie Sakai United, although the Sakai tribesmen are depicted as talented football players, they are still portrayed as dirty, ignorant fools.

The music industry also mocks ethnic groups. One hit song, Dek Doi Jai Dee, mocks the broken Thai of a tribal boy giving away his carrots as gifts. Likewise, a female member of the popular Ponglang Sa-on traditional-mixed contemporary band mimics tribal language when making sexual innuendos. Prejudice pops up in commercials too: The mint-candy ad featuring teen heartthrob Jessadaporn "Tik'' Poldee accidentally bumping into a hilltribes man's car. He mocks the man's accent when apologising to the driver, who later smiles back and replies "You mispronounced too''.

All this mockery intensifies a sense of alienation.

But what is worse than mockery is factual distortion and a lack of respect for other cultures. For example, Mida, the hit song for the late singer Jarun Manopet in the early 1980s. The lyric tells of a practice in the Akha hilltribe that designates a woman to be a sex teacher for young men. In the song, she trains them at the village's public yard called Laan Sao Kod (literally, a yard for embracing women). The only problem being that the whole thing is a work of fiction.

Despite a decade of effort trying to right this wrong, the Akha hilltribes people still have to suffer the effects of the myth, especially when foreign visitors come to their village and ask about such a woman. Adding insult to injury, the song also inspired two B-movies.

The film Mida 1, falsely shows that female prostitution became the norm in the village. Released with English subtitles, many foreigners believed what they saw on-screen, which lessened their respect for the tribes people and, to certain extent, Thailand as a whole.

In another erotic film, Mida: The Legend of the Hill, the Akha women were seen in suggestive scenes, engaging in sexual misconduct. Even more contemptible, an actress wore ethnic Hmong clothing instead of Akha clothing. The movie upset members of both tribes.

"Such distortions and discrimination not only shows cultural insolence, but also offends the hilltribes people. They feel that they are the subject of ridicule and that their cultures are being tarnished,'' said Prapai Kedsara, an activist from The Mirror Foundation, a group set up to defend the rights and cultures of hilltribes and ethnic groups.

"Many of us feel humiliated and dejected because our cultures are misrepresented and we have became clowns to the majority of people in Thailand,'' added Atee Chermer, an educated teen from the Akha tribe.

Such feelings were aired recently at a seminar, the tagline for which read: ``Haven't you guys had enough fun? _ You disrespect our integrity with laughter. It's social bias. What's wrong with us? Why are we the subject of ridicule?''

At the seminar a group of hilltribes people and rights activists raised their concerns about the media's lack of cultural sensitivity, which perpetuates such ethnic prejudice.

"We talk about cultural diversity but we don't really understand what it means. Many still see ethnic cultures as backward, nonsensical and irrational. The media lampoons them and turns them into subjects of buffoonery,'' said Parisutha Sutthamongkol, leader of www.hilltribe.org, a virtual Hilltribe Museum that documents the rapidly changing cultures of many hilltribe groups in northern Thailand.

The web site aims to be an educational medium and networking channel for those interested in learning about hillstribe people and their cultures. It features articles, video clips and even karaoke that represent the different stories and voices of hilltribes people. But the majority of the public still get their (false) information from the entertainment media.

"Mockery is a human nature. For decades, the media mocked Chinese and Indian accents, and Thai dialects. But if it goes overboard to the degree that it upsets and disgraces the members of those cultures, it should be stopped,'' said Assoc Prof Chupinit Katemanee, an expert on indigenous cultures at Srinakharinwirot University.

The root of such racial ridicule, he said, could be traced back to the age of Field Marshall Pibulsongkhram's cultural revolution and his grand nation-building schemes.

"Although Thailand is a multicultural country, the marshal tried to create patriotism based on the `Thai' race. He boosted nationalism and highlighted the central Thai culture. We then ignored other ethnic groups and cultures in our country,'' he explained.

But is this just ``media bashing''? After all, the media has helped the public learn about the existence and cultures of ethnic peoples. According to Prapai, such cases are rare, and the differences between ethnic groups are often ignored.

"Each group is unique in its way of life and beliefs. Sadly, the mainstream media tends to perpetuate the myths of them being poor, uneducated and uncivilised,'' explained Prapai.

To use the power of the cinematic medium for a good cause, the Mirror Foundation and its network are organising a documentary and short film contest entitled "The Story of Our Lives''. The aim is to help the public more accurately understand the ethnic hilltribe cultures.

Selected participants will join a workshop on film-making and cross-cultural learning and the winning team will travel to meet with ethnic groups in China. Their films will also be screened.

"Hopefully, the project will produce quality film-makers who respect cultural diversity in the future,'' said project leader Prapai.