Rising India and Indian Communities in East Asia

35. INDIANS IN THAILAND

669 35 INDIANS IN THAILAND Srisurang Poolthupya INTRODUCTION Thailand฀and฀India฀have฀been฀in฀contact฀economically,฀socially฀and฀culturally฀ since฀the฀early฀formation฀of฀the฀Thai฀Kingdom฀of฀Sukhothai฀in฀the฀13th ฀ Century฀A.D.฀The฀similarity฀between฀Thai฀script฀and฀some฀South฀Indian฀ scripts,฀the฀belief฀in฀Buddhism,฀Indian฀words฀and฀place฀names฀which฀tell฀ of฀economic,฀social฀and฀cultural฀contacts฀are฀some฀of฀the฀evidences฀of฀the฀ close฀links฀between฀peoples฀of฀the฀two฀countries.฀However,฀the฀diplomatic฀ relations฀between฀Thailand฀and฀India฀only฀began฀in฀1947฀when฀India฀became฀ independent.฀In฀the฀year฀2007,฀the฀two฀countries฀celebrated฀the฀sixtieth฀ anniversary฀of฀Indo-Thai฀diplomatic฀relations. Since฀India฀has฀begun฀its฀Look฀East฀policy฀that฀seeks฀to฀intensify฀ diplomatic฀and฀economic฀ties฀with฀countries฀of฀Southeast฀Asia฀grouped฀ together฀as฀ASEAN,฀there฀have฀been฀increasing฀inter-linkages฀between฀ Thailand฀and฀India.฀Naturally,฀Indians฀in฀Thailand฀enjoy฀the฀benefits฀of฀ this฀new฀policy฀that฀began฀from฀the฀1990s.฀Exchange฀of฀visits฀of฀the฀prime฀ ministers฀of฀the฀two฀countries฀as฀well฀as฀the฀royal฀visits฀of฀H.R.H.฀Prince฀ Vajiralongkorn,฀Crown฀Prince฀of฀Thailand,฀H.R.H.฀Princess฀Maha฀Chakri฀ Sirindhorn,฀and฀H.R.H.฀Princess฀Chulabhorn฀have฀created฀interest฀inThailand฀ among฀Indians.฀Thailand,฀therefore,฀has฀become฀an฀attractive฀destination฀for฀ Indian฀tourists฀and฀businessmen.฀Thai฀Airways฀International฀as฀well฀as฀Air฀ India฀and฀Indian฀Airlines฀join฀in฀to฀facilitate฀both฀Indian฀and฀Thai฀travellers฀ going฀to฀and฀from฀both฀countries฀by฀increasing฀direct฀flights฀to฀all฀major฀ 35฀Rising฀India.indd฀฀฀669 8/29/08฀฀฀10:22:35฀AM 670 Srisurang Poolthupya cities฀of฀India:฀New฀Delhi,฀Mumbai,฀Chennai,฀Bangalore,฀Kolkata,฀Bodhgaya,฀ Guwahati฀and฀Hyderabad.฀Increasing฀India–Thailand฀bilateral฀trade฀especially฀ from฀year฀2000฀onwards฀have฀brought฀more฀prosperity฀to฀both฀India฀and฀ Thailand.฀Indian฀businessmen฀in฀Thailand฀who฀are฀usually฀active฀in฀this฀intertrade ฀benefit฀considerably฀from฀the฀above฀circumstances.฀Moreover,฀the฀first฀ BIMSTEC1 ฀Summit฀in฀Bangkok฀in฀July฀2004฀which฀includes฀some฀South฀ Asian฀and฀ASEAN฀countries฀boosted฀the฀trade฀between฀India฀and฀Thailand฀ as฀well฀as฀ASEAN฀countries฀in฀general.฀The฀Free฀Trade฀Agreement฀(FTA)฀ between฀Thailand฀and฀India฀also฀promotes฀trade. THE TERM ‘INDIANS’ AND THE NUMBER OF INDIANS IN THAILAND The฀term฀“Indians”฀here฀includes฀all฀people฀from฀the฀Indian฀sub-continent฀who฀ ฀ may฀retain฀their฀nationalities฀as฀Indian,฀Pakistani,฀Bangladeshi฀or฀Nepalese฀ as฀the฀case฀may฀be฀and฀also฀those฀who฀have฀become฀Thai฀citizens.฀They฀may฀ also฀be฀categorized฀by฀religion฀as฀Hindus,฀Muslims,฀Sikhs฀or฀by฀the฀place฀of฀ their฀origin฀such฀as฀Punjabis,฀Marwaris฀(from฀Rajasthan),฀Sindhis,฀Tamils,฀ Bengalis,฀Pathans฀(Afghanistan฀and฀north฀Pakistan),฀Nepalese.฀At฀some฀points,฀ the฀categories฀will฀overlap.฀For฀example,฀many฀Punjabis฀are฀Sikhs฀but฀some฀ Punjabis฀are฀Hindus฀while฀there฀are฀many฀Bengali฀Hindus฀originally฀from฀ India,฀Bengali฀Muslims฀mostly฀from฀Bangladesh,฀and฀also฀Bengali฀Buddhists฀ mainly฀from฀Bangladesh.฀This฀chapter฀will฀try฀to฀clarify฀if฀necessary.฀Most฀ Indians฀are฀residing฀and฀doing฀business฀in฀Bangkok.฀Only฀a฀few฀are฀found฀in฀ other฀major฀cities฀in฀Thailand฀such฀as฀Chiang฀Mai,฀Phuket,฀Songkhla.฀ The฀estimate฀of฀Indians฀in฀Thailand฀is฀based฀on฀the฀fact฀that฀in฀the฀year฀ 2007฀census,฀the฀whole฀population฀of฀Thailand฀was฀63,038,247.฀Of฀these฀ 75฀per฀cent฀were฀ethnic฀Thais,฀14฀per฀cent฀Chinese฀and฀the฀Indian฀ethnic฀ ฀ group฀was฀included฀in฀the฀11฀per฀cent฀of฀“Others”.฀These฀11฀per฀cent฀can฀be฀ Indians,฀Malays,฀Myanmese,฀Caucasians,฀and฀others.฀The฀Indian฀community฀ in฀Thailand฀estimates฀itself,฀both฀by฀nationality฀and฀by฀origin,฀as฀almost฀ 200,000฀altogether.฀The฀actual฀number฀of฀Indian฀citizens฀in฀Thailand฀may฀ fluctuate฀between฀20,000฀and฀30,000,฀including฀Indians฀who฀get฀into฀ Thailand฀illegally. From฀Royal฀Thai฀Police฀source,฀there฀were฀6,384฀Indians฀(4,780฀male฀ and฀1,604฀female)฀in฀year฀2002฀as฀resident฀aliens;฀490฀Pakistanis฀(395฀male฀ and฀95฀female)฀as฀resident฀aliens฀in฀2002.฀The฀numbers฀increased฀slightly฀ in฀2003:฀there฀were฀6,472฀(4,851฀male฀and฀1,621฀female)฀Indian฀resident฀ aliens,฀492฀(396฀male฀and฀96฀female)฀Pakistani฀resident฀aliens.2 ฀In฀2004฀ ฀ there฀were฀6,570฀(4,932฀male฀and฀1,368฀female)฀Indian฀resident฀aliens฀and฀ 35฀Rising฀India.indd฀฀฀670 8/29/08฀฀฀10:22:35฀AM Indians In Thailand 671 504฀(407฀male฀and฀97฀female)฀Pakistani฀resident฀aliens.3 ฀This฀means฀the฀ number฀of฀Indians฀and฀Pakistanis฀in฀Thailand฀is฀on...