Kariang: History of Karen-T'ai Relations from the Beginnings to 1923

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Ronald D. Renard - Kariang: History of Karen-T'ai Relations from the Beginnings to 1923

English | 1980 | 306 pages | PDF | 8 MB

The Karena, whose population- numbers from three to five million,
inhabit the Thai-Burma border region as well as parts of the Burma
Delta and north Thailand away farom the border. Karens are so
diverse culturally that no set of defined characteristics, such as reli ­
gion, elo thin g, or even a mutually intelligible language applies to all
of them. Though many Karens do share a variety of cultural attri**
butes, what sets the Karens off from other groups is their conviction
that they are Karens. Karens recognize two main sub-*groups, the
Sgaws and the Pwos, and a variety of smaller sub-groups, referred
to in this dissertation as Red Karens.
Karen oral history indicates that Karens entered Southeast Asia
from the north, but there are no non-Karen sources that corroborate
this belief. Based on Karen oral tradition, on circumstantial evidence
from Pagan inscriptions from the ninth to eleventh centuries, and on
T*ai chronicles, Karens entered what is now Upper Burma and
northern Thailand sometime before the eighth century A.D. Refer ­
ences to the Karens in Burman and T'ai literature remain so vague,
however, that not until the eighteenth century does a picture of
Karens emerge.
During the Burma-Mon-Thai wars from 1753-1824, many Karens,
caught in the crossfire, fled from Burma into Siam and northern
Th ailan d. Some Karens, often the Pwos, serving as border guards,
spies, and scouts, entered Thai life on the frontier. In central
Thailand, at least three Karen settlements were ranked by the Thaie
as Third Class Provinces, and their rulers accorded titles of nobility.
Many Karcns here were phrais (freemen) . having the same responaivil-
ities and benefits as Thai phrai .
The Karens in the north and central Thailand supplied the courts
in both regions with valuable produce in the rraditicnaJ Southeast
Aslan economy that the Thais often did not procure themselves.
Karens in Sangkhlaburi were famous for the cotton they brought to
the court at Bangkok, and Karens elsewhere provided lac, tin, sappan
wood, animal skins, hams, and hides.
But the importance of the Karens to Thai Ufe began to ebb in
the lath-nineteenth century. British domination of the Thai export
economy; the Bowring Treaty; King Mongkut's adoption of silver
taxation in favor of taxation in kind; and, ht 1869, completion of the
Suez Canal which made the marketing of bulk goods to Europe feaaibie
combined to undercut the Karens' contribution to the central Thai and.
later, the northern Thai economies. Thailand's economy was trans ­
formed from an Asia-oriented, barter economy specializing in luxury
exports to a Europe-oriented, money economy specializing in bulk
exports such as rice and teak. Moat Karens did not possess the
resources or capabilities to compete in the developing Thai economy,
so Karen economic fortunes were destined to decline. Furthermore,
the Karens' usefulness to Thai foreign policy virtually ended in the
early years of the reign of King Chulalongkorn.
Chulalongkorn recognized the plight of the Karens and triad to
ejftend to them all of the benefits of the modernized Thai sUta ho was
building. By incorporatiag all Karen phrai and non- phrai into the
new Thailand as citizens. Chulalongkorn made them eligible for the
army and police drafts, arranged for the election of headmen in Karen
villages, and taxed them at the same rate as-Thais. These measures
benefited some Karens, particularly those who were phrai , but pro ­
vided only limited help to the vast majority of the Karens in the
kingdom. During Chulalongkorn's reign, Karens became citizens and
enjoyed a warm personal relationship with the king, but, except for
benefiting from the newly introduced smallpox vaccine, many Karens
suffered in almost every other regard.
The Karen decline has continued since Chulalongkorn's reign.
In 1923. thirteen years after ChiUalongkom's death, when the last
Karen provincial leader, Phra Si Suwannakhixi, retired as Nai Amphoe
(District Officer) and was replaced by a civil servant sent up from
Bangkok, Karens lost the last vestige of their traditional political
status as well. From a rather comfortable existence at the start of
Chulalongkorn's rule, Karens are today among the poorest people in
the kingdom of Thailand.


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