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<H1>Thailand's wealthy untouchables </H1></DIV></TD></TR>
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<DIV class=mvb><SPAN class=byl>By Jonathan Head </SPAN><BR><SPAN
class=byd>BBC News, Bangkok </SPAN></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><IMG
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<P><B>Sometimes a single incident manages to shine a spotlight deep into
the soul of a society. </B>
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<DIV><IMG height=170 alt="Skyscrapers in Bangkok" hspace=0
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<DIV class=cap>Soaring skyscrapers are testament to Thailand's
economic growth</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->
<P>There was just such an incident in Thailand last year, which has just
gone to court, and which speaks volumes about the dislocating impact of
more than four decades of break-neck economic growth.
<P>It was a seemingly routine accident along Sukhumvit Road, one of
Bangkok's busiest and most traffic-clogged thoroughfares.
<P>A Mercedes-Benz was pulled up alongside a city bus, and a young man was
having an angry exchange with the bus driver, whom he accused of scraping
against his car.
<P>The passengers started shouting at the man, who got back into his car
and appeared to be about to leave.
<P>But instead he accelerated forwards onto the pavement and into the
crowd of passengers, crushing several of them under his vehicle.
<P>One woman later died, and several other passengers were seriously
injured.
<P>A fit of road rage perhaps? The police charged the young man, Kanpitak
Pachimsawas, with murder.
<P>But the case very quickly turned into one about class differences,
about the perceived arrogance of Thailand's rich, towards the poor.
<P><B>'Bad attitude'</B>
<P>Kanpitak, it turned out, was the 20-year-old son of a former Miss
Thailand beauty queen and a wealthy businessman.
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<DIV class=mva><IMG height=13 alt=""
src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif"
width=24 border=0> <B>Many parts of the Thai bureaucratic system
favour rich people - if you are not one of them, you will always be
left at the back of the queue</B> <IMG height=13 alt=""
src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif"
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<DIV>Suchira Insawan</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IBOX -->
<P>He was also the nephew of a powerful police officer.
<P>The bus driver reported that his father had arrived at the scene and
threatened to use his police connections against the passengers.
<P>"He thinks he has money and a big family name, so he can do things like
this to poor people," the bus conductor told reporters at the scene.
<P>Kanpitak's father was unrepentant. Speaking on a TV chat show two days
later, he showed more concern for his son than his victims.
<P>Responding to the bus conductor's comments he said: "They are
uneducated. That's how they are.
<P>"They think they are abused, that rich people are bad, that the police
are bad. Lower class people have a bad attitude towards police officers
and rich people. They hate us and curse us."
<P class="" in <p conflict. open - Thailand much see not do you something
witnessing were we Suddenly><B>Inequality</B>
<P>Thailand has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth anywhere
on the planet, despite some recent improvements.
<P>And that yawning gap between rich and poor is most openly on view in
Bangkok, where ostentatious displays of wealth are commonplace alongside
the grinding poverty experienced by millions of migrant workers who have
come from the countryside.
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<DIV><IMG height=240
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<DIV class=cap>High-end shops cater to the wealthy in central
Bangkok</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->
<P>Luxury cars costing more than the entire annual income of a village rub
up against the battered carts of street vendors.
<P>New shopping centres and apartment blocks are crowding out what little
open space remains in the city, projects that help the rich get even
richer.
<P>It should come as no surprise that it is in Bangkok that a five-star
hotel is offering its 50 highest-spending guests what it calls the meal of
a lifetime, prepared by a team of Michelin-starred chefs and preceded by
the guests being flown by executive jet to a village in eastern Thailand
to witness a little poverty before tucking into their 10-course feast.
<P>Total cost: around US$300,000 (£150,000). The event has barely raised
an eyebrow in Thailand, but caused such an uproar elsewhere over its
questionable taste that many top chefs in France have decided to boycott
it.
<P><!-- S IIMA -->
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<DIV><IMG height=170
alt="Clothes hang outside a ramshackle house surrounded by skyscrapers"
hspace=0
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<DIV class=cap>Bangkok's architecture showcases the uneasy
coexistence of rich and poor</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->
<P>What is so striking about Thailand's inequality is how little visible
social tension there is.
<P>For the most part people appear to accept their lot without resentment.
Some put this down to Buddhist concepts of fate and karma, others, to
Thailand's deep-rooted sense of hierarchy, with the king at its apex.
<P>Social activist and former Senator Jon Ungpakorn sees more prosaic
causes.
<P>"Because of the high growth rates in Thailand there is a sort of
buffer," he says.
<P>"Even the poor feel they are doing better than they would have done
many years ago. They still see that they have opportunities ahead."
<P><B>'Damage is done'</B>
<P>The case of Kanpitak Pachimsawas has struck a raw nerve.
<P>Websites in Thailand are filled with comments demanding that the young
man face the full force of the law, regardless of his family connections.
<P>Some poke fun at his father's claim that it was mental stress that
caused him to drive his car into the crowd.
<P>But there is little of the blistering anger that erupted in China after
a similar case four years ago, when a woman who drove her BMW at a farmer
she had been arguing with, killing his wife, was given only a suspended
jail sentence.
<P>It forced the Chinese authorities to reopen the case, and to close down
websites carrying the online debate over the case.
<P>In Thailand, Kanpitak Pachimsawas was released on bail and, amazingly,
even allowed to continue driving.
<P>On his first day in court he was apparently overcome by nerves and said
he was unable to answer any questions. The judge adjourned the case until
November. He may never go to prison.
<P>Suchira Insawan, the daughter of the woman he killed, says she feels no
anger towards him.
<P>She has yet to receive any compensation from the Pachimsawas family -
she has asked for 7m baht ($222,000; £111,000) but is likely to get less,
perhaps even less than the list price of the Mercedes-Benz that crushed
her mother.
<P>"The damage is done," she told me. "I forgive him. I don't want to
destroy his future, I don't want him to be jailed. I don't want bad
karma."
<P>She also had little faith that the courts would find against such a
privileged young man.
<P>"Many parts of the Thai bureaucratic system favour rich people. If you
are not one of them, you will always be left at the back of the queue."
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