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Freshman Hazing At Maha Sarakham University Thailand

By admin on June 14, 2011 in Khon Kaen Retirement / no comments / 382 views

My buddy, Tom, at Isaan-Live.com sent me an article with a video about the annual Freshman hazing on 5 June 2011, at Maha Sarakham University (MSU). Tom has been spending quite a bit of time at MSU gathering information, mapping locations, and taking photos.

Maha Sarakham University

Now, I already knew that hazing/initiations went on in Thai colleges and universities having seen some videos and read some stories online over the years. But, this video is different in that some of the Maha Sarakham University Freshmen (Freshy) protested the hazing and wanted it stopped. The video has had 180K + views already.

The video is a bit disturbing showing an ambulance arriving on scene to treat Maha Sarakham University students that had fainted and also shows the Seniors looking like Hitler youth with their military pants and matching T-shirts.

But, the really disturbing part of this is the comments from Professor Supachai Samappito, Maha Sarakham University President – this guy is a real piece of work and will give you an indication on how crappy the Thai education system is if guys like this are running the schools.

Here are some of his comments responding to the video showing the student activists protesting Freshman Orientation:

“It is usual for a few freshmen to faint because there are a large number of students during the ritual.” said Supachai. “In the video, the seniors were dressed in military-type trousers so they looked a bit dictatorial but there was nothing in it.”

So, fainting is normal. How soon before someone dies and he declares it normal since there are a large number of students. And, in the video, you will see one of the Senior Leaders with a red circle superimposed with a Thai Word. I asked my wife and she said “means Like Hitler”.

“They [anti-hazing students] are too knowledgeable. They have been studying human rights too much so they called for a protest. Some master’s degree students infiltrated this group. I’m not sure if they might want to create the conditions to hold some seminar.”

Too knowledgeable??? The students actually are smart. Holy shit! Better get rid of them right away. Don’t want smart students at a University in Thailand – then they might actually show the teachers up. These students may have actually watched the news over the past 6 months or so and have seen riots and protests in the Middle East trying to oust dictatorial leaders. Maybe they saw a similarity and want to get the ridiculous rituals stopped.

Supachai accepted that a senior student shown in the video was not mature enough and said some things that were improper. “That was a sudden situation,” said Supachai, “there will be some discussion with him”.

This is the guy with the red circle drawn around him. Looks like he will get called to the office where the President will talk with him. Probably kick back and have few beers and some laughs and then the President will tell the world how sorry the student was and that he was forgiven and won’t do it again.

The MSU President also confirmed that it was not necessary for the university to hold a press conference after the video was disseminated.

Heaven’s No! If there was a press conference, then those reporters would ask embarrassing questions that the President would have to answer and make him look more a fool than he already is.

“No student has complained about this ritual before. If students complain about [the hazing], Thailand will be in a terrible way. This is just a cultural inheritance from seniors to freshmen,” said Supachai.

Of course not. Thailand is a non-confrontational society. Freshmen students won’t complain for fear of expulsion. And, this is no cultural inheritance. It is plain and simple – seniors get to bully the freshman around for one school year. Yes, for the entire year freshmen will perform menial tasks for their senior mentors. And, you can only imagine what the punishments are for failure to obey.

Yuttana still plans to launch further campaigns on campus and seek more supporters. “I always believe that what we have done will wake students up. At least they would wonder why there are many students who disagree with hazing.”

He hasn’t done anything. Some brave students (Freshmen) stood up to the Seniors and the Staff and protested. They should be commended but will probably wind up being kicked out or worse, they will be allowed to stay and treated like dirt for the rest of the year.

Here is the big problem:

The issues of hazing practices on campus are repeatedly discussed in Thailand. Each year Thai society faces countless cases of human rights abuse ending in the tragedy of either death or serious injury.

This is all that is ever done in Thailand. Discuss repeatedly and no action taken.

I guess that hazing will continue at Maha Sarakham University and the rest of the colleges and universities in Bangkok and around Thailand until someone of the Bangkokian elite dies during freshman orientation and then maybe it will be stopped.