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A Thai park ranger was sacked after a confrontation with Russian tourists who allegedly greeted him in the Chinese language.
Siranudh “Sai” Scott, 26, an adviser to the Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Thailand, accused the couple of racism on the Krabi beach after they greeted him with “ni hao”, a Mandarin translation for "hello" or "hi” which literally means “you good”.
Mr Scott shared the video of him confronting the tourists, accusing them of “disrespecting” him and asking them “to not be racist”. The couple denied being racist and repeatedly asked “what does it mean”?
“Get on that boat, the day is finished. There is no vacation today,” Mr Scott told the Russian couple on the beach as he ordered them to leave the island.
“You said ‘ni hao’ to us, that’s not how you say hello and hi. Because of your attitude and disrespect towards me as a national park ranger, [your day here] has ended,” he told them.
“We’re not Chinese, we’re Thai. So try that again, and I will have you deported,” he warned the couple as they sat in the boat to leave the island. In a post on social media, the park ranger went on to vent his frustration and said: “To come to Thailand, and not even have the respect to know the difference between Thailand and China is extremely racist.”
“You cannot plan a vacation here to enjoy our natural resources and ignore the Thai people who live in the country,” he said.
“Something as small as saying ‘ni hao’ to a Thai person, it’s not only disrespectful to Thais, but to Asians as Asia is not one nationality. It would be like me going to England and thinking it was the same as Russia,” he added.
The video went viral on social media with 10 million views across various platforms and sparked a heated debate on whether it hurt Thai cultural sensitivities.
Atthaphon Charoenchansa, the director-general of the Department of National Parks, said Mr Scott would be removed from his position this week, according to Thai Examiner.
Following the controversy, Mr Scott reportedly challenged the National Parks chief to a debate and defended his actions on TV. In 2019, former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was called out by a Korean voter after he greeted him in Chinese during the election campaign.
Shaking hands with one woman as a pack of journalists watched on, he said: “Hello, how are you? Ni hao, how are you?”
“No, no, no, I’m Korean,” the woman responded.
English (US) ·