Past few days ago, there are outrage on Thai social media about the incident that one flight attendant being forced to 'Kraab' - an action to prostrate in kowtow manner, with hands to pray in front of oneself. - at the feet of the customer as an act of contrition. You can see the news here : http://www.khaosodenglish.com/culture/net/2016/09/08/flight-attendant-kowtows-floor-irate-passenger/ (Please read it, for better understanding the whole situation by the reporter who can summarized the incident clearly and with better English than me.) As you can see in the news, all of these started by an irate mother, complained that one flight attendant insulted her autistic daughter. The truth is, the mother did not inform any officers about her autistic daughter who need to sit on wheelchair and can only communicate with her hands gesture.(In my opinion, the daughter really looks like one with Cerebral palsy.) The flight attendant -the purser of that flight- came to ask how she was and offered her help. The mother got upset and did not answer, so the purser asked other ground officers to talk to this mother and the answer was "She's a daughter." ("How is she" in Thai can be literally translated as "What is she") So the purser had to informed a captain about these passengers to let him decide what to do. During the flight, the mother tried to make things hard for the purser, wanted the purser to serve her meal. (In which all of you clearly know, not the purser's task to serve on flight) When the flight ended, she insulted and scolded the purser. The purser and even the captain came to apologize to no avail. Another one in this group threated that this was not the end.(The group contains the mother, the daughter and a caretaker.) After that, the mother filed complaints to many AirAsia contacts about this purser, informed that her daughter was 'brutally insulted'(her words) by the purser. The complaint didn't stop. Even after she came to AirAsia office to brutally abused the purser. This was an incident that caused the outburst of the outrage, to the extent of 'witch hunting' cybercullying. The purser was summoned to the office by THREE managers, to apologize to these customers. She was forced to 'Kraab' at the feet of the daughter in wheelchair or else she would lose her job, and the mother had many influences in hospitality industry to prevent her to get a new job in this field. The purser 'Kraab' one time, and was told that she was insincere. So she had to 'Kraab' again. But the mother was not satisfy, she told the purser to 'Kraab' again with open palms. During this 'Kraab', the mother took the photo. The purser's hair was on her face, so one of the managers hold her hair to let the mother got a better shot. After that, the purser was kicked out of the room, the group and the passengers took a photograph happily. Please be informed, 'Kraab' in Thai culture meant for highly respect, utmost modesty and preserved for only few people. We 'Kraab' our parents/caretaker to show that we're grateful and respect. We 'Kraab' our teachers because they're same as our parents. We 'Kraab' royalties to show respect and loyalty. We 'Kraab' the deceased person at the funeral to show respect one last time. ONLY Buddha and monks received 'Kraab' with open palms three times. We 'Kraab', prostrate; hands, elbows, knees, feet and forehead to the floor, lower ourselves as an act of utmost respect. As you can read in the above news, if ones was forced to 'Kraab' at the feet of someone else, it's an utmost humiliation. It means you are lower than that person. It means you have no dignity so you have to 'Kraab'. It means you're defeated. It means you surrender. This flight attendant, the purser who did her job with care and follow all of the flight regulations, was forced to 'Kraab' by her authorities, three times with the open palms on the third, while being photographed without permission. You can see now why Thai social media are in an outburst. To make things even worse, the mother still complained on AirAsia page and post on her Facebook account proudly, to show her 'victory'. The contents are dramatized and disregarded the purser's human being. Anyone who read them will enrage just within seconds.(Well, maybe except the mother's friends, because they even encouraged her to post the photo of 'the flight attendant's lesson') These incidents were swept under the rug, until someone started a thread on Pantip forum ( http://pantip.com/topic/35565857 almost everything in Thai). Then the truth was dug, reveal them all on Thai social media. People ask what rights the mother has, to abuse other's human rights. People demand answers from AirAsia, why they let these humiliation to happen to their staff. What was worse? Other than silence for many days. Thai CEO gave an interview that their crew member only 'Kraab' once, and it's NORMAL APOLOGY! He asked Thai social media to stop speaking about this because it is over. (There might be full translation of the interview somewhere, but the only proper translation I found is on @Ryn_writes's Twitter account, summarizes the whole incident with detail.) Finally, we got a response from Mr. Tony Fernandes, that he would investigate this incident. The following of these can be seen on his Twitter account and Facebook page. But the social media got another leak that it's only a farce. Nothing will happen to those three managers who used their authorities to abuse the purser. Nothing will happen to the mother who brutally violated the purser's Human Rights.(She even declared that this purser violated her daughter's Human Rights and she will report to the the Human Right organizations) The poor flight attendant had to wear a cap, covered her face like she's a criminal in the meeting. Mr. Fernandes's solution might be best for the situations his company has faced. But it's not enough to compensate what his staff has to go through. No one should be treated like this. To one who has read to this point, please see the best comment about this here: http://pantip.com/35569439/comment457 (It's in English) P.S. As one who familiar with many mental disabilities people myself, I do not take any offense towards the daughter. The mother is the one who used her daughter's condition to abuse others. People with mental disabilities are human, they only have special care to live, and said care absolutely not like this mother give her daughter.
