The kinds of jobs now being held mostly by migrant workers tend to be hard, dirty or dangerous, or those that offer relatively low pay. These include jobs in fisheries, seafood-processing factories, rice mills, sewing and textile factories, construction, farming, sawmills and plastics production. The presence of migrant workers, most of them from Burma, Cambodia and Laos, has become commonplace in Thai society.

The situation is convenient for both Thai employers and foreign workers. Employers are desperate to fill available jobs that most Thais would spurn, while migrant workers from countries with a lower standard of living are willing to work for less.

That does not mean, however, that Thai employers should be allowed to exploit foreign workers. Thai society must realise that it is consistent with the nation's interests to treat foreign workers well by ensuring that the foreign labour market is well regulated and that migrant workers are well taken care of and paid fairly. That is to say, they should not be paid too low simply because they are foreigners.

Granted that for many employers the whole point of hiring migrant workers is to exploit cheap labour while they still can. But now that the government has sought to better regulate the foreign labour force, new standards in the minimum wage, working conditions and welfare benefits should be drawn up to make sure they are treated with dignity and better protected.

Better treatment of foreign workers should not only be aimed at keeping them motivated and improving their productivity, Thai society must also take a longer view beyond the short-term benefit that Thailand is getting from these workers. Being gracious hosts by treating foreign workers well should be seen as part of the effort to promote goodwill between Thais and those in neighbouring countries.

Already, remittances from foreign workers to their home countries have generated more cross-border trade. Foreign workers who are legally registered and well taken care of are also less likely to cause public health risks, commit crimes or pose a threat to Thailand's national security.

The Thai government still has a lot to do. For every legally registered foreign worker, there are a few undocumented workers who slip into this country illegally via underground agents who charge them to bring them into the country. Once smuggled into Thailand these foreign workers are prone to the worst kinds of exploitation, including bonded labour.

The availability of these undocumented foreign workers also weighs down Thailand's efforts to improve wages, working conditions and welfare benefits for those foreign workers who come here legally to work because vulnerable undocumented workers are willing to work for much less pay.

The first important step that the government must take is to crack down on corrupt customs agents, policemen and government officials, who have connections with smuggling rings that bring in migrant workers clandestinely. Then the government can proceed to stem the influx of illegal immigrants. Once this is under control, market forces will determine what constitutes fair pay for legal foreign workers.

The number of foreign workers allowed to work in the country should be regulated according to need, and flexible enough to be adjusted in line with the ups and downs of the business cycle and long-term social and economic planning. At the same time, society should learn to be more compassionate toward our foreign guest workers and show them the appreciation and respect that they deserve.

The least that we as a society can begin to do is to shed prejudices based on old stereotypes or jingoistic nationalistic historical accounts that all Thai schoolchildren are taught about peoples in neighbouring countries.