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Thailand Takes Hard Line: No Camps, No Rescue at Sea for Hundreds of Would-Be Refugees
By Prasit Tarnsirisin and Alan Morison Monday, May 18, 2015
PHUKET: No temporary camps will be set up in Thailand to house the hundreds of would-be Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees trapped on the Andaman Sea, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, said today.
Any asylum seekers who ventured into Thai waters would be apprehended and treated as illegal migrants while boats intercepted at sea would be ''helped on'' with food, water, fuel and other assistance, he told the media on Phuket today.
The former general paid a surprise visit to the international holiday island and met with Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong, Royal Thai Navy 3 Commander Vice Admiral Saiyan Prasongsomret and other officials before answering questions from reporters.
He was flanked by Royal Thai Navy Commander in Chief, Admiral Kraisorn Chansuvanich and Royal Thai Police Chief Commissioner, General Somyot Pumpanmuang.
Khun Prawit became agitated at one point when a questioner referred to ''pushbacks,'' but he preferred the term ''help on.''
''If someone on a boat is very ill, they will be taken to hospital for treatment in accordance with international standards,'' he said.
Australian Opposition MP, Melissa Parke, said today that her country's Abbott government ''has set a terrible precedent with its 'boat turn-back' policy, which is now being emulated by other countries in the region.''
There has been no confirmed contact since Saturday with as many as four boats that are said to be low on food and water as their human cargoes become increasingly desperate and Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia discourage the boats from landing.
Some observers are predicting disaster.
The stateless Rohingya, an unwanted Muslim minority in Burma, have been forced from their home country in increasing thousands since Buddhist neighbors torched villages in the country's Rakhine state in mid-2012.
While the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) each undertake to not interfere in the internal affairs of neighbors, Burma's tacit ethnic cleansing probably involves crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide.
Burma, the cause of both the human trafficking and would-be refugee problems foisted onto neighbors in recent years, may not even turn up at a meeting organised by the Thai government on May 29 to deal with the issue.
Australia, a hefty donor to refugee camps in Rakhine state yet an advocate of pushbacks, is one of 15 countries invited to the Bangkok meeting.
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Comments
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Has the rest of Asia caught the Australian disease, heartlessness?
Posted by
Arthur
on
May 18, 2015 13:54
Editor Comment:
Australia pays for the privilege, Arthur, both in Burma and Cambodia. Money is what seems to matter, not principle.
Not quite similar to what the pm said in Thai TV a few days ago
Posted by
Sherlock
on
May 18, 2015 13:59
Shocking...
If that is their attitude, I believe every NGO should pull out of Thailand and surrounding countries who think like this.
See the millions of dollars of aid disappear and see what real mess their own country dives into and the ones around them.
It makes me question about even wanting to live in a country with this attitude.
Posted by
Tbs
on
May 18, 2015 14:02
What I miss is the pressure on Bangladesh and Myanmar of the other AEC Countries to stop this exodus and start to treat all this refugees as being their citizens as they are generations long living in these countries. That is the starting point! Stop the exodus. If muslim countries Malaysia and Indonesia push back the muslim refugees into the sea, what can we expect of Thailand and Singapore? Perhaps rich Muslim Middle East countries can shoulder this? They need a lot of foreign labor.
Posted by
Kurt
on
May 18, 2015 14:29
Shocking! Bangladesh and Myanmar both should be immediately put in 'Tier 3'.
All foreign NGO's should leave both countries. Landing rights of airlines of both countries should be terminated until no more boat people take of from their shores/beaches. These 2 countries have to learn about humanity! Both should not receive any longer foreign financial aid. China.as a 'sponsor' of Myanmar can 'order' that country to go to May 29 Summit and face the music!
Posted by
Kurt
on
May 18, 2015 15:11
Interestingly BP has a completely different spin on this story, quoting Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon saying there would be "Transit areas" set up.
Perhaps he changed his mind on the way from BKK to Phuket.
Posted by
Herbert
on
May 18, 2015 15:33
Kurt,
large if not largest part of people travelling off Bangladesh are economics refugees.
Citizenship in general doesn't influence a lot nowadays in a day to day life. In Myanmar there is case of communal genocide, citizenship is actually a side topic.
If you advocate - and it seems you do -what is your solution - to shut borders of Bangkadesh (do you really think it is attainable ,giving a poverty of the country and the state ...?) if not that, did you calculated out consequences - that it would be not like with elephants petition - if people are able to leave successfully on a sea journey in an attempt to arrive to say Malaysia or Indonesia , but are not able to land, what is then? like what we're reading for a last week here? Indonesia and Malaysia are although in a grey zone in terms of int'l refugee obligations, as they chosen not to be a party to Refugee Convention - yes, customary int'l law applies, but I'm not sure that here is a clear case for that.
It was UK who moved major part of Rohingya to Myanmar - although some of them yes, are ingenious to Myanmar.
The UK did it for profit l
Maybe UK could lead a donor initiative to collect say 10,000USD per person for 1mio Rohingya in Myanmar with a view of Controlled Resettlement? And be a major donor there. The program would include buying a land for them - and negotiating with a country of destination details about it, bundling basic houses , training /education that they would be in possession of relevant skills to provide for themselves at destination - it is possbkd to organize such initiative within a year and implement within 10yrs. The total costs 10billion USD - it is not a big money, even the UK would be the sole donor.
Bangkadesh is too poor, too overpopulated to expect it to accept any significant number of refugees.
And in Myanmar you just can't impose on grass route people that they love each other under current curcumstances , and giving that the whole country on all levels supports expulsion of Rohingya.
Posted by
Sue
on
May 18, 2015 16:10
Ive seen a lot of anti-Rohingya bias on social media from the Thai community over the last few days. It's disconcerting to see how many Thais support the push back policy, with arguments ranging from cost, not Thailand's problem, to outright distane for Muslim Rohingyas. Worrying times for humanity.
Posted by
andy
on
May 18, 2015 16:22
Editor Comment:
There is no pushback policy. It ended when Phuketwan revealed what was happening in 2009 and the pushback policy was replaced by the ''help on'' policy. The solution lies in Burma, nowhere else.
Dear Ed
The world in general and ASEAN in particular seem very poor at dealing with this crisis. Yes, the real villains might be the authorities within Burma and Bangladesh but there have been opportunistic transnational criminal syndicates that have exploited the situation. In this region, Muslims have exploited Muslims and Buddhists have exploited Buddhists.
Thailand and Malaysia deserve some of the blame for the present crisis given that they having been so tolerant of slavery, human trafficking and corruption in the past. Their past conduct encouraged the criminal syndicates.
On the Global Slavery Index (published by the Walk Free Foundation), Thailand is ranked at 44 with an estimated 475,300 slaves; Malaysia is ranked 56 with an estimated 142,600 slaves; and Indonesia is ranked in the far more humanitarian position of 102 with an estimated 714,100 slaves. (The worst ranking of 1 is held by Mauritania with an estimated 155,600 slaves or 4% of the total population)
Thailand has been described as the hub of human trafficking in this region. The current Deputy Prime Minister and the current Thai government did little to help create the crisis. However, they are now morally responsible to address the crisis in a humanitarian way given that previous Thai governments were complacent about the human trafficking process through Thai waters and on Thai soil.
On the other side of the ledger, there are NGOs who have been trying to prevent ethnic cleansing. There have been investigative journalists such as Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian who have been warning the world for nearly a decade of the human trafficking from Burma. Credit must also go to those politicians (including the Hon Melissa Parke) who have worked to prevent the sort of crisis that is unfolding now.
Private Members Business Notice relating to Human Rights in Myanmar Australian Parliament 14 July 2014 at 11.03 am.
Your readers might be interested to see a rare example of bipartisan support for a motion relating to human rights. The speakers were all very well informed and articulate. Speakers: the Hon Melissa Parke MP (Labor); the Hon Philip Ruddock MP (Liberal); Mr Laurie Ferguson MP (Labor); the Hon Teresa Gambaro MP (Liberal); the Hon Alan Griffin MP (Labor); and Mr Craig Laundy MP (Liberal).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYv3UWwfWAM
The video clip and transcript of proceedings offer some insight to the background of the perils facing the Rohingya in Burma. There are of course many other videos and articles available on the internet.
Ian Yarwood
Solicitor - Perth, Western Australia
Posted by
Ian Yarwood
on
May 18, 2015 16:52
It may seem heart-less, but the more given the more taken. The problem needs fixing at source.
Fix the problem at source around the world!
Posted by
Sean
on
May 18, 2015 17:33
Hi andy
It is always interesting to learn the views of some of the Thais.
Comments on social media can be like "electronic graffiti" but they can give an insight into the minds of the authors.
I think the "not Thailand's problem" attitude ignores the fact that Thai nationals did help create the problem in that corrupt Thai officials were complacent in the human trafficking activities of organised crime syndicates. Many of the people involved in those syndicates were Thai nationals. Some of them are now living in big houses in coastal communities.
Many (but by no means all) Thais are very colour conscious. They like the look of pale skin Westerners (falangs) but look down on dark skin people. Even within Thailand, many Thais find the light skinned Thais from Chiang Mai attractive but do not like the darker skinned Isaan people (from the North East) or the darker skinned people closer to the Malaysian border.
Some of the Thais are very tolerant of other religions. Others are not, especially in view of the long conflicts between Buddhists and Muslims in the southern province of Thailand.
I think comments on anecdotal evidence of Thai attitudes are very interesting as are more formal surveys.
Attitudes throughout the region need to improve or there will be much more suffering and misery.
Posted by
Ian Yarwood
on
May 18, 2015 19:44
I am quite disgusted by Myanmar. As stated before, I worked there for 9 years offshore with stints in Shore Base. My former company poured tens of thousands of dollars into various projects to help the poor & needy.
This growing attitude does not fit the Myanmar I knew 5+ years ago, but sadly there are a certain Buddhist monks coming to the fore, advocating hatred against the Muslim minority of which the Rohingyas are part.
A Buddhist monk, Ashin Witharu earlier this year provoked outrage by calling a United Nations special envoy, South Korean Yangee Lee a ''b****'' and a ''whore''. She was touring Myanmar to access the dire situation of the nation's persecuted Muslim community.
This so called monk is a member of the hard line 969 movement which actively promotes religious hatred & is pretty well supported & protected by the government.
So unless the World takes strong action, there is no hope of stopping this at source.
Posted by
Logic
on
May 19, 2015 00:21
"Attitudes throughout the region need to improve or there will be much more suffering and misery."
Well put Ian - but it's perhaps a gross understatement - along the lines of American Astronaut Jim Lovell's famous, "Houston - we have a problem."
On another note - whatever happened to the "Golden Rule," treat others as you would like to be treated? It's not religion - it's about inherent respect for other human beings.
Unfortunately, in a world (west and east) gone materialistic-mad, we live in a society that values things over values, when a myopic, supreme sense of self-entitlement that engenders people like Kim Kardashian to be famous, as millions of young women wish to emulate the likes of her.
What the heck did she do - besides starting a nasty trend of gigantic buttocks - and starring in a trashy porno? Yes indeed Ian, attitudes in Thailand, and moreover throughout the WORLD need to improve - or there will be much more suffering and misery going forward - it's a certainty, number three after death and taxes.
Someone should tell that to Wikipedia, but somehow I think it will fall on deaf ears..
Posted by
farang888
on
May 19, 2015 04:15
Sue, Thank you for comment on my comments. It is always interesting to read yours.
1: regarding your mentioning about Economic refugees from Bangladesh ( I call is 'luck-seekers').A economic refugee is not a refugee! We may understand that other countries in region are not welcoming them. A economic refugee is not a refugee as stated in UN papers. It is a personal adventure/drive to look for a better life. Nothing wrong with that, but they can not complain when other countries refuse to welcome them. To leave 'successfully' on a boat and try to land illegally somewhere is not the key to immigration success, as many experienced and still do now, which is of course a horrible situation.
2: When I red the comment of 'Logic' about what is happening in Myanmar, Buddhist monk Ashin Witharu, and that hardline Buddhist 969 movement, well, there are things happening that are horrible and we can not put it on the plate of neighbor countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar have to be addressed to govern better. Bangladesh can talk with other muslim ( middle east) countries to take more Bangladesh immigrants. Buddhist Thailand for sure not take all this floating people as long as Muslim countries Indonesia and Malaysia not take them. Not speaking about Singapore, it never did and never will open a door as just being a city state, were presently is racial harmony.
Posted by
Kurt
on
May 19, 2015 11:53
Editor Comment:
Some but possibly not all of the Bangladeshis and some but not all of the Rohingya have been kidnapped to fill space on the boats. This is capitalism at its most basic. Others in Bangladesh have been enticed by sales touts, promoting the prospect of better jobs in a poverty-free environment. Capitalism's finest product: successful marketing of something the punter did not know he wanted. On board the boats, the ransom equation for all the passengers becomes plain. It is a hideous process. Are you really a bigot, Kurt? You certainly appear to be. The traffickers are not doing this on the basis of religion. Your concepts for solutions mark you as a man with tolerance problems. Singapore is your natural home. ''Buddhist Thailand,'' incidentally, is about one third Muslim along the Andaman coast and through the southern provinces. Your generalisations are offensive and ignorant.
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Has the rest of Asia caught the Australian disease, heartlessness?
Posted by Arthur on May 18, 2015 13:54
Editor Comment:
Australia pays for the privilege, Arthur, both in Burma and Cambodia. Money is what seems to matter, not principle.