PHUKET: The US wanted to use Phuket as a maritime base so it could assist Rohingya, the Bangkok Post says today.
The bid to set up a US presence on the Andaman Sea coast was rejected by the Royal Thai Army, the newspaper's Wassana Nanuam reports.
The US said it wanted to conduct maritime patrols from Phuket as part of an operation to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingya migrants.
The US asked to keep its maritime surveillance aircraft in Phuket after the anti-submarine warfare training exercise 'Guardian Sea' ended on Wednesday, the source said.
The source said US officials in Thailand for the exercise were upset because they asked if they could keep the aircraft in Phuket several times.
Instead, the US vessels were ordered to leave by Friday.
The Royal Thai Navy 3 Commander, Vice Admiral Saiyan Prasongsomret, told Phuketwan today that when the US participants had finished their part in the drill, they had to return to their base.
He said that the space for aircraft to operate at the Cape Panwa base was small, not large.
''We had the ability to search the Andaman coast for the Rohingya by ourselves,'' he said.
However, Phuketwan was told recently that since October last year, the Royal Thai Navy had only intercepted two Rohingya vessels.
In that time, hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladesh boatpeople have been landed along the Andaman coast and then trucked to secret jungle camps in southern Thailand, without detection.
The issue of US involvement in Thailand would be complicated because of threats of sanctions that come with the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report.
Thailand was lowered to Tier 3, the bottom level, in last year's report and it would be a surprise if Thailand moved up this year following revelations about the fishing industry and bodies found in the secret jungle camps.
Declaration of Interest
Phuketwan journalists Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison are being sued by the Royal Thai Navy for criminal defamation and a Computer Crimes Act count over a 41-word paragraph republished from a Reuters series on Burma's Rohingya boatpeople. The series won a Pulitzer Prize.
The Royal Thai Navy is not mentioned in the paragraph. The precedent-setting military-versus-media action predates last May's Army takeover in Thailand. A trial of the two journalists resumes in July. The maximum penalty for the pair is seven years' jail.
WATCH How Trafficking Works
Phuketwan Investigative reporter Chutima Sidasathian, still being sued for criminal defamation over a Reuters paragraph: ''It's worse and worse, day by day. Nobody cares''.
http://journeyman.tv/67116/short-films/rohingya-hd.html
LISTEN The Rohingya Solution
A tragedy almost beyond words has been unfolding in Thailand, where a human smuggling network is thriving with the full knowledge of some corrupt law enforcement officers. Alan Morison of Phuketwan talks to Australia's AM program.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4231108.htm
The bid to set up a US presence on the Andaman Sea coast was rejected by the Royal Thai Army, the newspaper's Wassana Nanuam reports.
The US said it wanted to conduct maritime patrols from Phuket as part of an operation to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingya migrants.
The US asked to keep its maritime surveillance aircraft in Phuket after the anti-submarine warfare training exercise 'Guardian Sea' ended on Wednesday, the source said.
The source said US officials in Thailand for the exercise were upset because they asked if they could keep the aircraft in Phuket several times.
Instead, the US vessels were ordered to leave by Friday.
The Royal Thai Navy 3 Commander, Vice Admiral Saiyan Prasongsomret, told Phuketwan today that when the US participants had finished their part in the drill, they had to return to their base.
He said that the space for aircraft to operate at the Cape Panwa base was small, not large.
''We had the ability to search the Andaman coast for the Rohingya by ourselves,'' he said.
However, Phuketwan was told recently that since October last year, the Royal Thai Navy had only intercepted two Rohingya vessels.
In that time, hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladesh boatpeople have been landed along the Andaman coast and then trucked to secret jungle camps in southern Thailand, without detection.
The issue of US involvement in Thailand would be complicated because of threats of sanctions that come with the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report.
Thailand was lowered to Tier 3, the bottom level, in last year's report and it would be a surprise if Thailand moved up this year following revelations about the fishing industry and bodies found in the secret jungle camps.
Declaration of Interest
Phuketwan journalists Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison are being sued by the Royal Thai Navy for criminal defamation and a Computer Crimes Act count over a 41-word paragraph republished from a Reuters series on Burma's Rohingya boatpeople. The series won a Pulitzer Prize.
The Royal Thai Navy is not mentioned in the paragraph. The precedent-setting military-versus-media action predates last May's Army takeover in Thailand. A trial of the two journalists resumes in July. The maximum penalty for the pair is seven years' jail.
WATCH How Trafficking Works
Phuketwan Investigative reporter Chutima Sidasathian, still being sued for criminal defamation over a Reuters paragraph: ''It's worse and worse, day by day. Nobody cares''.
http://journeyman.tv/67116/short-films/rohingya-hd.html
LISTEN The Rohingya Solution
A tragedy almost beyond words has been unfolding in Thailand, where a human smuggling network is thriving with the full knowledge of some corrupt law enforcement officers. Alan Morison of Phuketwan talks to Australia's AM program.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4231108.htm
Fantastic good will and compassion, on a border with an intentional act of revanchism since Rohingya cases made them look bad, and bring no goodies anymore.
Posted by Sue on May 24, 2015 12:16