4 wild boars granted Thai citizenship: Official

By Jintamas Saksornchai, Staff Reporter

 

Ekapol Chanthawong, second from right, on a trip with the Wild Boars to a meditation trip on July 10, 2017 in Chiang Rai.

 

CHIANG RAI — Three members of the Wild Boars football team and their coach were granted Thai citizenship Wednesday, officials said.

 

A top official of Mae Sai district administration in Chiang Rai said today that Coach Ekkapol Chantawong, 25; Adul Sam-on, 14; Mongkol Boonpeam, 13; and Pornchai Kamluang, 16; were among 30 stateless people who received Thai national ID cards today.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018/08/08/4-wild-boars-granted-thai-citizenship-official/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-8-8

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Stateless ‘Mu Pa’ are now Thai citizens

By THE NATION

 

 

FOUR STATELESS Mu Pa Academy footballers who were rescued from a flooded cave last month on Wednesday officially became Thai citizens.

Ekkapol Chantawongse

 

They attended a naturalisation ceremony held in Chiang Rai province and each of them was given the national identity card.

 

Adul Samon

 

The four are: Adul Samon, Mongkol Boonpium, Pornchai Khamluang and assistant coach Ekkapol Chantawongse.

 

They were among 13 members of the Mu Pa football club who went missing in the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district in late June.

 

They were located and evacuated two weeks later in a multinational operation. Their rescue mission made headlines around the world as the method of evacuating them from the dark and flooded cave was regarded as the first of its kind.

 

Pornchai Khamluang

 

Mae Sai district chief Somsak Kanakham said they were granted citizenship according to the laws. During the ceremony chaired by Somsak, 30 people became Thai citizens.

 

The births of Adul, Mongkon and Pornchai were registered at Mae Sai and Wiengpankham municipalities and they were granted Thai citizenship after they presented their birth certificate to the district chief.

 

Mongkol Boonpium

 

Ekkapol, who is still in the monkhood, was born at Mae Sai Hospital and has a parent who was born in Thailand.

 

He was granted citizenship on grounds of his good behaviour and actions that benefited society.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30351752

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-09

note to self, go into cave and wait........ no more 90 day reports for me

3 minutes ago, kannot said:

note to self, go into cave and wait........ no more 90 day reports for me

crass comment   but oh so true

Perhaps we need a new section on cave diving in the 'Story of my Thai Citizen Application' thread?

Good. 

 

That is four less young men in Northern Thailand who can be exploited as stateless in years to come... 

20 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

4 wild boars granted Thai citizenship: Official

basis ? accident; typical thai approach to 'rules' and 'order'

I watched it on TV. Can I get Thai citizenship? 

10 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

32 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

4 wild boars granted Thai citizenship: Official

basis ? accident; typical thai approach to 'rules' and 'order'

I'm honestly, really pleased for them all.

 

However...what happened to the official who said there would be no short-cuts and formal procedure would have to be followed? Perhaps he's under threat of being sent to an inactive post out in the jungle somewhere.

Is it perhaps to do with a spin-doctor approach to an upcoming film which could be used to show the government in a caring light?

I suppose the film approval committee will have already been instructed that this Thainess event must be included in the story.

 

I wish them the best. I am so glad the coach was one of the lucky ones. He seems like genuine good guy.

  I hope they all have a bright future and more power to them to grow and enjoy life as a citizen. of Thailand

note to self, go into cave and wait........ no more 90 day reports for me

More likely, you'd be given a bill for several million baht to pay for your rescue, then deported from being a troublesome foreigner.


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

6 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

More likely, you'd be given a bill for several million baht to pay for your rescue, then deported from being a troublesome foreigner.

Those troublesome foreigners will just never understand Thainess...

 

2 hours ago, kannot said:

note to self, go into cave and wait........ no more 90 day reports for me

You will have to keep leaving notes to say you are lost. Take masks for bat poo and about 3 years supply of food. Other than that u might die; that would be sad. We will be reading about lunatic lost in cave leaving notes and was a Farang. Have you got Harvey Weinstein's direct line he may help with film rights, but he probably want you to die in cave. Just my abstract thoughts. 

A beautiful picture of some beautiful kids.

2 hours ago, kannot said:

note to self, go into cave and wait........ no more 90 day reports for me

When do we leave? ?

The only way to get citizenship here is to do something so the government looks good or be a champion flying paper airplanes.. 

 

p.s.  But it is good to see them get it.

 

will the have to pay taxes now ?

 

29 minutes ago, surangw said:

will the have to pay taxes now ?

 

Ha ha! If they're really unlucky, perhaps 20 Baht a month. If they join the social security system, then maybe 100Baht/month.

Unless they become famous and really big earners.

 

Ok, I'm sure we can gather a farang dozen who wants citizenship, just get stuck in a cave and wait for the ketamine to kick in. Don't forget to instagram the whole deal for some extra baht.

'Stateless' Thai cave boys and coach granted citizenship

 

The 12 boys and their soccer coach who were rescued from a flooded cave arrive for a news conference in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/Files

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Three boys from a football team who were rescued from a flooded cave in northernThailand last month were granted Thai citizenship on Wednesday, authorities said.

 

Their 25-year-old coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, also gained citizenship.

 

Ekapol and 12 boys had gone to explore the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai province on June 23, when a rainy-season downpour flooded the cave system and trapped them underground.

 

They survived for nine days on water dripping from rocks before they were discovered. An international effort to rescue them ended on July 10 when they all were brought out safely.

 

Three of the boys and Ekapol were considered stateless, even though they were born in Thailand, until local authorities checked their qualifications, including birth certificates, and approved their requests for Thai citizenship.

 

The four were also given Thai national identification cards on Wednesday.

 

"They have all the qualifications," said Somsak Kanakam, chief officer of Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai. "All children born in Thailand must have Thai birth certificates in order to qualify for Thai citizenship."

 

Citizenship requests for some twenty other people, most of them children, were also approved, Somsak added.

 

Many stateless people in Thailand come from areas where national borders have changed, leaving their nationality in question. Some belong to "hill tribes" living in remote areas with limited access to information about nationality procedures, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

 

The cave ordeal highlighted the plight of people from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar living in Thailand who are denied some rights and opportunities because they are not citizens.

 

More than 486,000 people are registered as stateless, according to official data. Of that number 146,269 are younger than 18 years old.

 

(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat, editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Larry King)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-09

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

Ok, I'm sure we can gather a farang dozen who wants citizenship, just get stuck in a cave and wait for the ketamine to kick in. Don't forget to instagram the whole deal for some extra baht.

It doesnt work that way .

You need to have been born in Thailand and also gone to School there

Really lovely that it works out well for some of many the stateless people in this country.

 

Just very sad that it has to happen a crisis and an international level cave rescue before they see only 4 of them.

I am very happy for them, though, and wish them very well with their newly found possibilities in life.

Fast track to long and short neck hill people (yes these are people that some do not have Thai citizenship but have lived in Thailand for generations in remote northern areas my ex was one but had Thai ID) if you do not have Thai citizenship fast track get stuck in a cave. How sad but the expected cheap politics of a bunch of charming people running the country expect this to make them look good. Are they saying everyone is so stupid to believe this is charming or manipulating the uneducated. What is next free school taxi for life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Note to self read more of the BBC and get back to advanced politics.

5 hours ago, surangw said:

will the have to pay taxes now ?

 

I think for the rest of their lives they will be watched and advised accordingly. 

Fantastic news....something I originally believed to be political spin....good on these guys.

Think the movie deal might be slipping through the cracks. 

12 hours ago, lovelomsak said:

I wish them the best. I am so glad the coach was one of the lucky ones. He seems like genuine good guy.

  I hope they all have a bright future and more power to them to grow and enjoy life as a citizen. of Thailand

YES!   so nice to get some good news.  Good luck to all the Wild Boars.  ?

10 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

The only way to get citizenship here is to do something so the government looks good or be a champion flying paper airplanes..

The paper airplane champion still hasn't received citizenship almost a decade later.

 

Delighted to hear all four of the Wild Boars got it so fast, though the motives in granting it no doubt tie in to the authorities wanting to own the story, movie rights, and to avoid bad publicity in a case that's going to remain on the world stage for a while. 

6 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

The paper airplane champion still hasn't received citizenship almost a decade later. 

He had no worldwide publicity and there wasn't a film in the offing in his case.

 

Nice outcome for them. But what about the other (apparently millions) stateless folks in Thailand who face seemingly impossible requirements to prove their entitlement to Thai citizenship?

13 hours ago, JAG said:

Good. 

 

That is four less young men in Northern Thailand who can be exploited as stateless in years to come... 

Yes, but now they may do conscription time.