Malaysians stranded in southern Thailand appeal for help to come home

[webfact]

Police guarding the Malaysian side of the border with Songkhla, Thailand. (Bernama pic)

 

FMT Reporters

 

PETALING JAYA: More than 10,000 Malaysians are reportedly stranded in southern Thailand after their travel documents expired.

 

They were believed to have entered the country before the first movement control order in March 2020 and were left stranded following the closure of the border with Thailand.

 

Keep up to date with all things Thailand - Join our daily ASEAN NOW Thailand Newsletter - Click to subscribe

 

To compound matters, the consulate-general in Songkhla province is unable to assist in renewing their travel documents, Utusan Malaysia reported.

 

A spokesman for the consulate-general told the Malay daily the Malaysians had to apply for emergency travel documents through the Thai government to return home.

 

Full story: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/04/06/malaysians-stranded-in-southern-thailand-appeal-for-help-to-come-home/

 

-- © Copyright  FREE MALAYSIA TODAY 2022-04-07

 

- Aetna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[RandiRona]

Well if they are in south thailand, they are right at Home!!

[ukrules]

Pathetic in every way for something to be pathetic.

[gargamon]

So they've been in Thailand for over 2 years and are only complaining about it now? I guess their money finally ran out. 

[Captain Monday]

Why do they not simply cross a "natural border" ?

[StayinThailand2much]

If the consulate-general in Songkhla province is unable to assist in 

renewing their travel documents, 

why didn't they contact their embassy in Bangkok?

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, Captain Monday said:

Why do they not simply cross a "natural border" ?

They might get caught by their own border guards. And they are more risk-averse than job seekers from Myanmar.

[impulse]

3 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Why do they not simply cross a "natural border" ?

• A spokesman for the consulate-general told the Malay daily the Malaysians had to apply for emergency travel documents through the Thai government to return home.
• “They also have to pay a fine of 20,000 Thai baht (RM2,600) to the immigration department before being allowed to leave the country,” it quoted the spokesman as saying.
• Rahman said the stranded Malaysians were expected to pay a fine of between 20,000 and 40,000 baht if they wished to leave the country. They would also be blacklisted and denied entry to Thailand for three to five years, he said.

 

If they leave without an exit stamp, I doubt they'd be allowed back for many years, or at least until they get a new identity and passport.  Some of them count on traveling to Thailand to make a living.

 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

A spokesman for the consulate-general told the Malay daily the Malaysians had to apply for emergency travel documents through the Thai government to return home

Usual red tape bureaucracy compounding what should be an easy fix.

They want to go home not come in.

[Captain Monday]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

• A spokesman for the consulate-general told the Malay daily the Malaysians had to apply for emergency travel documents through the Thai government to return home.
• “They also have to pay a fine of 20,000 Thai baht (RM2,600) to the immigration department before being allowed to leave the country,” it quoted the spokesman as saying.
• Rahman said the stranded Malaysians were expected to pay a fine of between 20,000 and 40,000 baht if they wished to leave the country. They would also be blacklisted and denied entry to Thailand for three to five years, he said.

 

If they leave without an exit stamp, I doubt they'd be allowed back for many years, or at least until they get a new identity and passport.  Some of them count on traveling to Thailand to make a living.

 

Even if they entered illegally should be amnesty. I certainly have sympathy for economic migrants tolerated by Thai business for exploitation,  and facilitated by corruption.

 

Slamming closed international borders did nothing to help Thailand abate covid, maybe put off the inevitable. Another example of the economic mystery and personal destruction created. What a shame.

[brianthainess]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

 

A spokesman for the consulate-general told the Malay daily the Malaysians had to apply for emergency travel documents through the Thai government to return home.

They are on overstay, eat it up. 

[Rimmer]

An inflammatory post has been removed