High Flier Boy, Passport or Not?

[churchill]

Thai Foreign Ministry would issue a temporary passport for a Thai-born Burmese boy Mong Thongdee to enable him to represent Thailand in Origami Airplane contest in Japan, ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

As requested by the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry would issue a one-year passport for the boy and he could use it to travel from Thailand to Japan and vice versa, said the foreign ministry's spokesperson Wimon Kidchob.

The 12-year-old Mong was born to a couple of Burmese migrant workers in northern Chiang Mai province. He received Thai education from primary school in the province but did not obtain Thai citizenship due to his alien parents.

His origami plane could fly for 12.5 minutes in the air, top of the Thai local contest. Japan Origami Plane invited him to join the contest in Japan but the interior ministry initially objected his traveling for security reason.

The interior ministry changed the decision after his story was broken into public by local media. The ministry reconsidered the boy's request to build good image for Thailand.

Mong would be the third non-Thai national who would carry Thai passport to abroad and has the right to return into the kingdom.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/09/02...al_30111282.php

-- The Nation 02/09/09

Edited September 2, 2009 by churchill

[Crossy]

Common sense prevails

Previous thread here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/12-Year-Pape...on-t293794.html

[TAWP]

Ok, who is it that is up for eating my hat?

[mca]

The interior ministry changed the decision after his story was broken into public by local media.

So basically if the media hadn't broken the story their original "security reasons" would have stood and the poor little bugger would have stood a gnats chance in hel_l of going.

[FatherF]

Good!

At last a sensible decision has been made, Good luck to the lad!

FF

[PoorSucker]

Nobody lost face?

[THAILIBAN]

The interior ministry changed the decision after his story was broken into public by local media.

So basically if the media hadn't broken the story their original "security reasons" would have stood and the poor little bugger would have stood a gnats chance in hel_l of going.

at least this is a great way to teach the Thai people that it sometimes get's a reward to TAKE ACTION.

my biggest respect to that little country-boy, even - logical at his young age - he needed the media to attract attention.

CHOK DEE for him !

[Thailand]

Wow- finally a positive for Thailand-as posted by the op common sense prevails for a change!

Edited September 2, 2009 by Thailand

[RKASA]

Bless them....   Go for it kid, good luck.

[Lancelot]

The interior ministry changed the decision after his story was broken into public by local media.

So basically if the media hadn't broken the story their original "security reasons" would have stood and the poor little bugger would have stood a gnats chance in hel_l of going.

I disagree.

Thailand is surrounded by enemies, who are armed to the teeth and ready to invade Thailand for the slightest reason. How do we know that this kid would not have divulged precious Thai som tom recipes and other vital information to unfriendly powers?

[EffectiveAnger]

Great news! I hope he wins! If he does, his stateless situation could perhaps make a difference for others like him, especially in the North, because it could bring attention to the issue. How many people up there, like him, are in limbo who can't even get a Thai ID card and are unable to travel outside of their predetermined boundaries, let alone a foreign country? Millions?!

Anyway, that's one point for the media and a negative two points for the naysayers and pessimists.

There's always hope!

[mca]

I disagree.

Thailand is surrounded by enemies, who are armed to the teeth and ready to invade Thailand for the slightest reason. How do we know that this kid would not have divulged precious Thai som tom recipes and other vital information to unfriendly powers?

I always love it when a boogeyman foreigner is invoked by the powers that be in LOS. The Burmese, the Cambodians, foreigners taking over the rice paddies, foreigners buying Thai property through nominees etc.

All the <deleted> that happens in Thailand is brought on by................drumroll please! Thais!

(This is in no way aimed at the massive majority of decent Thai folks. Just the turds who seem to do what the f#ck they like and get away with it.)

[JUDAS]

Good news. The powers that be finally realised he wasn't a threat to national security.

[mca]

Good news. The powers that be finally realised he wasn't a threat to national security.

They just haven't found his James Bond style wristwatch with the built in magnet yet.

[Mario2008]

Glad the kid got the break he deserves.

[samran]

so where are the Thailand knockers now?

[mca]

Samran do you genuinely believe that if the boy hadn't received so much press they'd have still changed their minds? I highly doubt it. Sadly there's still an awful lot of stateless kids who can't build paper aeroplanes.

[WaiWai]

Confusingly, though, the "updated" article on The Nation webpage right now is as follows:

ORIGAMI AIRPLANE CONTEST

Thai-born Burmese boy unable to attend Japan contest

By The Nation

If Interior Ministry agrees to allow a Thai-born Burmese boy to go to Japan to contest in the Origami Airplane contest in Japan, Foreign Ministry will issue a temporary passport for him, FM spokesman Wimon Kidchob said Wednesday.

The one-year passport will enable 12-year-old Mong Thongdee, who was born to alien parents, to travel to Japan to represent Thialand in the contest and return to Thailand.

However the interior ministry reportedly objected his traveling for security reason. Mong was born to a couple of Burmese migrant workers in northern Chiang Mai province.

He received Thai education from primary school in the province but did not obtain Thai citizenship due to his alien parents.

His origami plane could fly for 12.5 minutes in the air, top of the Thai local contest. Japan Origami Plane invited him to join the contest in Japan.

If he gets the document, Mong would be the third non-Thai national who carried Thai travel document to abroad and has the right to return into the kingdom, Wimon said.

Edited September 2, 2009 by WaiWai

[animatic]

Wonderful news and he will be a credit to Thailand win or lose,

and he will raise the badly dented image of Thailand a notch, with one less dent.

Glad common sense prevailed. And yes I think public response from the media

telling this story DID have a positive effect in making this a happy story after all.

[samran]

Samran do you genuinely believe that if the boy hadn't received so much press they'd have still changed their minds? I highly doubt it. Sadly there's still an awful lot of stateless kids who can't build paper aeroplanes.

Of course I don’t. But I don’t think that it would have happened anywhere in the world really unless the press got involved. I put it down to jobworths doing their bit to put up red tape…out of view of the government who if people bothered to look just has finished a massive registration programme for undocumented Burmese , Lao and Cambodian workers.

People also got a kick out of knocking the government despite the fact that both of his parents had been registered as documented workers (which gives them work rights and access to government health care) and as a stateless child born in Thailand, he had been granted access to the Thai the Thai school system, as is his right.

Now I know that literally thousands of people in the border regions find themselves in a limbo, either as undocumented workers or as people who are Thai citizens but

have had their citizenship stripped from them by uncaring local bureaucrats. It is a massive problem.

But there are two sides to every story. I’ve just gone through the process of registering our Burmese maid, legitimizing her stay, and my mother sponsored the enrollment of three Thai born Burmese kids into a local primary school here in Bangkok. All this went extremely well, above board and via a simple to follow procedures administered by pretty hard working and underpaid Thai civil servants at the Ampur office, so I’m a bit sympathetic for the government at the moment.

But at least I think I’m a bit more balanced that 90% of posters on threads like this.

[Heng]

He should get citizenship and a date with Tangmo if he wins. No pressure.

p.s. good on everyone to legitimize their foreign workers (it greatly lowers their exposure to abuse and in many cases crime when they are travelling to and from their home countries). We've done the same for ours, and there is an outside chance that one of our Lao maids might even wind up as a Thai citizen if we can ever prove that her mother is actually a Thai citizen (grey area Vitenam War time Thai on the wrong side of the river with no documentation).

Edited September 2, 2009 by Heng

[samran]

He should get citizenship and a date with Tangmo if he wins. No pressure.

Too true.

If this was Australia he'd be 'Aussie Mong' by now in all the papers, true Aussie battler.

I'm sure if he does well, his family's status in Thailand will be 'assured'. It is at the discretion of the minister, after all.

[dkstoney]

Thai Foreign Ministry would issue a temporary passport for a Thai-born Burmese boy Mong Thongdee to enable him to represent Thailand in Origami Airplane contest in Japan, ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Wow. What an honor.

[jamesjdaly]

They gave him a passport to try to show the world Thailand isn't the xenophobic nation is seems to be hellbent on creating. Once he comes back, he'll be stripped of any documentation he has received.

[toptuan]

So glad the Foreign Ministry finally responded to the uproar on ThaiVisa about this matter!

[Heng]

No doubt he'll be caned as well.

[EffectiveAnger]

Confusingly, though, the "updated" article on The Nation webpage right now is as follows:

ORIGAMI AIRPLANE CONTEST

Thai-born Burmese boy unable to attend Japan contest

By The Nation

If Interior Ministry agrees to allow a Thai-born Burmese boy to go to Japan to contest in the Origami Airplane contest in Japan, Foreign Ministry will issue a temporary passport for him, FM spokesman Wimon Kidchob said Wednesday.

The one-year passport will enable 12-year-old Mong Thongdee, who was born to alien parents, to travel to Japan to represent Thialand in the contest and return to Thailand.

However the interior ministry reportedly objected his traveling for security reason. Mong was born to a couple of Burmese migrant workers in northern Chiang Mai province.

He received Thai education from primary school in the province but did not obtain Thai citizenship due to his alien parents.

His origami plane could fly for 12.5 minutes in the air, top of the Thai local contest. Japan Origami Plane invited him to join the contest in Japan.

If he gets the document, Mong would be the third non-Thai national who carried Thai travel document to abroad and has the right to return into the kingdom, Wimon said.

Wow, that really is confusing! So does he get to go or not? And, if so, how's he going to pay for it all? A trip to Japan certainly isn't cheap.

[ballpoint]

I wonder what nationality the passport will show him having?

And he still needs to get a Japanese visa. Now there's a country that could teach even Thailand a thing or two about xenophobia.

[walterego]

'Burmese spy plane invades Thai airspace'

[samran]

I wonder what nationality the passport will show him having?

And he still needs to get a Japanese visa. Now there's a country that could teach even Thailand a thing or two about xenophobia.

He'll get a temporary travel document that the Thai government can issue to stateless people. It will allow him to travel there and back. And yeah, japan has to give him a visa.