Origami Plane Boy Issued Passport To Go To Japan

[hammered]

He has done really well. Makes a change from the usual nonsense on the news.

[EffectiveAnger]

" Monday, September 21, 2009 <H3 class=bTitle>Compassion cuts through the racism</H3>Posted by Sanitsuda Ekachai , Reader : 41 , 06:30:48

A migrant boy and his paper plane dream. A hilltribe girl and her winning name for a baby panda. Many may see their struggle to get due recognition as stories of ethnic discrimination. And rightly so. But theirs is also a story of hope for change.

The public was furious when the news broke that a 12-year-old boy, Mong Thongdee, could not attend a paper plane contest in Japan because he is stateless and thus not allowed to leave the village, let alone the country.

When the conservative Interior Ministry officials insisted on saying no while their more liberal Foreign Ministry counterparts were willing to facilitate the boy's trip, the public got angrier.

How on earth could you possibly hinder children's opportunities to learn and widen their horizons? How on earth can such a small child pose a threat to national security? When the public starts asking these questions, changes are in the making.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva consequently intervened and it was finally a happy ending for the ethnic Shan boy whose parents had fled war and persecution in oppressive Burma for some peace here.

The stateless boy made his supporters proud when he finally made a name for the country of his birth by bringing back awards.

True, being a child helps stir public sympathy. True, it is the media hype that has triggered a prompt reaction from the authorities. But the news is not only about little Mong's quest to excel. It is also about his teachers, who have given their pupils full support regardless of race and ethnicity. It is about rights groups' efforts to help make the boy's dream come true and to inform the public that there are hundreds of thousands of other stateless children in Thailand who are suffering from the same policy myopia. This is about people-to-people kindness on the ground, in contrast to the state's heartless policies which treat migrant workers as a threat to national security.

Hardly had the news about the migrant boy died down when another news item exposed state mistreatment of the hill peoples by denying them nationality, thus making them stateless.

Naruay Jaterng, 14, a Lahu girl in Chiang Mai, won a 100,000-baht prize and a trip to China through winning the baby panda's naming contest. Due to mobility controls over the stateless, however, she cannot travel overseas. This time, the Interior Ministry was quick to avert public criticism by promising to speed up her nationality process so she could go to China.

Short of media attention, the citizenship process normally takes ages and costs the hill peoples an arm and a leg through tea money.

Many hill peoples are native to the land, yet they are treated as outsiders and robbed of many basic rights. Most of them are farming families, but the law prohibits them from tilling the land, which automatically makes all honest hill farmers law-breakers.

They are also barred from travelling outside their home villages without official permission. The impracticality and the red tape involved consequently subject these hill peoples to routine police extortion.

Getting an education is an uphill task, but many hill children persist only to find that they cannot get proper education certificates. In addition, being stateless means they cannot apply for scholarships and school loans.

If the hill peoples are treated as second-class citizens, migrant workers and their families suffer far worse.

All this heartlessness continues unabated because society sees it as a non-issue, that non-Thais should not equally benefit from the same rights as Thai citizens.

But little Mong and Naruay have managed to open many hearts. Despite being fed a diet of racist nationalism, our society has shown the ability to let compassion and common sense prevail over fear and distrust of ethnic minorities.

The challenge now is how to nourish these seeds of compassion so that all stateless children, both the hilltribe and migrant children, can realise their full potential. Only that can we call a real, happy ending.

Thanks to little Mong and Naruay, we now have reason to be hopeful."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/blogs/index.php...-racism?blog=64

[PoorSucker]

Mong Thongdee, the 12-year-old stateless boy who won first prize in a paper airplane team competition, has been honoured as a science ambassador and promised a scholarship for a doctorate degree.

Mong Thongdee, 12, shows the medals he won at the Japanese paper airplane contest as he is kissed by his mother, father and sister at Suvarnabhumi airport upon his return yesterday. Among the well-wishers was Science and Technology Minister Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, whose ministry will grant him a science scholarship. JETJARAS NA RANONG

Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich yesterday led officials to greet Mong at Suvarnabhumi airport and said the boy had been rewarded for encouraging other children to study the sciences.

The Science and Technology Ministry will sponsor his study, Khunying Kalaya said.

"All Thais are proud of him and the ministry will offer him a scholarship to study for a doctorate," she said.

Continued here: Bangkok Post

-- Bangkok Post 2009-09-22

[webfact]

FLIER BOY

Mong's right at home

By The Nation

Published on September 22, 2009

Mong's right at home

Stateless 12-year-old is feted by govt after winning contest for Thailand

The Science Ministry will appoint Mong Thongdee, a Thaiborn but stateless boy, as its youth ambassador.

Mong, 12, is just back from the Origami Airplane Contest in Japan where he won third prize for Thailand in the individual category but bagged first in the team competition.

Scholarships awarded

"We will offer him scholarships too," Science Minister Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich said yesterday.

She said the scholarships would enable Mong to get a degree and even a doctorate if he wanted.

"He deserves the scholarships because he bolstered the country's reputation and has become an inspiration for other children to learn more about science," Kalaya said.

His dream

Mong says his dream is to become either a pilot or a scientist. Born to Burmese migrant workers, Mong does not qualify for Thai nationality even though this is where he was born, lives and goes to school.

"I feel like a Thai," he says.

Mong was invited to participate in Japan as a local champion, but with no Thai nationality, his requests for a passport fell on deaf ears. Just as his monthslong quest seemed to have hit a dead end, his plight came to the attention of the media. After meeting Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, he got his passport in time to travel and compete.

Win dedicated to HM

Returning with his prizes, Mong headed straight to Siriraj Hospital to wish His Majesty the King, who was admitted on Saturday, a quick recovery.

"I love the King. I'm glad to have the chance to sign a getwell message for him," he said, adding that he hoped one day to get an audience with His Majesty.

"What I'm doing is for the country and for His Majesty."

He also plans to get ordained as a novice for 10 days in dedication to the King.

-- The Nation 2009/09/22

[webfact]

The Science Ministry will appoint Mong Thongdee, a Thaiborn but stateless boy, as its youth ambassador.

After all shouldn't that boy be given Thai citizenship...?

[harleyclarkey]

Hope the kid does well.

What a hoot if he won and then watch the original obstructive creeps scramble to take the credit.

All this fuss, time and effort over 1 young kid attending a world event.....bureaucrats (all over the world) are the bane of modern life.