Phuket Governor Orders Crackdown On Illegal Alien

[churchill]

PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop yesterday morning convened a meeting of local government office representatives, ordering them to crack down on illegal alien workers harming the Phuket tourism industry.

The meeting took place at Phuket Provincial Hall, where representatives from the local Immigration, Employment, Culture, Fine Arts and Revenue Department offices were among those ordered to carry out the crackdown.

The problem of illegal alien workers was not confined to illegal low-wage workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos, Gov Wichai said.

There are also Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, stateless Rohingyas and Korean tour guides among the ranks of those working without work permits or doing jobs different to those specified in their work papers, he said.

“This is especially true in Patong, where there are beach boys, tour guides, waiters and sales people, for example.

Soi Bangla is full of alien workers who are working jobs different to those specified in their work permits and which are reserved for Thai nationals, he said.

Gov Wichai expressed dissatisfaction that the issue has remained largely ignored, despite the fact that as many as eight different government agencies have the authority to act.

“Even some media businesses are under the control of foreigners or employ foreign editors. Officers need to strictly scrutinize these businesses to determine which are working legally and which are not,” he said.

“If alien workers have work permits and follow all the regulations, we can’t do anything to them, but we need to find out which are working legally and which are not,” he said.

Noting the lack of manpower needed to carry out these investigations, Gov Wichai said he was prepared to call on the military to help if needed.

“When they make such problems as committing crimes or encroaching on public land it makes Phuket look bad. Tourists don’t know that it is not Thai people creating these problems, so we have to find the illegal aliens responsible,” he said.

After the grace period for workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos expires at the end of October, the ensuing crackdown will target workers from every country, not just neighboring states, he said.

“We will examine them one-by-one, in great detail,” he said.

“They live here together as entire families, destroying our resources, producing trash, using our water supplies…and competing for jobs with Thai people. This is a real weak point for Thailand, ” he said.

“If we taxed them all, we could generate a great deal more revenue,” he said.

Officials have ignored the problem for so long that Thai nationals are now suffering as a result, he said.

Gov Wichai gave as an example the situation at Vachira Phuket Hospital, where Thai nationals need to wait a long time to be seen by overworked physicians because of the large number of Burmese that go there for treatment.

To reverse the trend he called on all police branches to arrest illegal aliens and create an atmosphere in which foreign nationals will think twice before trying to enter the country illegally.

He described as another ‘weak point’ the fact that illegal businesses always seem to know in advance when officers are coming to make inspections.

“It happened last time we went out to check the bars,” he said.

Once the grace period passes, a meeting of representatives from all relevant government agencies would be called to co-ordinate the work effort.

The work of the government officers involved would also be scrutinized to ensure they do their part, he said.

“If we don't solve the problem, it will affect tourism in Phuket,” he said.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/arti...rticle7895.html

-- Phuket Gazette 16/10/09

[angiud]

Here in Koh Phangan, Burmese, the majority of the immigrates of the island, doing all the jobs Thai don't want to do anymore. The problem is that most of business owners don't pay the government to regularize them, and sometime (most of) they pay them a smaller salary too.

Local crackdown against illegal aliens just fill more the pockets of immigration and local police...

[jasreeve17]

Some really disgusting comments in this release...

As usual, blame the Burmese for all the problems. 99% of crimes and social problems in the UK are committed by British passpor holders. 99% of crimes and social problems in Thailand are committed by Thais.

I can understand that they need to check work permit holders, and illegal workers, especially in such hard economic times when Thais need jobs. But, the racism in this release is far too common and betrays an unpleasant attitude towards their neighbours that is just out of place...

[chiang mai]

If the good Governor is indeed concerned to identify elements that affect tourism negatively he might want to start with the taxi mafia and then work his way down a very long list before he reaches the target stated in this article - sounds like he's knee jerking to solve complaints from elsewhere.

[TAWP]

In Phuket the tuk-tuks are worse than the taxi, surely?

[Maizefarmer]

.... and there will be a line of ex-pat backpacking dive instructors from one or other of the dive co's at immigration - money will change hands, they will do the customary "round trip" to Malaysia .... and in a couple weeks time all will be back to normal - for the next few months.

Then some Phuket official will say something, the press will print it, there will be another "crack down", there will be another line of dive instructors at immigration paying up for release, another round trip to Malaysia will take place, then all will go back to "normal" ...

... and a few months later , guess what ........ ecetera ecetera ........ and round and round it goes.......

Its been happening like this since the mid-90's, and it will keep on going on like this. It's nothing new.

[chiang mai]

In Phuket the tuk-tuks are worse than the taxi, surely?

I'm lost as to what to call them, red cars, not quite a tuk tuk but wants to be a car, true tuk tuk's are three wheelers hence I called them taxi's since they have four wheels.

[RickBradford]

He described as another ‘weak point’ the fact that illegal businesses always seem to know in advance when officers are coming to make inspections.

Gee, fancy that....

[TAWP]

In Phuket the tuk-tuks are worse than the taxi, surely?

I'm lost as to what to call them, red cars, not quite a tuk tuk but wants to be a car, true tuk tuk's are three wheelers hence I called them taxi's since they have four wheels.

I have no idea what vehicle you are referring too, you can probably tell that I avoid all tourist-locations if I can.

Anyone have a picture?

[samran]

To be fair, this 'crackdown' has been on the cards officially for a while.

Registration of undocumented Burmese, Cambodian and Lao workers took place in July and continued into August. Fair warning was given to all employers to register as many workers as they need. The cost was minimal, perhaps 9000 baht for the entire process which would have locked in near perpetual work authorisation for workers for these countries. It was a fairly well publicised event.

The government clearly stated that they would ease off in the months leading up to, and during the registration process, but there would be proper enfocement of the laws.

To be honest I feel sorry for the unregistered workers taken advantage of by the unscrupulous employers who have had every chance to do things by the book, and the book does get thrown at the employers, in terms of fines/bribes etc.

Lining up to register our maid this year I stood next to a guy who was registering his 30 workers after being caught having them illegally and having to pay a hefty enough fine. The upside from registering the workers of course, is that they get to obtain social security insurance, can educate their kids, and be able to walk the streets without the threat of being deported.

[TheGoodDoctor]

Throwing sand on a forest fire.

[d0om4gloom]

Well dispite the somewhat 'politically incorrect' language in this announcement its a surprisingly accurate summation:

a) Of course illegal workers avoid paying tax. They do work for less and generally do undermine native workers who are of course trying to push up wages to pay for a better living standard.

Yes, its well known that tea money is gets paid so there's always tip offs before the authorities step in.

c) Every country is currently trying to shore up its tax revenues and protect its own workers jobs wherever it can. Its a sign of the global climate that illegal workers will always be targetted much more heavily in the bad times than they will in the good times.

The trouble is that these very same illegal workers are only here to try and better their own lives. They are doing exactly the same as the poor from the north who come south for better wages, the only difference is they cross a border. Can you really blame them.