A Thai family's desperate search for their missing daughter

[webfact]

A Thai family's desperate search for their missing daughter
By Jonah Fisher
BBC News, Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- Life for the Thongchum family can be divided into two very distinct periods - before and after 18 September 2010.

Up to that fateful day, husband and wife Kamol and Manee had lived a simple but happy existence.

With their four young girls Jib, Jiji, Jean and Om, they shared a small but cosy one-bedroom house on a quiet rural road several hours from Bangkok.

Every day when school finished, the two oldest, Jib and Jiji, helped their parents with the family business: selling garlands of flowers to passing motorists on the forecourt of a petrol station.

But events on that Saturday evening cast a long and dark shadow.

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22884783


-- BBC 2013-06-18

[noitom]

This is a sad story. Comes from having children at work at night. The story doesn't give the age of the little girl, but seems to be around 8 or 9 maybe 10. Sure it's tragic that she was taken. A terrible thing. The idea of putting children to work on the streets because of a sympathy advantage calls in to question the parents.

[LuckyLew]

Must be awful for the parents to have a child disappear without a trace. Cannot bear the thought of someone taking my little one. Not surprising the BIB did nothing to help. No money to be collected when they are looking for a poor families little child. Stories like this occur all over the world and every one is a shame.

[Mampara]

Does anyone know if there is a dedicated website in Thailand for missing children, where one could post a photo and perhaps a few clues, i.e birthmark or something prominent? perhaps Thaivisa could consider this as part of their service?

[noitom]

The newspaper should be all over this child labor issue.

[BwindiBoy]

This story is, as I type, on the BBC news in the UK...

[barrybankruad]

Almost twenty years ago there was a spate of child abductions from rural areas in Thailand. These children were younger than the one abducted in this story, usually toddlers. The story going round at the time was that the kidnappings were being done by Malaysian gangs. These gangs would apparently kidnap, to order, children for wealthy Chinese Malays whose women did not want to risk 'spoiling their figures' by having children by natural childbirth. The gangs would particularly seek out fairer skinned children.

The Thai authorities did on one occasion arrest a Malaysian gang at the Southern border who had valium drugged kidnapped children hidden in their car boot.

[Mario2008]

Does anyone know if there is a dedicated website in Thailand for missing children, where one could post a photo and perhaps a few clues, i.e birthmark or something prominent? perhaps Thaivisa could consider this as part of their service?

If your read the whole BBC article, you will find it mentions The Mirror Foundation, a Thailand based NGO that tracks missing children.

http://www.themirrorfoundation.org/cms/index.php?/The-Mirror-Foundation/Projects/Project-to-Combat-Trafficking-in-Women-and-Children.html

But I don't know of a website with pictures.

[A Member]

BBC World TV News is covering this and the head of a small private missing children unit has said that the police know how many cars going missing every month, where they are taken from, types etc. but no nothing about missing children.

I suppose the cars have more value that's why.

[CrisRMenumate]

@Noitom: sadly the system in this fabulous country doesn't create opportunities for families to improve themselves, it is in fact designed to keep the poor as poor as possible and enrich the rich further every day, so that means some families work together including little children selling flowers, tissues or trinkets in gas stations etc. It is a crying shame, not to be blamed on the parents but on society as a whole for allowing it to happen. There is little or no protection for children in this country, no support mechanisms for the poor, only ways for the rich to get richer at the cost and usually through the hardwork of the poor

[meatboy]

@Noitom: sadly the system in this fabulous country doesn't create opportunities for families to improve themselves, it is in fact designed to keep the poor as poor as possible and enrich the rich further every day, so that means some families work together including little children selling flowers, tissues or trinkets in gas stations etc. It is a crying shame, not to be blamed on the parents but on society as a whole for allowing it to happen. There is little or no protection for children in this country, no support mechanisms for the poor, only ways for the rich to get richer at the cost and usually through the hardwork of the poor

this somewhat brings back a sad tale back in the 80's of a child selling flowers around the bars north end of patts we used to call sabai land,the same little girl you would see every night a lovely kid i would never give her money only food you could tell she wasnt comfortable with this always looking over her shoulder,one time i bought her a denim top and skirt and one of the girls in the bar dressed her but warned me she might get a bollocking so i followed her outside the bars where her parents or keepers were i intervened and calmed the situation with a 100bht.then to my horror the woman offered to sell the little girl to me,from that day i never saw her again but i was told true or not she had died also i never saw the couple either.so lets hope something good comes of this which is doubtfull considering the time and money spent trying to find ben and madeliene.

[hgma]

I have wide experience with the mirror foundation (2001-2002), and confirm their relentless efforts to the missing children cases and stateless hill tribe people.

The community leader is "Nuling" red shirt front runner. A highly respected professional by my estimates.

It is estimated that around 16000 children disappear in Thailand each year (source on BBC this morning)

We need to be aware of that!

[petedk]

This is a sad story. Comes from having children at work at night. The story doesn't give the age of the little girl, but seems to be around 8 or 9 maybe 10. Sure it's tragic that she was taken. A terrible thing. The idea of putting children to work on the streets because of a sympathy advantage calls in to question the parents.

On the television they said she was nine years old.

They also mentioned that up to 10,000 children go missing in Thailand every year. That is a horrific number if true.

Edit: Just read hgma's post and he says 16,000. Even worse.

Edited June 18, 2013 by petedk

[Gone]

This is a sad story. Comes from having children at work at night. The story doesn't give the age of the little girl, but seems to be around 8 or 9 maybe 10. Sure it's tragic that she was taken. A terrible thing. The idea of putting children to work on the streets because of a sympathy advantage calls in to question the parents.

Yes if you read, the story DOES tell her age when she went missing and also say that she is 11 now.

It would be good to see a better full size picture of her and then another of her as they think she would look now. You know how these forensic artists can make sketches of how they thing people might look years after the fact.

A very sad story indeed.

[belg]

this should be a good advertisement compain for thais : if you are poor, please get a free sterilisation threathment... if you cannot afford and support children, don't start having them

[daiwill60]

Maybe the answers to why or where or what she may end up having to be doing lie in a story posted on the BEEB yesterday reagrding abducted kids from Vietnam anding up in care in the UK only to escape there and return home to Vietnam , very often in order to protect their families from threats.

Tragic stories for all the victims, but sadly more widespread than I had ever realised.

Kids from 3rd World countries stand little or absolutely no chance of being found, as mentioned in an earlier post regarding Ben and Madeleine. Look how many man hours were put into those two cases alone, and what was the result?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22903511

Edited June 18, 2013 by daiwill60

[doggie888888]

     Almost twenty years ago there was a spate of child abductions from rural areas in Thailand. These children were younger than the one abducted in this story, usually toddlers. The story going round at the time was that the kidnappings were being done by Malaysian gangs. These gangs would apparently kidnap, to order, children for wealthy Chinese Malays whose women did not want to risk 'spoiling their figures' by having children by natural childbirth. The gangs would particularly seek out fairer skinned children.

    The Thai authorities did on one occasion arrest a Malaysian gang at the Southern border who had valium drugged kidnapped children hidden in their car boot.

Source ?????

[Peabody]

So typical. From the BBC article:

"In 2011 the Thai police launched the Missing Persons Management Centre (MPMC). It was supposed to be a focal point for sharing information about missing people in Thailand.

The BBC spoke to Police Colonel Assanee, the head of the MPMC, four times over the course of several days for this story.

He was unable to give us any information on how many missing people were on the database and how many had been found."

[rkidlad]

"The Thai police are reluctant to take a missing person report until a full 24 hours have passed"

Let me guess - some numpty high up police official saw this in a movie and thought it would be a great idea to copy. Only difference is, it doesn't apply to children. It applies to adults!

Why on earth would you wait 24 hours to take a missing child report? The stupidity is beyond belief.

[KhaoNiaw]

Does anyone know if there is a dedicated website in Thailand for missing children, where one could post a photo and perhaps a few clues, i.e birthmark or something prominent? perhaps Thaivisa could consider this as part of their service?

One of the Mirror Foundation sites:

https://www.facebook.com/Thaimissing

[wimkuijp]

So typical. From the BBC article:

"In 2011 the Thai police launched the Missing Persons Management Centre (MPMC). It was supposed to be a focal point for sharing information about missing people in Thailand.

The BBC spoke to Police Colonel Assanee, the head of the MPMC, four times over the course of several days for this story.

He was unable to give us any information on how many missing people were on the database and how many had been found."

A license for a database can be pretty expensive. Maybe that money went into another pocket and that's why they could not find . . . . . . the database?

[cup-O-coffee]

What seems odd is that foreign sex offenders are well known here in Thailand, and then we get into Thai sex offenders. Is there such a thing?

The reason I ask, is that I have not yet once, at any time, ever read anywhere in TV or the news articles that TV posts which describe a Thai who offends an underage boy or girl as a sex offender or a repeat sex offender. It usually is headlined as "So and so rapes girl" or something like that.

Is this indicative of the Thai attitude towards this kind of thing; and if this is remotely possible, then does it come to any surprise to anyone besides myself that when this happens there is no one to call for immediate action?

I think that everyone is at fault here; and yet again my saying proves true: "In Thailand, there is no crisis or emergency until it happens."

[jvs]

@ belg,i find your comment very degrading and offensive,also noitom seems to have no understanding of Thailand.

Just a few generations ago in western countries you could see whole families work together to try and climb up the ladder.

Why make such comments, the people you see as offenders are really the victims.

It is the people who do the kidnapping and abuse these children you should be commenting about.

[lee b]

very sad story

[winstonc]

it makes you want to cry ,,,,,,,,,,,humans are so discusting in the animal kingdom,,,,,,

[TomTao]

What a sad story, I feel sorry for the parents, it must be heart wrenching to have a child abducted, and then to have little or no action from the police after the child was reported missing must be exteremely frustrating. I hope the child is found and reunited with her parents, but is she has been forced into child prostitution then her emotional scars may never heal.

[robertthebruce]

So So sad, my heart goes out to this innocent family..

Hopefully one day, there will be good news and she is returned..

[wealth]

Does anyone know if there is a dedicated website in Thailand for missing children, where one could post a photo and perhaps a few clues, i.e birthmark or something prominent? perhaps Thaivisa could consider this as part of their service?

it will not work as I was told 2 years ago. They prefer to communicate in a large scale here in Thailand via email, but wouldn't publish it for perhaps red herrings building up, or just false stories.

[rbrooks]

@Noitom: sadly the system in this fabulous country doesn't create opportunities for families to improve themselves, it is in fact designed to keep the poor as poor as possible and enrich the rich further every day, so that means some families work together including little children selling flowers, tissues or trinkets in gas stations etc. It is a crying shame, not to be blamed on the parents but on society as a whole for allowing it to happen. There is little or no protection for children in this country, no support mechanisms for the poor, only ways for the rich to get richer at the cost and usually through the hardwork of the poor

If this happened to an affluent or government official's family the police support and action would of course have been elevated. I am surprised there are no America bashers on this thread probably because we have a unique and effective system called Amber alert (child abduction alerting system) that is broadcasted nationwide immediately once a child has been confirmed missing and now in 2013 broadcasted immediately to wireless phone users.

[dighambara]

@Noitom: sadly the system in this fabulous country doesn't create opportunities for families to improve themselves, it is in fact designed to keep the poor as poor as possible and enrich the rich further every day, so that means some families work together including little children selling flowers, tissues or trinkets in gas stations etc. It is a crying shame, not to be blamed on the parents but on society as a whole for allowing it to happen. There is little or no protection for children in this country, no support mechanisms for the poor, only ways for the rich to get richer at the cost and usually through the hardwork of the poor

This is the reason foreigners cannot buy land - heaven forbid a poor farmer, rich in land should come into money and join a club in Bangkok...

In the US, this is the brunt of jokes, where the 'newbie' puts it over on the ignorant rich.