Phuket Opinion: Who deserves a consul?

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Who deserves a consul?
Phuket Gazette -

Who’s to stop them from getting rained on? Photo: Steven Layne

PHUKET: I read recently that the South Africans may open a consulate on Phuket (story here), and my first thought was, South Africans? They need a consulate?

Apparently about 80,000 come here per year. It’s not that I think they don’t deserve a consulate, let them have one, by all means. But there’s another group of foreigners who live here year round in much higher numbers who have an even greater need for representation – the Burmese.

A steady stream of ambassadors and consuls come to Phuket to take a stand for their people – 17 European ambassadors were here last June asking Governor Maitri Inthusut to improve tourist safety and get rid of jet-ski scams (story here). The Chinese ambassador was here two weeks before that with a six-point list of requests that included tourist safety, as well as a stop to police extortion of Chinese tourists (story here).

Who do Phuket’s Burmese residents have to fight for them? To argue for their safety at work? For appropriate clothing on construction sites and weather-proof transportation to their jobs?

They need someone in an official position to push for equal wages, reasonable working hours, hygienic living conditions and fair treatment at immigration.

I’m not saying that Phuket’s Burmese workers are a downtrodden lot who need to be rescued. Most of the Burmese men and women I’ve known here are hard workers with the pluck and ambition you’d expect of immigrants. People like the three young hotel engineers I taught English to on Racha Island, where we worked together.

There was shy and exquisitely polite Myo, who dropped out of school at age 10 to help his father farm their rice plot. After many years, he left the hotel and got a job in a small restaurant. He took only two days off a month, gained experience as a waiter, then told himself, “Now you have to go up,” and found work at one of Patong’s biggest restaurants.

And there was independent and strong-principled Solin, who moved to rubber cutting and then back to hotel engineering, got promoted to supervisor and now wants to set up a maintenance business with Thai friends.

And there was Soe, who loves his new job as a waiter and wishes he could study design and business. On his day off, Soe goes to coffee shops, orders a cappuccino, puts in his ear buds and listens to music. “The world is not big,” he told me. “People on the island think it is, but it’s not.”

Myo, Solin and Soe pay taxes. They never asked for a voice, but they deserve one. We all do.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Opinion-Who-deserves-a-consul-22808.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-11-17

[LivinginKata]

I would say that the Brits deserve a full time consulate, and not just an honary consul who has very limited powers.

[qdinthailand]

I would say that the Brits deserve a full time consulate, and not just an honary consul who has very limited powers.

But I'm guessing the volume of business (as measured in revenue) doesn't justify the cost to the British Foreign Office of maintaining a full-time consul.

I don't think there'd be a U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai except for the 'other activities' this consulate probably is involved in. Providing consular services to U.S. citizens and Thai nationals isn't their real mission me thinks.

[fvw53]

To establish a "professional" consulate (i.e. regional representative office under the authority of the Embassy which is in the capital) depends on the agreement between the Foreign Ministries of countries which have established diplomatic relations.

Under the same rules honorary consuls can be appointed but they have no real consular powers at all, they are volunteers using their high profile (private) status to intervene with local authorities at the request of the Embassy which has appointed them...

[Ulic]

Not sure about the points the article make. We all pay taxes when we buy gasoline and alcohol. As I understand only 20% of

Thais pay income tax but the article implies they do. Most Burmese are here illegally and vulnerable to exploitation. So they

need some form of protection. Not sure what it should be. A loud strong voice for illegal workers may encourage deportation

of squeaky wheels. The Burmese record on treatment of the Rohinga who have been in Burma for generations shows there

government has little compassion for its own people in Myanmar let alone in Thailand. I think it will be up to the Thai government

with pressure from the USA and UN to do the right thing and protect the rights of all illegal workers in the country, Cambodians,

Burmese, Laos. I will not hold my breath.

[Keesters]

Who do Phuket’s Burmese residents have to fight for them? To argue for their safety at work? For appropriate clothing on construction sites and weather-proof transportation to their jobs?

For the 3 cases mentioned the Burmese workers have the same representatives as Thai workers would:. The Thai government agencies.