Thai editorial: Migrant workers hit by iron fist

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Junta say it is not a crack down, just like they say it was not a coup. Maybe the Cambodian knew something Thai don't.

Following a piece in this morning's BP, I believe this post should be taken seriously.

[Thai at Heart]

Last 2 paragraphs:

"The authorities have been dealing with this matter for decades and come up with many different methods to handle it. Thailand has a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to recruit and regulate these workers. Registration and nationality-verification processes are ongoing. Intervention by the military junta was unnecessary. The Labour Ministry might be far from perfect, but it has pre-existing instruments and mechanisms to handle the job.

Managing migrant workers is a complex task that must take into account both supply-and-demand economics and human rights. Thailand already suffers a poor reputation over its efforts to combat human trafficking. An immigration policy that places too much emphasis on security concerns creates more problems than solutions."

Absoulte rubbish!.. The different methods to handle it obviously DO NOT work, as over half of migrant workers are still illegally present, and unregulated. Registration is not ongoing, and the proof is in the pudding, in all the illegal workers running home. As for "pre-existing instruments and mechanisms to handle the job"... <deleted>...

Last sentence: "An immigration policy that places too much emphasis on security concerns creates more problems than solutions."

How to finish off a brash and far for truthful news reel in style, with more <deleted>. Emphasis on Security creates more problems than solutions? Really? Please tell me how, in the context of SLAVERY, dear author.

I feel very sorry for.these people, but just look at the immigration and labour laws for all foreigners. Security is paramount in their thinking and yet the paperwork and stamps achieve nothing.

90 day reports why?

[worzel]

EDITORIAL

Migrant workers hit by iron fist

The Nation

Reports of thousands fleeing for the safety of their homeland are a worrying sign for Thailand

BANGKOK: -- Seizing power was the easy part; the everyday task of running the country is proving far more difficult for the Thai military. Chief among those difficulties is management of the workforce, which the junta must now realise is not primarily a security issue.

Pictures emerging last week of Cambodian workers fleeing the Kingdom are a worrying development. Cambodians searching for work have of course flowed back and forth over the border for years, but the Thai junta's declaration that it would "manage" illegal migrant workers has prompted an unprecedented exodus.

Last Tuesday the junta announced its 59th order, setting up a committee chaired by General Tanasak Patimapragorn, chief of the Defence Forces and deputy leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to oversee management of migrant workers.

The order sparked reports on the social media of a crackdown on foreign labourers in the Kingdom. The reports and pictures of fleeing migrants were branded "rumours" by the authorities, but they spread like wildfire through Thailand's migrant-worker community, causing fear and panic among both "legal" and "illegal" workers. Many rushed for the border and the safety of their homeland.

Thailand is a second home to more than two million migrant workers, most of them from neighbouring countries. The greatest number come from Myanmar, followed by Cambodia and Laos, according to the Labour Ministry. Thailand also sees a considerable number of illegal migrants from other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, but authorities tend to turn a blind eye to them.

The foreign workers are much in demand. They are crucial to business, forming a major segment of the workforce for industry, agriculture and trade and service sectors. Households want them for chores and taking care of children, while restaurateurs employ them for their fluent, if accented, Thai. They have been a familiar part of life in Thailand for decades, crucial to the smooth running of the economy. They represent a threat to neither security nor peace. Of course, a few commit crimes, but no more than our own citizens.

However, our security forces - notably the military - have always considered migrants to be potential troublemakers. Military leaders see them "stealing" jobs from Thais, even though most Thais spurn the menial jobs in question. Some generals even worry that some of the foreigners could be spying on Thailand for their countries. Meanwhile an ultra-conservative elite has paranoid visions that "alien" workers could eventually assimilate into Thai society and come to dominate. (This group prefers, conveniently, to forget its own multiracial ancestry.)

There is nothing wrong with deciding to regulate migrant workers, but formulating such a policy under military rule with an agency headed by the top brass sends the wrong signal.

The authorities have been dealing with this matter for decades and come up with many different methods to handle it. Thailand has a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to recruit and regulate these workers. Registration and nationality-verification processes are ongoing. Intervention by the military junta was unnecessary. The Labour Ministry might be far from perfect, but it has pre-existing instruments and mechanisms to handle the job.

Managing migrant workers is a complex task that must take into account both supply-and-demand economics and human rights. Thailand already suffers a poor reputation over its efforts to combat human trafficking. An immigration policy that places too much emphasis on security concerns creates more problems than solutions.

-- The Nation 2014-06-17

if the thais wernt so lazy and useless they wouldnt be here in the first place

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[thumper101]

At last the Nation is publishing some good stuff.

You got to be kidding me.... Go have a coffee, wake up and then come back on.

I think he was being Sarcastic.... seems you red shits don't have a sense of humour..! or a brain...

It seems someone who can't distinguish a red shirt from a staunch Democrat supporter must be the brainless.

It will be the red shirts who support this article seeing as it clearly criticizes the Junta.

But I guess that is far too complex for you and your huge brain to be able to fathom.

[thumper101]

He's just a little pissed that his Cambodian maid, gardener, chauffeur has not turned up for work.

Same as my Norwegian buddy, he has 20 builders working on his new place.

Actually I have three Myanmar staff..... They are going nowhere..... They know this is just politically motivated BS.

Are they working in Thailand legally or illegally?

Questions that shouldn't be asked...... shouldn't be answered.

[thumper101]

Jeez.... It's like 5% of the entire migrant workforce... That still leaves 95% of them here.

What is all the hoo haa about?

So now it is 5% more difficult to find a worker..... The sky is falling down.

5% left Thailand in one week. And every day more leave. The high rise condo building close to my apartment that they have been working on from 7 morning to midnight every day in the week. It has been empty and none have been working there in the last 9-10 days. All workers where from Cambodia.

I think you will find that the peak has already come and gone.

Many illegals still remain working.

I think you will find that the registration process is far more simpler than the farang WP process, and yet still they can't be bothered to do it, and keep themselves out of the clutches of those exploiting the illegal workers as pretty much slaves.

If they can't help themselves, then good riddence to them. Their jobs will be filled by the time they wise up and realize they have stupidly been suckered into someone's game.

[Justanotherpassword]

i would have thought the junta would have more pressing tasks than "managing" an alien workforce thats here to do the jobs of the lazy locals,,, wake up, the thais need to be saved from themselves, not from the alien workforce

Firstly I have never seen anyone treated worse than a Burmise worker in Thailand. And farang, who are you to call the locals lazy? Some shops think nothing of beating their illegals like slaves and housing them the same. Who do you think are on the streets run by criminal gangs as beggars? And why does the demand exist for these workers? So that they can sidestep the minimum wage requirement. It is the same for an illegal in Europe or North America. They work at the lowest end of minimum wage or below in conditions of modern day slavery. They are also exploited by people doing illegal transport of drugs and trafficing people for unspeakable reasons.

They are not ancillary to crime they are ground under the wheels of it and crime depends upon them. OK if a migrant laborer wants to work in a special field where there is a labor shortage, but there would be no labor shortage if each Thai worker had a job for $9.00 a day?

Edited June 17, 2014 by Justanotherpassword

[Neurath]

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Both sides will suffer, Thais will no longer have any cheap labour and the foreign workers will no longer have any Thai currency. Thais desperately need these workers as the Thais have grown lazy and greedy, uneducated Thai students demanding jobs in air con offices along with a fat salary otherwise they will simply stay home and sponge off the rest of the family forever.

Seems that the Thai military has taken an attitude pretty much identical to that expressed by many in the United States.

[Fat Haggis]

Maybe the Farangs who are calling Thai's lazy have personally witnessed the "lack of motivation" ??

[winstonc]

Maybe the Farangs who are calling Thai's lazy have personally witnessed the "lack of motivation" ??

i witness it everyday that i am here...fact...im not anti thai but i wont lie for them either..

[AnotherOneAmerican]

First they came for the Cambodians, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Cambodian.

Then they came for the Burmese, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Burmese.

Then they came for the Hill Tribe peope, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Hill Tribe person.

Then they came for me,

And there was no one left to speak for me.

(Pastor Niemöller)

Edited June 17, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I can tell you the Cambodians are leaving in packs. Last Sunday afternoon there were about 40 Cambodians waiting for a border bus while I waited for the BKK bus. Today at Ekamai station, there were several Cambodian families waiting for a border bound bus. I've never seen that before at the bus stations and I've done the round-trips more than 40 times since March.

[Fat Haggis]

Maybe the Farangs who are calling Thai's lazy have personally witnessed the "lack of motivation" ??

i witness it everyday that i am here...fact...im not anti thai but i wont lie for them either..

I do too when I'm at home, it seems to be the 25-40 year old's mostly, either drinking, drunk, or sleeping, but that's up to them, not my place to call them lazy or idle, I do know more who are hard working and have no problems putting in a hard days slog.

[wwest5829]

The honeymoon is over..

Indeed, it does sound like the honeymoon of having hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens working in Thailand is over.

My bet is that the loss of labor will result in business putting pressure on the military to back off due to hurting the economy. Perhaps some similarity to immigration issues in the U.S.

[wwest5829]

First they came for the Cambodians, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Cambodian.

Then they came for the Burmese, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Burmese.

Then they came for the Hill Tribe peope, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Hill Tribe person.

Then they came for me,

And there was no one left to speak for me.

(Pastor Niemöller)

A great thought by Niemoller but, a world of difference between concentration camps and extermination. It will be interesting to watch what Thailand does to attempt to enforce immigration law. The E.U. And U.S. Would be very interested in a workable solution to illegal immigration.

[JAG]

Both sides will suffer, Thais will no longer have any cheap labour and the foreign workers will no longer have any Thai currency. Thais desperately need these workers as the Thais have grown lazy and greedy, uneducated Thai students demanding jobs in air con offices along with a fat salary otherwise they will simply stay home and sponge off the rest of the family forever.

I mentioned the bit about the Thais having grown lazy and greedy to Best Beloved when she came back from the farm.

The Doctor says I should be able to see out of my right eye in a few days, when the swelling has gone down.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Fat Haggis]

Was that before or after you got her to make you a "sammich"

[Siripon]

300 baht a day minimum wage in Thailand whilst it's100 baht a day in Cambodia if they can find the work.

They will be back within 2 weeks, annoyed they believed the rumours and wondering where they originated from.

Their parents urged them to come back home, so the rumours began in Cambodia, now who could benefit from problems in Thailand apart from Hun Sein and Thaksin?

The Cambodians will end up hating the pair.

[larsjohnsson]

300 baht a day is for Thai people. Many workers from Cambodia or Burma have a lower salary

[StefanBBK]

300 baht a day is for Thai people. Many workers from Cambodia or Burma have a lower salary

Actually the law is for all. In practice many are paid less, some more.

We just renewed the permits for our Burmese workers. Retroactively we will have to pay some social contributions based on 4% for last year's income and 5 % for this year. Apparently they are now even basically ensured for unemployment etc.

Our Burmese are 100% legal, with correct permits etc. My best guess of what is enforced now is that they try to even the playing field. No more cheap foreign labor.

We preferred Burmese, as their work ethics seem to be more compatible to our expectations.

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[larsjohnsson]

In real life we know that a lot of Burmese and Cambodian workers are paid less than 300. And especially the ones that works illegal. That's one if the reasons Thais like to employ them

Edited June 18, 2014 by larsjohnsson

[Fat Haggis]

In real life we know that a lot of Burmese and Cambodian workers are paid less than 300. And especially the ones that works illegal. That's one if the reasons Thais like to employ them

Not just Thai's, there will be many Farang's who also employ Illegal's that don't pay them the minimum wage either

[larsjohnsson]

A Thai police volunteer killed two and injured many yesterday. He was so trigger happy that he even shot one 11 year old Thai girl in the arm. And he didn't have any permit to the weapon, or permission to use it

Edited June 18, 2014 by larsjohnsson