Crackdown to be launched against illegal migrant workers on Koh Tao

[Lite Beer]

Crackdown to be launched against illegal migrant workers on Koh Tao

KOH TAO: -- The military and the police will launch a crackdown on illegal foreign migrant workers on Koh Tao after it was discovered that business operators on the island deliberately refused to give the accurate information about the number of foreign migrant workers they have employed.

The imminent crackdown follows the arrest of two Myanmar migrant workers suspected of involvement in the murder of two British backpackers on Koh Tao in mid-September.

Maj-Gen Thinachat Chinda-ngern, commander of Surat Thani provincial military command, said today that the military had conducted an investigation about the number of foreign migrant workers on Koh Tao and found out that there were about 7,000 of them but business operators reported only about 4,000.

“What about the other 3,000 and where have they gone?” he asked.

The officer also blamed business operators of being incooperative with the authorities about disclosing the real figure of foreign migrant workers they have hired. For that matter, he said that legal actions would be taken against the business operators for allegedly providing shelter to illegal workers in case they did not tell the truths about the illegal workers.

As for the illegal foreign migrant workers mostly Burmese, the officer said that a crackdown would be launched against them.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/crackdown-launched-illegal-migrant-workers-koh-tao/

-- Thai PBS 2014-10-03

[Costas2008]

Yes, they will send them away and in about 15 days they have to take them back, as there will be nobody to employ to run their business.

Just another show off, of the Thai police.

[pookiki]

Let me get this straight. The same police force that was shaking down every undocumented worker on the island - with a hefty amount of money - is now going to crackdown on them? With all the talk of reform, I still don't understand why the Thai and Myanmar regimes aren't working together to resolve this issue. In the meantime, undocumented migrants are just a profit center and useful scapegoats for the police.

[Thai at Heart]

Someone on Bangkok is going to put these locals in their place for embarrasing thailand.

[Songhua]

Hands up who saw this coming.

[Patje]

So basically: in one month you can't have decent service anymore because all the workers are gone ??

They better start to train the locals again on how to work ....... might take some time

Where in the hell they are going to find 4 to 7000 Thais that can work ? All they can do is swipe with a finger over a smart phone ....

[NongKhaiKid]

Will any action be taken against the Thai businesses that have been hiring people who are not legally employable ?

No, it's easier to crackdown on the illegals and the island's business owners are too well connected.

[wayned]

You will need at least 14000 Thais to replace 7000 Burmese workers! Sorry, but I've been there and done that!

[alant]

Someone on Bangkok is going to put these locals in their place for embarrasing thailand.

I doubt that, the case is solved, the image is restored, tourists return in droves.

[lust]

thailand needs outside intervention if it truly wants to change its image... this country is a disaster with no direction.

[Searat7]

Ironic because the same police have been collecting 500b a month for each illegal worker to let them continue working. Instead of a crackdown they should set up a registration station and get the illegals properly registered as workers in Thailand.

[larsjohnsson]

There are also a lot of illegal farang workers

[jaywalker]

Typical "Crackdown" (Crimony! I get tired of hearing that phrase).. Close the barn door after the livestock has escaped.

[carmine]

There are also a lot of illegal farang workers

That situation has already been dealt with in a legitimate way via visa restrictions.

I also doubt whether illegals farang workers would be willing to put in an eight house shift for three hundred baht.

[12DrinkMore]

Ironic because the same police have been collecting 500b a month for each illegal worker to let them continue working. Instead of a crackdown they should set up a registration station and get the illegals properly registered as workers in Thailand.

Previously the police were reported as collecting 500 Baht from each of 2,000 illegal Burmese on the island.

Now it looks like there are far more Burmese illegally on the island.

So who has been lying to who?

[PiPiFFS]

Without the Burmese workers Koh Tao couldn't operate. Anyone that lives or works there knows this. The Thai's on the island don't / won't work. They are more than happy to stand outside the ferry piers a couple of times a day getting a few stupid tourists to pay a 1000 Baht for a 3 km taxi ride to sairee. Do this a few times a day and why would they want to work ?

What needs to happen is someone in the Government with at least a modicum of business acumen to realise that the way the work permit system operates now just doesn't work. The 4 to 1 ratio for farang work permits is just way too much. Some of the bigger dive schools would need to hire over 250 Thai's to cover the instructors etc. Just what are all these Thai's going to do even if you could get them to work ?

Where there are no Thai's able to fill the much needed positions then the rules as are need to be relaxed. Where is TAT in all this ? Surely someone there can see this problem ?

[whiteman]

Thailand the land of crac kdowns

[surfinglife]

Why only Koh Tao? Is this the hotbed of illegal migrant labour? Are the crackdowns going to happen only after high profile crimes?

[wabothai]

These guys have nothing. Hang their greedy bastards employers who are not willing to pay regular low wages and treat these guys as slaves.

[louse1953]

Only KT.????

[louse1953]

So basically: in one month you can't have decent service anymore because all the workers are gone ??

They better start to train the locals again on how to work ....... might take some time

Where in the hell they are going to find 4 to 7000 Thais that can work ? All they can do is swipe with a finger over a smart phone ....

Thai's can work,but not for the slave wages that Thai's want to pay.

[DrTuner]

Tourism must flourish: resorts go unattended due to lack of work force, while nobody believes it was the Burmese who've done it.

The way things are now headed in an accelerating pace does not bode well.

[balo]

Why cant Thais do the work , here in Pattaya we do have immigrant workers but the majority are working Thais, unlike islands like Koh Tao.

I am sure some poor villagers from Isaan would love to work on the island.

[carmine]

Why cant Thais do the work , here in Pattaya we do have immigrant workers but the majority are working Thais, unlike islands like Koh Tao.

I am sure some poor villagers from Isaan would love to work on the island.

They probably find the journey to Pattaya shorter, cheaper and much more accessible. Not only that, there are far more opportunities in Pattaya

[Lite Beer]

Officials: KOH TAO harbors thousands of illegal migrant workers

SURAT THANI, 4 Oct 2014, (NNT) - Surat Thani Provincial Army Commander Major Gen. Theenachat Jinda-ngen has said Koh Tao is home to over 3,000 illegal migrant workers.

The revelation came on the heels of the recent arrests of 3 Myanmar workers ,who confessed to having been involved in the murder of 2 British tourists earlier last month.

According to the Maj. Gen., officials have discovered that the island has over 7,000 migrant workers, only 4,000 of whom have registered with the authorities. He pointed out that the 3 suspects were from the pool of the 3,000 illegal workforce.

The Provincial Army Commander said that it would be difficult to track down these illegal workers if they committed a crime.

Meanwhile, the provincial labor office has said it would roll out mobile registration service units to the area in order to facilitate foreign labor registration, encouraging and enabling them to work in the kingdom legally.

-- NNT 2014-10-04

[Tatsujin]

Hope the oh so honorable Royal Thai Police will first give all these workers a refund of the protection money those self-same Police have been taking from them to allow them to stay . . .

[larsjohnsson]

There are also a lot of illegal farang workers

That situation has already been dealt with in a legitimate way via visa restrictions.

It's a work permit you need to work legal.

Ans what visa restrictions have we today ? That have stopped all the people without WP ?

Edited October 4, 2014 by larsjohnsson

[carmine]

There are also a lot of illegal farang workers

That situation has already been dealt with in a legitimate way via visa restrictions.

It's a work permit you need to work legal.

Ans what visa restrictions have we today ? That have stopped all the people without WP ?

People were using the facility to bounce in and out of the country indefinitely on tourist visas and working. You can't keep continually renewing your tourist visa now and therefore if you want to work you can only stay on a working visa.

[crazykopite]

Every police man on Koh Tao , koh Phangan and Koh Samui need to be moved on all three islands are so corrupt it is a joke you only have to look at the properties of the big chiefs of police they are well beyond what there salary can afford !

[daoyai]

You think Labour dept. and Imm. dept haven't been getting big payoffs from the system? Police are small timers compared to these big guys. None of this is news to anybody in the Govt., current or former.