Migrant workers in Thailand instructed to wear ID wristbands

[thewug]

Since when do the police make laws. Is it not the so call government that makes laws that can be enforced? Lol

[emilymat]

I think all tourists should be issued with a wristband on arrival at Immigration and forced to wear that too.

I think that was a serious option that was being considered after the murders of the two Brits last year. Have no idea what became of it.

[No Apologist]

What a consignment of geriatric shoemakers. The wristband is not an attempt at oppression because of race or religion, it is a valid attempt at reducing the number of illegal immigrants. Under the previously existing laws, immigrant workers (and most of you) could be required to carry their passports and visas at all times. If they get damaged while you are working, that is a personal problem for you to resolve at your own expense.

Issuing of a relatively durable means of identification seems far preferable than enforcing the existing laws. Yes, they could be copied - so could passports and other forms of ID.

What an apologist for abuses you are, actually. You're the type of person in history who makes excuses step by step, and people later look back on and wonder how they could have.

As you are such a student of the nazi atrocities, please point out where an attempt to control illegal immigration has parallels with forced dispossession, internment, forced labour and genocide.

or are you making a mountain out of a molehill for a cheap shot at the current government?

What you're doing, is jumping to the extreme, final chapter of those atrocities, and purposely ignoring the smaller steps which led to them - arguing that if it's not the all out holocaust, then nothing to worry about. You wouldn't need someone to point that out to you, if you weren't just trying to be obstinate.

If you are willing to excuse the incremental steps - as long as it doesn't result in an exact parallel to the holocaust - then that is very weak ground for you to defend.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Almost every week now some really bad news coming out from this country, wonder how this will be presented in international news?

[Docno]

A lot of people here jumping on Thais for being insensitive or even ignorant about what happened in Europe 70 years ago. Let me ask you this... Do you think most of the people you know back home are aware of the Rape of Nangking, Sook Ching in Singapore, Unit 731, etc? I'd guess many young people in the West don't know even about Toul Sleng, the Killing Fields, or Mai Lai. How many of you know about China's 19th century Taiping Rebellion, led by a madman who claimed to be a brother of Jesus, and which cost over 20 million lives? One of the costliest wars in human history. So please get off your high horses about Thai knowledge of the European theatre in WW2. We have our own blind spots as well....

[halloween]

Ill break the silence.

If the Thais wish to have controlled immigration, that is up to them.

If they wish for priority for jobs to go to Thai citizens, that is up to them.

Neither case justifies a particular group of people being required to wear identifying symbols based on their race or nationality. That is a precedent which should not be repeated, for fear of what it led to in the past.

The trouble is that they are not based on race, religion or nationality. They are indications of being a registered non-citizen worker.

[maoro2013]

What is law in Thailand, various areas make up their own rules?

[emilymat]

Ill break the silence.

If the Thais wish to have controlled immigration, that is up to them.

If they wish for priority for jobs to go to Thai citizens, that is up to them.

Neither case justifies a particular group of people being required to wear identifying symbols based on their race or nationality. That is a precedent which should not be repeated, for fear of what it led to in the past.

exactly.. and why not simply issue the wristbands to everyone who is entitled to work in that market, Thai or otherwise.

[maoro2013]

What is law in Thailand, various areas make up their own rules?

[Your Thainess]

Those of you who think this is okay make me sick. SMH

[Beetlejuice]

Reminds me of those yellow stars three generations ago - for religious reasons though at that time - very, very scary as it also could communicate the lawlessness

In Thailand farangs would not need yellow star badges to identify them from the crowd.

[halloween]

As you are such a student of the nazi atrocities, please point out where an attempt to control illegal immigration has parallels with forced dispossession, internment, forced labour and genocide.

or are you making a mountain out of a molehill for a cheap shot at the current government?

What you're doing, is jumping to the extreme, final chapter of those atrocities, and purposely ignoring the smaller steps which led to them - arguing that if it's not the all out holocaust, then nothing to worry about. You wouldn't need someone to point that out to you, if you weren't just trying to be obstinate.

If you are willing to excuse the incremental steps - as long as it doesn't result in an exact parallel to the holocaust - then that is very weak ground for you to defend.

And you condemn a simple process as the primary in a sequence with no reason to suggest that such a sequence will eventuate. Tell me, what is the next step so that I can look out for it?

[Your Thainess]

The nazis did some amazing things...

Oh, please elaborate on that.

Unbelievable.

[Jimbo1964]

Reminds me of those yellow stars three generations ago - for religious reasons though at that time - very, very scary as it also could communicate the lawlessness

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Ditto

[emilymat]

It seems that our commenter(s) here have much in common with the average Thai, and have no working understanding of the Nazi movement, or the policy of requiring their own citizens (of Jewish decent) ... to wear the Yellow Star of David)

None of the people with the wrist bands are to be stripped of their material possessions, thrown from their homes, herded into ghettoes, starved and used in salve labor camps, and eventually systematically exterminated.

It is a rather long stretch to employ this historical reference, in very poor taste, inaccurate and disrespectful to both Holocaust victims, and Thailand's decision makers.

We can debate the efficacy of this "wristband" idea ... but with the world community (rightly) complaining about the horrid human trafficking record in SEA, this is their idea of a quick and "Bureaucratic Lite" solution.

Yes, one could forge the wristbands, but the wearer would then face dire consequences when that is discovered. (Note to the seller of fake wristbands, these people drop dime at the count of three)

I know it is impossible for anyone to do anything in Thailand that does not solicit swift derision from the All Knowing Thai Visa Thai Bashing Boardroom above the Clouds.

Would any of you boy geniuses like to climb down from Cloud 9 and tell us how the Thai Government can quickly and easily begin to track those migrants who are allowed to cross the border much more easily than any Farang Expat?

Do you understand that there is genuine fear in the hearts of these people to be found here without proper documentation, and this Wristband thing ... just might get a lot of folks to register pronto - presto?

As for the human traffickers, it certainly might be a dark day to be found with a dozen "Sorry, no wristband" folks in your van.

But, I forgot. EVERY Thai idea is a bad one.

Funny, seems like Thai Visa is long on whining, and very short on solutions.

(PS: Do you people understand that in the Fortune 500 companies, it is Standard Operating procedure for every emplyee to wear a photo ID around thier neck at all times? I worked for IBM , and you could not move around your building, or the corporate campus without one. That applies to most big companies.

What they are saying is "Who are you?" "Do you have the right to be here/" Do you have the right to WORK HERE?" ETC.

That does not make them the SS ... it makes them smart and responsible people who want to know who is on their property. )

Wha a collection of Chicken Littles this site has become !!!

I have no problem with most of your post, except of course the last unnecessary sentence.

However, I think your comparison with Fortune 500 companies (I assume this is a USA expression) is not relevant.

Companies, hospitals, government offices almost always require all employees and visitors to wear some form of identification, irrespective of nationality, status etc., which is not what we are talking about here.

If you took any NHS hospital in the UK, about 30% would be foreign immigrants of some sort, they are not singled out for ID's.

[No Apologist]

Just because the nazis did something does not make it inherently bad, evil or stupid.

The nazis did some amazing things and some horrendous things a too.

No.1

Do you think there should be controlled immigration into thailand?

No.2

Do you think it's the Thai governments responsibility to provide jobs for Thais first?

In your oh so highly educated opinions, how would you sensibly and realistically address these questions?

Any suggestions need to be based in reality and can be implemented quickly, at minimal cost and operational overhead.

I am waiting for the silence.

You remind me of a 20 year old I met in Poland last year, talking about how communism under Russia sounded pretty good to him (having never experienced himself), when an older man had to interrupt to explain that growing up under communism, his family had to go several days a week without food.

The Nazi's destroyed Germany, in fact, not just through the holocaust and war, but their policies in general. It was a movement marked by hysterical reasoning, xenophobia and absurd levels of nonsensical beurocracy which left millions of people homeless and destitute. Many Germans lost their businesses and livelihoods under the policies they implemented along the way, owing only to the corruption and abuse of others, and in the end a huge percentage of people had committed suicide. Germany was then torn in half as a result, and half the country remained under hellish conditions for generations after, desperate to escape.

If that's what you call 'some good ideas', then...seriously, you are in desperate need of an education.

____

And, to answer your question: they should fine Thai employers that hire workers illegally, as these wealthier Thais are taking advantage of the poor for slave labor wages. The reason they don't do that, instead, is that the Thai economy is based around taking advantage of the poor, and corruption is embedded into that system, which the PM has no intention of addressing. Clearer for you?

Edited April 22, 2015 by No Apologist

[greenchair]

It seems that our commenter(s) here have much in common with the average Thai, and have no working understanding of the Nazi movement, or the policy of requiring their own citizens (of Jewish decent) ... to wear the Yellow Star of David)

None of the people with the wrist bands are to be stripped of their material possessions, thrown from their homes, herded into ghettoes, starved and used in salve labor camps, and eventually systematically exterminated.

It is a rather long stretch to employ this historical reference, in very poor taste, inaccurate and disrespectful to both Holocaust victims, and Thailand's decision makers.

We can debate the efficacy of this "wristband" idea ... but with the world community (rightly) complaining about the horrid human trafficking record in SEA, this is their idea of a quick and "Bureaucratic Lite" solution.

Yes, one could forge the wristbands, but the wearer would then face dire consequences when that is discovered. (Note to the seller of fake wristbands, these people drop dime at the count of three)

I know it is impossible for anyone to do anything in Thailand that does not solicit swift derision from the All Knowing Thai Visa Thai Bashing Boardroom above the Clouds.

Would any of you boy geniuses like to climb down from Cloud 9 and tell us how the Thai Government can quickly and easily begin to track those migrants who are allowed to cross the border much more easily than any Farang Expat?

Do you understand that there is genuine fear in the hearts of these people to be found here without proper documentation, and this Wristband thing ... just might get a lot of folks to register pronto - presto?

As for the human traffickers, it certainly might be a dark day to be found with a dozen "Sorry, no wristband" folks in your van.

But, I forgot. EVERY Thai idea is a bad one.

Funny, seems like Thai Visa is long on whining, and very short on solutions.

(PS: Do you people understand that in the Fortune 500 companies, it is Standard Operating procedure for every emplyee to wear a photo ID around thier neck at all times? I worked for IBM , and you could not move around your building, or the corporate campus without one. That applies to most big companies.

What they are saying is "Who are you?" "Do you have the right to be here/" Do you have the right to WORK HERE?" ETC.

That does not make them the SS ... it makes them smart and responsible people who want to know who is on their property. )

Wha a collection of Chicken Littles this site has become !!!

Actually some of them will be stripped of their possessions.

Some them will be hijacked and put on fishing boats for years with no pay and unimaginable abuse.

Some of them will be forced to strip naked and dance for the men that pay.

And some of the above may well happen because legal or not, migrants are seen as easy prey.

Wristbands will not work as the people that come here illegally will simply hide out or be forced to be even more imprisoned by their cheap employers. There is only one way to stop the illegal immigrants. That is to arrest the people that employ them for cheap labour, and force these greedy bastards to pay a fair and legal wage. The government has already created cheaper economic zones for thai employers and will even give them a tax cut. But oh no, they continue to want something for nothing. If the pay is 150 by law. The bosses want to pay 100.if the pay is 100 by law, the bosses want to pay 50.

Arrest the bosses and make them wear wristbands to show the world they are a human trafficker.

[phoenixdoglover]

I think the most cogent comment above is to question the authority of local police to require any immigrants to wear identifying wristbands.

Laws and regulations for immigration, guest workers, etc., must be determined at the national level, not by some local cop who's got a busy market to watch over.

Aside from the echoes of the holocaust, there are other more immediate and possible consequences of this new policy. One possible consequence is to enable and promote discrimination against legal immigrant workers, by making them easy to identify by those Thais who don't like immigrants.

There have to be better ways.

I predict the local police will get a phone call soon, and the requirement will fade away.

[halloween]

It seems that our commenter(s) here have much in common with the average Thai, and have no working understanding of the Nazi movement, or the policy of requiring their own citizens (of Jewish decent) ... to wear the Yellow Star of David)

None of the people with the wrist bands are to be stripped of their material possessions, thrown from their homes, herded into ghettoes, starved and used in salve labor camps, and eventually systematically exterminated.

It is a rather long stretch to employ this historical reference, in very poor taste, inaccurate and disrespectful to both Holocaust victims, and Thailand's decision makers.

We can debate the efficacy of this "wristband" idea ... but with the world community (rightly) complaining about the horrid human trafficking record in SEA, this is their idea of a quick and "Bureaucratic Lite" solution.

Yes, one could forge the wristbands, but the wearer would then face dire consequences when that is discovered. (Note to the seller of fake wristbands, these people drop dime at the count of three)

I know it is impossible for anyone to do anything in Thailand that does not solicit swift derision from the All Knowing Thai Visa Thai Bashing Boardroom above the Clouds.

Would any of you boy geniuses like to climb down from Cloud 9 and tell us how the Thai Government can quickly and easily begin to track those migrants who are allowed to cross the border much more easily than any Farang Expat?

Do you understand that there is genuine fear in the hearts of these people to be found here without proper documentation, and this Wristband thing ... just might get a lot of folks to register pronto - presto?

As for the human traffickers, it certainly might be a dark day to be found with a dozen "Sorry, no wristband" folks in your van.

But, I forgot. EVERY Thai idea is a bad one.

Funny, seems like Thai Visa is long on whining, and very short on solutions.

(PS: Do you people understand that in the Fortune 500 companies, it is Standard Operating procedure for every emplyee to wear a photo ID around thier neck at all times? I worked for IBM , and you could not move around your building, or the corporate campus without one. That applies to most big companies.

What they are saying is "Who are you?" "Do you have the right to be here/" Do you have the right to WORK HERE?" ETC.

That does not make them the SS ... it makes them smart and responsible people who want to know who is on their property. )

Wha a collection of Chicken Littles this site has become !!!

Actually some of them will be stripped of their possessions.

Some them will be hijacked and put on fishing boats for years with no pay and unimaginable abuse.

Some of them will be forced to strip naked and dance for the men that pay.

And some of the above may well happen because legal or not, migrants are seen as easy prey.

Wristbands will not work as the people that come here illegally will simply hide out or be forced to be even more imprisoned by their cheap employers. There is only one way to stop the illegal immigrants. That is to arrest the people that employ them for cheap labour, and force these greedy bastards to pay a fair and legal wage. The government has already created cheaper economic zones for thai employers and will even give them a tax cut. But oh no, they continue to want something for nothing. If the pay is 150 by law. The bosses want to pay 100.if the pay is 100 by law, the bosses want to pay 50.

Arrest the bosses and make them wear wristbands to show the world they are a human trafficker.

How much of this do you attribute to legal immigrant workers being supplied with a durable form of identification? Any?

[diehard60]

well if the police now this happens there then he question is WHY have they(the police) done something about it yet?Oh I know

stupid me bribes. I forgot, sorry

[ggt]

I favor the ball-and-chain myself...keeps them from running away when the police come by for tea money...

[Bignose]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

It seems that our commenter(s) here have much in common with the average Thai, and have no working understanding of the Nazi movement, or the policy of requiring their own citizens (of Jewish decent) ... to wear the Yellow Star of David)

None of the people with the wrist bands are to be stripped of their material possessions, thrown from their homes, herded into ghettoes, starved and used in salve labor camps, and eventually systematically exterminated.

It is a rather long stretch to employ this historical reference, in very poor taste, inaccurate and disrespectful to both Holocaust victims, and Thailand's decision makers.

We can debate the efficacy of this "wristband" idea ... but with the world community (rightly) complaining about the horrid human trafficking record in SEA, this is their idea of a quick and "Bureaucratic Lite" solution.

Yes, one could forge the wristbands, but the wearer would then face dire consequences when that is discovered. (Note to the seller of fake wristbands, these people drop dime at the count of three)

I know it is impossible for anyone to do anything in Thailand that does not solicit swift derision from the All Knowing Thai Visa Thai Bashing Boardroom above the Clouds.

Would any of you boy geniuses like to climb down from Cloud 9 and tell us how the Thai Government can quickly and easily begin to track those migrants who are allowed to cross the border much more easily than any Farang Expat?

Do you understand that there is genuine fear in the hearts of these people to be found here without proper documentation, and this Wristband thing ... just might get a lot of folks to register pronto - presto?

As for the human traffickers, it certainly might be a dark day to be found with a dozen "Sorry, no wristband" folks in your van.

But, I forgot. EVERY Thai idea is a bad one.

Funny, seems like Thai Visa is long on whining, and very short on solutions.

(PS: Do you people understand that in the Fortune 500 companies, it is Standard Operating procedure for every emplyee to wear a photo ID around thier neck at all times? I worked for IBM , and you could not move around your building, or the corporate campus without one. That applies to most big companies.

What they are saying is "Who are you?" "Do you have the right to be here/" Do you have the right to WORK HERE?" ETC.

That does not make them the SS ... it makes them smart and responsible people who want to know who is on their property. )

Wha a collection of Chicken Littles this site has become !!!

While this could be considered a very emotive issue with worth while opinions from both sides, the circumstances leading up to the holocaust must never be minimized or forgotten. Every child of every continent must be educated with the facts and details of the very worst example of what man is capable of, this should help ensure nothing remotely like it happens again.

In saying that the quoted contribution is thoughtful and well argued, the situation Thailand finds herself in requires some immediate and effective action, I too can see the value in making it obvious who is here legally. The present government are tackling multiple issues that require immediate action, they don't have the luxury of time as the preceding impostors squandered that (along with hundreds of billions of Baht)

If these wrist bands help to track illegal workers, if they help eliminate (or even impede) the people smugglers then so be it...

[No Apologist]

As you are such a student of the nazi atrocities, please point out where an attempt to control illegal immigration has parallels with forced dispossession, internment, forced labour and genocide.

or are you making a mountain out of a molehill for a cheap shot at the current government?

What you're doing, is jumping to the extreme, final chapter of those atrocities, and purposely ignoring the smaller steps which led to them - arguing that if it's not the all out holocaust, then nothing to worry about. You wouldn't need someone to point that out to you, if you weren't just trying to be obstinate.

If you are willing to excuse the incremental steps - as long as it doesn't result in an exact parallel to the holocaust - then that is very weak ground for you to defend.

And you condemn a simple process as the primary in a sequence with no reason to suggest that such a sequence will eventuate. Tell me, what is the next step so that I can look out for it?

What's the next step to look out for, you ask?

Oh, I don't know....someone taking over the government at gun-point, electing themselves the new leader, ending the right to vote, ending freedom of the press, declaring endless martial law, and threatening journalists who ask questions?

I guess you missed those 'small steps' already.

Edited April 22, 2015 by No Apologist

[mojaco]

Ljmk

[bornredi]

I wish my country would do something about all the illegal immigration, try to immigrate here (USA) legally. By letting illegal immigrants stay here they insult all the people who come here legally.

[jackanapes]

I suppose its one way of keeping the foreign workforce in check but this country is like any other in regard to illegal immigrants .

[No Apologist]

I wish my country would do something about all the illegal immigration, try to immigrate here (USA) legally. By letting illegal immigrants stay here they insult all the people who come here legally.

...

Edited April 22, 2015 by No Apologist

[Time Traveller]

Also tattoo numbers on them in case the wristbands fall off. Maybe a microchip as well. And probably Thailand should charge those untrustworthy foreigners a large fee to cover the cost of hiring a Thai minder to watch them around the clock in case the foreigner is committing crimes.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Time Traveller

[Travelman868]

Reminds me of those yellow stars three generations ago - for religious reasons though at that time - very, very scary as it also could communicate the lawlessness

I agree totally silly idea, wear long sleeve shirt and ID gone. Better ball and chain 5555 not hide that in trouser leg.

[No Apologist]

The nazis did some amazing things...

Oh, please elaborate on that.

Unbelievable.

To be fair to Skeete, some Ancient Alien Theorists believe that Hitler may have used advanced alien technology to escape into another dimension. That would be pretty amazing.

Edited April 22, 2015 by No Apologist