Cambodians are fleeing Thailand in large numbers
In the past week, 60.000 Cambodians have returned to their country: 40.000 on Friday alone and 6.000 on Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon there was a queue of an estimated 5 kilometers at the Aranyaprathet border post (photo).
The foreign workers fled for fear of being arrested. Rumors are circulating that the army is planning a massive raid.
But NCPO spokesman Patamaporn Rattanadilok Na Phuket denies that any such operation has been ordered. She admits, however, that some companies have turned foreign workers away for fear of reprisals. According to her, some Cambodians have left because the harvest season has started in their own country.
The International Organization for Migration Asia-Pacific (IOM) in Cambodia says many Cambodians are stranded at the border because they have no money for onward transportation. She has sent three buses to the border post to assist them on their return. The pressure is great because normally about a hundred migrants arrive per day. On Wednesday, the IOM already counted 1.000 in one day.
More than half of the migrants are women and children. In addition to transport, there is an urgent need for food, water, health care and shelter. The IOM is seeking emergency funds to handle the sudden surge.
“Our primary concern is the safety and dignity of vulnerable migrants,” said Leul Mekonnen, IOM's Chief of Mission in Cambodia. "We're doing our best to get them home as soon as possible."
According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua on Friday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen would have sent 150 military trucks to the border post to provide transport.
Cambodian workers legally working in Thailand have nothing to fear, said Benjapol Rodsawat, deputy chief of the immigration police in Sa Kaeo. Aranyaprathet border post will not be closed. According to official figures, 441.569 Cambodians are registered with the Employment Department.
(Source: Bangkok Post, June 14, 2014)
When all the Cambodian and not least the Burmese workforce return home .
Or will return in the future , because also in Myanmar something is about to change in the coming years .
Then Thailand has a really big problem.
Because then the question is who should do the work here, the Thais???
Last week I hired two Burmese through my Thai spouse to have a Rai land with fruit trees to mow the grass.
This grass must have been tall .
I couldn't believe what I saw, very quickly and professionally and also without breaking a Sprengler pipe.
In less than two hours , everything looked pikko bello again .
Even if it is not so hot it will take me at least half a day without taking a rest.
The Thai workers if you can find them take more than a day, preferably two
Treesitters my wife calls them.
I paid them well , love this mentality .
We have more work on other plots , and they can come back again .
From the Thai workforce, both in construction and in agriculture, I have gradually had enough of .
And I speak from personal experience.
It is therefore a pity that these people from Cambodia and Myanmar are totally exploited here in Thailand.
I pay people according to their commitment and skills, and not according to their country of origin.
Jan Beute.
In 2012 I was on vacation Pattaya at Hotel Royal Twins Palace and I could see that across the road at Hotel Royal Palace another Hotel wetd built. In 2013 I was in Pattaya Hotel Royal Palace and to my great surprise I sink that the Hotel which was under construction in August 2012 is not finished yet. I wonder if it's ready now because in August I'm going to Pattaya Hotel Royal Palace. Find the Thai workmen they are lazy with work. Let the people from Cambodia come back but legally.
Henri
what the coup plotters claim, namely no deportation or raids "foreigners" is of course utter nonsense.
as I stated earlier, large numbers of police raids started on Dongtan Beach Jomtien last Thursday. Houses where Cambodians probably live have also been searched. Only often as I also claimed too late! ( happy ) . Thailand will miss its cambodians and people from myanmar !
People with a passport and visa have also been and are being expelled. You rarely read or see the truth at the moment - only thailand blog!
@ dyna Today's News from Thailand contains additional information on the posting you are responding to. The complete picture will never be known for the time being. Have you witnessed the incidents you describe? If not, what is your source? It is always very difficult to distinguish rumor and exaggeration from fact in such situations. It is obvious, however, that the junta is making propaganda.
Dear Dick, I'm not so hearsay! i was on the beach thursday and friday and it happened right in front of me - today there were only 10 people on the part where i was sitting.
Then the cambodian from the houses . In Pattaya Naklua, an acquaintance of mine knocked on the door and police officers were at the door, 7 cambodjamer fled. Unfortunately, not only propaganda - but also lies are being spread. Further Facebook and other social media images of the conditions at the border speak for themselves!
The ultra-nationalist yellow shirts and the military authorities need a common enemy to justify their measures, as reported last week: the skirmishes with the Cambodians are the expected result of the power grab.
Friendly yellow shirts in Bangkok applaud the Cambodian exodus.
@ Paal.Jomtien Did you read a bit sloppy? There working an estimated 1,4 million migrants in Thailand, of which 1 million are illegal. According to The Nation, just over 100.000 Cambodians have returned in the past week.
friend witnessed a police raid in a restaurant, 2 cambodian waitresses arrested, 1 vietnamese waitress had some money in her pocket and was able to buy her freedom
It might be interesting to note that while studying at the National Defense College in 2007-8, General Prayuth wrote a thesis on the role of the military in combating non-traditional threats to national security. Prayuth mentioned the presence of foreign workers and people without residence documents as one of the four immediate and urgent threats to national security. (Source: New Mandela website)
Don't forget that Cambodians are seen as hostile in nationalist thinking. Think of the Preah Vihear temple conflict (in 2011 at least 8 people were killed in clashes), Suthep's repeated accusations that Cambodians were the violent element in the red shirt movement and his guards' attacks on Khmer (Cambodian)-speaking people. In the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, the Thai army supported the Khmer Rouge. Moreover, Thaksin is seen as a friend and ally of Cambodia (Hun Sen).
About two million people speak Khmer in southern Isan. They are often discriminated against.
Here's what Suthep thought about the Cambodians:
http://asiancorrespondent.com/118988/suthep-claims-of-cambodians-killing-protester-stirs-up-xenophobic-sentiments/
Suthep and the NCPO are not the same and don't think alike. That must have gradually become clear since May 22. Unless you don't WANT to see it.
@ Tino In social media and also on Thailand blog, anyone can say anything without citing a source. As a former journalist, that annoys me. Your response contains two serious accusations about Suthep:
1 '… Suthep's repeated accusations that Cambodians were the violent element in the red shirt movement', and
2 'Attacks by his [Suthep] guards on Khmer (Cambodian)-speaking people'.
In your follow-up response, you refer to asiancorrespondent. However, it only mentions an incident on January 27. Moreover, he accuses 'Thai gunmen' in the same breath. Furthermore, an interview in Bangkok Post is quoted, in which he mentions 'foreign armed men'. Your "repeated accusations" is overkill.
I disagree with the other accusation.
I would urge you and others (because you are not alone) to be more careful with alleged facts and to attribute them to a source in all cases. You undermine your own credibility if you don't.
Suthep repeatedly foul-mouthed the foreign elements, repeating the same themes in his speeches for months on end. The other ex-PAD'ers on the stage also talked about the danger of the foreigners.
Haven't heard anything yet about the Syria "syndrome" that the yellow shirts are warning about? They are convinced that there is a plot to provoke violence through foreigners who "disguise themselves" as tourists, to cast a bad light on the regime and thus provoke a civil war to dethrone the current rulers.
…just as the yellow shirts were convinced that there was a “Finland plot” conceived by Thaksin and co., all based on the testimony of one man, a so-called “defector”, but no proof was ever provided. Khun Nakornthab is the author of the writings about it that were published in the Manager. The yellow shirts are comparable to the "Preppers" in the USA, paranoia and mainly see conspiracies .. and now the collaboration with the junta, what will that yield?
My sources: long-term friendships (20 years) with individuals who later became part of the yellow shirts, Suthep's speeches, friendship with Pramote Nakhontap.
Comment from Dick: That's how it should be, a precise source reference. Based on this, the reader can assess the (un)reliability of the information.
Dear Dick,
You are absolutely right. For the allegations in point 1. I have several sources (such as listening to Suthep's speeches) and for point 2. I appealed to my memory. Forget point two. I'll be more careful.
ha, the confirmation in an article of the Nation about the attitude of the current rulers and the yellow shirts towards the guest workers:
“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.)”
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/735026-thai-editorial-migrant-workers-hit-by-iron-fist/
The government under Thaksin already had a conscious policy to reduce the (legal) number of expats. It was not about legal or illegal expats, but ALL expats.
see a post from 2003: http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?1849-Expats-angry-about-visa-work-permit-costs.
In my opinion there are two categories of employed migrants: the largest category are the Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese who generally do lower and unskilled jobs; work for which the Thai turns up his nose and not only because of the small monetary compensation. (compare the circumstances in the Netherlands in the 60s and 70s when foreign workers, mainly from Morocco and Turkey, had to be called upon for work that the Dutch no longer wanted to do). The second category includes the expatriates who do the skilled and better paid work in Thailand: managers, consultants, teachers, technicians. This category also includes the expatriates who come here to carry out morally reprehensible or even illegal activities, encouraged by a climate of 'business' where money seems to buy everything. (drug trafficking, scams, mafia). And this last group – if they are caught – naturally stands out the most. Just look at the almost daily news reports about the Russians and the Koreans in the major cities of Thailand, including the tourist centers.
The Thai are certainly nationalistic. But that can't be news. There are countless examples of regulations and procedures that favor the Thai over the foreigner. This is NOT about nationalism, it's about ILLEGALITY. And I've never noticed that Thai women are xenophobic. On the contrary.
Yes, until now the government said one thing and did another. Now they say they are fighting against illegal activities and they are doing it. But there is still a long way to go because the illegal practices are legion and have become part of the system as you also indicate with the example of the police.
Employers are not very sensitive to fines. They can easily pay that and the next day they just continue to hire the illegal immigrants. They are now punished the most because the production capacity cannot be used for 100% and therefore the profit also decreases. The illegal immigrants can just come back if the employers comply with the law: work permit, visa, social security, minimum wage. I estimate that a number of rules will change that will mean an expansion of the employment opportunities for foreigners. It is - also Phrayuth - obvious that part of the growth of the Thai economy is due to foreign workers and foreign companies. In addition, part of the foreigners (especially the Burmese) will return to their own country when the AEC comes into effect. I have yet to see the Thai take over this work from the Burmese (cleaning, housework, night watchman). Perhaps, but at considerably higher salaries (at least the minimum wage) than the current illegal Burmese receive for that work. Dirty work should be paid better. Where have I heard that before?