Where is the Seven-Year-Old Child Who Sold Flowers to Phuket Tourists, and What is Her Future?

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
By Nussara Lem and Alan Morison
Phuketwan.com (Thailand)

PHUKET: A seven-year-old flower seller for tourists who was taken into custody on Phuket is now in Bangkok - and her exact whereabouts, as well as her future, is unknown.

The girl had a black eye and bruises of unknown cause on her body, alarming officials. And she initially told authorities that she was from Vietnam.

But now, officials believe that she is from Cambodia. Exactly what will happen to her next is being hidden under a blanket of bureaucratic obfuscation.

According to Chuanchom Jantawong of the Phuket office of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the girls had been selling flowers to tourists in Patong along beach road and in the Soi Bangla walking street.

It's known that the girl was picked up late last month after a ''good citizen'' called and alerted officials to her presence. But then, the girl's story became unclear.

Khun Chuanchom was not keen to reveal the girl's presence at a particular Phuket refuge for fear of possible action by the ''mafia'' who may have employed her.

It is said that some street flower sellers in Patong and Karon, old and young, are dropped off in the Phuket holiday spots each evening and picked up after each shift by a gang ''boss.''

The girl had told officials that she lived with a Thai woman she called 'Mum' who had children of her own.

However, late last week Khun Chuanchom told Phuketwan that the girl had been sent to Bangkok. Again, she could not say more in the interests of protecting the girl.

The telephone number that Khun Chuanchom gave us for further information in Bangkok is never answered.

We were also told that if what the girl said was true and that she was from Cambodia, she would eventually be returned to Cambodia.

However, officials from the Cambodian Embassy told Phuketwan they had no information regarding any seven-year-old from Phuket.

Her origins would need to be confirmed first by Thai officials, the Cambodian official said, and they'd had no contact with Thai officials about such a case.

On Phuket, though, the girl had yet to reveal where her parents were or who her guardians were. Now, according to Khun Chuanchom, the girl is being ''taken care of'' in Bangkok.

But Khun Chuanchom is also not keen on having an article written - in the interests of protecting the child.

Last year, It was the expat volunteers of the Tourist Police who discovered two French underage sisters who had been roaming Patong's streets without proper care.

When one of them came to police attention, the police did nothing - because they have no power when it comes to enforcing laws governing expat children.

What Phuket authorities are prepared to tell Phuketwan is that the flower-selling girl and two adults have been apprehended so far this year while working as beggars.

Last year, there were 30 similar arrests, we were told.

However, some of those arrested for begging have work permits, although they are mostly from Cambodia. Once a fine of up to 2000 baht is paid, they are free to return to the streets.

Children working as beggars pose a particular problem.

Although workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia breach the terms of their work permits by getting pregnant while they are in Thailand, there is nothing that can be done to prevent them giving birth.

The offspring of migrant workers are not Thai citizens and not entitled to attend school. Their presence on the streets or working on beaches, where Phuketwan has found them in the past, disturbs tourists who know they should have proper care from parents or guardians.

There is no doubt that the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has the best interests of children such as the seven-year-old Patong flower seller at heart.

But by covering such cases in a layer of protective gobbledeygook, officials do not serve the best future interests of the children and leave a trail a doubt and mystery about what happens in these cases.

We believe that senior officials in the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security need to explain to Phuketwan and the Phuket media about this case to avoid false accusations.

The question is a simple one: Where is this girl now, and what is her future?

We feel confident that the ''good citizen'' who helped the department to take the girl into care in the first place and other ''good citizens'' would also like to know the answer.