Thailand, Cambodia say row won't lead to conflict

Friday, November 27, 2009
AFP

BANGKOK — Thailand and Cambodia's diplomatic row over fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra will not cause further clashes between their armed forces, their defense ministers said after meeting Friday.

Relations between the countries, which have fought a string of deadly gunbattles on their border since last year, plunged earlier this month when Thaksin visited Phnom Penh as an advisor to the Cambodian government.

After a two-day meeting in the Thai resort town of Pattaya which ended Friday, the Thai and Cambodian defense ministers said they had agreed to reach peaceful solutions to solve new misunderstandings.

"Thai and Cambodian forces will support every mechanism to strengthen relations between the two countries," Thai defense minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.

Prawit said the meeting focused on issues around the poorly defined, heavily armed border and how to make people who live there live peacefully.

Prawit added that military and diplomatic rows were different, saying: "We have to divide them from each other".

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as an economic adviser earlier this month and the Thai tycoon then visited Phnom Penh for four days from November 10.

Thailand was infuriated when Cambodia refused to extradite Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years in jail in absentia in September 2008 on corruption charges and is currently living in exile.

The two countries withdrew their ambassadors, and the row was further inflamed when Cambodian police arrested a Thai man on charges of spying on Thaksin and expelled the first secretary to Thailand's embassy.

Thailand reciprocated soon after.

But Cambodia allowed the mother of the detained man, Siwarak Chothipong, 31, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, to visit him in prison on Friday in a bid to ease tensions.

"They met for one hour and a half at a meeting room in the prison," said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, a secretary to the Thai foreign minister.

Siwarak's mother, Simarak Na Nokhon Phanom, told reporters at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh that she thanked Hun Sen for allowing her to see her son, but added that he was "unlucky" to be arrested.

Siwarak an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, was arrested early this month on charges of spying on Thaksin's flight schedule.

Defense Minister to Attend Thai-Cambodia Border Committee Meeting

25 November 2009
Thai-ASEAN News Network

The Thai Defense Minister will attend a meeting of the General Border Committee, or GBC, between Thailand and Cambodia, which will take place tomorrow and Friday in Pattaya.

The Cambodian Defense Minister has confirmed his attendance at the meeting.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Colonel Thanathip Sawangsaeng revealed Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan will be the head of Thai delegation to attend the GBC meeting between Thailand and Cambodia on Thursday and Friday.

Cambodian Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh has confirmed his attendance, while senior army officers of both sides will also be present at the meeting.

Top leaders in Thai defense, including Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paochinda , Thai Navy Commander Admiral Kamthorn Phumhiran and Airforce Commander-in-Chief Itthaporn Supawong will all attend the meeting.

Armed Forces Supreme Commander General Songkitti Jakkabatra cannot attend the meeting due to a prior assignment in a foreign country.

The GBC meeting will take place at Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya, and is aimed at promoting cooperation between the two sides on security along the border, and possibly easing tension between the two countries.

Colonel Thanathip revealed five points to be discussed at the meeting.

First, amicable relations between the troops of both countries that are currently stationed along the border, and their cooperation in solving problems together in every situation under the guidance of their commanders in respective locales.

Second, border trade between citizens of both countries to be based on fairness and mutual benefits.

Third, measures to safeguard violations to border agreements, and measures to promote strict enforcement of border agreements in order to tackle criminal activities such as drug trafficking, robbery and terrorism.

Fourth, guidelines on cooperation between the two forces and regular exchange programs for army leaders to strengthen cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia, especially in regard to setting up a landmine recovery center.

The Fifth point concerns an attempt to push for surveys at border and maritime areas.

The unofficial talks between Thailand and Cambodia are expected to revolve around the issue of Thai engineer who was detained in Cambodia on spying charges, and the waters closure at Koh Kong province, to help ease tension through close relations between the armies of both countries.

Cambodian Worker Brutally Murdered On Pattaya Construction Site

August 31, 2009
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

Pattaya, August 31 [PDN]:On the evening of 30th August 2009 a Cambodian carpenter working on a Pattaya village project was murdered by his friends because he refused to get more drinks for them.

At 11:00 pm Police Lieutenant Colonel Winai Hohrien of the Banglamung police was informed that a Cambodia worker, identified as Mr. Tid, had been killed at the Chokchai Garden Home 2 village in Soi Kao Noi, Moo. 10, Nongprue Banglamung. A police team led by Police Colonel Somneuk Junkate together with a rescue team and doctors from Banglamung hospital rushed to the scene.

At the construction site police found the body of Mr. Tid, aged around 30, lying in a 2 metre deep garbage pit. He was wearing red shirts and blue shorts and his head had been smashed by a hard item. His neck was broken and his body was covered in wounds. He had been dead for about an hour.

Witnesses told police the victim had been drinking with two friends in his room. They heard Mr. Tid being told to go and get some more whisky, but he refused and they started arguing. The two friends then attacked him with a hammer and a rock. The two suspects then carried the dead body and threw it into the garbage pit before making their escape. In a search of the room next door police found a bloodstained rock and hammer.

The police will be contacting the Thai construction foreman and search for the heartless murderers.

Over 250 Illegal Cambodian Workers Rounded Up In Factory Raid [in Pattaya]

May 27, 2009
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

Police looking for illegal workers on 26 May 2009 raided a seafood factory in Sriracha and found over 250 illegal Cambodian immigrants working there. The illegal immigrants, without official documentation of any sort, will be processed and then repatriated.

At 9.00 am, on 26 May, Pol.Lt.Col. Pakkapong Sai U-bon, Police Immigration Investigator, and a team of other concerned officials from Bor Win, Nongkam, a total of 50 officials and 40 volunteer officials, raided the Asian Seafood (Sriracha) Company, located at 211 Moo. 2 Bung, Sriracha, Chonburi, which had been hiring illegal workers from Cambodia for over 2 years, according to complaints received by the police from neighbours.

The police had blocked the factory gates late the previous night. On the following morning, police brought a search warrant from the Pattaya Court and proceeded to search the factory, after having presented the factory manager, Mr. Wanlop Lomlim, with the search warrant. He later conducted the police around the factory.

The illegal Cambodian workers were shocked at the raid and tried to escape by climbing the wall, but the police managed to arrest 126 males and 128 females and took them for investigation onto the empty ground along the side of the factory.

Police asked for their work permits, but none of the workers possessed any form of official documentation, whatsoever. Police then informed them that they would be charged with illegal entry into Thailand and with working in the country without work permits or licences.

The Asian Seafood company is run by Mr. Somsak Amornrattanachaikul , the owner, who will be investigated further and charged with hiring illegal-immigrant workers without correct documentation and also providing accommodation for them.

Police have a total of 253 illegal workers under arrest, who were later sent to Nongkam Police Station for further investigation and processing.
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Editor Notes:

There are numerous cases like this in many factories and construction sites in Thailand, where the Thai employers have cheated their illegal workers by withholding their wages for three months and instead of paying them, they or their agents just tipped off the police, who then came to arrest them. In these cases, the Thai employers profit by saving the wages of their illegal workers and only pay small sums to the police.

However, due to the often dire conditions in their own countries, many poor workers would still rather take the risk of working illegally in Thailand, than remain penniless in their own countries.

Thai protesters disrupt Asia summit

• Protesters blockade meeting venue
• Anti-government "red shirts" clash with pro-"reds"
• Organisers say summit will go ahead

By John Ruwitch

PATTAYA, Thailand, April 11 (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters in Thailand disrupted an Asian summit on Saturday, forcing the cancellation of meetings by the foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea and China.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were scheduled to sign an investment agreement with China, but red-shirted supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra blockaded the venue, forcing the meeting to be delayed.

"The ASEAN-China meeting has been delayed because of attempts to block delegations and leaders,"Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters. "They have confirmed they are still interested to attend. We wish to ensure their safety and we expect the meetings to resume soon."

The meeting between the Japanese, Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers would have been their first opportunity to discuss last Sunday's launch of a North Korean rocket widely viewed as a long-range missile test.

Protesters blocked the entrance to the meeting venue, and Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone was unable to reach it from his nearby hotel, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

"The trilateral meeting has been cancelled," the Japanese foreign ministry official said, "But the Japanese foreign minister has spoken by telephone separately with his South Korean and Chinese counterparts."

The East Asia Summit brings together the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand for discussions about trade, economic issues and regional security.

The full summit itself takes place on Sunday and will focus on responses to the global financial crisis. On Saturday, ASEAN leaders were due to hold a series of mini-summits with their North Asia counterparts.

RED SHIRTS VS BLUE SHIRTS

Hundreds of troops were guarding entrances to the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Bangkok, but "red shirts" were already massing at the sprawling resort complex, their numbers swelled since Friday.

"There have been clashes in the periphery of the meeting venue, but this won't affect security of the meeting," Panitan, the government spokesman said. "A few people have been injured, just two or three, with minor injuries."

More security headaches arrived in the form of "blue shirts", a new group of pro-government supporters making their debut at the summit, as Thailand's deep political divisions play out on an international stage.

"The blue shirts are people who we believe are concerned about the meetings," Panitan said. "They want them to continue, and they want them to continue peacefully."

But Reuters photographers said the "blue shirts", wearing balaclavas around their heads to keep from being identified, were armed with truncheons, bricks and slingshots and were clashing with the "red shirts" on streets leading to the Royal Cliff. Smoke bombs were thrown.

On Friday, at least 2,000 of "red shirts" broke through roadblocks manned by police and soldiers, pushing aside police vans and buses and even driving away a fire truck, before confronting soldiers at the summit venue.

They only dispersed after an official from the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came out to accept a letter from them.

The protesters say the government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is illegitimate and not empowered to sign any summit agreement because he came to office in December through parliamentary defections they say were engineered by the army.

Thaksin, now in exile, was ousted in a 2006 coup. His reconstituted party, however, regained power after elections, which sparked months of protests last year that closed airports in Bangkok and took a huge toll on the economy.

The Chinese investment agreement due to be signed on Saturday is the final piece of a Free Trade Agreement that will create the world's largest free trade area, encompassing 1.9 billion people.

The ASEAN leaders were also scheduled to hold separate meetings with the leaders of Japan and South Korea and then with all three later on Saturday in the so-called ASEAN + 3 process.

On Friday, Southeast Asian foreign ministers "expressed concern" about tensions in Northeast Asia during a meeting on politics and security on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Martin Ruwitch; Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by David Fox)

East Asian Summit Kicks Off In Pattaya

By D. Arul Rajoo

PATTAYA, April 9 (Bernama) -- Amid worsening global economy crisis and massive anti-government rally in Bangkok, the 14th Asean Summit and its related summits kick off Thursday as 16 leaders of one of the most important economy blocks meets to strengthen regional cooperation to cope with the global crisis.

While waiting for their leaders to set foot on the popular resort city, about two hour drives from Bangkok, senior economy officials begun the task of setting the agenda for three-day summit.

Despite the delay in the East Asian Summit, which was initially slotted together with 14th Asean Summit in Hua Hin at the end of February, the 10-member Asean can look forward for a fruitful outcome as the world's engine of growth China will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with them.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will ink the agreement with Asean Leaders, including new Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who will be making his debut in the summit after taking over the helm a week ago.

With a huge population of 1.9 billion and combined with Asean's 560 million, the FTA which would come into effect in 2010 is expected to further strengthen trade between them, which stood at US$230 billion in 2008, a 14 percent growth from the previous year.

Asean also received a shot in the arm with announcement by Japanese Ambassador to Thailand Kyoji Komachi that the country would unveil a series of packages aimed at regional countries to cope with the economies crisis, including a US$20 billion in official development aid for developing countries.

During the summit, Asean, China, South Korea and Japan will also endorse the recommendation made by their Finance Ministers during a special meeting in Phuket in February where they agreed to raise to US$120 billion multilateralisation reserve pool under the Chiang Mai Initiative, from the initial US$80 billion.

Under the fund, which is aimed at assisting members to cope with the crisis, Asean countries will contribute US$24 billion or 20 percent of the total amount, while China, Japan and South Korea will share the remaining.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand have agreed to contribute US$3.4 billion each towards the fund while the remaining five other Asean members comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam will contribute five percent of their reserves to the initiative.

While such goodies are in store, host Thailand is struggling to assure its foreign guests, which includes prime ministers of China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, that it's safe to come despite over 100,000 anti-government protestors in Bangkok giving an ultimatum to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.

India will be represented Kamal Nath, its Commerce and Industry Minister.

The 44-year-old Abhisit, who took over on December after allies of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was removed by court, told the Channel 9 station in a morning talk show that he has no plan to bow to their demand.

The red army of Thaksin had laid siege to Abhisit's office since March 26, and paralysed a major section of the capital since Wednesday in a showdown with the government. The protestors in Pattaya attacked Abhisit’s motorcade two days.

Vitavas Srivihok, director-general of the Thai Foreign Ministry's Department of Asean Affairs, said besides the economy crisis, leaders would also discuss food and bio-energy security, disaster management and mutual recognition arrangement on good manufacturing practice of medicinal products.

On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will attend the Third Asean-United Nations Summit in Bangkok.

Pattaya police deported many Cambodians who allegedly went there to beg and to find work

November 7, 2007
Story : Nutphumin
Photo : Nutphumin
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

KHMER POPULATION INCREASE IN PATTAYA

Immigration police arrested illegal Khmer families. Police declared that the number of illegal foreigners is increasing in Thailand. Many of them with infants are beggars in the street.

On 6 November 2007, at 10.00AM, Police Captain Archeep Jaruen-santisuk, Deputy Chief Inspector, Pattaya immigration, had detected that there were many Khmer people, had slipped into the country to work illegally. Police found Khmer men working in the fishing boats and in many other jobs. Most of them had brought their wives along and rented rooms around Bangsaray, Sattahip, Chonburi. They had settled down in Thailand and started to increase the population. Many of them are beggars in Pattaya and near by to cause problem and annoy the tourists.

Lately, Pattaya immigration police raided to a fisherman camp, Moo 1, Bangsaray, Sattahip, where the illegal Khmers had rented rooms to stay with their wives and children. Khmer families with their infants, altogether thirty people were arrested. Police found that they have entered to Thailand illegally with their wives and started expanding their families. Some Khmer men were alert and escaped, leaving their wives and children there. Police had taken them to Sattahip police station in order to proceed of sending them back to Cambodia.

Police Captain Archeep declared that there were many young children coming out to beg for money from tourists and they were mostly Khmers. Some of them had arrived with their parents and some of them were born in Thailand. However, there is human trafficking around. The young children could be stolen and then forced to beg in the street. Whether those are their real children or not must be investigated. Police will get rid of illegal workers in every area as soon as possible.

The extremely sad and abused fate of a Cambodian beggar child in Thailand

Thai Police questioning the alleged mother of the young beggar girl. In most cases, the alleged mother is not the real mother, but only a person who would rent or buy a child from Cambodia and bring the child to beg in Thailand while pocketing the money for herself.

A distraught little Bo. The cell phone around Bo's neck is for the alleged mother to call in and check how much money the 4-year-old girl makes at any night.

Police questioning Bo

Khmer Mom Beats And Abuses Four Year Old Daughter; Forces Her To Beg For Money

October 18, 2007
Story : Kampee
Photo : Kampee
Translater : Sunny T
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

A Khmer mother was arrested and charged with child abuse for forcing her four year old daughter to beg in the streets at night time.

On 18 October 2007, at 1 AM, Pattaya Police Lieutenant Colonel Santi Chai-niranam received a phone call, from a tourist, that a foreign woman had abused and beaten up her own daughter and forced her to sell chewing gum and beg for money around the beer bars on Soi Bua Khao and Diana Inn Beer Bar Group, Moo 9, Nongprue. Police Lieutenant Colonel Grit Larb-ithisan rushed to the area to investigate.

Officials encountered a young Khmer girl named “Bo” (alias), about four years old, who was crying and being consoled by a tourist. The young girl had many bruises on her arms and legs. Bo said that her mother had taken her from their country and snuck into Thailand. They came to Pattaya to beg in order to pay off debts. Her mother, apparently, has done this for many years.

Everyday, her mother left her near beer bars and she was expected to beg for money from tourists and sell chewing gum. Each day, she made from five hundred to one thousand baht. Her mother left a mobile phone, which she hung around her neck, and called her to check how much money she had made. She came and picked her up every night. Bo’s mom kept all the money that Bo made. If Bo refused to go out begging, she was beaten up, unmercifully.

Bar girls often scolded Bo because she disturbed the tourists. On this particular night, she was left near a beer bar again, but hadn’t made enough money as she was afraid of the police. However, her mother called and bullied her to make more money. She also showed up and started beating her up. At this point, bystanders, who were appalled by what they witnessed, called the police; but her mother had disappeared by the time they arrived.

While the police were interviewing the young girl, Bo, they noticed a woman standing nearby looking at her. Bo pointed to the woman and indicated that she was her mother. The police immediately detained the woman who was, apparently, Bo’s mother. She gave her name as Miss Yung (31), from Cambodia, but was unable to produce a passport. She said that she has been sneaking into Thailand for more than three years. She said that she did not abuse her daughter, but just wanted her daughter to assist her in making money so she could get out of debt. As for the bruises on her body, they were just a result of normal punishments as she had been a naughty girl. However, police weren’t buying this and took Miss Yung to the police station.

At the police station, Miss Yung admitted that she forced her daughter to sell chewing gum and beg for money from tourists. She would normally make one thousand to two thousand baht per day; but, as it was low season, she was only bringing home about five hundred baht, daily. Therefore, she had forced her daughter to sell chewing gum and beg in the vicinity of the beer bars. Only when the bars closed, could “Bo,” finally, go back home. If she didn’t earn enough money, she was beaten up as punishment.

The officials gave Miss Young a stern talking to and charged her under the Alien Act. She was charged with entering Thailand illegally. Young “Bo” was, temporarily, sent to the Youth and Child Rights Protection of Pra-Mahatai Foster Home and will be sent back to Miss Yung before they are deported from Thailand.

A hard lesson for poor Cambodians: When you depend on foreigners for your livelihood, you are rounded up like cattles

Immigration Police arrest 119 illegal Cambodian Construction Workers

Wednesday 3rd October 2007
Pattaya City News (Thailand)

Police Colonel Itipon, the Superintendent of Pattaya’s Immigration Office arranged a rounding-up operation which took place in the early hours of Wednesday Morning. The intent was to round-up illegal foreign workers at a number of Construction Sites in Pattaya and Sattahip District. A total of 5 locations were targeted in the operation which led to the arrest of 119 Cambodian Workers who did not possess passports or work permits. They will now be deported back to Cambodia at the earliest opportunity.