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News From The Nation (r)
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<font size=5><b>Burma releases last of Thai gamblers<br>
</font></b><font size=3>BURMA yesterday released the remaining group of
Thai gamblers detained last Friday after fining them for illegal entry.
Thai police said they would now charge these people for illegal exit.
<br>
According to Ranong provincial police chief Pol Major Gen Chareon
Maneewong, the 31 gamblers would be escorted back from the border before
being charged for leaving the Kingdom illegally. They will have to pay
Bt800 each as the fine. <br>
Earlier, Rangoon had freed 22 detainees after fining them US$1,200 (about
Bt46,000) each for illegal entry. <br>
Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudwinai said nine other Thais who
lived in Burma and were arrested at the same time were also released
after they paid a fine of kyat 10,000 (about Bt1,000). <br>
He said businessman Vikrom Eisiri helped secure the release and put down
some of the payments for the fines. <br>
About 70 Thai gamblers were rounded up last week 75 km from Vikrom's
Andaman Club and 70 km from Victoria Point. <br>
The Nation<br>
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<br>
</font><font size=5><b>UN agency won't punish students<br>
</font></b><font size=3>THE United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
confirmed yesterday it will not press charges against the Burmese
students who last week held its officials captive in a payment dispute.
<br>
It also said registration for resettlement will kick off next week at
Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchaburi. <br>
''The UNHCR will not press charges against them. We don't do this kind of
thing,'' said the agency's regional representative Jahanshah Assadi
during a rare press briefing. <br>
The briefing was significant since the agency has been relatively quiet
since armed Burmese students took hostages in a raid on the Burmese
Embassy in Bangkok early this month. The silence made the agency a
sitting target for allegations and misunderstandings. <br>
It officially broke its silence in a bid to clarify its policy and stance
regarding the people under its care. <br>
Assadi said he went to the Maneeloy centre and met 27 representatives of
the various groups there to explain his agency's policy and outline the
resettlement programme. <br>
He said the students were quite apologetic about the embassy
hostage-taking and the Oct 18 incident and wished that it would not be
construed as a lack of appreciation of Thailand's hospitality. <br>
Foreign Ministry Surin Pitsuwan earlier said Burmese students living in
Thailand should not abuse the country's hospitality and should make their
time in the country more meaningful. <br>
Assadi said registration for residents of Maneeloy who wish to be
resettled to a third country would begin next week. Though there is no
official deadline, Assadi said the process will last 10 days. <br>
''They have pledged their full cooperation,'' he said, before adding that
according to a straw poll conducted yesterday at the centre, a majority
favoured third-country resettlement. <br>
Eight or nine countries have indicated they would take in these students.
Among them are the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and
several European Union countries. <br>
Assadi also made clear that the exiled students ''should be encouraged to
be more consolidated'' and the Maneeloy centre must be expanded and
upgraded to accommodate the increasing number of residents. <br>
About 1,000 students live at Maneeloy and are registered with the UNHCR
as ''Persons of Concern''. <br>
He also hinted that in the near future the population of Maneeloy should
be increased to about 1,500. <br>
The UNHCR has stressed that resettlement is voluntary and that it has
already helped to resettle 2,000 refugees who fled to Thailand from
Burma. <br>
However, when asked whether the students would be allowed to undertake
political struggle, Assadi replied that the ''UNHCR is a humanitarian
agency and not engaged in any political actions''. <br>
The embassy takeover, coupled with the locking up of UNHCR officials, had
increased the level of annoyance towards the exiled students among Thais
who viewed them as being ungrateful. <br>
Thai authorities have called on the agency to speed up the resettlement
scheme and wished that all the students be sent to third countries as
soon as possible. <br>
BY VORAPUN SRIVORANART <br>
The Nation<br>
</font><font size=5><b>Bosses seek reprieve on Burmese workers<br>
</font></b><font size=3>TAK -- Provincial authorities said yesterday the
central government should either supply employers here who employ Burmese
illegal immigrants with Thai replacements or extend a three-month grace
period allowing the employers to retain them. <br>
Reports said Rangoon had strengthened its 2,400-kilometre border with
Thailand with new reinforcements stopping a return of its illegal
immigrants. <br>
Tak Governor Nirat Watchanaphum said yesterday that more than 80,000
Burmese illegal workers due for deportation on Nov 3 -- the end of the
extended period of grace permitting them to stay in the Kingdom as
illegal immigrants -- will become charges of the government. <br>
The government will have to pay Bt4 million a day for meals for these
Burmese awaiting deportation. <br>
Tak Chamber of Commerce president Panithi Tangphati said yesterday the
manufacturing industry made a formal request to the government 10 years
ago, seeking it limit the employment of illegal aliens to border
provinces only. <br>
However, the government has allowed illegal aliens to do jobs in every
province in the country. <br>
The Nation<br>
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