Bkk Post -Tak prepares to send 80,0

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Subject: Bkk Post -Tak prepares to send 80,000 workers back; Money for centre upgrade falls short; UN to begin registering students for resettlement

Bangkok Post Oct 29, 1999.
THAI-BURMESE RELATIONS

Tak prepares to send 80,000 workers back
Local industries voice opposition

Supamart Kasem

More than 80,000 illegal Burmese workers here will be rounded up and sent
home after Sunday's deadline falls due.

Governor Nirat Watchanaphum said yesterday a major crackdown on illegal
foreign workers would start right after the 90-day reprieve ends on Nov 1.

It was originally agreed the employment of foreign labourers, mostly
Burmese, Cambodians, and Laotians, must end on Aug 4. However, a government
panel dealing with the problem of alien workers later decided to allow
86,895 foreign labourers to carry on in 18 types of work in 37 provinces for
another 90 days from Aug 4 to Nov 1 this year. The panel reasoned that the
reprieve was necessary to prevent severe manpower shortages in
labour-intensive industries such as construction, fishery and water
transport, which had long been dependent on foreign labour.

Mr Nirat said only 2,125 out of 83,200 Burmese workers are being employed in
the 18 types of work allowed by the government.

This meant at least 81,000 of them would be targeted by the impending
crackdown.

Only foreign workers in the fields of work facing a severe labour shortage
will be granted work permitsprovided their employers have them registered
with the local labour office by Oct 31. However, the Tak provincial industry
council disagreed with the move to repatriate foreign labourers.

Suchart Wisuwan, the council chairman, said the move would affect the
country's export industry which relied heavily on foreign labour.

About 6,700 million baht in export value would be at stake if the lost
manpower could not be sufficiently replaced, he said and called for another
90-day reprieve.

Panithi Tangpati, chairman of the provincial chamber of commerce, also
slammed the government's decision to push back foreign workers, saying it
was impractical and went against the decentralisation policy because it was
a top-down approach which failed to respond to local needs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Money for centre upgrade falls short
Temsak Traisophon


The Interior Ministry has been allocated only half of the 11 million baht it
sought from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to improve the
Maneeloy Centre in Ratchaburi.

The 5.6 million baht awarded was enough to repair living quarters and buy
beds but there was no money left for food, said Veerachai Naewboonnian,
deputy permanent secretary in charge of security affairs.

Mr Veerachai said the ministry had to use 1.4 million baht to erect a fence
to separate Burmese and ethnic Mon students who brawled frequently.

The centre has been upgraded to accommodate 1,700 more Burmese students
living in Bangkok who will have to move in by Nov 24 or face arrested for
illegal entry.

Students who leave the camp for a certain period would be detained at the
Police Private Training School in Bang Khen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UN to begin registering students for resettlement
Post Reporters


The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will begin registering
exiled Burmese students for resettlement in a third country next week.

Jahanshah Assadi, the regional representative, said the process would begin
with the 1,000 Burmese living at the Maneeloy Centre in Ratchaburi.

Mr Assadi urged another 1,700 Burmese refugees, officially recognised as
"persons of concern" who are not at the centre, to seek registration and
secure UNHCR protection.

The government plans to integrate this group by transferring them to
Maneeloy and the UN agency is to help finance the expansion of the camp for
them.

Mr Assadi was speaking after three hours of talks at the centre with
representatives of the Burmese students, Karen, Karenni and Mon people.

He said many had shown interest in seeking resettlement and emphasised their
consent was needed. A further 500 were expected to go to Maneeloy soon, he
said.

Nine countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and others in Europe, had responded positively after the government asked
the UN to do more to advance resettlement, Mr Assadi said.

Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan is to raise the issue in talks in Geneva
today with Soren Jessen Petersen, the deputy commissioner.

Mr Assadi commended Mr Surin for his "enlightened and open-minded approach"
towards the students.

Besides urging them not to abuse Thai hospitality, the minister advised them
to make the most of their time here.

Those students who had talents should seek to train as doctors or engineers,
he said.