Bkk Post -No forced resettlement

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Bangkok Post - Oct 24, 1999.
BURMESE STUDENTS

No forced resettlement
Stay if you want, but ,obey law, exiles told

Yuwadee Tunyasiri, Achatthaya Cheunniran and Wanchai Wachirasasithorn

Burmese students who protest against moves to resettle them overseas will
face legal action, but none will be forced to leave.

The government will not attempt to place the students in third countries
against their will, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said yesterday.

Many of the 3,000 Burmese student exiles are unwilling to leave Thailand.

They are reportedly threatening to stage a protest if efforts are made to
force them out.

Mr Chuan said the government would treat the student exiles the same way as
refugees from other nations, who were being repatriated or resettled in
third countries on a voluntary basis.

"We should understand that there are still many Burmese students who respect
Thai laws and who do not want to leave. These people have the right to stay
and we are willing to provide them safety here," the prime minister said.

Mr Chuan said the countries which agreed to take the Burmese students would
also be selective, to make sure there were no problems in the future.

This meant not all would be accepted.

Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said some countries sympathised with
Thailand for having to take care of the student exiles and were talking with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about the resettlement
programme.

Thai authorities earlier said the United States, Canada, Australia and some
European countries were willing to accept some of the students.

Mr Surin said the government would urge organisations backing the students
to encourage them to go overseas to further their education.

He would have further talks soon in Geneva with UNHCR officials and hoped
for a solution to the problem.

The foreign minister also emphasised that the resettlement must be
voluntary. The government would not force any student exile to leave the
country.

Their support of voluntary resettlement is at odds with National Security
Council policy.

NSC chief Kachadpai Burusphat has said sending the Burmese students to third
countries was a special programme and, unlike the Indochinese refugees,
would not be on a voluntary basis.

Mr Kachadpai has said all exiled students living outside the Maneeloy
holding centre in Ratchaburi must register with the UNHCR and return to the
camp by Nov 21 or face charges of illegal entry.

He believed there would not be many students who do not want to go to third
countries.

The dissidents should not try to use Thailand as a base for their campaigns
against Rangoon's military regime, he said.

The student exiles had not behaved well, according to reports, and had
become a nuisance to Ratchaburi residents, Mr Kachadpai said.

Moves to send the exiles to other countries gained impetus after five armed
dissidents occupied the Burmese embassy in Bangkok on Oct 1-2, causing
Thai-Burmese relations to plummet after they were set free.

The actions of a group of students in locking up five UNHCR officials in
their office at the Maneeloy centre for several hours early last week
because they were denied their monthly allowance added to the resettlement
momentum.

Meanwhile, Ranong Governor Thawat Hantra said yesterday 31 Thai gamblers
were still being detained by Burmese authorities at a casino on Koh Song,
opposite Ranong's Kra Buri district. About 40 were released earlier.

Mr Thawat said the gamblers would be tried by a Burmese court on Koh Song
for illegal entry, an offence which carries a three-year jail term and a
fine of US$1,000.

The arrests were believed to be in retaliation for the murder of a local
Burmese administrator, allegedly by a Thai.