NEWS - Bosses protest repatriation

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Subject: NEWS - Bosses protest repatriation of Myanmar workers

Bosses protest repatriation of Myanmar workers

By Sutin Wannabovorn

  
MAE SOT, Thailand, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Some 500 employers rallied in this
Thai border town on Wednesday to protest against the repatriation of
their workers to Myanmar. 

Thailand, whose relations with its neighbour have been strained since a
siege of Yangon's embassy in Bangkok in early October, restarted a
programme to repatriate more than 600,000 illegal workers to Myanmar
last week. 

The workers are employed mainly in low-paid jobs in the farming and
fishery industries on the long common border. About 70,000 have jobs in
this town opposite eastern Myanmar's Karen State. 

Employers' representative Paniti Tangpanit, chairman of the Mae Sot
Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in the town faced ruin without
them. 

``As you are all aware, ninety percent of the factories here rely on
Myanmar workers,'' he told the gathering. ``Without them we would face
bankruptcy and non-performing loans at the banks will rise further.'' 

Chaiwut Pakawat, a member of parliament for the ruling Democrat party,
persuaded the protesters to disperse when he said the authorities would
consider allowing 30,000 agricultural workers to stay. 

However, he said those in the textile, garment, canning and furniture
industries would have to go back. 

Immigration officials and the interior minister said the repatriation
drive would continue regardless of the protest. 

EMPLOYERS COULD FACE LEGAL ACTION 

``Employers who want to continue exploiting cheap labour have the right
to protest,'' Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart told reporters in
Bangkok. ``But those who continue sheltering or hiring illegal workers
will face legal action.'' 

Immigration officials estimated that more than 12,000 workers have been
sent back across the border in the past week. 

``Today about 400 were sent back via Mae Sot,'' one said. 

But many have not gone far. Large numbers could be seen camped under
plastic sheets or in bushes on the far side of the Moei River that marks
the borderline in this town. 

On Tuesday, police accused employers of illegal Myanmar workers of
spreading false rumours about the fate of deportees, including killings
and rapes, to stop their repatriation. 

Myanmar's military government has called the reports in Thai newspapers
``appalling fabrications.'' 

The repatriations follow Myanmar's closure of the border with Thailand
when five armed Myanmar dissidents seized Yangon's Bangkok embassy in
October and held 89 hostages for 25 hours. 

Thailand ended the siege peacefully but angered Myanmar by allowing the
attackers free passage to the frontier, which has stayed closed to
trade. 

Thai officials have said many of those sent back across the border have
crossed back to Thailand but reject reports they had become victims of
Myanmar soldiers. 

Thailand, hit by economic crisis for the past two years, used to host
about one million Myanmar workers until late last year when it
repatriated about 300,000. 

07:00 11-10-99