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Bangkok post - Jan
10, 2000
BORDER
Chuan resolute on worker repatriationSecurity cited but changes are
mooted
Speaking in this northern province heavily
reliant on Burmese labour, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai yesterday insisted that
all illegal labour will have to be repatriated. Mr Chuan, who visited to hand out blankets to villagers facing the cold, said
for security reasons and to prevent social problems the government will not
change its policy to send illegal foreign workers home. "It is the same with Thai workers overseas. If they are found to have been
working illegally in other countries, they are sent back home. It is the same
policy that we are following," he said. The government's decision to crack down on illegal Burmese workers, on whom
the border provinces rely on for labour for their factories, has upset the
business community. The decision followed Thailand's economic meltdown, rising social problems
and crimes connected to Burmese workers, and the seizure of the Burmese embassy
by Burmese students last October. Asked if the repatriation policy had proven to be a failure since Burmese
workers simply sneaked back into Thailand, Mr Chuan said that reports from
officials in charge of securing the policy have indicated progress. He said that in the past employers thought the government would relax the
policy and rehired workers who sneaked back. However, when it became clear the
government was serious about the issue, employers were now reluctant to hire
foreign labour. However, he said that in the future, the private sector will need legal
foreign labour-and consequently the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry has been
ordered to study the issue. "If there are no Thais to fill the job vacancies, employers could tell the
Labour Ministry how much foreign labour they need, in what type of jobs and how
long they will be hired. But they will also have to say how, in the long term,
they plan to use Thai labour to replace foreign labour," he said. He added the government was considering a proposal to allow Burmese workers
to use border passes to come to work in Thailand on a daily
basis. |