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"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 28, 1996
Issue #352

HEADLINES:
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THE NATION: HELD FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY
THE NATION: TIGHTER BORDER PATROL
BKK POST: 300 BURMESE ROUNDED UP
BKK POST: SULAK: UNFETTERED TRADE COULD CAUSE DISASTER

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THE NATION: HELD FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY

February 28, 1996

POLICE have arrested 272 Burmese in the northern border town
of Mae Sot for illegal, police said yesterday.

The raid, taking place in a slum behind Radio Thailand in
Tak's Mae Sot district, was conducted by a 50-member task
force comprising the 346th unit of the Border Patrol Police
and Tak immigration police, said deputy superintendent for
immigration Chinaphat Tansrisakul, who led the force.

"These illegal Burmese aliens would be employed in
undocumented factories. Employers find illegal immigrant
workers attractive because they do not have to apply for
work permits and pay accident insurance for them, as
stipulated by the Interior Ministry's regulations," he said.

The Burmese are divided into two groups-those with official
indentification papers and those without, Chinaphat said.

Burma is willing to allow back only those with
documentation, he said. Burmese authorities simply said they
would have to run checks on those without IDs before
allowing them to return.

Chinaphat, however, said he planned to deport any illegal
immigrants without proper indentification back to Burma.
(TN)

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THE NATION: TIGHTER BORDER PATROL

February 28, 1996

BORDER patrol police will get tough with illegal immigrants
along the Thai-Burmese border, Interior Permanent Secretary
Aree Wongsearaya said yesterday.

His remarks came after police reported that a group of
bandits believed to be members of Khun Sa's army crossed the
border and robbed Thais travelling on a highway in Mae Hong
Son province on Sunday night.

He said the police would need to adopt stricter measures
against illegal immigrants and push them across the border
quickly. Bandits who rob Thais would be severely dealt with,
he warned.

"We have to react violently if they are violent to our
people. If they shoot, we will shoot back. If they kill our
people, we will kill them too," Aree said.

The permanent secretary said he ordered the border patrol
police to step us security measures. He said he already
reported the highway robbed to Interior Minister Banharn
Silpa-archa. (TN)

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BKK POST: 300 BURMESE ROUNDED UP

February 28, 1996

Almost 300 Burmese were rounded up in police raids on rented
houses early yesterday and deported. Among the 273, who had
been working illegally in a picture frame works on the Asian
Highway, were 162 men and 111 women.

In a related operation, two men were charged with
facilitating illegal entry by foreigners. Khwanchai
Chamchan, 34, and Annop Krathon, 31, were arrested after 35
illegal immigrants, among them 12 women, were found in a
pick-up and a six-wheel truck they had been driving. The
suspects said they had been hired for 10,000 baht each to
take the Burmese to Kong Krailat, Sukhothai. (BP)

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BKK POST: SULAK: UNFETTERED TRADE COULD CAUSE DISASTER
February 28, 1996

Trade and investment will cause a social disaster if human
rights are ignored, social activist Sulak Sivaraksa said
yesterday. The Asia-Europe meeting will emphasise economic
issues and ignore human rights abuses born of trade and
investment, he said after the opening of the Asia-Europe NGO
Conference.

“We have to organise this NGO conference to reflect the
truth to the Asian and European leaders,” he said. “Poverty
is still prevalent in Asia despite remarkable economic
growth and national leaders need to understand this.”

Mr Sulak said the meeting “Is little more than the
resurrection of European colonialism” to exploit Asia once
again. Modern-day European colonists are trying to expand
their power in the form of trade and consumerism, he said.

“Currently, the world’s largest arm dealers come from
European countries,” he said. Referring to suggestions the
Government had threatened to obstruct the conference for
fear the human rights issue would be raised during ASEM, Mr
Sulak said human rights is an issue with no boundaries and a
worthly challenge to governments.

He condemned the Government’s eagerness to trade with and
invest in Burma, which, he said, had led to the Rangoon
junta’s brutal suppression of minorities along the Thai-
Burmese border. (BP

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