Some readers have expressed shock and surprise at reports in the South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) this week detailing the treatment of boatpeople arriving on the shores of Thailand’s west coast.
The Rohingyas are Muslims from the borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh who at this time of the year often risk crossing the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in rickety boats; those who survive wash ashore in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
This year our correspondent in Phuket has discovered that Rohingyas are being turned over to the Thai army on arrival before being taken to an offshore island. They are then towed out into international waters in the boats they arrived in and abandoned to their fate, powered only by paddles.
Tourists have provided stark images of Rohingyas bound in rows and forced to lie in the sand on tourist beaches while holidaymakers frolic in swimsuits nearby, most oblivious to the presence of guards armed with M-16s.
Other readers who know Thailand well have expressed surprise but not shock. They are surprised that sections of the Thai military have been so brazen and at the story surfacing, but not shocked at news of such treatment.
Despite being a proud bastion of freedom and independence in the region, a close look at Thailand’s human rights record belies its “Land of Smiles” image. At best, the cause of human rights remains a work in progress, hampered by the political instability of recent years. Extrajudicial killings, human trafficking and labour abuses of migrants all soil the record.
Thailand’s reputation for hard-won freedom and liberalism, and close ties with the west, mean that its human rights situation is sometimes overlooked. If some of the things that have occurred in Thailand in recent years happened in more hardline states in the region, they would likely stir more severe international reaction.
The coup – Thailand’s first in 15 years – to oust prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s democratically elected government was a case in point.
Thaksin’s own crackdown on drug dealing was another. However honourable the intentions, local police took the law into their own hands and unconnected people were also targeted. Human Rights Watch confirmed this week that 2,819 extrajudicial killings dating back to the 2003 purge still had to be properly investigated.
The Thaksin cronies who won elections 12 months ago vowed to kick-start the drive. Then-interior minister Chalerm Yubamrung declared that “if this will lead to 3,000 to 4,000 deaths of those who break the law, then so be it”.
Life is cheap, too, in the deep Muslim south. There, a separatist insurgency has flared for five years, killing more than 3,500 people.
Teachers have been killed in their classrooms, and Buddhist monks and rubber planters beheaded, all part of an apparent attempt to rid the area of the majority Buddhists.
The three southernmost provinces now seem like a land apart, with ordinary people shutting their shops and locking their houses by late afternoon.
The military and police response has raised its own questions, however. An Amnesty International report this week revealed the systematic use of torture and other cruel punishments used to extract information and confessions.
From a rights’ perspective, the good news is that its government is now led by the Democrat Party, one of the country’s oldest and loudest liberal voices. They have taken power this time through coalition wrangling after a court disbanded the ruling Thaksin-allied government, rather than through the ballot box. They have still to fully earn their legitimacy in the minds of many Thai voters.
It is too early to tell whether they will be confident enough to play to their strengths and burnish Thailand’s reputation as one of the region’s most proudly free – and safe – nations.
Greg Torode