By Lalita Leesiriwattana
Try to imagine, if you were born in Thailand, but have no nationality which means you have no legal rights to work, study, vote for the election, or even a right to live in a land where you were born, what would you do? Surely, for the consequences, you would be treated differently from those who got ID card. Because, first, they might think that you are a terrorist or a bad person due to the bias that most people have hold for a long time.
Nowadays, this has still been a big issue that needs to be solved immediately. Because, in Thailand, there are over 500,000 stateless people and about 150,000 of them are still kids. Normally, kids should be taught in order to be a good grown-up in the future. But, kids with no nationality have no rights to do anything, and they tend to be bounded in a limited area, and treated like they are not human being at all. Actually, these kids who were born in Thailand should have a legal right to live. It is not their faults at all, and no one can judge whether they deserve or not deserve to be Thai.
“One of the main reasons for kids who were born with no nationality is that their parents are very poor,” said Wiwut Tamee, the administrator of Highland People Taskforce “The village headman may keep the money for a child registration too expensive. Since they have no money to pay, their innocent kids have no choice but to be stateless. They don’t even deserve this.”
Moreover, there are many other reasons such as the unsuccessful of the census and the illiteracy of people which means they don’t know how to register the newborn child.
Everyday, these people are usually offended by some groups of Thais who think that they are more powerful and honorable. These people have no job out there due to their incredibility of having no ID card to show their identity. Most companies are afraid of having these stateless labors because it is illegal. These have led many stateless people to fight and seek a better life in Bangkok or other cities by being a maid, which is a job that usually doesn’t require an ID card or anything.
“I first came to Bangkok a couple of years ago and got a job of being a maid illegally,” said Pisa, a 29-year-old stateless person from Karen tribe in Thailand. “At first I don’t like the life here, but now I really enjoy it because I got money sent back to my family. If I go back to my hometown, I’ll end up doing nothing. It’s totally worth my time being here. And, I now already got a legal passport to work.”
It seems that many stateless people have been trying to prove themselves that they are Thai because no one wants to be violated. Some of them even have a proof to show to the authority that they really are Thai, but the authority doesn’t seem to believe, they usually make a hasty judge that these people are all the same as if they are not human being. The involved authorities should be fair to everyone not specially treat only someone they like, or shouldn’t take a bribe which will block the growth of the country.
“I think people always misunderstand the stateless people due to the incorrect information from the government,” added Wiwut “The government should make a clear understanding to Thai society about the fact that people who have no nationality are not always bad. A lot of people are biased and easily judge these people, which have caused them to be a kind of burden in the society.”
Every year, there is a stateless kids’ day which is held annually since the year 2003. This day is held for the purpose of discussing the issue and finds any solutions for the problem by many involved organizations. People should understand that, these kids were born in Thailand; speak Thai language and spend their whole life in the country. Why wouldn’t they have the same rights like us? Even their parents were not born in Thailand; they still should have the equal rights with every other kid in the country. The government should not just abandon the entity of them. These kids are also the future of the country. We should not just easily cut their opportunity like the way we used to do.
“Now, I just hope that the government sectors, especially the National Security Council will help improving the lives of these kids which still need many fundamental rights such as nursing and learning. Please don’t think that they are not Thai, so they are dangerous to the stability of the nation. It is totally unfair for them, ” said Wiwut
The problem has remained unsolved, even some government sectors already helped some people to have a Thai nationality, but that’s not enough. The main study is about the case of Yuthana Pamawan, the fifth year medical student from Chulalongkorn University. He was born in Thailand, but with some misunderstandings of the authority, he got a Vietnamese nationality instead, which caused him to face many obstacles. For example, he used to get a scholarship to Japan, but have to give it up because he has no Thai passport. And recently, he nearly could not study at Chulalongkorn University due to the limitation of the law.
“I’ve been trying to get a Thai nationality since I was about 8, but it seems that no one cares about my case,” said Yuthana “This problem may look insignificant and not urgent for someone, but I think it’s a problem that can be solved like my case. Who knows, in the future, these stateless people may become a great human resource for the country.”
Until now, there are hundreds of thousand people waiting for us to at least understand them. Even if, legally, they are not Thai by nationality, but we can be sure that in their hearts, there are full of nationalism. They just wait to the day when they can proudly say that they are Thai.
Try to imagine, if you were born in Thailand, but have no nationality which means you have no legal rights to work, study, vote for the election, or even a right to live in a land where you were born, what would you do? Surely, for the consequences, you would be treated differently from those who got ID card. Because, first, they might think that you are a terrorist or a bad person due to the bias that most people have hold for a long time.
Nowadays, this has still been a big issue that needs to be solved immediately. Because, in Thailand, there are over 500,000 stateless people and about 150,000 of them are still kids. Normally, kids should be taught in order to be a good grown-up in the future. But, kids with no nationality have no rights to do anything, and they tend to be bounded in a limited area, and treated like they are not human being at all. Actually, these kids who were born in Thailand should have a legal right to live. It is not their faults at all, and no one can judge whether they deserve or not deserve to be Thai.
“One of the main reasons for kids who were born with no nationality is that their parents are very poor,” said Wiwut Tamee, the administrator of Highland People Taskforce “The village headman may keep the money for a child registration too expensive. Since they have no money to pay, their innocent kids have no choice but to be stateless. They don’t even deserve this.”
Moreover, there are many other reasons such as the unsuccessful of the census and the illiteracy of people which means they don’t know how to register the newborn child.
Everyday, these people are usually offended by some groups of Thais who think that they are more powerful and honorable. These people have no job out there due to their incredibility of having no ID card to show their identity. Most companies are afraid of having these stateless labors because it is illegal. These have led many stateless people to fight and seek a better life in Bangkok or other cities by being a maid, which is a job that usually doesn’t require an ID card or anything.
“I first came to Bangkok a couple of years ago and got a job of being a maid illegally,” said Pisa, a 29-year-old stateless person from Karen tribe in Thailand. “At first I don’t like the life here, but now I really enjoy it because I got money sent back to my family. If I go back to my hometown, I’ll end up doing nothing. It’s totally worth my time being here. And, I now already got a legal passport to work.”
It seems that many stateless people have been trying to prove themselves that they are Thai because no one wants to be violated. Some of them even have a proof to show to the authority that they really are Thai, but the authority doesn’t seem to believe, they usually make a hasty judge that these people are all the same as if they are not human being. The involved authorities should be fair to everyone not specially treat only someone they like, or shouldn’t take a bribe which will block the growth of the country.
“I think people always misunderstand the stateless people due to the incorrect information from the government,” added Wiwut “The government should make a clear understanding to Thai society about the fact that people who have no nationality are not always bad. A lot of people are biased and easily judge these people, which have caused them to be a kind of burden in the society.”
Every year, there is a stateless kids’ day which is held annually since the year 2003. This day is held for the purpose of discussing the issue and finds any solutions for the problem by many involved organizations. People should understand that, these kids were born in Thailand; speak Thai language and spend their whole life in the country. Why wouldn’t they have the same rights like us? Even their parents were not born in Thailand; they still should have the equal rights with every other kid in the country. The government should not just abandon the entity of them. These kids are also the future of the country. We should not just easily cut their opportunity like the way we used to do.
“Now, I just hope that the government sectors, especially the National Security Council will help improving the lives of these kids which still need many fundamental rights such as nursing and learning. Please don’t think that they are not Thai, so they are dangerous to the stability of the nation. It is totally unfair for them, ” said Wiwut
The problem has remained unsolved, even some government sectors already helped some people to have a Thai nationality, but that’s not enough. The main study is about the case of Yuthana Pamawan, the fifth year medical student from Chulalongkorn University. He was born in Thailand, but with some misunderstandings of the authority, he got a Vietnamese nationality instead, which caused him to face many obstacles. For example, he used to get a scholarship to Japan, but have to give it up because he has no Thai passport. And recently, he nearly could not study at Chulalongkorn University due to the limitation of the law.
“I’ve been trying to get a Thai nationality since I was about 8, but it seems that no one cares about my case,” said Yuthana “This problem may look insignificant and not urgent for someone, but I think it’s a problem that can be solved like my case. Who knows, in the future, these stateless people may become a great human resource for the country.”
Until now, there are hundreds of thousand people waiting for us to at least understand them. Even if, legally, they are not Thai by nationality, but we can be sure that in their hearts, there are full of nationalism. They just wait to the day when they can proudly say that they are Thai.
I have done a project on stateless people, there are many more reasons why they becoming a stateless which is pretty serious issue in Thailand nowadays. I hope that this post will inspire the government to take this problem seriously.
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