Page 125 - A Helping Hand for Refugees

A An unwilling home

Thailand, the country that so many immigrants hopefully aim to
reach and start new lives, is not welcoming the boat people, who live
under very harsh conditions in their own countries and venture the risk
of losing their lives at the sea.

Thailand has so far been an unwilling home to some 13,000 asylum
seekers and 82,000 registered refugees (as of June 2013). It is one of 20
countries in the Asia Pacific region that shelter a great number of
refugees.

Thailand is the world's third-largest exporter of seafood and the
country is the second largest economy in the Southeast Asia according
to ASEAN figures. Despite the country's economic well-being, Thai
authorities are pushing the people coming by boats back to the sea.

Recently, the Thai military government announced that it will send
100,000 refugees living in camps for many years in Thailand back to
the country they came from. Thailand claims to have the right to block
the boats.

Thailand may be facing many challenges regarding the great flow
of refugees. However, sending the immigrants back to the sea literally
means signing their death sentences and being accomplice in murdering
them. In the words of Colonel Banpot Phupian, a spokesman for the
military's Internal Security Operations, "Taking care of them is a burden
for Thailand and we have to use a lot of money to look after them." 10

These words come from the dark and cold heart of Asia, a conti-
nent that has largely been under the influence of military traditions and

communist China. Though an ally of the US, Thailand is one of the coun-
tries that is most influenced by China in terms of the economy, mili-
tary and politics and the words of Colonel Phupian indeed confirm this.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) 123