Word: thailander
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Some of them escape across the 450-mile border between Kampuchea (Cambodia) and Thailand, which is dotted with spikes holding the sun-bleached skulls of would-be refugees who were shot down by Khmer Rouge frontier guards. With considerably greater ease, others manage to evade the purgatory of Pathet Lao rule by crossing the Mekong River, the poorly guarded frontier between Laos and Thailand. From Viet Nam, thousands of refugees -the so-called boat people-have sailed to Thailand or Malaysia in overcrowded junks. An equal number have died in the attempt...
...Hong Kong and Malaysian ports sometimes sharply discourage boatloads of hungry and thirsty Vietnamese, who then set sail again to virtually certain death at sea. Last week the arrest of six Thai policemen pointed to the widespread mistreatment of the 2,000 boat people who have taken refuge in Thailand. The policemen were charged with looting and gang-raping about 30 Vietnamese in a fishing boat outside the coastal town of Nakhon Si Thammarat last month...
Though the United Nations maintains 16 camps for the 101,000 Indochinese refugees in Thailand at a cost of $11.5 million a year-$9.9 million of it provided by the U.S.-many would-be migrants are subject to cruel exploitation the instant they reach Thailand. All refugees arriving in the country, whether by sea or land, are considered "illegal entrants" and are fined up to $75. Those who cannot pay are often jailed, sometimes in open-air cages...
...Thais have a particular hatred for the Vietnamese. After the French defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954, Thailand accepted 50,000 Vietnamese refugees. Many of these Vietnamese have supported a Communist insurgency force, which is still operating in the northeastern part of the country, and have been regarded as a dangerous fifth column directed by Hanoi. The government of Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanand is determined not to allow a second wave of Vietnamese refugees to become a focal point for future dissent within Thailand...
Escapees from Cambodia and Laos have fared somewhat better in Thailand. Explains a European diplomat in Bangkok: "The Thais will accept the Laotians as ethnic cousins, while the Cambodians are not a group to be greatly feared; after all, the Thais always got their slaves from Cambodia." Still, exploitation is rife in the U.N. camps. In April, 18 Thais were arrested for robbing refugees in a camp at Nong Khai that houses 26,000 Laotians. Camp officials encourage Laotians to find work outside the compounds. "Many factories in this country are looking for cheap labor," explains Nong Khai Governor Chamnarn...