Koh Tao's other little secret: police extortion
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Crackdown follows news that migrant workers without proper papers pay police Bt500 a month to work on the island
The brutal murder of two Britons on Koh Tao has shed light on a number of things that Thai authorities hate to discuss.
At the top, it revealed the attitude of the country’s prime minister towards sex crime when he suggested that the rape and murder may have stemmed from how one of the victims was dressed. He later apologised for it and added that he was misunderstood.
Nationally, needless to say, the double murder has dented the country’s image as a tourist paradise.
At the local level, police came under intense scrutiny for their sluggish handling of the investigation. Never mind that anger was building up because of the manner they were doing things in the days after the gruesome murders.
The fact that they were chasing the wrong lead did not help, not to mention the absence of prompt and immediate reaction, such as locking down this small island immediately after the killing.
Observers who understand the do’s and don’ts at crime scenes have noted the authorities’ unwillingness to prevent outsiders from trampling over physical evidence.
Such tardiness reflects the snail’s pace of Thailand’s bureaucracy and the country’s law enforcement is not much different in this respect. Obviously, as this case has shown, sound judgement and leadership is lacking, not to mention common sense.
But this is just one of many cases. If law enforcers can blunder so much in spite of being under an intense spotlight, think of the other rape and murder cases they handle that don’t get the national and international attention that this tragic case got.
According to latest reports, two migrant workers from Myanmar have admitted to the murder of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.
As expected, they were presented to the public at a news conference. Damage control, perhaps. But this doesn’t absolve the authorities of their lack of professionalism.
Beside the poor handling of the case, one spotlight that the police did not want revealed was the nature of the ties between them and migrant workers.
Yes, you guess it correctly – extortion.
According to our findings, out of the 5,000 migrant workers on Koh Tao, about 2,000 work illegally without proper permits. To get around that each ‘illegal’ has to pay police Bt500 a month. And if they want to use a motorcycle, that’s another Bt500 a month to get around the driver’s licence issue.
According to the local district chief, there are 3,300 migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, registered to work on the island. By regulation, they have to pay Bt1,305 each year so they are entitled to the social security scheme.
As expected, the government went into damage-control mode and began to register all migrant workers in Surat Thani province, where Koh Tao is situated.
Whether these developments are enough to restore confidence among foreign visitors, no one could say. After all, no one in their right mind believes that the authorities don’t know about this extortion and other irregularities. It’s really sad that they have to wait for the gruesome murder of two British nationals to do something about it.
If Thai authorities really want to demonstrate that they are committed to public safety, they shouldn’t have to wait until a public spotlight to force them to do so. Because if they crackdown on these irregularities, their action will speak for itself.
