Thailand’s refugee camps

Press, 1 June 1981, Page 12

Thailand’s refugee camps

Untangling aid from politics in SouthEast Asia is a difficult feat and it may be a deceptive exercise. The announcement by Thailand that it is going to reduce its refugee camps from 17 to three may be part of a process of rationalisation; more likely, it is part of an attempt to bring the plight of the refugees to the fore and a decision that vvill have political and military significance.

About this time last year Thailand forced the repatriation of a large number of Kampuchean refugees. Soon afterwards, Vietnamese-led forces from Kampuchea struck against Thailand. All this happened a week or two before a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. The Foreign Ministers of A.S.E.A.N. will meet about the middle Of June this year, in the Philippines, and Thailand doubtless seeks an expression of unity from its fellow A.S;E.A.N. members at Manila. The move by Thailand may. not be as . blatantly connected with the A.S.E.A.N. meeting as it may appear on the surface; but whether ..purposefully forged or not, the link will not be able to be overlooked.

The objection made last year by the Kampucheans, and by the Vietnamese invading Kampuchea, was that the forced repatriation of refugees by, Thailand made more forces available to the Pol Pot guerrillas on the Thailand-Kampuchea border. The repratiation planned this year is supposed to be voluntary. From the point of view of the Heng Samrin Government in Kampuchea, and of the Vietnamese occupation forces there, the effect might be the same. If the Thais want to avoid a repetition of last year’s reaction, one solution is not to send refugees across the border and back into Kampuchea, but

to send them to another place. Earlier, there was a suggestion that the refugees might be repatriated to Kampuchea through Burma. Such a course may not be needed, but it would seem wise to avoid provoking the Heng Samrin Government and the Vietnamese by sending refugees, back to join the Pol Pot forces. Another of the links between aid and politics is apparent in the fact that on the day that the Thais announced a policy of sending back refugees, it was reported that all the resistance groups in Kampuchea planned to form a united front. Some of the international aid agencies have come under criticism because, as well as spending money on feeding the refugees and other needy people in Kampuchea, they have been building roads and other facilities. Thailand does not recognise the Heng Samrin Government and is reluctant to see it strengthened in any way. Thailand has a legitimate complaint because it has had to care for so many refugees for so long. For all that, Thailand’s readiness to allow military aid from China for the Pol Pot forces to pass through Thailand into Kampuchea has prolonged the struggle. Thailand appears to be still hoping that Kampuchea will one day again become a buffer state between Vietnam and Thailand. Such hope is pinned on the success of the Pol Pot forces. Regrettably, when the Pol Pot regime held power it set an appalling record of slaughter among Kampuchea’s own people. The revival of such, a regime for the convenience of Thailand is not likely to be welcomed in Asia, even if recognition of the regime in the meantime is a way of discountenancing the Vietnamese and their invasion of Kampuchea. .