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Al Jazeera’s 101 East Program has a recent feature where they interviewed former Thai police general Paween Pongsirin and talked about human trafficking in Thailand. For those unfamiliar with Paween’s story, he was a police commander assigned to crackdown on human smuggling rings, specifically the trafficking of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Malaysia and Indonesia. His investigation uncovered a trafficking network being led by senior officials in the Royal Thai Army and in local government – eventually leading to the arrest of a military general.
Fearing retribution and for his life, Paween resigned from the police force and fled to Australia and sought asylum.
As Reuters reported at the time:
“Thailand’s former chief police investigator into human trafficking said on Thursday he is seeking political asylum in Australia and fears for his life if he goes home…Paween quit the police in November, saying an order to transfer him to Thailand’s south would expose him to revenge by members of trafficking syndicates still at large. National police chief Jakthip Chaijinda said at the time Paween could have asked for protection but chose to resign instead…”
With his bosses unwilling to protect him, Paween’s case is a tragic example of what happens when you hold power to account in Thailand. And if you have yet seen the documentary from 101 East, it is highly recommended.
Inconvenient Truth
The documentary from 101 East has prompted an online debate and some national soul searching, with many placing blame at the administration of Prayut Chan-ocha who was in power when the Paween case happened. They make the connection between Prayut, an army general who took power via a coup at the time of the incident, and the military network running the trafficking ring that Paween busted.
คดีค้ามนุษย์โรฮิงญาสะท้อนปัญหาทุกอย่างของรัฐทหาร/ตำรวจไทย – การทุจริตคอร์รัปชั่น การละเมิดสิทธิมนุษยชน การใช้อำนาจบาตรใหญ่อยู่เหนือกม. การแทรกแซงกระบวนการยุติธรรมเพื่อปกป้องคนผิด การกลั่นแกล้งเจ้าหน้าที่ที่ซื่อตรงจนอยู่ในระบบไม่ได้ การข่มขู่คุกคามคนที่พูดความจริง #ค้ามนุษย์
— prajak kong (@bkksnow) April 24, 2022
But the truth of the matter is that the human trafficking problem in Thailand predates the Prayut Chan-ocha government by years and is a black stain on many administrations. When the United States downgraded Thailand in its Trafficking in Persons report in 2015, it didn’t do so because of an immediate spike in human smuggling but a problem that existed from before Prayut took power, all the way through the Yingluck Shinawatra administration and the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration.
Unlike the fearlessness of Paween, the premiership of Abhisit, Yingluck, and other prime ministers that came before chose to ignore or be agnostic about human trafficking because they know how high up these networks go.
It is not wholly wrong to blame the Prayut administration about the trafficking situation in Thailand but it is shedding light on just a part of the picture. People like Paween should be celebrated and respected, but let’s not make the mistake of thinking he wouldn’t flea into exile due to a lack of protection during any of the other premierships.