People’s Party MP defends call to register all migrant workers
Opposition party-list MP clarifies that his party’s push to register illegal Myanmar workers aims to combat corruption and crime, not to prioritise their rights over those of Thais
An opposition MP explained that his party simply wanted to end the corruption and crimes related to the employment of unregistered Myanmar workers, not to promote their rights at the cost of Thais.
People’s Party party-list MP Parit Wacharasindhu was responding on Wednesday to attacks on Thai social networks claiming the party wanted to boost the rights of Myanmar workers at the cost of the country and Thai taxpayers’ money.
The party’s stance was questioned by some critics after its MPs expressed concerns about the rights of Myanmar workers. The questions also gave rise to hashtags like “Myanmar People’s Party” doing the rounds on social networks.
In his explanation on Wednesday, Parit admitted that it was a sensitive issue and may affect public sentiment.
“But the People’s Party policy is that any issue affecting people’s quality of life should be addressed openly, even if it’s sensitive,” he said.
He added that his party estimates that are some 6 million Myanmar nationals working in Thailand and half of them are doing so unlawfully due to a corrupt collusion between law enforcers and employers.
“This is a challenge the government must deal with. Since they’ve entered the country unlawfully to work, it leads to corruption and state agencies lack a central database to deal with them,” he added.
Parit went on to say that unregistered Myanmar workers may also cause social issues, so it will be tough for the state to supervise and take care of them.
Plus, he added, if all workers are added to the system, they will all pay taxes.
Hence, he said, the only way of handling this issue and preventing corruption and crime will be to register and legalise all migrant workers. This way the government will have a database, and this will benefit Thais in the long run.
