CHIANG RAI, June 17 — As Cambodian workers continued to flow back to their home towns in large numbers due to a rumour that the Thai side has planned to eject all foreign labourers from the country, the situation at the Thai-Myanmar border has, on the contrary, remained normal, as no Myanmar workers were trying to go back home.
The atmosphere at the Thai-Myanmar border at Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district was still active as usual, where the local immigration office has seen the usual stream of Myanmar workers coming and going across the border like before; the opposite of what is happening at the Thai-Cambodian border.
Immigration Division 5 commander Pol Maj Gen Apirat Niyomkarn said his staff have inspected the border checkpoints in the northern region, which are under the jurisdiction of the division.
It was found that the numbers of Myanmar labourers crossing into Thailand from Nakhon Sawan province, as well as through the Mae Sai and Mae Sot border checkpoints has remained the same.
None of the Myanmar workers were trying to leave Thailand en masse to return home like the Cambodians crossing over the borders on the eastern and the northeastern regionsy.
Meanwhile, small numbers of Cambodian workers were seen returning to work to Thailand through the Thai-Cambodian border in Thailand’s eastern Chanthaburi province, a relatively small amount once compared with the figure of Cambodians returning home yesterday.
Local officials, entrepreneurs and tourism associations are urgently clarifying the situation to Cambodians, ensuring that what they heard were just rumours without any basis in fact.
