End of Khmer Muslim visas

[rickfarang]

Comment: It seems that some people in this country are becoming both defensive and less tolerant of those who don't have the same set of beliefs. What's next - purging those who do not profess adherence to Buddhist precepts?

 

(Given the increasingly conservative laws and regulations in recent years, I can begin to imagine this happening some day.)

 

I can also see a parallel with gays moving en mass into some cities in the U.S. so as to have more of a voice in politics where they live. Ironic, no?

 

 

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Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=119290

 

End of Khmer Muslim visas sought

 

Sa Kaeo (TNA) â?? The Royal Thai Army's Burapa Task Force, which oversees the border with Cambodia, will advise the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider suspending issuing visas to Cambodian Muslims after finding that increasing numbers are crossing the border and travelling to the kingdom's southern provinces, a senior officer said on Thursday.

 

Burapha Special Task Force Division 12 commander Col. Chaichaiyan Sothornchai said the special task force is investigating information that the southern insurgents were using the strategy to increase the Muslim population in the three southernmost provinces by encouraging Muslims from Cambodia and Burma to join their co-religionists in the South.

 

According to immigration records, Col. Chaichaiyan said, since 2005 almost 20,000 Cambodian Muslims entered Thailand legally via Aranyaprathet in the Cambodian border province of Sa Kaeo, and then travel on to the southernmost provinces.

 

Of that number, according to the records, only 10 per cent returned to their home country, Col. Chaichaiyan said, expressing his concern regarding the rising number of Khmer Muslims entering Buddhist Thailand.

 

"There are also a lot of Cambodian Muslims who enter the kingdom illegally," he added, "and they cannot be counted."

 

The question of not issuing visas should be addressed carefully, he said, and the Burapa Task Force would ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Internal Security Operations Command to consider suspending issuing visas, temporarily, to Cambodian Muslims.

 

On Wednesday, Thai Army Rangers and provincial police arrested 48 Cambodians in the eastern province of Sa Kaeo, bordering Cambodia, at highway checkpoints there, while three more Cambodians were detained at the Aranyaprathet border crossing.

 

Of those arrested, eight are Muslims, travelling from Cambodia's Kampong Cham, who said they planned to go to Thailand's three southern border provinces to seek employment.

 

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

20,000 Cambodian Moslems enter legally but only 2000 return. How many entered illegally? Sounds like the USA.

[Flashermac]

The Cambodian Muslims are mainly the descendants of Chams, who had a major Hindu empire in SE Asia before the Viets and Khmer destroyed it. Then for some reason, the Chams in Cambodia generally adopted Islam. They were targeted by the Khmer Rouge, who killed the majority of them. Surprised there are many left to come to Thailand.