SPEAKERS HIGHLIGHT MIGRANT WORKER POLICY, NEW TECHNOLOGY IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000090

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, DRL AND G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG SOCI ECON ELAB SCUL ECPS PROP TH BM
SUBJECT: SPEAKERS HIGHLIGHT MIGRANT WORKER POLICY, NEW TECHNOLOGY IN
MEDIA

REF: A. Chiang Mai 59 (Community Radio)

B. Bangkok 1053 (Local Broadcast Media)

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Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly.

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Summary and Comment
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1. (U) As Thailand grapples with its policy towards migrant
workers and in the wake of media getting caught in the
crosshairs of Thai domestic politics, Consulate Chiang Mai
hosted two PA speakers funded by Embassy Bangkok on migrant
labor and citizen journalism June 19-20. Both programs were
well-attended, and participant feedback has been very positive.
The former program in particular was an opportunity for NGOs and
government officials to discuss vexing issues face-to-face in a
non-confrontational setting with an independent moderator.


2. (U) Comment: These programs helped further the mission's
goals of democracy promotion and enhancing international
understanding. Treatment of migrant workers will be an issue in
Thailand as long as the Burmese economy continues to flounder
and the regime there continues to oppress its people. Building
individuals' capacity to accurately report news will be key to
Thailand's democratic development. Consulate Chiang Mai would
welcome additional speakers on these topics. End Summary and
Comment.

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Migrant Workers: Drawing on U.S. Experiences
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3. (U) There are an estimated 2,000,000 Burmese residing in
Thailand, most of whom are illegal migrant workers. The
presentation by Dr. Philip Martin, a labor economist at the
University of California Davis, about employing migrants in a
recession, was therefore very timely. After explaining the
roots of the current economic downturn, Dr. Martin focused on
policy responses, ranging from the accommodating environment of
places like San Francisco, which issues identity cards to
illegal migrants, to other locales, which fine employers for
hiring them.


4. (U) Over 32 participants from several provinces of northern
Thailand attended Dr. Martin's presentation, representing
provincial and local government, immigration, the judiciary, law
enforcement, and NGOs, including ethnic Burmese groups that
advocate on behalf of migrant workers. The Deputy Governor of
Tak Province, which borders Burma and is home to thousands of
Burmese migrant workers, attended for the full day.


5. (U) The discussion was lively, with questions covering
topics such as social security, wages, benefits, workmen's
compensation, education for the families of migrant workers,
deportation and healthcare. The afternoon session saw a civil
but very lively debate between public prosecutors, health
officials and NGOs in which they expressed their differing views
regarding whether RTG policy toward migrant workers sufficiently
takes the needs and rights of workers into account. That led to
a discussion of whether NGOs were making proper use of the Thai
legal system to seek redress on behalf of workers. Dr. Martin
artfully guided the exchange, emphasizing that no country had
perfect migrant worker policies, but that all stakeholders had
to join together to craft measures that made sense for Thailand.


6. (U) Dr. Martin made three key recommendations for Thai
policy toward migrant workers.

-- Migrant workers should be compensated on par with their
documented Thai counterparts. Failure to do so gives a
competitive advantage to employers who hire migrants due to the
lower wages and fewer benefits they receive. Equal compensation
would also benefit Thai workers, Dr. Martin noted. By allowing
firms to pay migrant workers lower wages, the RTG creates
disincentives for businesses to hire Thai workers.

-- Thailand should establish incentives to reinforce existing
rules. If a company ensures that a legal migrant worker returns
to Burma at the end of his contract, the employer might be
allowed to hire another migrant worker, or might be given a tax
break. Workers who voluntarily return could be reimbursed the
funds they paid into the Thai Social Security system.

-- The Thai Government, instead of unilaterally announcing new
migrant worker policies as it has done in the past, should work
consultatively with NGOs and other actors to craft a better,
more equal policy from the outset. These insights were

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particularly relevant since Dr. Martin previously worked at the
Thai Ministry of Labor.

Dr. Martin used his closing remarks to emphasize that managing
migration is an adaptive process, not a problem to be solved.
Employers, migrant workers, and local workers will all respond
to changes in migration and labor policy, creating a need for
future policy revisions. Thus, government officials and
relevant stakeholders must be willing to engage in ongoing and
honest debates about the trade-offs inherent in any migration
policy change.

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Applying New Technology to Old Media
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7. (SBU) In a separate program, journalism professor Suzanne
McBride of Columbia College in Chicago held three sessions and
gave two on-camera interviews on the topic of citizen
journalism. The first of her sessions was hosted by Internews,
an organization that trains Burmese journalists in northern
Thailand with USG funding. Internews brought together more than
nine citizen journalists from several northern Thailand-based
exile media outlets for a discussion and interactive workshop on
how to be an effective citizen journalist, and how to apply new
technology to one's work. A group of trainees conducted an
on-camera interview with Ms. McBride after the June 19 session.


8. (U) On June 20, Ms. McBride gave a talk to over 30 community
radio operators from several northern Thai provinces, focusing
on how to take full advantage of new technologies like i-Phone,
Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites.


9. (U) She also gave audience members, whose stations cover
issues ranging from cultural preservation to environmental
protection, a chance to voice their biggest challenges as
community radio operators, to which she responded by providing
practical suggestions on how to address the issues. Challenges
discussed included fund-raising and volunteer recruitment. Ms.
McBride also shared some new citizen journalism techniques, such
as allowing competitors to run one's stories to ensure wide
dissemination.


10. (U) The same afternoon, Ms. McBride provided hands-on
training to university students and citizen journalists working
for the Thai Public Broadcasting Service on the basic principles
of citizen journalism. As part of the workshop, she broke the
audience into small groups to discuss interviewing techniques
and formulate an approach designed to elicit information from a
person who is difficult to interview. After the group
discussion, two representatives from each group conducted mock
interviews with McBride, who pretended to be the Minister of
Public Health, in an effort to pry loose information about the
H1N1 situation in Thailand. After the workshop, several
university students interviewed Ms. McBride for an article they
are compiling for their school newspaper.


11. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Bangkok.
MORROW