PM floats coast guard plan to check illegals

The proposal comes amid continuing pressure to investigate the Navy's recent actions against Rohingya migrants from Burma, in which many are reported to have died.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the proposal was to integrate several agencies, such as the Navy and the water police, into a coast guard unit to patrol territorial waters.

Abhisit chaired a National Security Council meeting yesterday to discuss security matters, including the controversial Rohingya boat people.

"I made clear in the meeting that the Rohingya were illegal migrants and we needed to block them (from entering)," he said.

The Rohingya who had already migrated to Thailand were in large enough numbers to have their own community and association, Abhisit said.

The latest Rohingya controversy emerged with reports the Navy had pushed nearly 1,000 of them back out to sea in December. Survivors told the Indian coast guard and international media they were forced into a boat with no engine and little food and water and abandoned on the high seas.

In the meeting, the Navy deputy chief of staff Vice Admiral Yuthana Fangpolngam told the Prime Minister that the Navy took 205 Rohingya boat people from Surin Island into custody on December 12. They carried no weapons but soldiers need to tie their thumbs together to prevent resistance, a source quoted Yuthana as saying to Abhisit.

The practice was in line with international standards and without "inhuman action as reported by foreign media, he said. The boat people were detained until December 14 before being transferred to other agencies in accordance with legal procedure, he said. Yuthana did not tell the Prime Minister how some survivors happened to float to India to tell their story.

The government was coordinating with Burma through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or Bimstec, to tackle the root cause of the boat people problem, Prime Minister Abhisit said.

The PM said he was pleased the UNHCR was working to solve the problem as the same UN refugee agency takes care of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Domestic agencies concerned with refugees must enforce the law to crack down on human trafficking syndicates, he said.