Repeated threats from homeland prompt Cambodians' exodus
Chitipat Janthong, a 55-year-old contractor who was building a 30-million-baht residence in tambon Pong of Bang Lamung district, said on Sunday that dozens of his Cambodian workers left his company for their homeland despite his efforts to retain them.
Mr Chitipat said the Thai-Cambodian border conflict had seriously affected his decades-long business because most of his construction workers were Cambodian. He preferred Cambodian workers for their good behaviour and construction skills.
After border clashes had erupted, he said, relatives in Cambodia have been calling migrant workers in Thailand, warning them their property and passports would be seized unless they returned home immediately, according to Thai contractor Chitipat. Workers were also told there would be no Cambodian consulate in Thailand and that they could face assaults from Thais, along with other alarming rumours.
'These messages deeply worried many Cambodian workers, and most eventually decided to leave,' Mr Chitipat said, adding that he now has only seven Cambodian employees left.
Dam, a 40-year-old Cambodian who has worked for Mr Chitipat for five years, said many of his compatriots had already gone back because of the rumours. He chose to stay at his employer's request, explaining that returning home would leave him jobless and unable to repay a housing loan. 'I don't want a war between Thailand and Cambodia,' he said.
Speedboat builder Sitthikorn Pomthong, 42, said Cambodians once made up over 80% of his workforce in tambon Huai Yai, Bang Lamung district, but half had already left. Their relatives, quoting village headmen, urged them to return or risk losing land and citizenship, and claimed they could be assaulted or mistreated by Thai medical staff. 'I tried to guarantee their safety, but it didn't work,' Mr Sitthikorn said, noting his factory now faces a severe labour shortage.
Ta, a 34-year-old Cambodian employee at the factory, said friends urged him to leave but he stayed because he trusted his employer and believed the Thai government respected Cambodian workers. He no longer watches Cambodian news, saying it would only worry him. 'I don't want Cambodians to hate Thais,' he said. 'Thailand is a safe place for Cambodian workers.'
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