Monitoring questions mount
Official from Cambodian immigration, law enforcement and diplomatic circles were either unaware of, or unwilling to talk yesterday about, an alleged request from the Thai government to help monitor Cambodian Muslims crossing into the country. … News of the alleged monitoring surfaced on Monday when Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa told the Bangkok Post that thousands of Cambodian Muslims were entering Thailand as “tourists” every day, and that the Immigration Bureau was given instructions to keep tabs on their movements. He also said that Cambodian authorities would be asked to co-operate. But the Cambodian ambassador to Thailand, You Ay, said she had not received any such requests…. Over the past eight years, the [Thai] south has been a hotspot of brutal violence as insurgents waged a deadly campaign against the government to seek an independent Muslim state. But Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Cambodian Muslims who cross into Thailand are seeking work, not warfare. …
