Migrant Workers: Myth of Reality

T Mapping globalization

,EDITOR .

EditorNaren Chitty

Contributingauthors

Naren Chitry

McKenzie Wark

Belinda Barnet

Scott Shaner

Adam Knee

Hart Cohen

Melissa Butcher

Stephen McElhinney

Yong Zhong

Anura Goonasekera

Momoyo Shibuya

Suda lshida

Jan Servaes andPatchanee Malikhao

Sripan Rattikalchalakorn

Bruce C.Allen

Lexicons of globalization

Mapping Know-ware Land

lsland in the gtream: On being a small country inthe global village.-

Hypertext, capitalism and military histor¡How to take down a machine's particulars

Webs of convergence: Genre and flow on theWorld Wide Web

Peter Weir's transnational aesthetic or 'What TrumanBurbank can tell us about global communication'

lnternational media and the crisis of identity

Satellite television and new subiectivites:Media consumption and the dynamÍcs of social andpolitical change

An imagined communitY of Youth:The formation of new subiectivities in lndia

Globalization of film and television:A comparison of thepreferences of adolescents in Australia 4nd Thailand

Alternative ùses of Chinese television and alternativepassages to power:An ethnographic study ofàlternative uses of television in l5 urban Chinese families

Transnational com munication; Establishing effectivelinkages between North and South

Ethnic distance in the different contexts¡A Japanese case

Reporting crises

Migrant workers: Myth or reality?

Thailand ¡n the lnternationol HeraldTribune:A content analysis

Thailand's economic crisis and its effects

Covering the'New World Order':Challenges for news dissemination

1ir"l"tl,p"?uNDlsBN 983-9054-24-4

Migrant workers:Myth or real¡t)r?

Suda lshida

Introduction

The 1997 economic crisis in Southeast Asia offers an opportunity for thisresearcher to study news patterns and narratives in mass-circulated English-language Thai newspaperc - The Nation and Barrykok Post. In an analysis ofnews stories about migrant workers from Indo-China and Burma" whichwere published in the two English-language Thai dailies during the periodof one year before and six months after the Asian financial slump beginningmid-1997, we see the media's use of news patterns a¡ld historical narrativeto make meaning of news in ways that reflect bias against these migrantworkers. Thai journalists employ news narratives to tell stories aboutoutsiders that fit into a socially and culturally constucted frame of 'them'versus 'us'. The narrative patterns, the author will argue, ca¡r be traced tothe pro-nationalist history of Thailand written by the 1930s, and may beseen as perpetuating stereotypes about Thailand's foreign neighbours.

In retrospect, uneven development in Southeast Asia and the economicboom of the late 1080s to the mid-1990s contributed to a¡ influx of labourinto Thailand from some of its poorer, formerly communist neighbours,including Burma, Cambodi4 Vietnam and Laos. Between 1993 and 1997,the -Thai government granted work permits to roughly 600,000 foreignworkers in a¡r effort to alleviate domestic labour shortages. Mostly unskilãdlabour, they found work in low-paying industries largely shunned by Thais,such as farm work, fishing, salt farming, building construction and ricemills. In spite of the large number of such permits, a daily English{anguageThai newspap e4 The Nalioa reported that nearly one million of these labou¡erswere-working illegally ('Thailand to deport 300,000 illegal', l6January l9g8).

The Asian financial crash in mid-lgg7 and the resulting economic slumpcreated a local job-market squeeze. Millions of Thai citizens lost their jobsand new.niversity graduates were unable to find work. The governmenlwhich had previously ignored the existence of unauthorizãd workers,clacked down on illegal entry and unlawful emplo¡nent. On 19 J*rury1998, the Labou¡ Ministry announced a plan to repatriate illegal immþants,

t82 Reporting críses

especially those from Burma" Laos and Cambodia. The plan received strongsupport from local labour unions but drew angry protests from thosebusinesses that relied heavily on the cheap labour of non-Thai workers('Rights and wrongs of repatriation', Bangkok Post, 7 March 1998). In theface of domestic political pressure, the government nonetheless remainedadamant, claiming that once the foreign workers were deported,unemployed Thai nationals would be able to fill the job vacancies. TheThai media played a significant role in setting the public agenda concerningthis issue. When the public debate on illegal immigrants was most intense,two nationally circulated newspapers - The Nation and the Bangkok Post -ra¡r extensive coverage of the government's deportation plan.

By integrating a social and a cultural theoretical approach, this chapterattempts to demonstrate that the English-language Thai press producesnews based on stereotypes ¿rnd story lines that resonate with cultural mythsabout Burmese and Indo-Chinese. These mostly pro-nationalist story linesare based on themes and plots that have appeared throughout much ofThailand's history since the 1930s, when the Thai military elite came to

Power.This study primarily employs a qualitative texhral analysis of news and

feature coverage of migrant workers appearing in Ihe Nation and the BangkokPosl betweenJanuary 1997 andJuly 1998 - one year before and six monthsafter the Thai government's official announcement to deport illegal migrantworkers. This period is important because it cove¡s the timeframe thatclearly illustrates the press's attitude toward migrant workers soon afterthe onset of the Asian economic crisis until after the Thai government'sofficia-l announcement of the deportation. By analyzing how a specific newsframe was used by the Thai press, this chapter attempts to outline theevolution of the news media's attitudes that in turn affected the manner inwhich the news was chronicled and meaning was made.

Conceptual frameworks

For the past half century, media scholars have attempted to answer twoquestions: 'What is news?' and 'Why does news appear as it does?' Differentperspectives focus on various aspects of news and journalistic practices.Berkowitz (1997) suggests that there is no way that only one perspectivecan explain the entire nature of news and the process of news-making; eachperspective reveals a different aspect of the same picture.

The notion that 'the world has to be made to mean' (Hall, 1982, p.67)raises questions about the role of the media as a centre for the process ofmeaning-making. Communication scholars firmly contend thatcommr:nication media need to share a minimal quarrturn of mutual culturaland ideological values with thei¡ audience. Within a given political,economic, social and cultural milieu, the media work to create and reinforce

Migrant uorkers: MTth or realitl? t83

specific images of the wo¡ld that s¡:¡round both themselves and their audience(Hardq 1992, p.172).

Various approaches have addressed the question of why media coverageof news concerning subcultures, subordinated class groups and foreignnationalities tends to be more negative than positive. Lippmann's Publicopirtion (1922) provides a classic explanation of stereotypical and biasedreporting in the media. Lippman believes that the media rely on certainstereotypes, based on their cultural and social values, to create a picture ofthe world to their audience. Meanwhile, the study of racism maintains thatthe media engage in 'institutionalized racism' by being prejudiced towarddifferent races and portraying them as social deviants (Dates & Barlow,1990; Entman, 1990, 1992; Lule, 1995; van Dijk, 1996). The politicaleconomy perspective argues that the media are used as propaganda tools'to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state andprivate activity' (Herman & Chomsky, 1988, p.xi).

However, the social meaning of news frameworks can also be used toexplain why the process of news production leads to a media bias againstcertain minorities, including women and homosexuals. Since newsproduction is constrained by such factors as the journalists' knowledgeabout topics, timing, sources, budget constraints, and institutional ideolog-y(Gans, 1979; Fishman, 1980; Tuchman, 1978), journalists tend to rely õncertain patterns a¡rd themes to provide templates for new stories in orderto accomplish their work within a limited time budget. Presenting news inthe narrative form helps make journalists' work easier, since they oftenmust produce many stories within a limited time frame; their storytellingskills help them meet deadlines (Colby & Peacock, 1973; Tìrchman, lg78;Vincent Crow & Davis, i989; Berkowitz, 1997).

Social and cultural perspectives, or what Schudson (1g91) calls atculturological' framework, are concerned with news ¿rs a human constructthat evolves around the s

Zelizer (1993) explains thShe posits that journalistsout of informal talks and professional gatherings. Through the discourse,

Journalists create share interpretations that make their professional livesmeaningful; that is, they use stories about the past to address dilemmasthat present themselves while covering news' (Zælize4 1993, p.85).

Berkowitz explains that'when journalists typig * occurrence to expeditethe reporting effort, they must decide on the general narrative structurethat best applies' (1997, p.321). The main components of the narrative arebased on the traditional who, what, where, why, how and when format(Vincent, Crow & Davis, 1989). Bennett and Édelman further note thatpopular plots require the identification of those who are 'virtuous, who arethreats to the good life, and which courses of action are effective solutions'(1985, p.159).

t84 Reþorting crises

Bird and Dardenne (tSa8) state that journalists, as members of a particularculture, are bound by a 'cultural grammar' (Colby, 1975) in framing therules of the narrative conskuction. The narrative structures, therefore' are

based on cultures and values shared by journalists and their audiences.

Galtung and Ruge (1965) note that the mythical elements of news as derivedfrom 'resonance' refer to the notion that readers read - and journalists

write - the same stories ove¡ and over again. The princþle of consona¡rce

ensures that events that may actually be different are encoded intoframeworks that are already understood and familiar (Gattung & Ruge,

1965). The nanative, then, incorporates the past into the present (White,

1987), with news patterns giving them a'skeleton on which to hang the

flesh of the new story' (Bird & Dardenne, 1988, p.73).

Bi¡d and Dardenne (1988) further find that most news accounts are

reported as 'chronicles' of sequences of eveits or stories, rather than as

inãividual stories. Referred to by Tuchman (I97a) as 'the routinization ofthe unexpected', through the chronicle the overall structure of myth isemphasizãd while individual stories are not. In facl the criteria for what

should be chronicled changes over time. By tracing the changes in news

chronicles, we can lea¡n a great deal about a culture and its dominantvalues. Schudson (i989) further points out that journalists' views of theirworld are formed by the cultural frameworks in which they function.

In our relations with different social and cultural grouPs' group ideologya¡rd collective identity need to be clearly defined by answering such questions

as: ''Who are we?', 'Where do we come from?', ''\dho is included in our

group?' that

ielations onalidentity and

Tìrrner ( oPl"are aware of the existence of al 'other'. For example, research that focuses

policies as 'us', adversarial/different as 'them' (Dahlgren with Chakrapani,

1982; St".t ".rson

& Gaddy, f994). Smith (1992) finds that historians often

use symbolic representation of 'self' and 'others' as an instrument to'construct' or 'invent' the sense of a nation, especially during periods ofnationalism.

Migront uork¿rs: Mltth or realitl? lBs

Journalism and historical narrative

Although there is a general assumption that news media in different cultureshave different aims and emphases, Bird and Dardenne (tSaS) argue thatwriting news as a narrative is a skill learned and generally adopted byjournalists to organize information more clearly and effectively. Thejournalists' use of the narrative as a means of shaping the social and culhrralconstructions of reality is also paralleled by the narrative methods thathistoria¡s rely upon to construct a national history. Reynolds (1993) statesthat historians reconstruct the past by making stories out of chronicles,reducing the richness of history to a mere sequence of events. 'Historiesthat are particularly successful at conveying an e:iplanation of the past doso because they tell a story that fits a sequence of historical events like ahand in a glove' (Reynolds, 1993, p.313).

White (1981) uses the term 'employment' to describe the process ofselecting a story line to fit historical evidence, 'essentially a literary, that isto say fiction-making, operation' (White, 1985, p.85). Grossma¡ (1978) a-lso

notes that nationalist historians believe that the use of employment as fiction-making is 'liberating'. 'It is a source of freedom, because it restores tohuman beings their role as makers of meaning' (Grossman, 1978, p. 33).

Bird and Dardenne (1988) assert that news is a particular kind ofmythological narrative with its own symbolic codes that are easilyrecognized by the audience. 'We know when we read or hea¡ a news story,that we are in a particular "narrative situation" (Barthes, 1982), that requiresa particular kind of sta¡ce to be understood. News stories, like myths, donot 'tell it like it is", but rather, "tell it like it means"' (Bird & Dardenne,1988, p.71).

Myths, according to Hall (1984), must be constantly retold to be effective,with themes being rearticulated and reinterpreted over time. Stories, then,do not have to be recreated every time the need arises; instead, they areconstaatly derived from themes that already exist (Hall, 1984). Narrativesa¡e coauthored by those who tell stories and those who read them. Oschs(1998) states that how we think about ourselves and others.is influenced byboth the message content of jointly told narratives and the experience ofworking together to conskuct a coherent narrative.

Historical myths in the Thai context

In his study of the Thai media and foreign policy, Lewis (1996) finds thatthe official Thai view of foreþ policy usually stresses its historical successby emphasizing that Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation never tohave been colonized by the West. This view holds that even though Thailandwas a 'front line state' during the Metnam War (according to the DominoTheory), it has managed to not only survive but to thrive in the world

:

t86 Reporling øises

market economy. Malways closely linkedsovereignty and theneighbours (Snitwon

cultures.Kasetsiri (tggS) ctaims that the relationship between Th::ÏX1#,i"'l:

thei ces of cheaP labour

, ¿Ln In historical terms'

Thais view Burmese and Vietnamese as threats. While the Burmese are

because of the1569-1584 and 1

rt lo expand its

Cambodia. Thais also see Laotians and Cambodians as inferior. Betlveen

the mid-1800s and the expansionist military took

control over some parts , and today Thais generally

believe that Laos ãnd off under Thai protection19s8).

s that the national identify of the Thai state

in an effort to legitimize the shift of power

1995, p.100).During the cold war, the consensus in favour of rnaintaining unity in

nation-statés was at its height. After the 1950s, Burma, Vietnam, Laos and

Cambodia had turned to communism and were receiving massive military

suppor or China. In response to the perceived

threat Theory, the Thai military government

institut unist propaganda and repression. When

Migrant workers: Mlth or realiq? t87

anti-communist sentiment was at its peak, the Thai national media wereused by the government to spread rumours about their communistneighbours' conspiracy against Thailand.

One rampant story, for example, told of Vietnamese. magic potions thatshrank penises and induced impotence in Thai men. The mysterious penis-shrinking additives were said to have been mixed in food sold inMetnamese-owned restaurants in Thailand. National radio stations broadcaststories of blood-sucking vampires who kidnapped children in order to feedwounded communist guerrillas (Bowie, 1997) who were hiding themselves

along the Thai-Laos-Cambodia borders. By describing these vampires as

'wearing indigo-dyed shirts, flip-flops, shoulder bags and significantly,eyeglasses', the government-sponsored popular movement exacerbatedxenophobia and anti-communist sentiment that ultimately resulted in the

massacre of students (who mostly dressed in the âttire of the so-calledvampires) at Thammasat University in October 1976 (Bowie, 1997).

The legacy of its deliberately constructed political history may make itdifficult fo¡ Thailand to maintain an indifferent attitude toward itsneighbours, despite the fact that communism in Eastem Europe has collapsedand Thailand's formerly communist neighbours have embraced capitalisteconomic systems. According to the offìcial Thai view, Thailand remainsa 'front-line' state, confronting perceived threats that come from politicalinstability and economic poverty in neighbouring countries such as Burmaand Indo-China (Lewis, 1996).

Methodology

Altheide (1996) explains that the study of theme and frame is used inethnographic textual analysis to capture the emphasis and meaning of newscreated by the media. Altheide explains that frame, theme and discourseare related to the communication format of selection, organization andpresentation of information (1996, p.29). By recognizing the format,researchers are able to recognize frames that give a general definition ofwhat is before us.

Goffman (1974) believes that frame can be used as a schematic ofinterpretation that enables researchers to locate, perceive, identify, andlabel 'occurrences of information'. Further, the study of theme providesresearchers with ideas that 'connect different semantic elements of a storyinto a coherent whole' (Pan & Kosicki, 1993). Lule also suggests that'thoughpress portrayals are complex and subject to multiple interpretations, textualanalysis can be valuable in pointing out how stereotypical depictions are

invoked through the language and conventions of the press' (Lule, 1995,

p.177).

In the examination of how the Englishlanguage Thai press f¡ames newscoverage of migrant workers, three questions are addressed:

I

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ì:

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t88 Reþortíng crises

1. What are the predominant themes that appear in the Thai pressconcerning migrant workers from Burma and Indo-Chinesecountries?

2. Do these themes explain news narratives found in the Thai news-papers?

3. Do these themes reflect the common myths about foreign neighboursthat a¡e perpetuated in Thai history?

For a number of reasons, two English-language newspapers - the Bangkok

Post and The Nation - were chosen for this ¡esearch. Firsl the two newspapersprovide daily on-line publications that can be easily accessed through theInte¡net. Second, the two newspapers are mostly read by the Thai elitesand policy-makers even though their circulation of both newspapers is notlarge - approximately 50,000 for The Nation a¡rd 60,000 for the BangkokPost (Eng, 1997). A total of 40 news articles and editorial commentariesthat appeared during the studied period were examined to see how thesetwo influential newspapers presented the picture of migrant workers duringthe economic crisis.

Findings

Migrant workers: A perceived threat to national securityMigrant workers are often depicted by the English-language Thai press ¿rs

criminals, social deviants, job stealers, and diseased predators who pose adistinct threat to Thailand's national security. The Thai authorities are saidto have their hands tied because of concerns regarding relations with othercountries and human rights violations.

Evidently, the dominant image that Thais see of their neighbours throughthe media's lens is almost exclusively that of the threat that these neighbourspose to the national security and economic well-being of Thailand. In The

Nation (14 April 1997) a police chief stated that the presence of illegalimmigrants in Thailand posed a threat to natio4al security and had givenrise to social problems because they were 'part of criminal gangs and amajor source of new diseases'. According to the police chief, the policedepartment was too short of funding to be able to crack down on the illegalentry of foreign labourers due to the increasing cost of detaining them. On28 May L997 The Nation echoed this negative theme by quoting anacademician who warned that the huge number of Burmese immigrantsposed a 'big threat to Thaiiand's national security concerning crime, socio-politics, economics, health care, and foreign policy'.

Tlae Bangkok Post on l3July 1997 presented a feature on the increasingflow of foreign workers seeking jobs in Thailand as being at the root ofproblems associated with 'huma¡r smuggling' activities, narcotics and othe¡illicit goods. This 'has given the Thai government a headache', and anyattempt to solve these problems would 'become a continuing war', said the

Migrønt uorke¡s: Mlth or realþ? t89

Bangkok Posf. 'Our major task now is smashing the gangs', reported theBangkok Post in the same issue.

Both of these publications repeatedly presented stories in which allforeign workers from neighbouring countries '$¡ere depicted as being plaguedwith various diseases. For example, the BangkoÉ posf issue of g Deiember

" 1996 discussed the practice of testing migrant workers for HIV. under thesame theme, The Nation (27 April 1997) had a bold headline claiming:'Disease still rampant with influx of migrants'. The story began with a leadparagraph that used an accusing tone regarding migrants bringing variousdiseases into Thailand, despite the Thai government's hard efforts to curbinfectious disease such as AIDS, malarig tuberculosis, syphilis, elephantiasisand leprosy.

According to the Bangkok Post (i March 1998), medical expenses forillegal immigrants we¡e estimated to be as high as 100 million baht (roughlyUS$3 million) a year. Further, migrant workers from poorer countries weresaid to have entered Thailand for the primary purpose of taking advantageof medical resources that are provided for Thai nationals. The reporterquoted a high-ranking public health official: 'Say we have 100 beds in ahospital, 60 beds might be taken up by Burmese immigrants. It is a dilemmabecause if we do not treat these people, they might spread new strains ofdiseases to Thais. But if we spend our resources on them, the locals willcomplain.'

Foreign workers were also associated with increasing crime rates incities with large numbers of migrant workers. On 13 January Lgg8, TheNation interviewed a metropolitan police chief concerning the increasedrate of criminal activity resulting from the economic slump. The policechief was quoted as saying 'This [illegal immigrants who commit ciimes]is a very big p e many types ofillegaì immigr in this country,and some use onetheless, théyeither directly These criminJsare often violent, as has been shown in cases involving businessdisagreements, killings, and the mutilation of the corpses . . ., The increasein criminal activities, according to the police chief, was indirectly causedby the fact that 'immigrants take away jobs which would otherwise havegone to Thais, resulting in a rise in unemployment,.

The Bangkok Posú's report on I March 19g8 wrote that Thais had not

t90 Reþortíng crises Migrant uorkers: Mlth or realíq? l9l

person to a death sentence'.In addition to being portrayed as victims of the Thai system, migrant

workers were fuÍher depicted as being unwanted by their own counþr. On16 January 1998, The Nation cited. ¿ùn arrny general who said 'it is urgentthey [migrant workers] be deported because they could pose short andlong-term problems for us, particularly where security is concerned. Deportfirst a¡d discuss later. Deportation is not an easy job, we could be criticizedof not being aware of human rights.' In the same article, a high-ralkingnational security official expressed doubt about whether the country oforigin of the migrant workers would take their own citizens back. Thestory implied that the unfortunate migrant workers were caught in a hopelesssituation. Hence, the migrant workers could be better off under Thaiprotection.

Discussion and implications

In the analysis of the press coverage of migrant workers, two dominantand conflicting themes emerge. While one evolves around stories of migrantworkers being threats to nalional security, the other portrays them as victimsof the Thai government's political expediency. The findings support thehypothesis that the Thai press uses certain patterns to report stories aboutforeign neighbours. Whether consciously or not, the press compresses themore complicated issues concerning illegal immigrant workers in Thailandby compiling them into two superficial and uncomplícated themes - threatversus victim.

These two themes, repeated over and over again throughout the studiedperiod of more tha¡r one yeaÍ, are drawn mainly from the Thai government'sviews of foreign neighbours and the mytho-historical relationship betweenThailand and its neighbours. Since the stories are reported in chronicleform, readers can easily recognize a¡d assimilate the symbolic codes, mylhicstructures, themes and plots that are used in the reports.

First, by framing the theme of 'threat', the press fills in minor detailssuch as the migrant workers' threat to public health, economic well-being,crime and social diso¡der. All of these problems are linked to nationalsecurity concerns and appear to justify the government's repatriation plan.The second picture of migrant workers is framed to show that rnigrantworkers are weak, unfortunate, and helpless victims. In this case, the English-

to lay off alien workers because

economy'. The same a¡ticle also

speedily launch a Program to PuBefore the dePortation Plan was'

been caused bY foreign workers as

1997, the newsPaPer rePorted on a

criticized the govemment's decision

shortage. In the same reP

;o.,-"ñ labour ,merely tò nterests of a small group of selfish

"*pfîy"t. who wa¡ted to cheap workers to- boost products

from their labour-intensiv ted industrie:'' fhg uncontrolled

""*u,,of f oreisnro^:ïilï1K,^i#:::::::::::::::::;ï"3:#å?T,n^f "i;,Î3ä

the influx of migrant workers that rose to

erefore, the report it"t"d, it might be impossible

to solve the problems'

The migrant worker as exPlo¡ted victim.s who posed a threat to

picts migrant workers as

98, The Nation comParedbe 'swatted' at anY time bY Thai

r ignored when times are good', and

'easily disposed of when thing hrrns sour''

o" t tvt"r.n 1998, the Bangkok Post ra¡ an extensive feature questioning

the ,Rights and wrongs of repãtriation'. The story questioned the morality

of the Thai government in deporting migrant workers to their home country.

A ,rypical, illegal worker wasportrayed as being 'obedient', 'hard working',

ani ireliablei. According tó the same rePort, most of these people,

unprotected by Thai law, were abused by unscrupuþus Thai businesses

thai paid -.g", lo*", tha¡r the legal minimum wage' 'Those who [are] sick

simply leave or die', said the Bangkok Post.

îñe Nation's editorial on 8 April 1998 echoed the same theme found in

the Bangkok Post. The article told its readers that migrant workers we¡e,victims to the worst kind of abuses - low Pay, horrendous workingconditions, unsanitary living quarters, seizure of their travel documents,

sexual assault especially for those working as domestic helpers, "nd those

duped into the sex industry. some never make it home. Again, The Nation

quLstioned the government's repatriation policy by arguing that these

fãreign workers were merely victims of the economic crisis in Southeast

Asian countries. These 'workhorses', sard The Nation,'a¡e made convenientscapegoats, rounded up and deported'.

language T on offìcial sources' reflecting

hisìâriãaly their foreign neighbours'

By follo rt themes, this author will argue that the

n"glí.t -l*g"age Thai newsPaPers generally,ignore the more complicated

socioeconomic and f"ri,i"år t"o'"' oí l"-boot migration' unequal

development pace in 'southeast Asia, and Thailand's domestic political

"on¿it¡rr that ar" linked to migrant labour' Other humanistic elements

concerning migrant workers u'" á'o overlooked' Not all migrant workers

are 'weak' and 'obedient' victims, and it is also doubdul that they are the

main cause for rising crime rates a¡rd social unrest in Thailand'

According to the sociological aP

by EnglishJanguage Thai journ

and among media organizations

timeframe; their storytelling skills al

the English-language Thai Preto make the meaning of news

the need to ,humanize' and 'sensationalize' events to attlact a larger

readership.Yet,thepress'sreproductionofcertainimagesofforeignnationals is Problematic.

t92 RePorting críses

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t94 R¿þortiflg crises

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Kasetsiri, C. (1998) an interview in Varunpitikul, Y. & Tangwisutijit, N. 'TRF-sponsoredproject dispel myth', The Nation, 22, August.

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Newspaper articles

'Over 1,000 illegals nabbed in immigration crackdown', Tlu Naiion,lJanuary 1997-

'Getting through the back do or' , Bangkok Post, 9 March 1997.

'Illegal immigrants targeted', The Nation, 26 March 1997.

'White-collar layoffs loom', The Nation, 29 March 1997.

'Offìcial vows to crack down on illegal a)terrs' , The Nation, I April 1997.

'Diseases still rampant with inflr:x of migrants', The Nation, 27 Aprn L997.

'Research agency sees benefìts from foreigners', The Nation, 27 Apnl 1997.

Academics flay govt.' alien policy', The Nation, 27 May 1997.

'Warning sounded over illegal foreign workers', The Nation, 27 May 1997.

'Repressive Slorc rule blamed for Burmese influx', The Nation,28 May 1997.

'Labour chíef attacks policy', The Nation, SJuty 1997.

'War against flesh smuggling gangs' , Bangkok Post, 13 Jttly L997.

'Employers want foreign workers to lose their jobs', The Nation,23 August 1997.

'New holding centers sought for Burmese', Bangkok Post, 31 October 1997.

'Alien workers held in raid on factory', Bangkok Post, 1 November 1997.

'Human tra.fficking on rise in re $on' , The Notio¿ 11 Novernber 1997.

'Fishing maybe lifeline', Ihe Natiory 10 December 1997.

'Police chiefforesees hard year for force', The Nalioa l3January 1998.

'Thailand to deport 300,000 illegals', The Nation, l6Jaauary 1998.

i{'t the bottom of economic barr el', The N ation, 19 February 1998.

'Mae Sot in dilemma over deportâtion', Bangkok Post,l March 1998.

'Rights and wrongs of repatriatton', Bangkok Posr, 1 March 1998.

'Immigrants can bring powerful influences', The Nalion, 12 Ma¡ch 1998.

'Ouster of Burmese "impossible",' Bøngkok Pos¿, 15 Ma¡ch 1998.

'Illegals seek edge over poverty', Bangkok Post,3l March 1998.

Alien workers find El Dorado no city of gold', The Na1ion,20 April !998.'Reprieve from illegal labour purge pain', The Natian" 30 Aprit 1998.

'Businesses protest huge crackdown on alíers' , Bangko,k Posf, lJune 1998.

'Rice labou¡ers fear repakiation', The Notiov 3July 1998.

'Rice mills close in protest over alien worker crackdown', The Nalion,3July 1998.

Migrant uorkers: Mlth or realitl?

'Final decision on illegal labour pending', Ike Nation,4July 199g.'Shiftin policy on alien staffhinted at,,Ihe Nation,5July 199g.'Rice millers press govt on alien workers', The Nation,6July lg9g.'Tiairong's labour plal backfires', The Nation, TJuly 1998.

'Rice millers agree to resume operations', The Natian,TJuly 19g8.'Rice millers ask for leniency',Ihe Naiion,8July 1993.'Two agencies to study issue of alien workers,,The Nation,llJuly 199g.'Govt committee eases ba¡r on illegal worken,,The Natinn l6July lggg.'Illegal immigrants found with diseases on list face deportation,, g angkok post,

3lJuly 1998.

'Crackdown on alien workerc', Ihe Nation,3lJuly 1998.

t97