BANGKOK — Redshirts will not gather publicly to mark the fifth anniversary of the military assault on Redshirt protesters tomorrow, in compliance with the junta's ban on political activities, according to a top leader of the movement.

Thida Thawornseth, deputy chairperson of the Redshirts' official umbrella organization, the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), said a large gathering like in previous years could draw "trouble" from the junta, which outlawed public gatherings after seizing power from a Redshirt-backed government one year ago.

Redshirts rally at Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok to commemorate the first anniversary of the 19 May crackdown, 19 May 2011

"Relatives of the deceased will hold separate religious ceremonies in different places on their own," Thida told Khaosod yesterday. "Redshirts will also hold religious ceremonies in small groups."

On 19 May 2010, the military mounted a violent assault on thousands of Redshirt demonstrators who had been occupying Bangkok's financial district for a month and a half. The crackdown followed weeks of skirmishes between the protesters and security forces, transforming parts of Bangkok into a war zone. More than 90 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the unrest.

In the past, tens of thousands of Redshirts have assembled in Bangkok to mark two key events of the crackdown – the military assaults of 10 April and 19 May. Yet the ruling junta’s tight lid on political activities has forced Redshirts to scrap both plans this year.

Last month, the junta blocked Redshirts' attempt to organize a religious ceremony commemorating the bloody confrontation of 10 April 2010. After the public event was canceled, soldiers went further and asked relatives of victims who died in the crackdown to conduct private ceremonies at their homes, instead of attend a Buddhist ceremony at the same temple.

Speaking to Khaosod yesterday, Thida said she hoped the junta would allow Redshirts and relatives of the victims to commemorate the anniversary in peace tomorrow. 

"If the government still prevents them from holding [private ceremonies], it means that the government is too hostile to the people," Thida said. "I don't mind obstructing people who intend to hold political rallies, but in this case, they are even paranoid of people who want to hold religious ceremonies. That is a human rights violation."

The chairman of the junta, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, was one of the commanders behind the crackdown five years ago.

Yesterday, a small group of Redshirts held a religious ceremony in Ratchaburi province in memory of Maj.Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol, a rogue general who sided with Redshirts during the protests in 2010. Maj.Gen. Khattiya, aka Commander Red, was shot by a sniper on 13 May 2010 and died in the hospital four days later. 

Security officers did not interfere with the ceremony. 

Compensation fund inquiry

Thida, the UDD's deputy chairperson, also criticized Thailand’s anti-corruption agency for launching an investigation into members of the previous government who oversaw a program that provided financial compensation to families of the 2010 crackdown victims. 

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has charged former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and 34 of her Cabinet members with abuse of power for the payments, totaling 1.9 billion baht, which the NACC said was delivered to maintain political support from the Redshirts. 

"It is considered an abuse of power that damaged the country's finances and budgets, because 1.921 billion baht payment was handed out with the intention to score political gain," said NACC member Vicha Mahakhun on 14 May.

Thida said the Yingluck administration processed the payments legally, and noted other precedents, such as the government's financial compensation to victims of the pro-democracy uprising in 1992. 

"Does the NACC want the relatives of the deceased to return the money?" Thida said. "They may return the money to you, but can you give back lives of their relatives?"

Payao Akhard, who daughter was killed in the crackdown on 19 May 2010, said she was angered by the NACC's suggestion that the compensation money was unusually high.

"They say 7.5 million baht per [deceased] person is too high, so how much does the NACC value these people's lives?" Payao asked. "And how much do you [NACC members] value your own lives?" 

BANGKOK – Thailand’s King has bestowed a royal coffin to a widely-revered monk who died this morning at the age of 92.

Luang Phor Koon, the abbot of Wat Ban Rai temple in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, died at 11:45am at a hospital in the province today. Doctors said he suffered from internal bleeding and a respiratory malfunction.

Luang Phor Koon was one of Thailand’s most celebrated monks. His audience was requested by many prominent figures, including high-profile politicians, businessmen, and even His Majesty the King. The monk also presided over the manufacturing of numerous amulets, which are highly sought after by his supporters.

As a token of respect, the Royal Household Bureau announced that His Majesty has bestowed a royal coffin for Luang Phor Koon, describing it as an “extraordinary case.”

In a will written in 2000, Luang Phor Koon requested a simple funeral, and asked to have his body donated to Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Medicine for anatomy studies. After his body is returned, it will be cremated and his ashes will be scattered along Mekong River, the will requests.

Luang Phor Koon joined the monkhood at age 21.

JAKARTA (DPA) — Indonesian fishing boats and marine police rescued nearly 800 migrants Friday from a sinking vessel, a military official said, as South-East Asia's migrant crisis continued to unfold.

The migrants, believed to be mostly of the Rohingya ethnic group from Myanmar and Bangladesh, were initially prevented from reaching the shore pending a consultation with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, military spokesman Fuad Basya said.

However, because their boat was about to sink off Aceh province, local fishermen and marine police moved to rescue the migrants and took them to the Kuala Langsa port in Aceh's Langsa city.

"Our job is to prevent undocumented ships from entering our territory, but if it is a humanitarian situation we will help," Fuad said.

Langsa police chief Sunarya Sik said the boat was crowded, and passengers were jostling when fishermen spotted the vessel.

"According to information from the migrants, they had entered Malaysian waters, but Malaysian security authorities turned them away," the police chief was quoted as saying by news website Tempo.co.

Indonesia is not a party to the 1951 United Nations refugee convention but in the past has sheltered migrants pending verification of their refugee status by UN refugee agency UNHCR.

The military said it towed a migrant boat Monday out of Indonesian waters, insisting that the migrants intended to go to Malaysia.

Nearly 600 Bangladeshis and Rohingyas were rescued from another boat Sunday off Aceh.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called Friday for an international solution to the worsening situation.

"This is an issue of international and regional importance," he said. "We are in contact with all relevant parties with whom we share the desire to find a solution to this crisis."

Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency beefed up patrols to prevent migrants from entering the country, after more than 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi boat people landed this week on the northern island of Langkawi.

On Wednesday, Malaysian maritime patrols intercepted two vessels carrying about 1,000 migrants.

One of the vessels was escorted out of Malaysian waters while the other – which suffered damage – was undergoing repairs before it would be sent back to its point of origin.

Thai authorities on Friday turned back a boat thought to be carrying hundreds of Rohingya migrants from Myanmar.

The Thai Navy spotted a boat late Thursday off the south-west coast, and towed the vessel back out to sea after giving the migrants food, water and medicine.

"About 10 people died during the journey," one of person on the boat shouted in Rohingya to a boat of reporters that drew alongside. "We threw their bodies into the water."

The policy of pushing migrant boats back out to sea is putting the lives of migrants at serious risk, said Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, UN high commissioner for human rights. He said such practices were "incomprehensible and inhumane" and would "inevitably lead to many avoidable deaths."

In Washington, White House spokesman Eric Schultz called the situation "heartbreaking" and said the US would continue to pressure the Myanmar government to address the crisis.

US President Barack Obama raised concerns about ethnic minorities when he visited Myanmar last year, after the US resumed ties with the country, in the wake of a restoration of civilian rule.

"The reforms that are happening in Burma are important, are significant, but the process isn't done," Schultz said. "The United States is going to continue to raise concerns with that government and underscore the urgent need to fulfil that government's commitment to respecting these human rights."

Zeid said the Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants need protection: "Just because they have taken to boats, does not mean they forfeit the human rights afforded to every human being under international law."

Some 920 mostly people from the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar died between September and March in the Bay of Bengal, according to the UN rights chief's office.

Thailand has proposed temporary camps for migrants on its territory, but would wait until a May 29 regional meeting because Bangkok "cannot go it alone," a security advisor to the government was quoted as saying.

Thousands of Rohingya, a stateless minority in predominately Buddhist Myanmar, travel each month through Thailand to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia.

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JAKARTA (DPA) — Indonesian fishing boats and marine police rescued nearly 800 migrants Friday from a sinking vessel, a military official said, as South-East Asia's migrant crisis continued to unfold.

The migrants, believed to be mostly of the Rohingya ethnic group from Myanmar and Bangladesh, were initially prevented from reaching the shore pending a consultation with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, military spokesman Fuad Basya said.

However, because their boat was about to sink off Aceh province, local fishermen and marine police moved to rescue the migrants and took them to the Kuala Langsa port in Aceh's Langsa city.

"Our job is to prevent undocumented ships from entering our territory, but if it is a humanitarian situation we will help," Fuad said.

Langsa police chief Sunarya Sik said the boat was crowded, and passengers were jostling when fishermen spotted the vessel.

"According to information from the migrants, they had entered Malaysian waters, but Malaysian security authorities turned them away," the police chief was quoted as saying by news website Tempo.co.

Indonesia is not a party to the 1951 United Nations refugee convention but in the past has sheltered migrants pending verification of their refugee status by UN refugee agency UNHCR.

The military said it towed a migrant boat Monday out of Indonesian waters, insisting that the migrants intended to go to Malaysia.

Nearly 600 Bangladeshis and Rohingyas were rescued from another boat Sunday off Aceh.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called Friday for an international solution to the worsening situation.

"This is an issue of international and regional importance," he said. "We are in contact with all relevant parties with whom we share the desire to find a solution to this crisis."

Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency beefed up patrols to prevent migrants from entering the country, after more than 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi boat people landed this week on the northern island of Langkawi.

On Wednesday, Malaysian maritime patrols intercepted two vessels carrying about 1,000 migrants.

One of the vessels was escorted out of Malaysian waters while the other – which suffered damage – was undergoing repairs before it would be sent back to its point of origin.

Thai authorities on Friday turned back a boat thought to be carrying hundreds of Rohingya migrants from Myanmar.

The Thai Navy spotted a boat late Thursday off the south-west coast, and towed the vessel back out to sea after giving the migrants food, water and medicine.

"About 10 people died during the journey," one of person on the boat shouted in Rohingya to a boat of reporters that drew alongside. "We threw their bodies into the water."

The policy of pushing migrant boats back out to sea is putting the lives of migrants at serious risk, said Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, UN high commissioner for human rights. He said such practices were "incomprehensible and inhumane" and would "inevitably lead to many avoidable deaths."

In Washington, White House spokesman Eric Schultz called the situation "heartbreaking" and said the US would continue to pressure the Myanmar government to address the crisis.

US President Barack Obama raised concerns about ethnic minorities when he visited Myanmar last year, after the US resumed ties with the country, in the wake of a restoration of civilian rule.

"The reforms that are happening in Burma are important, are significant, but the process isn't done," Schultz said. "The United States is going to continue to raise concerns with that government and underscore the urgent need to fulfil that government's commitment to respecting these human rights."

Zeid said the Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants need protection: "Just because they have taken to boats, does not mean they forfeit the human rights afforded to every human being under international law."

Some 920 mostly people from the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar died between September and March in the Bay of Bengal, according to the UN rights chief's office.

Thailand has proposed temporary camps for migrants on its territory, but would wait until a May 29 regional meeting because Bangkok "cannot go it alone," a security advisor to the government was quoted as saying.

Thousands of Rohingya, a stateless minority in predominately Buddhist Myanmar, travel each month through Thailand to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia.

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BANGKOK — One hundred and six migrants landed on a Thai island in Phang Nga province yesterday, while thousands of others languish at sea, unable to find ports willing to take them in.

The group, which consisted mostly of men but also some women and children, were found on Surin island northwest of Phuket and taken to the mainland for questioning.

"It's not clear how they ended up on the island," Phang Nga’s governor told AP. "We are in the process of identifying if they were victims of human trafficking."

The Thai Navy encountered another boat carrying between 300-400 migrants from Myanmar in Thai waters off of Lipe island yesterday, but did not bring the vessel to shore.

According to a military spokesperson, the refugees told Navy officers they intended to travel to another country, likely to be Malaysia or Indonesia, although the boat's passengers told the New York Times they had already been rejected by Malaysian authorities.

Following a crackdown on established human smuggling routes in Thailand, a surge of boatpeople from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been left out at sea, with every country in region making it clear that the migrants are not welcome.

Thai authorities say their policy to is provide food and humanitarian assistance, and then encourage the boats to continue to their final destination, usually Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia. Migrants that land on Thai soil will be prosecuted for illegal entry, a government spokesperson said yesterday.

Indonesian and Malaysian authorities have also balked at the influx of migrants, pushing some boats back out to sea.

"Our job is to prevent undocumented ships from entering our territory, but if it is a humanitarian situation we will help," an Indonesian military spokesman told dpa.

Human rights workers say as many as 8,000 people are currently stranded off shore with dwindling amounts of food. Some of the boats have been abandoned by captains who fled in fear of the crackdown.

Many of the refugees are Rohingyas, a stateless Muslim minority who face violent persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Most of the others hail from impoverished Bangladesh, where an estimated 300,000 Rohingyas also live in refugee camps.

Thailand has scheduled an international summit to address the mounting humanitarian crisis on 29 May, but the UN and other human rights agencies say immediate action must be taken to prevent a tragic loss of life.

"The first priority is to save lives," Volker Türk, a UNHCR official, said in a press release. "Instead of competing to avoid responsibility, it is key for States to share the responsibility to disembark these people immediately."

The  UN's human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, also stressed in statement on Friday that the migration crisis will not be resolved until Myanmar ceases to discriminate against the Rohingya people.

"Until the Myanmar government addresses the institutional discrimination against the Rohingya population, including equal access to citizenship, this precarious migration will continue," he said. 

Yet Thailand's military leader has suggested that sensitive issues, such as Myanmar's state-sanctioned discrimination against the Rohingya, may be off the table during the 29 May summit.

"Some things can be said, but some other things should not be said," Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday. "Our country has enough problems already. If we affect other people too much, we won't be able to ask for cooperation from them."

He continued, "If we say these things out loud – what about the other countries that keep silent? About human trafficking, Rohingya, fishing. Do they speak about it? They don't speak about it at all. But we keep fanning the issue. In the end, we will be the center of all the evil things in ASEAN." 

The crackdown in Thailand was spurred by the discovery of a mass grave of Rohingya corpses near a jungle camp southern Thailand on 1 May. After a sweep of the area was ordered, police found four more major detention sites that they believe were used by human smugglers to imprison migrants and demand hefty ransom fees from their relatives before transporting them across the Malysian border. 

Human rights groups say Thai authorities have been aware of the trafficking operation for years, but mostly turned a blind eye in exchange for bribes. At least 19 suspects have been arrested in connection with the suspected trafficking operation, including several local Thai officials.

After the crackdown was ordered, Thai police encountered nearly 300 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants who were left to fend for themselves in the jungle after their smugglers fled in fear of prosecution. According to police, at least 187 of the refugees will be prosecuted for illegally entering Thailand, while 63 have been categorized as victims of human trafficking. 

Read more:
187 Rescued Refugees to be Prosecuted for Illegal Entry in Thailand 
Prayuth Rules Out Permanent Shelters for Rohingyas