Thai Government Tightens Scrutiny on Leading NGOs by Phairath Khampha 30 October 2000 Leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Thailand were undergoing "unusually" tight scrutiny since the government imposed heavy-handed tactics in investigating their activities and financial resources. The government measures include police search warrants, video-taping in their offices, the investigation of personal bank accounts and an indefinite delay in issuing work permits and visas to international volunteers associated with some NGOs. NGO workers also believd their telephone lines were tapped, and some said plain-clothes policemen were following them. The government's move was criticised by Thai academics and social activists as being a threat to the development of a participatory democracy and civil society as endorsed by the new Constitution of Thailand. NGOs had previously been recognised as a stimulant to the process. A significant number of NGOs members were elected senators earlier in 2000. "This is a major setback," Surichai Wankaew of Chulalongkorn's Faculty of Political Science said of the government's tactics. "The friend-or-foe mentality is a Cold War legacy which is dangerous to our society." Most of the NGOs under investigation decided to keep a low profile for the time being and sked to remain anonymous in press reports for fear of retaliation and violence from military or police people in plainsclothes, or perhaps thugs hired by Thailand's economic and political elite. A police source said the tight measures targeted organisations which lent support to the Assembly of the Poor (AOP), a grouping of villagers who have been adversely affected by government projects and policies. He said police had been informed that these NGOs were receiving foreign funding to support the AOP. Since July 2000 the villagers had been staging a marathon protest in front of Government House. Once they scaled the walls to attract attention, which led to the arrest of some 200 of them, who were later released on bail; their cases have not yet come to trial. Lt-General Yothin Mattayomnan, commissioner of the police Special Branch, who had officers "visit" a number of NGOs in the in September 2000, said his agency had to beef up surveillance because he had received information about possible threats to the country's security. This is a classic pat excuse made up by Thailand's police or military when they had to justify brutal attacks on those who supported working towards improvingthe lot of Thailand's ordinary people. "There are groups under cover using different names to commit crime and create unrest and division in our country," he said, "but those who believe they are innocent do not have to worry." When asked if the intensive examination of NGOs was related to their support for the AOP, Yothin said: "I don't think I will answer that." However, a policeman who asked not to be named said the police had not found anything "wrong" in their investigations so far. "After learning what they [the NGOs] do for our society, I personally appreciate their work," he said. "It is too bad that there some elements among the rich, and among the more crooked and corrupt politicians who have ordered us to harrass these NGOs" Meanwhile a group of NGOs decided on a different way to deal with their immediate problem about the delay in work permits and visas for their international volunteers. Calling themselves the NGOs Coordinating Committee on Development (NGOs-COD), a group of some 200 Thai organisations nationwide called on the House Committee on Labour and Welfare to look into the matter during the last week of September. The group initially focused on a Labour Department regulation which put them under the same rules set up for foreign NGOs seeking permits to work in Thailand. The regulation, issued in 1992 and amended in 1998, was not enforced until August in order to harrass the NGOs. According to the regulation, the rules apply to Thai NGOs if they receive funding from abroad but do not apply to foreign agencies working in cooperation with the government in Thailand. Under the regulation, NGOs' activities and financial sources would be appraised by a joint committee, chaired by the Labour Ministry secretary-general along with representatives from the Local Administrative Department, the National Intelligence Agency, the Police Special Branch Bureau, the National Security Council and the Immigration Office. Such treatment requires that Thai NGOs go through an appraisal, and once their work is approved the Labour Department's Alien Occupational Control Division would issue work permits, after which the Immigration Office would issue visas. The regulation also requires that foreigners invited by Thai NGOs to attend meetings and seminars in the country must apply for work permits 30 days in advance. NGOs-COD called for a review of the regulation because they said treating Thais like foreigners in their homeland was unfair. The high-profile Duang Prateep Foundation is one of those facing a problem with work permits and visas. Duang Prateep representative Monwalin Boontang said her organisation had submitted all the documents required to the Labour Department last October but had not received an approval for the work permits. Prominent social activist Witoon Permpongsacharoen said such tight scrutiny violated the people's right to assembly and form organisations as endorsed by the new Constitution. "We are not living in an age when we have no choice but to accept dictatorship which obstructs our participation in social development," he said. "NGOs are transparent and ready for investigation. Our finance is done via the banking system, and there are accountants. We also pay taxes." He said the receipt by many NGOs of funding from foreign agencies was not done in a secretive manner, because the government was always informed and therefore had no call to use this as propaganda against NGOs. Witoon added that in principle NGOs should be able to get sufficient funding from the government's budget, as in many developed countries, to work on social problems. He added that the government should not discriminate against international organisations if it truly wanted to embrace the concept of globalisation.