Registro de la Posición Condilar (M.C.D.)

parents from gaining citizenship.

4.4.Borderlines Drawn between the Groups of Indigenous

People

The statelessness problem has occurred because of the birth of modern states and borderlines that have been drawn between Thailand and neighbouring countries. As mentioned before, the Siamese court had no notion of a boundary. When a representative of the British government, Henry Burney, in 1825 requested the court to negotiate the borderline on the western frontier of Siam, the court instead allowed those who resided in the areas to decide where the boundaries between the English and Siamese should be (Winichakul 1994). This practice shows that the Siamese court paid no attention to the boundary, and the residents around the border saw no significant purpose in fixing the border between the two political powers.

Figure 4.1: Natural border between Thailand and Myanmar in Kanchanaburi province

The development of Western-style political mapping techniques and the emergence of a modern state forced the Siamese court to fix the borderline (Winichakul 1994). Consequently, new national boundaries were established in accordance with the 1909 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Siam. The legal borderlines have enforced legal separation between states, as a symbol of the state’s power which attempts to control ‘space, movement, sequence and position’ (Gainsborough 2009, p.4). Physically, the lines did not appear on the ground of the earth’s surface, but these lines were drawn on a map without attention to the people living on the frontier. The existence of the borders reflects the central role of the state and reinforces a sense of the state’s existence, as if it is entirely free from society (Gainsborough 2009). The modernist view of the state has celebrated its success in the possession of land and control of its subjects through its territory. State control of human movement, particularly the restricted flows of goods and people across borders, has been established to ensure the state’s security, an important correlative of which is to seek to ensure the subject’s loyalty to the state (Laungaramsri 2014).

Figure 4.2: Natural Border between Thailand and Myanmar in Mae La refugee camp

On the other hand, according to Keyes (2002), this project created a new problem of ethnic division, because the legal borderlines served not only to enforce legal separation between states, but also disconnected the groups of Indigenous people who have lived in- between. The legal lines ignored the traditional cultural and economic relations of the people who ‘see themselves and are recognized as belonging to border-crossing communities’ (Keyes 2002, p.1187). It also makes them become ‘people who live along the border’, although most of them can trace their ancestors and history from the other side of the border.

Case Study 1: Por Tu’s Parents

Por Tu’s parents are an example of people whose family was separated because of the border being drawn between Tak province and Karen state, Myanmar. Due to free movement prior to the boundary control, many Karen people escaped conflict and poverty in neighbouring Myanmar and came to Thailand. Some travelled across the border between Thailand and Myanmar on an everyday basis. Por Tu’s mother made regular visits to their family in Karen state in Myanmar, although she and her husband are farmers and have already settled down in Tak province. Por Tu’s parents were not conscious of the differences between Karen state in Myanmar and Tak province, until the Thai government began to pay more attention to the people who crossed the border regularly, due to Thailand’s border security policy. Without proof of Thai or Myanmar citizenship, Por Tu’s family is unable to cross the border to visit their family in Myanmar.

The immigration police did not let me pass the border to Myanmar. I cannot visit my grandparents, because I have no citizenship document to show the police. In fact, I have had no document at all since I was born. Some people suggest that I make a passport, but some say a passport is useless too.

Source: Stateless youth, FGD, Chiang Mai province, 17 November 2014

Border checks began because the government wanted to control people at the border due to the production and trade in opium in Thailand (Keyes 2002). The people of ethnic

groups such as Karen, Hmong and a few others were provided with a 13-digit ID Code, different from that of a ‘Thai citizen’ (Keyes 2002, p.1171). The process of identity check is very risky for ‘a person with no roots’ such as Por Tu’s parents, because they face deportation, if the police find out their legal status. After the border control was established, Por Tu’s family had to stop visiting their family in Myanmar. Nineteen years after her birth, Por Tu has never visited her grandparents, or been to Karen state in Myanmar at all.

The situation for Por Tu’s family applies to many migrant families along the Thailand– Myanmar border. From the government’s perspective, state control at the border has operated very well, as it makes people without an identity card feel very uneasy about crossing the border. People can no longer freely cross the border because of the many documents required and, for illegal persons, fear of deportation, which would make them lose everything they have on the Thai side.

Figure 4.3: Tha Song Yang natural border crossing in Tak province

Source: Photo by Ladawan Khaikham, 12 September 2014

However, local practice is different from the official picture. What shows on a map is a closed borderline drawn all over the state. In reality, it is impossible to close the border

completely. A 1,700 km long mountain chain of the Tenasserim Hills or Thiokhao

Tanaosi and the low-lying Kraburi River, which runs along the southern border of

Myanmar and the western border of Thailand, have served as the natural separation line between the two states. The natural areas have never been closed, because it is impossible for the government to establish check points all along the border. On the other hand, people of both countries continue to seek and use natural space for border crossing and exchanging products and other supplies. People always find their own ways to manage and access the border crossing points, although it takes more time, around 5–8 days, mostly at night, and more effort to do it, such as walking and boating (stateless youth, FGD, Mae Sot, Tak province, 12 September 2014).

Figure 4.4: Rented boat in Moei River between Tak province, Thailand and Myawaddy, Myanmar

Source: Photo by Ladawan Khaikham, 12 September 2014