Twenty-one Thai fishermen will be repatriated Friday thanks to cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia to help those left abandoned there.
The Thais will return on a commercial flight although it is not known how much the operation will cost or who will foot the bill.
Led by Social Development and Human Security Ministry adviser Sukritchai Anekwieng, Thai officials are scheduled to go to Ambon Island on Friday to help the remaining Thai fishermen stranded on the island. Since October last year, a total of 146 fishermen have been brought home. Seventy of them were on Ambon Island.
The Thai government has, in the past months, accelerated efforts to bring back fishermen who were left in Indonesia as part of its bid to demonstrate Thailand's efforts to fight human trafficking and assist workers who were left in Indonesia for various reasons.
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Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said Thailand is working with Indonesia to solve the issue. Gen Prawit, who is also deputy prime minister, said, "Thai workers are safe and well taken care of. The Thai government is trying to make concrete progress, while explaining to the international community about steps that we have made in fighting human trafficking and illegal labour."
"If required, the Royal Thai Air Force will help bring these fishermen home," he said.
Gen Prawit said Thailand also plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia to prevent illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.
Asked when Thai fishermen detained for illegal fishing can go home, he said, "We have to talk to them [Indonesia] because they broke their law. We cannot set the time frame."
It was not immediately known how many fishermen are being detained for fishing illegally.
About the owners of illegal fishing vessels, Gen Prawit said, "If the owners committed wrongdoing, related agencies such as the Fisheries Department and Harbour Department will have to take action against them. We have to abide by international rules."
The human trafficking-fishermen link also set off a fresh tirade against the press by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha against the media. The Channel 3 story on slavery in Indonesia (see below) had the prime minister fuming and threatening: "From now on, I will monitor all media and if necessary, I will use my power".
Viriya Sirichai-ekawat, Chairman of Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, said the association has urged its members to follow labour protection regulations. He added that he believed more than half of the fishing labour force have legal contracts.
The number of the association's members has risen by 20% over the past year. "We are gradually applying the same standard with accessible information. I believe the problem will be gradually solved."
An Indonesian official who asked not be named said, "We are establishing the network to repatriate Thai fishermen to Thailand."
On Wednesday, Indonesian Ambassador Lutfi Rauf met Suvat Chirapant, deputy permanent secretary to the Foreign Ministry, to discuss ways to help return the remaining Thai fishermen to Thailand.
The Indonesian official said the Indonesian side was told that a group of Thai officials was scheduled to go to Indonesia this week to repatriate more Thai fishermen.
"We were informed that there are many Thai fishermen at immigration in Ambon," the official said.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said Thai diplomats in Jakarta are working closely with Indonesian authorities to verify the identities of Thai fishermen who want to return and to determine whether they illegally entered Indonesia and fished without licences.
Several hundred Thai fishermen are living on Ambon and Benjina islands, which are popular sites to unload catches. Some escaped the boats and could not return home themselves because they did not have any ID or money.
Earlier this week, Channel 3 reported the discovery of a graveyard containing fishermen from Thai fishing vessels on Benjina.
Thapanee Ietsrichai, a Channel 3 reporter, accompanied Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation [LPN], a Thai non-governmental organisation, to Indonesia.
LPN has worked with the Thai government and various agencies to gradually return Thai fishermen.
- See 'Slaves of Benjina': Thai reputation deeply involved
Thapanee told the Bangkok Post that she saw the graveyard on Benjina where local people said half the people buried there were fishermen from Thai trawlers.
"I saw more than 60 graves with names to identify the bodies, in addition to about 10 unmarked ones," she said.
She said the bodies were buried between 2006-2014.
The details on each grave consist of the name of the deceased, his date of birth and death, his religion, his hometown and his seaman identification number.
An official from LPN urged the governments to identify the bodies in the graves, even the ones with names because many fishermen went to Indonesia with falsified seaman's papers.