The Thai and Myanmese governments were at each other's throats just a few months ago, but these days Thai officials are busy rounding up and deporting anti-Yangon dissidents working out of Thailand.
It may look as if Thailand and Myanmar are friends again - not quite, but that is what the government of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants to achieve by what critics call a blatant "appeasement" policy with Yangon.
His government's goal appears to be to patch up ties with neighboring Myanmar, which have been tense since border clashes led to the closure of the border on May 22. The clashes occurred as Myanmar accused Thailand of shelling its territory to help ethnic- Shan rebels.
But mending fences is not so simple, rights activists and critics say. In pursuit of this goal - which the government considers a pragmatic one - they say, Thailand is breaching human-rights standards and putting at risk its tradition of being a humanitarian haven for those fleeing repression and danger.
"To please the junta is an important matter and they are willing to sacrifice our humanitarian policy, which has been there for a long time," said Sunai Phasuk of the human-rights group Forum-Asia.Sunai was referring to the Thai authorities rounding up last week of 31 Myanmese nationals in Kanchanaburi province, across from Myanmar's Mon state, saying they were illegal entrants. Some of them belonged to the National League of Democracy of Myanmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other dissident groups and some reportedly had refugee identification cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR). Two days later, immigration officials forcibly repatriated the group to Myanmar, although activists say some have already found their way back to Thai territory.
Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Thai Senate foreign relations committee, said that forcibly sending dissidents back to Yangon is a blot on Thailand's record. "Thailand would be perpetuating and aiding the violation of human rights," Kraisak said.
Critics say the Thai moves are aimed at appeasing Yangon ahead of talks next month, proposed by Myanmar, on reopening the border. The Thai government agreed to the talks and has since been saying that the border points - normally bustling areas for traders and tourists - would soon be opened. But Yangon has yet to do so.
Thai papers quoted a Myanmese source as saying Yangon wanted a clearer policy from Bangkok toward ethnic minorities, in particular the Shan State Army and the Karen National Union.
In his visit to Myanmar early this month, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai confirmed that Thailand did not have a policy of supporting any group wishing to use its territory to fight the Myanmese government, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. Just before last week's crackdown, the National Security Council had stressed a similar policy, the English-language newspaper The Nation reported on Thursday.Myanmar has long asked Thai governments to clamp down on the dissidents that live in exile in Thailand, but what is different this time is the response by the Thai government.
"Burma sees these people as enemies. They say the humanitarian policy of Thailand is a hostile policy," Sunai said, using the country's former name before it was changed to Myanmar by the junta. "They have been saying this for more than 10 years, but past Thai governments haven't been as seriously pressured by the demand of [Yangon] that Thailand must stop this policy."
The Thaksin government, however, has taken a different stand and took Yangon's bait, critics say.
This week's arrests have caused concern among the thousands of Myanmese activists in Thailand, and news reports say the offices of some Myanmese groups have been closed temporarily. The clampdown was such that even Suu Kyi, usually diplomatic because of Thailand's sheltering of Myanmese exiles and refugees, spoke out against Thailand's behavior.
"It is not appropriate to crack down on dissidents and pro- democracy activists who do not break the law," she told the Chiang Mai-based magazine The Irrawaddy.
Other analysts say that Yangon appears to be testing Thailand's policy toward Myanmar under Thaksin - and looking at what some see as differences between Bangkok's official policy and its lack of implementation by those on the ground. "I don't think Burma is willing to reopen the checkpoints unless there are clearer actions," said Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs of Chulalongkorn University.
For the Thaksin government, its overtures to Myanmar are pragmatic ones given its desire to ease tensions. Thaksin said this month: "I don't think the situation will get further out of hand because it can't get any worse than this."
At the height of the border tensions, Myanmese writers in the state- controlled press began digging up past military battles in the countries' history. There was also boycott of Thai goods.
Addressing Thai-Myanmar tensions is not as easy as wiping the dust from one's eye, said Pornpimol Trichote, a Myanmese analyst at the Institute of Asian Studies. Pornmipol said that there is no guarantee that Myanmar would not seal its border again on other issues.
"There are many other factors beside this ethnic [rebel] problem," said Pornpimol. "Thai-Burmese relations will continue to swing up and down in the absence of democracy and because of trade along the border."
Thaksin's approach may soon lead to a reopening of the border, but not without a cost to Thailand's human-rights record. Critics say the appeasement policy is about short-term interests because it undercuts Thailand's position when military government ends in Myanmar.
"Thaksin is trying to please the dictators in Burma and it has already upset the democracy leader [Suu Kyi] who will soon be the democratic leader of that country," argued Sunai. "Thaksin is making the biggest mistake. He has upset the current rulers [through the May clashes] as well as Burma's future rulers."(Inter Press Service)