Companies producing temporary passports for Burmese workers asked for more money from Burmese Gurkha citizens, claiming that the higher cost was needed to pay the Burmese staff.

Pon Pon Company, (located No-74 (237/8) Pon Pon road, near Pon Pon night bazaar in Phuket, southern Thailand) asked for between 300 and 500 extra baht from each Burmese Gurkah citizen who needed a temporary passport. According to a Gurkah, the companies claimed that more money was needed to pay the Burmese staff working in the Ranong temporary passport office.

“We are citizens that hold the national identity of Burma. But you must have the temporary passport making process to provide details on our lives in Burma. Otherwise, you would not be able to proceed. I have given 300 baht but I have heard of some others who have had to pay 500 baht. We are giving without complaining because we do not want to debate with them. ‘Less talk, less conflict’ that is what we’ve been taught” the Gurkah said.

There are an estimated 8000 Napalese (or) Gurkha living in Phuket and it costs each of them 6,800 to 7,000 baht to have a temporary passport.

This extra cost is targeting Chinese and Indian Burmese citizens and excluding others. A Gurkha youth commented, “We now have to pay at the company office. The company staff said that Burmese immigration officials in Ranong complained that the process would take too much time so they started asking us here whether we have a national identity card or not. In my national identity card, it is written that I am of Burmese nationality but I still have to pay. Now, over 500 Napalese have already made it but there are still thousands of Napalese that have not been processed yet, and they will also need to pay”.

In Phuket, the Thai-Burma Cooperation Company, the center for helping scrutinize nationalities of Burma, the Thai-Burma Development Company, the Phinaung Ein Company and the Pon Pon Company are all involved in the temporary passport making process.