When Malaysia and Indonesia ended their policy of pushing Rohingya boat people back to sea last Wednesday, Thailand was hard-pressed to come up with something to avoid being seen as the heartless one in the bunch.
The risk of losing face was particularly severe if Thailand, as host of Friday's regional summit to resolve the boat people crisis, had nothing to offer before then.
Last week, the mercurial prime minister was still adamant about not changing tack. Take them into your own home, or swap places with them so they can live here, he angrily snapped at the suggestion that Thailand should consider rescuing the stranded migrants.
On Monday, the government finally came up with a rescue measure it hopes will save the country from embarrassment before the regional meet, but still bars the boat people from landing on Thai soil. A helicopter carrier will be used as a floating base to provide stranded sea migrants with immediate humanitarian care. It will also serve as a screening centre before the migrants are sent to temporary shelters in Malaysia and Indonesia.
It's not clear what Malaysia and Indonesia think of Thailand's move. To them, it will most probably be Thailand pushing boat people to their shores, but only in better shape. It's clear, however, that Thailand wants to avoid taking in these poor migrants like the plague.
This does not bode well for the Friday meet. Nor does it help Thailand stop the trafficking syndicates.
After a decade of turning a blind eye, the trafficking rackets have established firm cross-border networks and routes to smuggle Rohingyas escaping ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and Bangladeshis fleeing harsh poverty to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Nobody knows exactly how many have died throughout these years. From the survivors, we know that the boat people were detained in jungle camps, beaten, starved and tortured for ransom money. Many women were raped.
The shocking discovery of mass graves on the Thai-Malaysia border early this month prompted authorities to crack down on the syndicates. Arrests were made and local policemen transferred. This is long overdue.
Interestingly, policy focus on the crackdown quickly disappeared from public attention after the traffickers — unable to land on Thai shores to continue their land route to Malaysia — abandoned their human cargo, leaving them stranded at sea.
All of a sudden, the Rohingya boat people are no longer viewed as victims of genocide and the slave trade. They are suddenly painted as aggressive, over-demanding Muslims who will eat into our scarce resources, increase crime, and pose threats to our Buddhist identity given their overbreeding.
I'm not the only person who doubts that this hate speech against the Rohingya and Bangladeshi boat people as well as the national security versus humanity argument are organised spin from people who benefit from trading in people. More worrying, however, is that the migrant bashing has spread like wildfire on social media which, sadly to say, only reflects the failure of our hearts.
Friday's regional meet should aim at building up the region's joint efforts to eliminate human-trafficking syndicates. Thailand's insistence on shuttling boat people to Malaysia and Indonesia will not be helpful in this aim.
The slave trade syndicates cast a wide net over Southeast Asia. But it's no secret that Thailand is the nerve centre.
The boats — big vessels that can carry hundreds of people — are owned by Thais. The slave trade land route starts in Thailand because Thai boats cannot enter Malaysian waters, and it's easier for the Thai masters to pay money to local officials to turn a blind eye.
True, Myanmar cannot escape blame for its violent oppression of the ethnic Muslim Rohingya, which forces them to seek asylum elsewhere. But it's also true that many on the boats are not Rohingya, but economic migrants who are lied to, cheated, and held for ransom. Many are kidnapped. And some are brokers themselves. They all hold the keys to catching the big fish.
The boat people then cannot just be shoddily screened as Rohingya and Bangladeshis, then quickly sent away. They need safety and protection so they can testify. The brokers must be arrested so they can also lead authorities to the real masterminds.
Thailand has a special responsibility to bring these criminals to justice. Failing to do so is unacceptable.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.
