Mention Koh Tarutao in the Andaman Sea and most Thais will think of a pristine island with lush green forests, sandy beaches and world-famous coral reefs. Few remember its horrific past as a maximum security prison for hard-core convicts and political prisoners.
Last week, British television's Channel 4 told the world how Tarutao is being used as a prison once again _ this time by brutal human trafficking gangsters who use the southern tip of the island to incarcerate and torture Muslim Rohingya boat people to extort ransom money before selling them into slavery.
In the documentary, correspondent John Sparks traced the deprivation and ethnic violence that the Muslim Rohingya face in Myanmar which drove them to join the boat people exodus in search of a better future. They reportedly paid about 200 (9,700 baht) to the human smugglers who promise to take them to their dream destinations, Malaysia and Australia. The journey was cut short at Tarutao and other islands in the Andaman Sea where they were forced to pay as much as 1,500 for their release.
A refugee told Sparks in tears how he and other refugees were continually beaten up and how they were lined up and given a mobile phone to call their relatives to produce ransom money. The documentary also features a recorded phone conversation between a refugee's relative and a gangster bargaining the ransom, a guard revealing that gangsters must pay protection money to various groups of men in uniform, and a firm denial of corruption allegations from a senior police officer.
After the screening of the documentary, the governor of Satun province and the director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation promptly denied that their men had been involved. The public think the guard's testimony is more credible, however.
The island prison is now abandoned after a raid during Channel 4's investigation. The "rescued" refugees were sent to stay at other detention centres. No human smugglers have been arrested.
Such "rescues" are not the end of the problem, however. For the Rohingya refugees, those centres are just another form of prison. They want to leave and bribes help them to escape.
In the past few weeks, there have been repeated incidents of Rohingya refugees escaping from detention centres. Again, this is not possible without some help from some officials. In other words, there is money to be made from the Rohingya every step of the way.
To tackle the problem of crowded detention centres, authorities are considering sending them to various refugee camps. The locals quickly show their opposition.
To solve the Rohingya problem, The government must convince the Myanmar government to give citizenship and rights to the Rohingya to stem the exodus. For the Rohingya here, giving them more spacious shelters is necessary, but not enough. The authorities must locate their places of origin and ensure their safe return home.
More importantly, the government must seriously tackle the problem exposed by Channel 4 _ human trafficking and corruption. It must get tough with the racketeers, corrupt military, police and civilian personnel at all levels. By doing nothing, the country not only risks facing boycotts from trading partners for failing to stem human trafficking, but the world will also look upon Thailand as a country with a cruel heart.