As Thailand and the world at large are still basking in the glow this week’s miraculous rescue of a young soccer team and its coach from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, attention is now turning for many to the question of citizenship, something four of the 13 young men do not possess.
In the past 24 hours, various news outlets have suggested the boys are receiving legal aid in their quest, with Singapore’s Straits Times going so far as to suggest they “will have Thai nationality within six months” — a statement that was unattributed.
Thus far, the government has been relatively coy on the matter, which until recently had not received much coverage in the Thai-language press.
Speaking briefly to reporters today at the Ministry of Defence, Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan said that — newfound fame or no — the four will go through the process normally.
“Equal and fair. Everything will proceed as according to regulations,” he said, before adding that it was an Interior Ministry matter and refusing to comment further.
Prawit was the second official to publicly state that no privilege is being given to the Wild Boar team in their citizenship applications.
In the lengthy Wednesday night press conference that served as a cap to the successful rescue mission, provincial governor Narongsak Osottanakorn raised eyebrows when he said he believed the boys will “grow up to be great citizens of Thailand.”
But when asked later by a Coconuts reporter to clarify if the quartet would be granted citizenship after their ordeal, Narongsak only said: “Everything will proceed as according to the law.”
The good news, however, is that that process appears to have begun some time ago.
Somsak Kanakham, chief of Mae Sai district office, said in a television interview yesterday that players Pornchai Kamluang, Adul Sam-on and Mongkhol Boonpiam, and their coach, Ekkaphol Chantawong, actually applied for Thai citizenship two months ago, in order to compete in a football league.
To get that process started, the Mae Sai district has to verify — based on witnesses and other evidence — that all of them were born in Thailand.
“As far as I know, they may receive good news, based on evidence and clerks I’ve spoken to,” Somak told Channel 3.
The three players, who belong to the Shan ethnic group, were born in Thailand but never had their births registered, according to director Weenat Srisuk of the Department of Provincial Administration Registration.
One of the three stateless boys, 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, was widely praised for his ability to communicate in English efficiently and in crisis, when the group was first discovered by two British divers 10 days after becoming trapped in the cave.
Coach Ekkaphol, meanwhile, belongs to the Lu ethnic group. He was a monk for several years from the age of 10, before he began coaching the Wild Boars.
In Thailand, there are at least 439,000 people registered to the government as stateless, according to the UNHCR. In Mae Sai, the district bordering Myanmar, there are at least 20,000 applications for citizenship in the process.
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