Cambodians returning to Thailand

CHANTABURI, THAILAND, June 19 (TNA) - A number of Cambodian people have been returning to Thailand through border checkpoints for working or shopping, showing that the problem of exodus of Cambodians to their home country is relieving. In Chantaburi Province in the Thai East, a number of Cambodian nationals waited for the opening of both a permanent border pass in Pong Nam Ron District and a temporary border pass in Soi Dao District on Thursday morning to enter Thailand to either purchase goods or to work. A large number of Cambodian nationals had flocked back to their home country over the past week for feared crackdowns by Thailand's army-led the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), as rumoured. Vice President of Chantaburi's Thai-Cambodian Border Tourism and Trade Association Sombat Jeungtrakul told reporters that most of the Cambodian people returning to Thailand are workers who returned home to legalised their documents to become legal migrant workers in Thailand now. Sombat pointed out that Thailand's minimum wage is at least three times higher than in Cambodia, attracting Cambodian nationals to return to work in the Thai Kingdom. In Sa Kaeo Province, also in the Thai East, Cambodian labourers were seen returning to work in shops and markets in Aranyaprathet District as usual as well, now as legal migrant workers. Meanwhile, there was a reported drop of the number of Cambodians crossing the border back to their home country through Aranyaprathet. (TNA)