MP Demands Government Protect Sovereignty from Myanmar Military Pressure

On November 1, 2026, Chonburi MP Sahatsawat Kumkong of the Prachachon Party addressed the security situation along the Thai-Myanmar border. He stated that on the evening of October 31, Myanmar military aircraft dropped two bombs in the Sop Moei area along the Salween River, opposite Ban Mae Sam Laep in Mae Hong Son province. Although the bombs landed on the Myanmar side, the blasts damaged homes, a sub-district health station, and government buildings on the Thai side, forcing local residents to evacuate for safety. This shows that people living on Thai soil were forced to flee bombing by a foreign military.

Sahatsawat added that prior to the bombing, the Myanmar military had sent a warning letter to Thai authorities prohibiting Thai officials, business operators, and traders from engaging with the Karen National Union (KNU), and threatening to attack warehouse areas on the Myanmar side. He questioned what right the Myanmar military has to dictate who Thai citizens can contact or trade with, noting that all cross-border trade must operate under Thai law, not under orders from a foreign junta. He expressed concern over what action the Thai government took regarding the threat letter, since an actual attack followed, causing damage and displacement on the Thai side.

The MP also raised the issue of Myanmar migrant worker nationality verification centers (CI centers) in Thailand. He noted reports that the Department of Employment recently allowed 31 additional Myanmar military officials to work at these centers. He questioned why Thailand permits the Myanmar junta to use the documentation process to extract money from workers on Thai soil, when these workers pay taxes and contribute economically to Thai employers.

Sahatsawat explained that the Myanmar junta previously required migrant workers abroad to remit at least 25 percent of their income through junta-controlled banks, plus a 2 percent income tax. While sending money home voluntarily is not wrong, the junta has tied these financial conditions to the identity document renewal process that workers need to legally work in Thailand. If workers refuse to comply and cannot renew their documents, they risk losing legal status, and Thai employers face a chain of consequences. This effectively allows the Myanmar junta to exert enforcement power over the employment status of people inside Thailand.

He clarified that he does not oppose international cooperation on document coordination, but such cooperation must not allow a foreign government to use documentation as a tool to coerce, threaten, or exploit people residing and working in Thailand. Both the border security incidents and the financial interference through document systems reflect the same problem: the Myanmar military is exercising power that infringes on Thai sovereignty.