PHUKET: Officials at the US Embassy today rejected an application by award-winning Phuketwan journalist Chutima Sidasathian for a tourist visa to visit America.
Khun Chutima, 31, one of Phuket's most respected reporters and perhaps the most knowledgeable about Rohingya boatpeople in Thailand, said she was ''shocked'' to have her application rejected on a technicality.
''It's disappointing,'' she said today. ''I would like to know the real reason why my application was rejected.''
Khun Chutima had hoped to spend a month from July 1 at Harvard University's public library continuing her PhD studies by researching Rohingya ethnography.
Harvard University is close to where the Boston Marathon finish line bombers struck, killing two and injuring scores, on April 15.
Three days ago, Indonesian authorities foiled a plot to bomb the Burmese embassy in Jakarta, allegedly because of Burma's brutal treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority.
Khun Chutima has been covering the fate of Rohingya boatpeople in Thailand since revealing the secret ''pushbacks'' that resulted in the deaths of several hundred would-be refugees in 2009.
She believes today's rejection of her application for a visa was because of security concerns.
''The man who interviewed me could not work out why Phuketwan wanted to sponsor my PhD. He called Phuketwan an 'online tourism magazine.'
''He flicked through my passport and said 'You have travelled a lot.'' (Khun Chutima has visited destinations in Asia, Europe and Australia without encountering visa problems.)
She explained how her reporting on the Rohingya boatpeople had led to her PhD academic studies.
''Why do you go to the US,'' the man said. ''Why don't you go to Myanmar (Burma.)''
Earlier this month, the US lifted a sweeping ban on visas for officials from Burma - some of them former junta generals - despite growing fears that ethnic violence there will end in the genocide of the unwanted and abused Rohingya.
Khun Chutima's application was rejected, according to a single sheet of paper she was given, because ''You have not been able to demonstrate sufficiently strong family, social or economic ties to a country outside the US that would compel you to leave the United States after a temporary stay.''
The official was twice invited by Khun Chutima to contact Phuketwan's editor-publisher to confirm that what she said was true. He declined to do so.
In 2010, Khun Chutima shared the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting and a second Award for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting.
Of the Human Rights Reporting award about Khun Chutima's work in the South China Morning Post newspaper, the judges said: ''Excellent investigative work that exposed serious human rights abuses of oppressed people. Intrepid reporting of a hidden subject. This is a high-caliber series buttressed by solid on-the-ground reporting and great pictures. All militaries are challenging subjects for investigative reporters and Thailand's is no exception. The team clearly went to great lengths to get sources, break news, and provide the details that prodded the government into action.''
She had previously shared the prize for Scoop of the Year at the Hong Kong News Awards 2009 and later the general news prize at the Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong ''for exposing a secret Thai army policy of detaining Rohingya boatpeople from Myanmar [Burma], towing them to sea and abandoning them.''
Khun Chutima, 31, one of Phuket's most respected reporters and perhaps the most knowledgeable about Rohingya boatpeople in Thailand, said she was ''shocked'' to have her application rejected on a technicality.
''It's disappointing,'' she said today. ''I would like to know the real reason why my application was rejected.''
Khun Chutima had hoped to spend a month from July 1 at Harvard University's public library continuing her PhD studies by researching Rohingya ethnography.
Harvard University is close to where the Boston Marathon finish line bombers struck, killing two and injuring scores, on April 15.
Three days ago, Indonesian authorities foiled a plot to bomb the Burmese embassy in Jakarta, allegedly because of Burma's brutal treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority.
Khun Chutima has been covering the fate of Rohingya boatpeople in Thailand since revealing the secret ''pushbacks'' that resulted in the deaths of several hundred would-be refugees in 2009.
She believes today's rejection of her application for a visa was because of security concerns.
''The man who interviewed me could not work out why Phuketwan wanted to sponsor my PhD. He called Phuketwan an 'online tourism magazine.'
''He flicked through my passport and said 'You have travelled a lot.'' (Khun Chutima has visited destinations in Asia, Europe and Australia without encountering visa problems.)
She explained how her reporting on the Rohingya boatpeople had led to her PhD academic studies.
''Why do you go to the US,'' the man said. ''Why don't you go to Myanmar (Burma.)''
Earlier this month, the US lifted a sweeping ban on visas for officials from Burma - some of them former junta generals - despite growing fears that ethnic violence there will end in the genocide of the unwanted and abused Rohingya.
Khun Chutima's application was rejected, according to a single sheet of paper she was given, because ''You have not been able to demonstrate sufficiently strong family, social or economic ties to a country outside the US that would compel you to leave the United States after a temporary stay.''
The official was twice invited by Khun Chutima to contact Phuketwan's editor-publisher to confirm that what she said was true. He declined to do so.
In 2010, Khun Chutima shared the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting and a second Award for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting.
Of the Human Rights Reporting award about Khun Chutima's work in the South China Morning Post newspaper, the judges said: ''Excellent investigative work that exposed serious human rights abuses of oppressed people. Intrepid reporting of a hidden subject. This is a high-caliber series buttressed by solid on-the-ground reporting and great pictures. All militaries are challenging subjects for investigative reporters and Thailand's is no exception. The team clearly went to great lengths to get sources, break news, and provide the details that prodded the government into action.''
She had previously shared the prize for Scoop of the Year at the Hong Kong News Awards 2009 and later the general news prize at the Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong ''for exposing a secret Thai army policy of detaining Rohingya boatpeople from Myanmar [Burma], towing them to sea and abandoning them.''
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