Boonruwee, leader of the Ruamjai Thai Party, urged the government to crack down on scammer capital that has brought Myanmar workers to set up fresh market stalls in 300 locations across Bangkok and its metropolitan area, taking jobs from Thai traders. He pressured the government to urgently enforce this crackdown seriously as a flagship policy.
At 11:00 a.m. on 24 June 1983 at the parliament, Boonruwee Yomjinda, party-list MP and leader of the Ruamjai Thai Party, called on the government to urgently suppress foreign workers taking Thai jobs. He stated that currently, a large group of workers from Myanmar, funded by scammers from the Golden Triangle, Shwe Kokko, and Myawaddy—networks linked to the Kokang group—are using Thai nominees to open financial companies supporting these workers to run fresh market stalls. They have taken over the businesses of Thai traders for 3 to 4 years, resulting in more than 300 fresh markets in Bangkok and surrounding provinces such as Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, and Samut Sakhon having over 80% of traders from Myanmar. These traders send money back to Myanmar and launder black money into legitimate funds for the scammer groups. They also encroach upon 40 reserved occupations under the Foreign Workers Management Act B.E. 2560 (2017), such as shop sales and hawking, which have penalties including fines from 5,000 to 50,000 baht, deportation, and blacklisting. Meanwhile, some Myanmar traders have formed gangs to harass Thai people, gradually undermining national sovereignty. This is dangerous because scammer money fuels this takeover of Thai jobs. He supported the Prime Minister’s policy to combat transnational mafia as a flagship initiative and called for suppression of foreign workers whom scammers use to set up fresh market businesses, turning Myanmar laborers, once involved in labor selling, into traders competing with Thai vendors. He also proposed increasing penalties for officials accepting bribes and neglecting to prevent these foreign workers from encroaching on Thai jobs.