Volunteer denied entry into Thailand

Mennonite Central Committee
Thursday, 4 January 2001

Thailand -- Max Ediger, longtime MCC volunteer, has been banned from re-entering Thailand, where he works in Bangkok at Burma Issues, a human rights organization he helped found in 1989.

Ediger traveled to the United States in December to meet with MCC staff in Akron and visit family and friends in Oklahoma. Upon returning to Thailand Dec. 31, he was denied entry. Immigration officials told Ediger his name had been placed on a "list" at the Ministry of Interior in November prohibiting him from entering the country.

Ediger was involved in a seven-month-long court case in 2000 regarding his work with Burmese refugees. (See Feb. 16, June 21 and Sept. 18 issues of "What's New.")

Now in Hong Kong staying with friends, Ediger is determining what to do next. Immigration officials said he can appeal the ban.

"In the meantime," writes Ediger, "I urge all friends, especially those in Burma Issues, to keep a positive spirit. This situation may force some changes in our work, but it cannot damage our work unless we let it."

MCC has three other volunteers at Burma Issues in Bangkok: Nunus Subandi of Central Java, Indonesia; Erich Miller of Goshen, Ind.; and Joel Ulrich of Lombard, Ill.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org