When I came to Thailand 10 years ago, I saw a completely powerless and silent migrant community. Very disorganized, no confidence and really abused. I didn’t feel that there was much out there to assist them to genuinely change the situation. 

 

[Migrant workers] need to understand that they are actually very powerful if they come together to fight. They’re so important to many Thai industries, whether it’s the seafood industry, construction, agriculture or tourism. 

 

Officials have a terrible attitude towards human rights. A really primitive, backward-looking attitude. Law enforcement officials often use their power for self-interest. Not all of them, but too many.

 

There is no rule of law. The law is supposed to protect everybody, whatever their nationality or ethnicity. The hierarchical state of Thai society also makes [enforcing equal rights] very difficult.

 

I tried to help one lady who was disabled in a construction accident about 10 years ago at the Shangri-La hotel in Chiang Mai. She was in a hospital bed and no one would help her. Everyone was saying she was an illegal worker who doesn’t have permission to be here.

 

I played a big role in getting the government to issue passports to migrant workers to verify their nationality. I worked with the Myanmar government back in 2008-2010, when the military government in Myanmar was coming into power.

 

Respect people whatever their status in society and treat people equally. Officials are supposed to serve the interests of the

country, of the people, not their own personal gain.

 

The Natural Fruit case is an example of an influential family trying to stop me, trying to prevent me, trying to silence me. But you can see the impact is completely the opposite. 

 

I’ve never believed that I would lose any of these cases. I know what I did was right, and I didn’t do anything wrong. I have no doubt. I never have any doubt that I will win every case. It just takes a bit of time. 

 

I never worry about the future, of what is going to happen. I never worry if I’ll have money or success or a job or anything. I just go with the flow. It always seems to take me the right way. 

 

[Someone] threatened my witness in the last few days. They followed him and made threats to his life. Now we’ve responded very strongly. We complained to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we involved many embassies, UN agencies, we thought of filing complaints to the police. I’m sure it will be fine.

 

Civil society is very weak, and the attitude of helping people instead of empowering them sometimes holds the movement back. We need to make people stronger so they can fight for themselves.

 

Thailand is a beautiful country. It’s a nice country, and the Thai people are nice people. The governance of the country is what’s very poor; the way in which people in power use it to abuse people with less power. 

 

If you have the commitment and energy and belief that what you do is right, you can succeed.

 

My inspiration is Aung San Suu Kyi. I organized her trip here, and I met her at her house. I’ve actually met her five times now. She’s very inspirational for me, because she’s always so focused on what she believes in. I’m very stubborn, and so is she.