A glimpse at Thailand’s digital ID through the biometric profiling of Malay Muslims · Global Voices
A military raid on a school in Pattani, Thailand. Photo and caption by <PERSON>. Source: Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Editor's note: This piece was written by <PERSON>, Digital Rights Manager (Mekong Program) at EngageMedia, based in Bangkok. It is part of our series on digital ID systems produced in partnership with The Engine Room. Visit the Digital ID microsite to read a full research report on this global trend, and case studies on five countries that have deployed digital ID systems, including Thailand .
Many countries across the globe have been modernizing their national identification systems to incorporate the use of biometric data to verify people’s identities and provide public services. Thailand is no exception.
Thailand's Smart ID Card , which features the use of a microchip, was first introduced in 2005. However, the use of biometrics with the National ID card did not materialize until 2019, when the Digital ID Bill was passed by the National Legislative Assembly. Currently, a national digital ID company is testing the implementation of digital IDs, but progress is slow.
Before the planned digital ID system is rolled out nationwide, stakeholders including the government, the private sector and civil society should take a step back and consider the risks posed by the system and the potential for misuse of biometric data in Thailand, particularly given the country’s problematic record of collecting and using such data in the country's Deep South region as part of its counter-insurgency policies.
After the 2014 coup , Thailand's political situation deteriorated, ending with a flawed election process in 2019. Additionally, the pro-military government has since 2014 used various repressive measures to quell the opposition and other dissenting voices and to suppress criticism from people viewed as political threats, which has created a climate of mistrust and fear. 803
All of this raises questions about government transparency in implementing the digital ID system, in addition to concerns about security and privacy safeguards to prevent the misuse of biometric data.
“The trust in Thai authorities is getting low, ’’ a 27-year-old pro-democracy activist who requested not to have her name disclosed said in a phone interview with Global Voices (GV). She added:
So, when any new digital policies are introduced, we have to remind ourselves that those technologies will be implemented under a military mindset. It can create a range of risks violating people’s privacy, freedom, and political participation. The upcoming digital ID or mandatory biometric data system could be another tactic to monitor human rights defenders and critics who are simply against the government.
Without explicit safeguards and good data governance, the repercussions for privacy and human rights—particularly of vulnerable groups and minorities—could be serious. Malay Muslim communities in Thailand’s southernmost provinces, have had to learn that bitter lesson, the hard way.
The forced biometric system is rife with abuse and misuse
In predominantly Buddhist Thailand, the majority of people living in the Southern Border Provinces (SBPs) are Muslim. Over the last few years, violence in these provinces has been escalating, with more than 7,000 casualties in the last 15 years . This region has a long, troubled history of state-led discrimination against local Malay Muslims, including various draconian military measures imposed by the authorities under special security laws.
During a public seminar named “ Seize, Trample, Repeat, Change ’” held in October 2019, <PERSON> , editor of the Deep South Watch website, described the Southern Provinces as ‘’the testing sites for the military forces.’’ According to <PERSON>:
They are merely areas for testing certain tools… From there, some methods have been replicated and applied countrywide.
Among the government’s counter-insurgency methods, the most controversial was the forced collection of DNA from Malay Muslims.
Under Thailand's Criminal Procedure Code section 131 and 131/1 , people who are arrested for criminal suspicion or convicted of a crime can be subjected to DNA collection. In Thailand's Deep South, however, security forces have consistently performed dragnet operations to arbitrarily collect DNA samples from Malay Muslims, most of whom had never committed any crime.
The Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), a human rights advocacy group, has been monitoring the human rights situation in the region since the re-emergence of ethno-religious conflict between the Thai state and the Malay Muslim insurgent groups in 2004.
In 2012 the Thai government started collecting biometric data, including DNA samples, from Malay Muslims in the region for use as forensic evidence to identify perpetrators involved in violent incidents. From January to September 2019, the foundation received at least 139 reports of forced DNA collection in the region. 803