BANGKOK: A stateless boy who was born in Thailand to Myanmar migrants was granted a temporary passport so he can represent the kingdom at an origami competition in Japan with paper planes that can fly for 12 seconds at a time.

Twelve-year-old Mong Thongdee caught the hearts of many Thais with his distraught plea - broadcast nationwide - to be allowed to compete, and unwittingly drew attention to the plight of nearly half a million stateless people in Thailand who legally cannot leave and return to the country.

TV stations showed him sobbing quietly after the Interior Ministry initially denied his request Wednesday.

“I really want to go because I have been practicing hard, but I know the adults say I can’t go because I have no citizenship,” he tearfully told reporters.

The next day, Mong was ushered into Parliament for a meeting with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who promised the paper-folding champion that he would be granted temporary travel papers. Mong today received a travel document for non-citizens, valid for one entry, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vimon Kidchob.

Mong, who lives in Chiang Mai, won a national origami airplane championship in August 2008 with a plane that flew for 12 seconds. He was later selected to attend the Origami Airplane contest in Chiba, Japan, on September 19-20.

The Interior Ministry at first denied his request, citing a law saying that attempts by people of Mong’s status to leave and re-enter Thailand could present “a threat to national security.” Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul told local media the boy would have to represent Myanmar instead, even though he is not eligible for citizenship there either. Mong’s ethnic Shan parents have only temporary permission to live and work in Thailand, so although he was born in the country he has only temporary resident status. Under normal circumstances, if he left and tried to return, his status would be revoked and he would be barred entry to the land of his birth.

Wednesday’s rejection of his initial application for temporary exit papers dominated Thai newspaper front pages. The Lawyers Council of Thailand petitioned the Administrative Court on Mong’s behalf.

Wongsak Sawaspanich, a ministry official in charge of the case, said the decision to issue the papers was made on “legal and humanitarian grounds” and rebuffed reporters’ speculation that the ministry had caved in to public pressure.

After meeting with Mong, Abhisit acknowledged the problem of stateless people and pledged to task the National Security Council with improving their access to education and health care.

But Wongsak said Mong’s legal status was unchanged, and he is likely to be repatriated to Myanmar in

February 2010.