Bangkok  - Thailand on Wednesday granted a 12-year-old Myanmar boy a temporary passport to represent the kingdom at an origami airplane-flying contest in Japan, officials said.

Mong Thongdee was given a one-year Thai passport to allow him to travel to Japan this month to enter the international competition, Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vimon Kidchob said.

Mong was born in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to Myanmar migrant labourers. Because neither of his parents are Thai nationals, Thai law denied him Thai citizenship. Despite his stateless status, Mong received his education at a Thai primary school, where he excelled at paper airplane flying.

He was the winner of last year's national paper airplane contest, setting a record by keeping the origami plane afloat for 12.5 seconds, the longest in the under-12 category.

Japan's Origami Plane Association invited Mong to enter this month's contest in Tokyo, but the request was initially turned down by the Interior Ministry because of Mong's stateless status.

The Foreign Ministry stepped in to rectify the situation after several Thai newspapers publicized Mong's plight.

More than 1 million Myanmar migrant labourers work in Thailand, most of them illegally, exposing them to abuse by their employers. (dpa)