Although Thailand is not a place of
greener pasture for Myanmar migrant workers, this year saw the largest
number of them there as they could earn more as the demand of workforce
is getting high there.
Temporary passports for the migrant
workers have been issued under the agreement between the two countries
since 27-12-2011, 22 days after the ‘Friendship Bridge’ was reopened.
However, more migrant workers are still pouring into Myawady. Like
relay runners who carry sticks step by step to the goal, Carries
(people who illegally take migrant workers to Thailand for cash)
recruit new ones even in small towns and countryside. The recruiters
send them to agents in Yangon who send them again to Myawady where they
were accommodated in houses, warehouses and hostels by company agents
and fed just enough to survive for one to two months. Thousands of them
were stranded in Myawady before they could manage to enter Thailand.
A resident from Wande Village said in
disappointment, “Agent U Maung Thaung from Pesinan Village in Rakhine
State told us that he was asked to look for workers for the workshop in
Thailand where his son was working. He also guaranteed that we could
get job after staying in Myawady for one week. He asked for K 200,000
for passport from each of us. Now, I have been here for about three
months and had to borrow K 300,000 from our friends. I am in debt. It
is still uncertain when I can work in Thailand.”
Another youth from Yethataung said
bitterly, “Recruiters in small towns send one group of migrant workers
after another although the agents here do not do anything to get
passports for those who have been in Myawady for two or three months.
Like fish in a trap, about 20 of us are forced to sleep in a hostel
room which is suitable for only ten people.
Ko Kyaw Kyaw from Kyauktaw Township
said, “Some of us could not help crying although they are men when they
knew they were naïve enough to trust the agents. People are now saying
that those who talk fluently can work as agents. It is easy for
migrant workers in Myawady to cry but difficult for them to sob. We
cannot ask for the agent fees back although we want to go back to our
village because we can’t stand the situation here anymore. We feel as
if we were punished to live under restrictions and survive on meager
food because we thought highly of other countries.”
Whether they went there legally or
illegally, no one has come back from Thailand because they could not
find jobs there. Only those who were arrested by Thai authorities came
back to their towns. There might be a labor shortage if Myanmar needed
labor force as large as Thailand. It is true that migrant workers tend
to forget what they have suffered in Myawady when they get passports to
work in Thailand. However, they have to work in jobs that are not
stated in their job contracts signed with the agents of Thai employers
at passport offices.
“I signed a contract at the passport
office to work for a construction firm, but I have to fell trees in the
forest. It is dangerous and awful. I get 300 baht per day but I cannot
enjoy my wage for days I do not need to work. I’m not sure whether I
will be able to send K 100,000 to my family as I have to spend my wages
on food, shelter and the water and electricity bills,” said Ko Tun
Maung Hla from Yathetaung Township on a phone interview.
Myanmar migrant workers have to endure
the deceptions of their employers and agents. They are wondering who
they can complain with when they are forced to do the work that is not
stated in the contracts or when their wages are cut.
“Whether they work legally or illegally
in Thailand, Myanmar migrant workers are subject to oppression of
Akyes and Wunnas in addition to exploitation of their employers. They
will have to endure the hardship as long as they can earn here as much
as they are now doing in neighboring countries. Workers in Myanmar do
no earn enough to pay for their food, shelter, clothing and education
expenses of their children in Myanmar. That is why thousands of Myanmar
workers are migrating to Thailand every day. They will still be going
there in the future,” said Ko Than Aye who is working in Maha Chiang.
Hundreds of Myanmar workers go to
Thailand illegally while others go there by managing to get passports.
Agents from Myawady transfer immigrant workers to guides who know the
jungle tracks to Bangkok well. However, only a few of them reach
Bangkok while most of them are arrested by Thai military and police
forces and robbers. They have to pay a deposit of baht 6,000 in advance
to the guides whether they reach their destination or they are
arrested. When they can manage to get to their work sites, they have to
pay up to 12,000 baht.
Another illegal to route to Bangkok is
to go there in vehicles of the authorities. Although it costs a migrant
worker 10,000 baht for ordinary service and 14,000 baht for special
service to get to Thailand, those who can afford prefer the special
service.
“I worked in the paddy fields in my
village. I came here as a youth offered to send me here for 1,000 baht.
It took us 12 days to set out from Yelekyun. Food was very bad and
living conditions were terrible. At night, we travelled and hid in the
forest during the daytime. Let alone meals, we did not even have snacks
to eat. We had to climb one mountain after another with only a little
drinking water. We were very tired. Our limbs were ached. Some of us
fell down again and again. One rainy night, a Thai army force arrested
us while we were taking shelter in a hut. We were detained for 15 days
in Mae Sot. The youth who sent us there got the deposit of 6,000 baht
for sixty of us. He never turned up again. We were sent from Mae Sot to
Luthon border gate in Myawady on 2.6.2012. There was no one to pay
cash for our release. We did not have any money with us and sought help
from a motorist to find money for us. We had to ask for money from our
relatives in our native village for our release. We had only one meal
during the two days, and a woman fainted during the custody there,”
said Ko Sein No Aung who trusted agents and went to work in Thailand.
The border gate in Myawady has been a
place where we were exploited by our own fellow citizens. The in-charge
of the gate said, “We always collect gate fees for illegal migrant
workers sent back from Thailand. You must pay for your release. As I am
in-charge here, you must pay me.”
We are wondering who has assigned him
at the border gate to blackmail illegal migrant workers sent back from
Thailand. It is also known to all that the gate in-charge is
blackmailing and exploiting migrant workers in the absence of
supervision form district authorities.
However, a lot of migrant workers are still going to work in Thailand and a lot more of them are preparing to go to Thailand.
From Eleven News Agency
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