[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Myanmar ready to shoot workers depo
- Subject: Myanmar ready to shoot workers depo
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 10:14:00
Subject: Myanmar ready to shoot workers deported from Thailand
Myanmar ready to shoot workers deported from Thailand
Varunee Torsricharoen
Kyodo, Bangkok, 13 November 1999. authorities in Myanmar have
threatened to shoot Myanmar workers being deported to Myanmar
from Thailand, reports reaching Bangkok on Saturday say.
The threats are exacerbating an already intractable problem that has
also left many deported Myanmar workers starving in the jungles along
the Thai-Myanmar border as they try to avoid the authorities in
their homeland as well as those in Thailand.
According to sources along the border, Myanmar is refusing to
recognize the illegal immigrants being sent home from Thailand
as citizens, has closed many border crossing points, and has threatened
in other cases to throw migrants into jail for up to nine years for entering
Myanmar 'illegally.'
Thailand is trying to repatriate as many as one million people from
Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and some other countries who had been
working illegally in Thailand.
For years, the Thai government turned a blind eye as hundreds of
thousands of people fled repressive governments and economic
hardship at home, particularly in Myanmar, to seek freedom and
work in Thailand.
But with the economic meltdown that began in July 1997 having
thrown at least 1.4 million Thais out of work, the government
decided to deport all illegal workers who failed to get work permits
by Nov. 3.
The process has, however, turned exceedingly ugly.
Already several hundred illegal workers from Myanmar, mostly members
of the Shan ethnic minority, have sneaked back into Thailand in Mae Hong Son
Province after being deported by Thai authorities and then detained in their
homeland as 'stateless' immigrants there.
Now, according to Sai Myint, a 27-year-old Shan, he and some 40 other Shan
workers were jailed by the Myanmar authorities soon after they were trucked
into Myanmar Nov. 9.
'They claimed we were illegal immigrants despite the fact that
we are Myanmarese, so we waited until they were inattentive
and we stole away from the jail,' he said.
In a report from the province in Thailand's far north, Sai Myint
was quoted as saying he and the others are now hiding in the
jungle because they fear arrest in Thailand as well as at home.
'We are hiding, but we are also starving, especially the children,'
he said, adding at least one member of his group has already died
after the initial 3-kilometer walk into Myanmar.
And the situation is unlikely to improve soon.
Myanmar shut border points after five exiled students took over
the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in early October and held
hostages there for 25 hours. The ruling junta in Yangon took the action
because they felt Thailand was too lenient with the student exiles.
Adding to the overall problem, as of the Nov. 3 deadline for obtaining
work permits, only about 106,000 of the estimated one million unskilled w
orkers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in Thailand were given
permission to remain and take jobs. The rest are to be repatriated.
Even those 'lucky' enough to get work permits can take jobs only in
one of 37 provinces and must work in only 18 business sectors,
including agriculture, fisheries, construction and mining.
And even those work permits will expire Aug. 5 next year.
Illegal workers are widely sought by Thai businesses seeking
to exploit their low wage rates, but the many Thais who are now
unemployed claim the migrants take jobs away from them and that their
willingness to work for extremely low wages drives down wages for Thai
workers as well.
Thailand's minimum wage for unskilled labor ranges from 130 to 162 baht
daily (about 3.5 to 4.3 dollars), but illegal workers will work for only
one-third that amount.
Thai labor law requires all workers, illegal or not, to be paid minimum
wage, but the threat of deportation meant many illegal workers could
be easily intimidated into accepting wages far below the minimum.
Internet ProLink PC User