NEWS - FEATURE-''Little Myanmar'' R

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

FEATURE-''Little Myanmar'' Residents Fear the Future

               Reuters
               13-FEB-98
               By Sutin Wannabovorn 

               SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Visitors to
the Thadlad Kung
               (Shrimp Market) in Bangkok's western outskirts can be
forgiven for thinking
               they have entered Myanmar (Burma). 

               Nestled in the fishing town of Samut Sakhon, some 47 km
(29 miles) from the
               Thai capital, the slum known as ``Little Myanmar'' houses
some 7,000
               Myanmar workers who have moulded the area into a
convincing slice of their
               homeland. 

               Myanmar music fills the air as the residents mill about
wearing longis, the
               sarong popular in their homeland. The main street is
dotted with traditional
               Myanmar tea shops, while stalls sell popular items from
home such as betel
               leaves and herbal powders. 

               ``This town is like our home. We have everything, from
Myanmar movies and
               songs to food,'' Ko Niag, 32, a worker from Myanmar's
Moulmein state, told
               Reuters. 

               Like Ko Niag, a long-time resident, most of the workers
came as cheap
               labour to the shrimp farms and market here in the early
1990s when the Thai
               economy was booming. 

               But with Thailand now mired in its worst economic crisis
in decades, Little
               Myanmar residents worry about whether they will be
allowed to stay or will be
               repatriated as the government starts shedding illegal
foreign workers in
               anticipation of increased unemployment. 

               ``We have gotten used to living here and have made this
place our home.
               But after rumours spread that the Thai government will
send us back,
               everyone is shaking. They don't want to go back,'' Ko
Niag told Reuters. 

               Win Aye, 25, from Myanmar's Pa-Ann state, said she earned
about 150 baht
               ($3.45) a day from 12 hours of work as a shrimp packer,
starting each
               morning at around 3 a.m. 

               Despite the tough hours, she still would rather stay in
this little facsimile of
               Myanmar than go back to the real thing, where economic
conditions are
               even harsher and discontent with the military government
in Yangon makes it
               unsafe to return. 

               Win Aye and her husband share about 40 square metres of
space with two
               other couples and their living quarters are divided
merely by curtains. 

               In some cases, 10-15 male and female workers pack one
room. ``Even
               though its overcrowded living, we still make more money
here than in
               Myanmar. So you will see why everyone is worried about
talk that we will be
               sent back,'' Win Aye said. 

               But many illegal workers have already begun returning to
Myanmar on their
               own after their employers told them the government would
force them to go
               back, she added. 

               Thai Labour Minister Trairong Suwanakhiri has vowed to
expel all alien
               workers to open up jobs for thousands of Thais thrown out
of work by the
               economic crisis. 

               Thai officials say they are unclear about when this will
be put into full effect,
               but authorities in some border areas have begun forcibly
repatriating illegal
               Myanmar workers. 

               Of the one million foreign workers in Thailand -- many of
them illegal -- about
               300,000 are from Myanmar. 

               Only last year, they received permission from the
previous Thai government
               to work for two years in 43 of Thailand's 76 provinces. 

               ``We are very confused with the government policy.
Someone said they will
               be sent back in 60 days while others said they can work
here until July,'' a
               Thai security official at Samut Sakhon province told
Reuters. 

               Little Myanmar residents are also confused. ``My boss
said I can work here
               as long as I can because my boss has a license to hire
alien workers. But
               some others said I can only work here for another 45
days,'' said Hae Poh,
               22, a shrimp packer. 

                            Copyright 1998