[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Bkk Post-Life is hard for illegal B



Subject: Bkk Post-Life is hard for illegal Burmese workers

Bangkok Post July 19, 1999.

Life is hard for illegal Burmese workers
Made to suffer at the hands of job brokers, extortion gangs and even police

Onnucha Hutasing, Preecha Sa-Ardsorn, Supamart Kasem And Nussara Sawatsawang

To illegal Burmese workers, Thailand is a source of income, not a haven.

They may be able to flee starvation in their homeland, but physical and
mental torture is also meted out to them here.

"I used to dream that Thailand was more developed than Burma and should be
full of good things.

"But that is not true and I don't want to think about it. I must continue my
work because I want money for my family," said Ko Thun Lin, a 29-year-old
Karen man.

He has worked at the Mahachai seafood market in Samut Sakhon province, west
of Bangkok, for three years.

Surviving a manhunt by Burmese soldiers, Ko Thun Lin left his home town of
Pa-an to become a labourer at the seafood market.

He must work 14 hours a day for 4,500 baht a month.

Today he shares a 2.5m by 6m room with nine other people.

The rent is 5,000 baht a month. Clothes are hung on wires to divide the
packed, unventilated and gloomy room into personal areas for two couples and
five bachelors.

"We work from 10 pm until noon the following day. We just fall asleep right
after returning to our room. No one cares about the heat and humidity," he
said.

The Mahachai seafood market seems to be the biggest work place for illegal
aliens in Thailand

Over 20,000 illegal immigrants work there, mostly peeling shrimp.

"Staying here, we are safe from the police perhaps because the rowhouses
belong to the market owner who has political influence.

"We'll be in danger if we cross a road to the opposite side," another
Burmese worker said.

Across the street, extortion gangs are waiting for illegal immigrants.

Their victims are newcomers who have just arrived to sell their labour for
the first time.

"They take the newcomers' money and gold necklaces. Some women were even
taken to a nearby rowhouse and raped. The police are aware of this but the
mafia still exists," the worker said.

Illegal workers live in fear as they are always attacked, especially
sexually for women and girls.


According to the worker, a policeman deployed at a booth in front of the
seafood market once inserted his finger in the vagina of an 11-year-old
Burmese girl.

Hurting, she ran away and tried to escape by jumping from a two-storey
rowhouse. The girl broke her right leg. The policeman is still stationed at
the booth, the worker said.

According to him, police raid their places whenever the government announces
its strict action against illegal alien labour. "Our fellows who have no
work permits run as fast as they can. A pregnant woman had a miscarriage
while running. Some people even broke their legs jumping from the second
floor," he said.

"The police simply search everything in our rooms. They take our money and
in one raid, they confiscated nearly 70-baht weight of gold necklaces," the
Burmese worker said.

Workers injured in such escape attempts or who fall sick do not go to
hospital for treatment, even though the government requires each of them to
buy a 500-baht health care card. "No one at the hospital can speak Burmese,
so we simply take paracetamol for any illness or go to our illegal doctors,"
another worker said.

The "doctors" at the seafood market are illegal immigrants who used to work
at hospitals in Burma. Some were janitors there but are now the only
recourse for their fellow countrymen, especially for pregnant Burmese women.

Such "doctors" charge 1,000 baht for an abortion. "Three to four pregnant
women go to such back-street abortionists every month and receive various
kinds of treatment. They press the belly of the women to force babies out,"
the worker said.

Health problems were the most serious concern for illegal alien workers
because they did not know how to take care of themselves, said Pinyo
Veerasuksawat of the Care Thailand organisation.

He said a number of workers were infected with HIV through sex and joint use
of syringes for drug injection.

"We cannot know if they are sick until they enter a critical stage. Last
month we sent four Aids patients back to Burma. They said they wanted to die
in their homeland," Mr Pinyo said.

Suthee, a Burmese volunteer of Care Thailand, said all kinds of narcotics
were popular among alien workers. "Can you believe that 20,000 pills of
methamphetamine are sold at the seafood market every day?" he said.

Despite the dangers, the influx of Burmese continues.

They must pay 5,000-7,000 baht each to their brokers for their trip from
Kanchanaburi to Mahachai.

Up to 300 Burmese reportedly enter Thailand every day.

"A lot of trips are arranged each day. And none else but the police are the
guides," one Burmese worker said.