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Rebels win, Workers lose



Just a note of reality, here amid all the euphoria about getting the world's attention on Burma by a show of physical force in our host's capital city.

By some estimates, there are one million undocumented Burmese workers in Thailand, about half of whom work in Bangkok.  For those of you who dont know, these undocumented workers are habitually ripped off by their company owners, abused by their foremen, and harassed by the Thai police.  Without state papers, they have no legal rights at all.  Their children are often born on the construction work sites, and later they play in the dirt and the junk piles while their parents mix cement, bend re-bar, and carry bricks, for half the wages of a Thai laborer.  The only reason these people are in Bangkok, far from their towns and villages in Burma, is simply because it is even worse for them at home.

I had spent about six months working with a group of Burmese students to set up a primary school for these kids at a construction site in Bangkok.  We researched the situation, wrote a project proposal and prepared a budget which included books, paper, and lunch for the kids.  We sent it out to friends and organizations who we thought might be interested in funding the school.  We finally heard that it was going to be approved last week, just before the embassy story hit the headlines.

The students who were going to run this school all live at the Maneeloy "safe camp".  But now it looks like easy movement to and from the camp is over (see story that follows).  If they cannot leave the camp for Bangkok, there will be no school for the workers' children.  And from the sounds the Thai government is making, life is going to get even harder for the workers themselves.

I know that everyone wants to go back to Burma.  I know that the continued presence of the junta there is a disgrace to human society.  I know how frustrated everyone is with the lack of movement in the international community.  I was also glad to see something "real" happen, although I know that violence is never elegant, nor can it be a solid foundation on which to build anything long-lasting.

But with no collective planning, no coordinated follow-up, no long-range strategy to use this "aberration" to press our demands home to the international community, it is the weakest people, as usual, who will bear the brunt of the hostile fall-out that violence always breeds.  I know in a very personal way what a loss of this school means to the children, their parents, and to the entire illegal worker population of Bangkok.

If the embassy attack gets them all back home to a peaceful Burma tomorrow, I will be cheering along with the rest.  But if it only makes conditions worse for them here in Bangkok, then it is they who will be paying the long-term cost for the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors moment of glory.  


>SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS
>October 6, 1999
>
>Thailand wants Myanmar students out of country after hostage crisis
>
>     BANGKOK, Oct 6 (AFP) - Thailand said Wednesday it planned to round up
>exiled Myanmar students and send them to a third country, after five
>student gunmen took almost 40 people hostage at Yangon's embassy here.  In
>the wake of the 25-hour hostage crisis, which ended with the gunmen fleeing
>Bangkok by helicopter Saturday, Thai authorities met to discuss ways to
>prevent more international terrorism on Thai soil. The National Security
>Council (NSC) said it would round up exiled students inside Thailand, check
>their status, and prosecute those found to have entered the country
>illegally. All students would then be transferred to the Maneeloy holding
>centre near the Thai-Myanmar Border, and the United Nations High
>Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be asked to quickly transfer them
>to a third country.
>
>     "We will consult with the UNHCR to send an estimated 2,800 Myanmar
>students to another country," Khachadpai Burusapatana, NSC
>secretary-general told reporters after the meeting top security agencies.
>
>     The UNHCR said it had not been informed of the move yet but would
>continue to apply long-standing policies on resettlement.
>     "In accordance with established practice we will continue to promote
>resettlement of those refugees who qualify for third country resettlement,"
>a UNHCR spokesman said.
>
>     Interior ministry spokesman Veerachai Naewboonian said students who
>were not accepted by a third country would be repatriated to
>Myanmar.  Veerachai said Thailand had already moved to ensure students were
>confined to the Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchburi province.
>
>     "Authorities will step up rules and regulations at the Maneeloy holding
>centre," Veerachai said.
>     Despite the crackdown on exiled students, Bangkok denied claims by
>Yangon that refugee camps inside Thailand were being used as terrorist
>bases.
>     "On this issue Thailand has a clear cut policy that we will not allow
>any groups of terrorists to operate against neigbouring countries from
>inside our country," Khachadpai said.
>
>     He said Thailand's policy of sheltering 100,000 refugees along the
>Thai-Myanmar border would remain unchanged, but all illegal Myanmar workers
>would be repatriated.
>
>     "We have extended permission for 80,000 to 90,000 Myanmar workers, but
>those who are not granted an extension will be prosecuted for violating
>immigration laws," he said. In addition, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has
>instructed police to tighten security at 65 embassies and 10 consulates in
>Bangkok. Thai Special Branch Police deputy commissioner Major General
>Yothin Matthayanun said his agency would focus on improving security for
>diplomatic missions of neighbouring countries and nations embroiled in
>political disputes, such as Indonesia.