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The value of a Burmese
Story and Written byKyaw Thein Kha29
th
April, 2009Yesterday, I met with one of my Burmese friends on-line. Currently, h
e’s staying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
and has been there for thirteen years now. I wanted to speak with him about a growing and malevolentunderground industry in the region. It is a callous and cruel business that seems unimaginable. I was particularlyinterested in learning more about the selling prices and costs within this underground market. When I asked myfriend, he said that the buying price for the object of trade is RM 300, direct sale is RM 2, 200 and indirect saleis 40, 000 Thai Baht. In this business, w
e’re not talking about t
he price of any regular commodity; w
e’re talking
about the monetary value of human beings. In particular, the price for Burmese people in the vast Thai andMalaysian market of human trafficking.My friend is no human traffic broker, but he has become all too familiar with the industry helping and workingalong side Burmese migrant workers in the region.
He’s only a volunteer for those who are being trafficked and
often he simply has to use his own money to help the victims that he comes into contact with. He helpsBurmese migrant workers who do not have legal status, when they are out of a job, have difficulties with unpaidwages or salary or when they are arrested by the Malaysian police. If an illegal Burmese migrant worker isarrested and ends up in the hands of Thai brokers/traffickers at the Thai-Malay border, then my friend will helpthem return to Kuala Lumpur if they want to go back.There are three possibilities for migrants caught working illegally and arrested in Malaysia. After beingdetained, there is a possibility to pay your way out, to be prosecuted in the courts to determine the outcome, orto be detained in Malaysian immigration camp. When a migrant worker is arrested, the police will ask questionsin the police station and then they may be prosecuted at the court. Whatever they say may be recorded as proof.If the police want to detain them for more than 14 days, they must apply for permission from the judge in lowercourt.Once migrants are in lower court, they must contact UNHCR or some social organization to notify them of theirprosecution. If they cannot contact UNHCR or any other social organization, then the lower court must try tomake contact on their behalf. They are unable to contact the Myanmar Embassy as it never helps Burmesepeople abroad when facing such problems. At this stage detained migrants must apply for a lawyer and aninterpreter if they cannot speak Malay. There are a number of important things for the Burmese migrantdetainees to know. First of all they should always explain to the judge why they are here working for theirfamily in Burma, about the difficulties they face in their struggle to survive and about any health problems. It isimportant for them to understand that the judge and the court are also responsible to protect their rights. If accused of breaking Malaysian immigration law, in any situation, the detainee should never admit or say anywords that would show that they are in the wrong.
It’s also important to get
the case file number and the copy of the charge.The court decides whether the punishment will be imprisonment, money or rattan whipping. When the judgeissues the judgment, the detainee can appeal the judgment not to be given rattan whipping. If the detainedperson is sentenced to prison, the sentence can be anywhere from one month to four months. During thoseperiods, the prison authorities will ask them if they would accept being deported to the Malaysia-Thai border.Often times, when the prisoners do not get enough food and water in the prison and can no longer bear theharassments from the other prisoners (Indonesians and Bengalis) they will agree to be deported to the border.Those who accept deportation
to the border are trafficked by the Malaysian police. Those who don’t accept
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being deported are detained in the prison for long term, and await
UNHCR’s
visit to the prisons. In the past, theUNHCR in Kuala Lumpur was allowed to visit the prisons and withdraw the detained migrant workers, but theMalaysian authorities no longer allow the UNHCR to visit the prisons. If a detainee has someone who can comeand see them in the prison, then they can eat good food at least once per month.
The History of Burmese Slaves
It was around 1995/96 when Burmese migrant workers began overstaying their work permits. At this time theMalaysian government informed the Burmese regime and offered to negotiate to find a solution to the growingissue of illegal status Burmese migrant workers. However, the Burmese generals refused to negotiate with theMalaysian government. They said that those Burmese who were staying in Malaysia illegally were expatriatesfrom Burma and that they were no longer responsible for them. So, Malaysian authorities began deporting anyBurmese who were arrested to Thai-Malaysia border. In 1999/2000, Malaysian police negotiated with Thaiauthorities to have illegal Burmese workers transferred to Thai authorities. At this time, Thai authorities begandeporting the transferred Burmese workers to Ranong, a district close to Burma in southern Thailand. Aftersome conflict between Thai and Malaysian authorities, the Malaysian authorities began deporting the Burmesemigrant workers back to the Thai-Malaysia border on the Thai side. In late 2007, Malaysian police begantrafficking the deportees to Thai brokers near Thai-Malaysia border. From then on, the industry has beensteadily growing.Many detained migrants who are not imprisoned, now end up in the hands of Thai brokers. The latest price Iheard of when I last made inquiries on 26
th
March, 2009, was that the Malaysian police will receive 300 Ringgitfor one Burmese person. Burmese brokers, including other tribes from Burma, also work under the Thaibrokers. The Thai brokers share some of the money that they earn from human trafficking, to those Burmeseand tribe brokers. Once in the hands of the brokers, the Burmese people have two choices. The trafficked victimcan choose if they want to go back to Burma, or to Kuala Lumpur. If the victim wants to go back to Burma, thebrokers will inform the family or relatives of the victim. And then the family or relatives have to send anequivalent of 22, 000 Thai Baht in exchange of victim. If the victim wants to go back to Kuala Lumpur, theyhave to contact someone there to do the same. The brokers will help to do this. The brokers will give one of their bank account numbers to the friends of the victim in KL to transfer 2, 200
Ringgit to pay for the victim’s
release. Then, the brokers will arrange to send the victim to KL once they receive the desired amount of money.The brokers will give the victim only limited time to decide what they will do.
Even if their friends don’t have
enough money to buy them from the brokers, they will borrow small amounts of money from different workers
who haven’t been arrested and trafficked by Malaysian police. Those who haven’t been a
rrested are also livingin fear of their own precarious legal situations in Malaysia. So, they lend or give some amount of money tohelp and so that they also can find help if they end up in similar situations in the future. So, they are united andhelp e
ach other. Even though some Burmese migrant workers don’t get paid well, they still provide what they
can to help the victims. The situation is worst in these difficult economic times. With the world financial crisisupon us, many migrant workers have been fired from their jobs. They are finding it more and more difficult tohelp even their friends (victims). If someone cannot buy the victims from the brokers, then the victim will betrafficked to the hands of rubber plantation owners in Thailand as a slave. The selling price is one Burmeseslave for 40, 000 Baht.When the victims have been trafficked in
to the hands of rubber plantation owners, the owners don’t give any
favor to those whom they bought as slaves. Some other Thai workers on rubber plantati
on don’t like Burmese
slaves, because they feel as though they are taking their jobs away from them by providing such a source of cheap or free labour. Often after the owner has bought a slave for 40, 000 Thai Baht, he will fire one regularpaid Thai worker from his job. This has created a great source of conflict between Thai and Burmese workers
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and has turned deadly in many cases. A bullet or a cheroot in a cup that collects rubber fluid is fatal sign for therubber plantation workers in Thailand. If a worker sees a bullet or a piece of cheroot in a small cup that isattached to a rubber tree to collect rubber fluid, they must flee the plantation immediately as this is a sign of danger or a warning from the other workers that their life is in danger.Murders of this type usually take place during the overnight shifts. The workers in rubber plantations have towork at 2am or 3 am when the rubber trees produce their fluid and the weather is colder
. Rubber fluid doesn’t
come out when the sun is shining. In the early morning when there is no light, the workers have to collectrubber fluid, holding a lamp with a faint light in their hands. They have to work in very separate and secludedareas of the plantation. If in the early morning when the light comes, a worker cannot find their partner, there isa grim possibility that they may find the dead body of their mate somewhere in the plantation or on the bank of a brook near the plantation.There was such a crime when I recently visited Na Bon township, in Nakhon Si Thamarat district in southThailand, where many Burmese migrants work in rubber plantation. During my visit, I stayed with a Burmesemigrant worker on the rubber plantation and he told me about the crime.As I described above, if a Burmese slave sees a bullet or a piece of cheroot in the cup at a rubber plantation and
doesn’t flee, he’
d be killed. However, if they flee the plantation, the plantation owner will kill them anyways.There is no way to choose between two such dismal fates and so that is the end of the life of a Burmese slave
’s
life.
Same situation, but different value
The following news was published on May 11, 2007 from The New Straits Time newspaper, in Malaysia. WhenI was staying in Kuala Lumpur, I saw this article and kept it so that I could write this article in the future.The news said,
“Freed
Filipina maid Sarah Dematera (right) being received by President Gloria Arroyo at themalacanang presidential palace in Manila yesterday after arriving from Riyadh. Dematera was jailed for 15years in Saudi Arabia and was sentenced to death after she clubbed to death her lady employer 1992. At thattime, Dematera had a four-year old daughter and under Saudi law could not be executed until the child reachedthe age of 18. Arroyo met with Saudi ruler King Abdullah in May last year and discussed the cases of Filipinos
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The Value
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| Upload Date: | 04/28/2009 |
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