Return to home land

(

က်ေနာ္

ႏွင့္

ျပည္ေတာ္ျပန္ခရီး

Grassroots-HREWritten byKyaw Thein KhaJune 21, 2009

just want to share my experience when I returnedhome from Malaysia.After working for about one year for an NGO on theThai-Burma border, I moved to Malaysia, having beenasked to help a Burmese social organization there.A one month visa was stamped into my passport atKuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). I stayed inKuala Lumpur for a month, helping the organizationwith whatever they needed. Two days before my visaexpired I went to Putra Jaya immigration office to extend my visa for another one month. Instead, one of theMalaysian immigration officers stamped a rejected stamp on my passport. I was very angry with the officerand asked him why he did this; even if he could not issue another one month visa, he should simply say thathe could not do so. Now, my passport was declined by immigration. It is not easy for a Burmese passportholder to apply for a tourist visa to go to Thailand, one of the neighboring countries of Burma. The rejectedstamp on my passport would make it difficult for me to apply for the visas in the embassies. The consularwould not easily issue a visa on a passport with rejected stamp. Finally, I decided to stay in Malaysia untilmy visa expired.I stayed in Malaysia illegally for over one year. One day, I had to have surgery at KL general hospitalbecause of a urinal problem in the male reproductive organ. I still remember the day on which I wasdischarged from the hospital, 6

May, 2008. When I arrived at my room I heard everybody, talking about

something called „

Nargis

‟, and I didn‟t know what this was. When I was hospitalized for a week I didn‟t ask

my friends to come and see me, as I

didn‟t want them to was

te their time when they could be working in thefactories.

This meant that I hadn‟t heard about „Nargis‟, I had no idea what it was. When I asked about it I

learned the awful news that it was the name of the cyclone that had had a horrendous affect in Yangon andDelta region of Burma on the 2

and 3

of May 2008. I was also told that Nargis killed over 100,000 peopleand made 1,000,000 people homeless in the delta region. I was curious to know more about the Nargisvictims so I rushed to the internet shop near my room. I visited the news sites and used Google searchwhere I looked up pictures of the Nargis victims. I, then, saw the pictures of

the victims‟

dead bodies -children, men, women and the dead bodies of animals. These were terrible pictures. I had been out of contactwith my family for a long time and I wanted to know their situation now, I started to worry about them a lot.When I felt well and the wound had almost recovered I decided to return home. I had to contact a brokerwho would transfer me to the hands of different brokers along the way to Burma. As I was staying inMalaysia illegally, I could not fly home. There is only one way for unregistered immigrants to choose andthat is to be smuggled through the borders illegally. To do that we have to pay money to brokers who knowhow to smuggle across the Malaysia-Thai border and the Thai-Burma border. I informed the broker the routeI would like to take: Kuala Lumpur - Mae Sot - Yangon. Mae Sot is a town on the Thai-Burma border. Thebrokers said that I had to pay 800 Malaysian Ringgit to arrive in Burma (230$US) for his services.

I didn‟t

have enough money for the full amount so I borrowed the rest from one of my friends. I had to take the busfrom KL to Penang as the broker lived in Penang. It was about a five-hour drive to Penang, the bus left KLat 11 pm and it arrived in Penang bus terminal at 4 am and then the broker picked me up by motorbike at 6

am. When I arrived at the broker‟s house, he explained

to me about the track detail. He was also a Burmese.

He explained that the two Malaysian brokers would pick me up at a Burmese restaurant at 3 pm, and sothere was enough time for me to have a shower, eat and take a rest.I had already understood that it was very dangerous for a person to be smuggled through the bordersillegally, but

I didn‟t have any legal travel document

s. I only had one option. I knew that if I was found bythe police along

the way, I‟d su

rely be arrested. I had a lot of stress and

worries in my situation; I couldn‟t

shower or eat. I already knew about the brokers, as I was a social worker in Malaysia. The victims whom Ihelped often told me how the brokers had treated them badly. I dared not trust every broker; if I weretrafficked,

I‟d be handed over to the rubber plant

ation owners or fisheries boats and be made to be a slave.Then, that would be the end of my life.There are some brokers, however, who are working honestly for their survival. If there were no brokers,helping to smuggle through the borders, how could we

go back home? We don‟t know the way. We could be

arrested by Malaysian police on the way through the Malaysia-Thai border. Supposing that we couldfortunately and safely be smuggled into Thailand from Malaysia, there is still the possibility that we wouldbe arrested by the Thai police when we pass the check points on the way to Mae Sot. It is not as easy as wethink to be smuggled through a border illegally. Due to these reasons we have to use brokers. For me, mytrust was only in Buddha. Whatever happened to me, good or bad, depended on the consequence of myKarma what I did in the past. I kept the teachings of Buddha in the deepest level of my heart.

If I didn‟t dieon the way, I‟d arrive home. That‟s all I

could think in my current situation.At about 12:30 noon the Burmese broker brought me to a nearby Burmese restaurant and we waited for thetwo Malaysian brokers. At nearly 3 pm the two Malaysian brokers drove a taxi towards the two of us. Then,the three brokers talked in Malay,

I didn‟t understand

what they were saying. I told the Burmese broker that

I could not pay all 800 Ringgits at once and I‟d pay 400 Ringgits when I

was smuggled into Thailand, andthen

I‟d pay the rest when I

had safely arrived in Mae Sot. The Burmese broker said that I couldn

‟t do it like

this, and that I had to pay the full 800 ringgit to his brother who is a broker in Thailand. He also said that hewanted me to trust him as he had cleared everything on the way. So I had to agree with his terms. I, then,said good bye to the Burmese broker and got in a taxi to the Malaysia-Thai border with the two Malaysianbrokers.

As I could not speak Malay, I didn‟t say anything

and sat quietly along the way, wondering if itwould be okay when I arrived at the border.It was about 6 pm when we arrived in a village near

the border (Malaysia‟s side). The two brokers brought

me up to a house belonging to a Malaysian farmer. The farmer and his family spoke to me in Malay, Iexplained (in English) that I could not speak Malay, and then they spoke in Thai. I said that I couldunderstand a little bit of what they said

, but that I couldn‟t Thai either

. The two brokers handed me over tothe Malaysian farmer and they went on their way. A man who was supposed to be the son of farmer droveme to Malaysia-Thai border. When we arrived at the border, the son of the Malaysian farmer handed meover to the hands of a Thai broker. The Thai broker picked me up by a motorbike. When we passed theborder check point, the Thai police neglected the two of us as if t

hey didn‟t see

that we smuggled intoThailand illegally. The Thai broker transferred me to the hands of a Burmese broker whose brother was thebroker in Penang whom I first met on the way. He asked me to pay him all 800 ringgits, so I paid him whathe asked for.

I thought that he‟d allowed me to sleep in his house for the night

, b

ut he said, “

You don’t haveto sleep in my house tonight. I’ll drive you up to the place where you have to sleep. Get on the motorbike

.”

Then, he drove the motorbike very fast and we arrived at a building that was supposed to be an office. LaterI realized that this was the Thai immigration office.There was a lock-up in the Thai immigration office. I saw Burmese people who were returning home lockedup in the cell; there were about fifty Burmese in total.

“

You have to sleep in this cell tonight

,” said

thebroker,

“

They are also going back to Burma like you. The truck that goes to Mae Sot comes every other day.The truck came to the immigration cell

this morning. So, it’ll come her

e the day after tomorrow, and then you have to set forth to Mae Sot with the truck. I often come

here. Don’t worry. I’ll bring the water in thenext morning.”

Then, he left. I felt strange as I had never been in a jail or cell in my life. Simultaneously, Ithink that I accepted the situation as I wanted to go back home. The feeling, then, calmed down.