Malaysia-bound youths stop more refugees coming

Human Rights

Malaysia-bound youths stop more refugees coming

Authorities looking for five girls that took flight to work in Malaysia had almost paralyzed the flow of Shans fleeing their homeland into Thailand, according to social workers in Chiangmai's Fang district, opposite Mongton township of eastern Shan State.

"Their parents had notified the authorities, who issued orders to search every vehicle going across the Salween at Tasang," a worker told S.H.A.N. "The girls however managed to slip through and arrived at the border on 2 June. Meanwhile hundreds who came later were stranded on the Salween west bank."

Another worker explained to S.H.A.N. this was the reason why the number of illegal migrants that had been steadily on the rise since the new year began took a plunge last month:

The girls, one from Taunggyi, Shan State's capital, and 4 others from Mongkung, 108 miles northeast of Taunggyi, are reported to have arrived in Malaysia. They were led by two other girls who have been already working there for a few years. "The pay is good in Malaysia, much better than in Thailand," one of the girls was quoted as saying. "A construction worker, for example, can get no more than 300 baht per day in Thailand. But one of my friends, a newcomer, is already getting the equivalent of 460 baht."

There are reportedly about 40 Shans in one locality alone. ""The demand for cheap labor appears to be really high there," said a social worker. "So are the costs to get there. It's about 4,000 baht per head to Chiangmai (150 km) and 3,500 baht to Bangkok (700 km). From Bangkok, it's plain sailing." The social workers, however, were unable to give the names of the towns in Malaysia where Shans are working.

These people, the social workers nevertheless maintained, are in the minority. "The majority who are here spoke of the military's countless abuses, such as forbidding farmers to leave for their fields outside their villages, forced joint patrols with the Burmese units, confiscation of heir homes and fields, wanton killings, rapes, endless forced labor and monetary contributions."

The total of Shan refugees arriving in Thailand since April 1996 to the end of 2002 is estimated by the Shan Human Rights Foundation as 230,000.