In her poem entitled “Home”, British-African poet Warsan Shire wrote, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”
Many Myanmar nationals have left home to work abroad because their motherland is in the mouth of poverty. But after the global COVID-19 pandemic struck, the situation for Myanmar migrant workers has proved dire.
It is hard to be sure of how many Myanmar nationals are abroad seeking to make a living. An ILO report published in October 2020 estimated that about 10 per cent of Myanmar’s labour force was working abroad. Almost 2 million Myanmar migrant workers were working in Thailand and Malaysia alone in 2019, said the report citing Thailand’s Ministry of Labour and Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources.
FIRST WAVE
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions, lockdowns and border closures had a dramatic effect on the ability of Myanmar migrants to work and to travel in the Southeast Asia region, and further afield.
Thailand was one of the first countries to register COVID-19, the first case announced as early as 13 January 2020, and the numbers grew, though not substantially, around mid-March.
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health confirmed 89 new coronavirus cases on March 21. Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared a state of emergency, effective on March 26, and a curfew went into effect on April 3. Then, businesses were ordered to shut down in Bangkok and several other provinces affected by the pandemic.
As a result of the shutdown, tens of thousands of Myanmar migrant workers found themselves in trouble.
According to a report by Myanmar Now, up to 40,000 Myanmar migrant workers from Thailand returned to Myanmar through the border areas such as Tachileik, Myawaddy, Three Pagodas Pass, and Kawthaung from March 23 to early April last year.
During the March-June period in 2020, an estimated 100,000 Myanmar workers in Thailand returned to their motherland, according to another ILO report published in July last year.
COVID-19 numbers in Thailand were slow to rise but the impact of restrictions on migrants was significant.
SECOND WAVE
A COVID-19 outbreak reportedly occurred in Samut Sakhon, southwest of Bangkok, in mid-December 2020, increasing Thailand’s total confirmed COVID-19 cases by at least 20 per cent. A large number of Myanmar migrant workers staying in Samut Sakhon tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak in Samut Sakhon during the so-called “second wave” of COVID-19 ignited anti-immigrant sentiment among some Thais, according to DW News.
“Kick them back to their country," said a Facebook post by a Thai citizen, according to the DW News.
Recounting the outbreak in Samut Sakhon in December, a Myanmar migrant worker recently said, “We were very worried at the time. I was worried about losing my job and possible discrimination. Although I had not experienced any severe discrimination, I heard that some people had negative views of migrant workers because of the COVID-19 outbreak in Samut Sakhon.”
THIRD WAVE
The most serious COVID-19 outbreak occurred in April this year in Thailand. Since April 1, around when the “third wave” of COVID-19 started, there had been 1,161,200 cases, with 974,418 recoveries until the end of August, according to Bangkok Post.
The serious outbreak led to a shortage of hospital beds in Thailand. As a result, not only migrant workers infected with COVID-19 but also some Thai patients did not have access to effective health care amid the third wave of COVID-19.
U Myint Wai, Deputy Director of Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) and Headmaster of the Dear Burma Academy, a non-profit and non-denominational school for Myanmar migrant workers working in and around Bangkok, told Mizzima about the healthcare-related problems faced by Myanmar migrant workers in Bangkok amid the third wave of COVID-19.
“Last year, if a worker tested positive for COVID-19, he or she would be admitted to a hospital. But recently, many Myanmar migrant workers infected with COVID-19 did not get the chance to receive medical treatment in hospitals because of the shortage of beds in hospitals. The patients had to wait. The father of a female student of my school died while waiting for a hospital to pick him up,” said U Myint Wai.
He added that some Myanmar migrant workers returning from quarantine centres lost their jobs because their original Thai employer did not re-employ them.
When it comes to the living conditions of some Myanmar workers in Bangkok, a source close to a community of migrant workers said, “There were a lot of Myanmar workers in trouble in Bangkok. Some
of them can't pay the rent. So, they have to go to their friends’ rooms to stay there. A few charity groups in Bangkok distributed food to Myanmar migrant workers in need.”
Some Myanmar workers did not have enough money to go back to their motherland, so they had to borrow money from their friends.
BROKERS
The Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridge, which connects the city of Mae Sot in Thailand with the city of Myawaddy in Myanmar, was completely closed for more than a month because of the third wave of COVID-19. The bridge has been partially reopened since 1 August. Since that day, about 200 Myanmar detainees from Thailand’s immigration office detention facilities, who have done their prison time, have been transferred from Thailand’s Mae Sot to Myanmar’s Myawaddy once every two days. Ordinary people, however, still have not been allowed to cross the bridge amid the ongoing pandemic.
During the third wave of COVID-19 in Thailand, travel between various provinces had not been allowed as a measure to control the COVID-19 outbreak. So, migrant workers could not travel between different provinces by regular bus.
According to some sources close to Myanmar migrant workers and VOA Burmese, some Myanmar migrant workers who were very eager to go back to Myanmar as soon as possible paid money to brokers to be registered as detainees of Thailand’s immigration office detention facilities. Then, they would be among the 200 Myanmar detainees who would be transported to the border town Mae Sot, and then would be transferred to Myanmar’s Myawaddy. A source said that the fee was about 8,000 Thai Baht or about $250 per person.
JUNTA ASSISTANCE
A Myanmar worker staying in Samut Sakhon said that the current Myanmar junta’s assistance to Myanmar workers in Thailand has been poor compared to the help provided by the former Myanmar government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD).
“The current junta’s assistance to Myanmar returnees is not effective. During the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, only religious and charity groups of Myanmar helped the Myanmar migrant workers,” he said. “During the second-wave of COVID-19 in Thailand, the Myanmar Embassy under the former NLD-led government was effective in assisting Myanmar workers at the Mahachai Shrimp Centre.”
Many other Myanmar workers in Thailand agreed that the NLD-led government’s assistance was more helpful than the junta’s aid.
On the other hand, the official Facebook page of the Myanmar junta’s Labour Attache Office wrote posts about their assistance to Myanmar workers in Thailand. According to their posts, they and some companies provided food, masks, medicines and some other essential items to the Myanmar workers in need.
CHINA AND LAOS
COVID-19 restrictions have caused problems for migrants in a number of countries in the region.
In mid-August, more than 60,000 Myanmar migrant workers were trapped in China’s border town Ruili and nearby Jiegao, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported citing workers in the border towns.
A Myanmar worker in Qingdao, a major city in eastern Shandong Province of China, told Mizzima that during the COVID-19 outbreak in August, Chinese authorities arrested many Myanmar workers across China and then forcibly transported them to Sino-Myanmar border towns.
Analysts said that the lack of clear agreements between Myanmar and Chinese governments on the issue of migrant workers is giving trouble to Myanmar workers in China.
On August 19, RFA reported that Laos was set to begin repatriating Myanmar migrant workers to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Between 5,000 and 7,000 Myanmar labourers were working in a special economic zone that serves mainly Chinese tourists, said the report.
REEMPLOYMENT
On August 22, the Bangkok Post reported that Thailand’s Ministry of Labour was planning to employ new workers from three neighbouring countries: Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) after a survey showed 424,703 migrant workers were needed to bolster Thailand’s workforce.
According to the survey, Thailand needs 256,029 Myanmar workers; 130,138 Cambodian and 38,536 Lao nationals in workplaces.
Speaking on Thailand's plan, U Myint Wai, Deputy Director of TACDB and Headmaster of the Dear Burma Academy, said that it will be convenient for the new migrant workers if Thailand can reduce quarantine costs, passport fees and work permit fees for the workers. He added that authorities of the relevant countries would also look for ways to prevent human trafficking.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the military coup have left Myanmar’s economy in dire straits. Myanmar’s economy is expected to contract about 18 per cent in the 2021 Fiscal Year (Oct 2020-Sep 2021), with damaging implications for lives, livelihoods, poverty and future growth, according to the World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor, released in late July this year. According to an ILO Brief published in July, Myanmar lost an estimated 1.2 million jobs in the second quarter following the coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Because of the economic crisis, many people in Myanmar are desperate to work in neighbouring countries. So, even when the Myanmar-Thai border was closed, many people of Myanmar were still entering Thailand illegally. The Bangkok Post reported on September 4 that 19 Myanmar citizens were caught in a forest in Mae Ramat district for illegal entry.
Speaking of job opportunities in Thailand, a young man from Kayin State said, “I want to work in Thailand soon. If possible, I would like to go there legally. Myanmar's economy is in shambles. If I live here, my family may starve. I have to struggle to earn money for my family.”
MYANMAR NIGHTMARE
Despite hardships and homesickness, many Myanmar migrant workers have to confront a dilemma whether to try hard to survive in a foreign country or whether to return to the motherland where their family lives.
For some, there is no question over the choice.
Aung Min (not his real name), who is staying in Thailand, is forthright in his opinion. “Myanmar has been torn apart under the junta. You will not be able to do any work or business in Myanmar right now. Many of my friends in Myanmar are already struggling financially.”
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Aung Min grits his teeth aware of what he has to do.
“I have a responsibility to provide for my parents. For me, it is not possible to return to Myanmar. I cannot afford to do it. I will work hard in this country despite the difficulties. Everyone wants to return to their home. But now, our home has become a hell. It has become a land of nightmares.”
Mizzima
