Migrant Worker Rights Dissolving

Kaowao; November 14, 2007

Samut Sakhon - In Thailand in what may signal a bigger shift against migrant workers, a source from Maharchai district, has told Kaowao that, “government authorities are now forbidding migrants to stage their traditional cultural shows in Samut Sakhon province.”

Last October 26th Governer from Samut Sakhon province, which is also known as Maharchai, 30 kilometers west from Bangkok released a statement from the government banning irrigation workers from celebrating their traditional cultural festivals, issued by Governor Veerayuth Ieam-ampar to the province's Employment Office, employers and factory-owners.



In the statement, the government spoke negatively about Burmese migrant workers claiming that workers living in a large numbers in Thailand, “…create health problems, stateless children, commit sinful crimes and violations of laws.” The statement went on to say that migrants’ traditional cultural celebrations affect the peace of the country, and may also affect workers’ rights.

Within the factories and on the Internet website www.naewna.com, the government has issued further statements that, “The employers must take responsibility for their employees’ behavior, control them strictly and ensure that at all times they are abiding with the law. If any employees break the rules the authorities will issue serious punishment to the employers.”

An aide to the Maharchai migrant workers has responded, saying “On November the 19th we will hold a meeting with Thai governors to discuss and reconsider the banning of migrant workers’ literary and cultural rights.” He added that some Non-Government Organisations acting on behalf of the migrant workers are looking at legal options to sue the Thai government if the bans are set to continue. “These days Thai authorities limit so much, including many ethnic and religious festivals and celebrations.

On November the 11th, chairman of the Youth Mon in Bangkok Club, Nai Onk Banjun, requested to the media to investigate ways in which the government are oppressing and discriminating against migrant workers. "It's depressing that a fellow human being who happens to be better off socially carefully drafted an official letter to segregate those socially maginalised Burmese from us," he added.

Onk demanded the government, and the Samut Sakhon governor in particular, recognise that the Thai culture venerated by Thais was not pure Thai but mixed with cultures from various ethnic groups from neighbouring countries.

More than 75 per cent of the Burmese workers in Sumat Sakhon province are believed to be Mon ethnics from Southern Burma.

Sukanya Bao-nerd, a Mon-Thai resident working as an archaeologist with the Fine Arts Department, supported Onk. In her letter Sukanya talked about the beauty of the Mon culture long observed both by Mon migrants and Thai citizens with Mon ethnicity in the province.

Why can't the governor see the splendour of Mon culture, which has become a strong point of the province, she wondered.

“On November 12th Thai police came and checked 800 migrants for their documents. They arrested approximately 116 people who were without the correct documents,” a sources from the The Nation post.

A 700-strong task force of police officers raided the Samut Sakhon shrimp market on October 31, nearby communities, two seafood factories and a low-income workers' encampment, detaining over 1,200 Burmese immigrant workers, including 30 babies, to check their documents and sources claim daily arrests are now becoming the norm.

Earlier in the year, Phuket, Phang-nga, Ranong and Rayong provinces of Southern Thailand announced provincial regulations prohibiting migrant workers from using mobile phones, driving motorcycles and other vehicles, gathering together for any activities except religious ceremonies, or leaving their living quarters after 9pm unless assigned to the night shift.