End prejudice against migrant workers
Jingoism ran high among many nationalists as the subject of millions of documented and undocumented migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia was discussed on social media in the aftermath of the controversial decree on migrant workers which came into force on June 23.
Unsurprisingly, almost all support the decree which seeks to impose harsher penalties against both undocumented migrant workers and their employers. For example, an employer can face a fine of between 400,000-800,000 baht for hiring an undocumented migrant worker and an undocumented migrant worker can face a jail term not exceeding five years and/or a fine from 2,000-100,000 baht.
Almost all of them see the presence of millions of migrant workers, especially the illegal ones, as a national threat. One, who probably heard stories about the polite and gentle-looking Japanese in Thailand before the Second World War but who suddenly turned into Imperial soldiers in uniform the day the Japanese army invaded Thailand by sea on Dec 8, 1941, wrote in a Facebook post that migrant workers could do the same here if there is a similar signal from their governments.
There are also those paranoid about a handful of Myanmar migrant workers owning stalls on the pavements to sell various merchandise one day taking over the entire pavement from Thais.
I assume they expect the migrant workers to remain as they have been since they started working here — doing the menial jobs that most poor Thais ignore and despise like dish washing, laundry, working at construction sites, toiling in the fields or cutting sugarcane.
I wonder how we Thais would react if our own less fortunate compatriots are mistreated by their employers in South Korea, Taiwan or elsewhere, where they spend all of their hard-earned money or the money they borrow from loan sharks just to be able to work in those countries legally or illegally?
In the meantime, the same nationalists remain silent and barely raise their fingers as Chinese traders, arriving in boatloads from Yunnan through the Mekong River, take over most retailing businesses in Mae Sai and Chiang Khong districts of Chiang Rai.
The Chiang Rai provincial authorities openly welcomed a Chinese company to invest in a huge banana plantation to produce bananas to be exported to China, despite the fact the same company was kicked out of Laos for its excessive use of chemicals in banana cultivation which have endangered Laotian workers and threatened water sources.
Or you can just stroll through the Mah Boon Krong shopping mall to take a random survey of the traders who speak Thai with a strange accent and look Chinese.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating anti-Chinese sentiments among nationalists. What I want to point out is we should not blame migrant workers for trying to fulfill their dreams of living a more decent life, a dream shared by most of us.
But if migrant workers break the law by engaging in businesses reserved for Thai nationals, they should be dealt with in accordance with the law. If the law is amended to allow them to do those types of jobs, that is another story.
And let’s also consider why migrant workers may be hired for certain jobs instead of Thais. Perhaps it’s because the employers pay authorities under the table?
Corruption on the part of the authorities, including police, immigration and labour officials and troops, is to blame for the arrival of countless illegals from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia who later become undocumented migrant workers. It is part of the lucrative human trafficking business which was booming before
the government took action to deal with the problem after being pressured by the United States. Sadly, the business still continues even if at a smaller scale.
Putting the blame on employers and illegal migrant workers for the problem of undocumented migrant workers as demonstrated in the controversial labour management decree without touching on the corruption problem on the part of the officials and the costly and complicated registration procedures is grossly misplaced. The chaos that followed the enforcement of the stiffer law is a testimony of how the answer doesn’t lie in top-down quick-fixes that ignore the opinions of stakeholders such as business operators that are dependent on migrant workers.
There are predators that prey on migrant workers on both sides of the borders between Thailand and Myanmar, Thailand and Laos and Thailand and Cambodia because there is a lot of money to be made from the poor souls by corrupt officials and brokers in all four countries.
These governments are not making life easier for migrant workers. In Cambodia, for instance, passports are only issued by the Interior Ministry in Phnom Penh and the charges differ based on your needs.
A passport costs US$200 (6,820 baht) if you want it within one day, while a normal one, which takes three weeks, costs $100.
So, if a Cambodian living in Poipet wants to get a proper passport from Phnom Penh to apply for a job in Thailand, he has to travel to Phnom Penh or arrange it through a broker and pay a hefty service charge.
Likewise, the imposition of hefty charges in the application for a work permit or renewal of a work permit and the complicated procedures in Thailand have forced many documented migrant workers to turn to brokers for help.
We need documented migrant workers in the retail business, construction, the fishing industry and for domestic work, among others. That is an undeniable fact.
The governments in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar also need the money their citizens send home from Thailand. That is another undeniable fact.
Why can’t they sit down for talks to make life a little less miserable for migrant workers?
There are predators that prey on migrant workers on both sides of the borders.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.