Hundreds of workers have been arrested in Bangkok in the last few days, as Thai authorities make good on recent promises to crack down on migrant laborers.
On Sunday, at least 400 recently arrested workers could be seen sitting in rows outside the police station in Machachai, say sources in the suburb of Bangkok. While on Wednesday, six-wheel trucks loaded with arrested workers trundled through Mahachai’s Niki Wet district. Mahachai is 36 kilometers from Bangkok, and its food processing industry employs an estimated 200,000 migrant workers, 90% of whom are from Burma.
The arrests follow statements by Thailand’s new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in which he promised to limit the number of migrant workers in the Kingdom. “We have to solve the illegal immigrant problem otherwise it will affect our security, economy and the opportunities of Thai laborers,” he told reporters on January 22nd. “We will push them out of the country.”
Abhisit’s statement struck many as a note of defiance during a time when Thailand is facing international outcry over its treatment of workers from Burma. In the last few weeks, the Thai navy has been roundly accused of marooning at sea hundreds of ethnic Rohingya from Burma who traveled to Thailand by boat. A reported 2,000 workers were towed out to sea with low stores of food and water and poor prospects for survival. At least 1,000 are thought to be dead, though hundreds have made it to countries like India and Indonesia. Nearly 200 Rohingya were rescued from boats near Indonesia’s Aceh Province yesterday.
In Thailand, meanwhile, labor rights organizations report that arrests have increased in the weeks since the controversy. “In my opinion, it is because of the Rohingya issue,” said a worker at an NGO in Mahachai who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. “Not only are local police arresting migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, but police from other parts of Bangkok have now come to clear the area. Because there is also a Muslim community in Mahachai and it seems they plan to restrict the movements of Rohingya here also.”
Whether or not the crackdown can materially reduce the number of Burmese workers in Thailand remains to be seen, however. At any given time, the country is home to an estimated 2 million workers from Burma. According to a 2005 report by Amnesty International, Burmese make up as much as 80% of the migrant worker population in Thailand.
Corruption amongst Thai police tasked with arresting the workers may also undermine the crackdown. According to a worker from Mahachai who spoke with IMNA on Tuesday, police detaining the 400 workers arrested on Sunday were encouraging workers to call family who could come and purchase the freedom. The price of freedom was negotiable, said the source, with some workers able to talk their way into walking away at a discount.
The family of a 15-year-old Mon girl arrested on Sunday, for instance, was able to remove her from detention before nightfall in spite of her lack of immigration papers. Her freedom cost only 8,500 baht, a factory owner who also arranges the transfer of migrant workers told IMNA on Wednesday. Freedom for the girl’s 22-year-old sister who posses papers, meanwhile, cost just 100 baht.
