At the Annual General Meeting hosted by the Mon migrant community in Klang, near Kuala Lumpur, Master of Ceremonies Nai Plu took the opportunity to boldly come forward and request action on alcohol and drug abuse among migrant workers, saying, "I propose that leading members lead the working committee by taking an oath to stay drug free and prove their worth as good role models."

The meeting was organized by migrant workers from Ye, southern Mon State, and aimed to gather together diverse leaders in the community and to promote development initiatives for their home villages in Burma. Central in everyone's minds, however, was how to reach out to the Mon community in providing psychosocial support to tackle depression and isolation.

Most members are related to one another through marriage and grow up calling each other sister and brother.  "Burmese feel disconnected being away from their family and feel under strong pressure to send money back home to support their parents," says Nai Min Oo, a leader from the Mon community in Klang, Malaysia.

Most Burmese face new social circumstances living away from their traditionally conservative villages and are ill -prepared for the life of a migrant worker. Social workers say that the Burmese in Malaysia are in need of psycho-social programmes that inform them about the risks associated with unprotected sex, as well as drug and alcohol abuse.

With ever greater number of young people leaving Burma to escape human rights violations and poor economic prospects, the governments of host countries that use their cheap labour to support their burgeoning economies need to implement education programmes for young migrants who face many challenges living away from their families.

"The wave of drug abuse is sweeping over our community and is a cause for deep concern," Oo told a Kaowao reporter.  "Substance abuse among young people in the Mon migrant community is a growing concern."

Psychological stress and an 'easy' way out

"I don't want to think about home, I need to make my life happy here," said Mehm Wan*. Wan, 30, who left his village five years ago, flew in from Rangoon with a valid Burmese passport, but lost his legal status when he over-stayed. While some are successful at finding legal status, many thousands of undocumented workers reside in the poor suburbs, many having to live out in the open.

"My work is not stable and I am finding it impossible to send money home to feed my family." Wan currently works in a car repair shop, but now faces a debilitating drug addiction.  Wan tells how he became addicted to drugs to escape loneliness and forget about his loved ones at home.  

"My co-worker gave me a pill one day and said this will make you happy, I had no idea that I would become addicted to it," he said.

"Now I earn about 30 Ringgit a day, but spend 20 for a drug called 'Pea' (Bean in Burmese language). I have to take 3 suits (9 tablets) to get high," he explained.

An average drug addict spends about 6 US dollars a day on their habit, said social workers, noting that it had a serious impact on the families of addicts, draining them of financial resources.

Growing drug and HIV problems

Community workers say that the high rate of drug-abuse is compounded by the easy availability of a range of drugs circulating among the migrant community. However, the major drug traffickers and dealers are difficult to identify and health workers worry that those responsible may escape accountability leaving the innocent to face the consequences.

The tip of the iceberg was revealed recently with the arrest in Burma of Malaysian national Peter Too Huat Haw who is standing trial along with five other Myanmar nationals - Aung Min, Nay Tun Lwin, Kyaw Phone Naing, Kyaw Hlaing and Kyaw Kyaw Win for drug trafficking.

Another growing concern is the spread of HIV.  A World Health Organisation (WHO) report in 2006 stated, "Illicit drug use and a lack of sex education among the immigrant population in Malaysia are fueling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the country."

"There has been a complete lack of commitment by the governments of both Myanmar and Malaysia to develop community-based outreach services. As a result, drug abuse and HIV are increasing by the day," said a Mon volunteer social worker, Nai Mon Nyan.  He went on, "A major factor in its increase is living in limbo as an illegal migrant, but also the drugs are readily available on the street, especially among the community."

"A couple from Yangon lives here and they don't work like the rest of us in the factory.  But they make more money than us by selling drugs, these tablets come from Penang.  The pills, known as Pea, are sold for 3 Ringgit for one set (3 tablets) but some addicts use up to 6 sets a day," said a social worker from Klang.

Opium use has a long history in Malaysia, especially among migrant Chinese labourers who brought the drug with them when they migrated, along with the British who controlled the opium trade early in the 20th century. But with the increased popularity of drugs during the 1960's and the Vietnam War, the number of those addicted to heroin grew sharply.

Despite a long history of drug abuse with opium addiction the response to illicit drug use today has been largely punitive with the current goal of the Malaysian government to achieve a drug-free society by 2015.

Malaysia's war on drugs is an intensive effort of education, advertising, testing, rehabilitation, harsh mandatory penalties for drug use and the death penalty for possession of relatively small amounts of heroin, cocaine or marijuana.

Compassionate Response Needed

Another worker cited a lack of awareness on the consequences of using these drugs, "We don't have specific programs or awareness campaigns to tackle drug abuse among the local community to educate our people, a more compassionate response by the Malaysian and Burmese governments, at the national and international level is needed," Nai Nyan said.

Education on the abuse of prescription drugs, sleeping-pills and alcohol are not provided and there is no control on their
distribution. Despite having suffered from the effects of opium addiction imported by the British, the recent policies to eradicate all drugs by 2015 in Malaysia do not include drug prevention programs and no public campaigns to warn Burmese migrant workers and refugees.  

Investigations from local Burmese NGOs report a sharp increase just in the past year in the number of young teenagers using drugs, according to Mon social workers from the migrant communities.

Another worker from Penang says he sees more of his coworkers suffer from some kind of emotional breakdown associated with depression and drug abuse. "We sent one guy home because he was weak and acted disturbingly," said Yu, from the Palean region of Ye Township.

It was common to see drug and alcohol addiction among migrant workers, but now social workers see more young people using drugs. When they meet each other and shake hands, there is a pill passing from hand to hand.

"Most migrants are living under poor conditions and their plight is ignored by the authorities.  Social workers and migrant communities must take this issue seriously.  Otherwise, many people and their children may face serious consequences and lose their dream of coming to work for a better life," said Htow Mon, a community leader from Klang.

*Not his real name