Burma's Displaced, Dispossessed and Divided communities - But room for hope?
The town of Mae Sot in northwest Thailand is increasingly benefiting from its strategic position on the border with Burma. Since the purportedly democratic elections in Burma (also known as Myanmar) in 2010, trade has escalated in this region resulting in new and bigger roads, population growth and something of a rush for access to Burma's energy and mineral wealth. On arrival in Mae Sot for my 5th visit in a little over two years I am struck by the rapidity of change. The airport has been extended by almost double, taxis queue where before it was difficult to even get a tuk tuk and the traffic is much heavier. When I first visited, it was on the twin propeller 30 seater daily plane from Bangkok but now I can select from at least 3 daily options on a significantly larger aircraft, with most flights fully booked well in advance.
Rush Hour in Mae Sot
This growth is undoubtedly welcomed in a country which has experienced its share of deflationary economics and a populace who outwith the urban megacity of Bangkok and the paradise beaches continue to live in relative poverty; divisions which themselves create their own civil unrest through periodic coups and mass demonstrations. But for the Burmese migrants living in and around Mae Sot, the effects of this rapid economic and social change can be turbulent. Land formerly inhabited by communities of workers, or migrant schools is reclaimed by landlords keen to capitalise on the escalating value of their land. Where communities once lived and worked, dual carriageways, warehouses, malls and hotels spring up, continuing the rapid transformation of Mae Sot from rough frontier town towards a city of sprawling proportions. So, mostly good news for the local economy and workforce even if the charm of the town may to some eyes be diminishing? Mae Sot is something of a melting pot, composed of both Thai nationals and Burmese migrants. Then, there are those here for humanitarian purposes - the NGO professionals, the gap year and recently retired volunteers and a scattering of tourists, some of whom are here to visit one of the many brothels in the expanding red light district where Burmese girls eke out their living, more vulnerable than most to this modern day slavery from which emancipation may not be attainable.
The Thai-Burma Border
Nobody really knows how many displaced people from Burma live in and around Mae Sot, but it is certainly many tens of thousands. Of those who can get work, many earn less than the minimum wage, working in factories, or as farm labourers, in construction and in the service industry. In recognition of their worth to the local economy, the Thai government have made significant efforts to provide some of those economic migrants and some former refugees with an element of security through the provision of work permits but for those without the necessary paperwork or the support of an employer, they are faced with the stark choice of accepting the unstable conditions of remaining illegally in Thailand, paying fines or risking detention if caught or returning to the country from which they or their parents fled. To return is fraught with uncertainty.
Burmese Migrant Workers
The tensions that the non-Buddhists face have not gone away. Fighting has been reported in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan and Karen states in recent months and the Rohinghya and Kokang minorities are currently under particular and targeted persecution. Even in those states where the Myanmar army do not currently exert their force, the memory of their presence in the decimated rural communities have left behind distrust and fear. Yet from the Thai border, there is a repatriation of sorts because people desire their homelands. Human Rights Watch and the international community are watching closely as NGOs attempt to shift their focus from the border of Thailand to Burma itself.
Many of these displaced thousands have direct experience of the fear and suffering that forced them from their homes and country during the prolonged civil war that has been either boiling or simmering in Burma since 1986. Generations of the countries ethnic minorities - who account for 40% of the population, as well as many of the Buddhist Burmese majority, have been denied the basic human rights of security, shelter, food, education, healthcare and respect. Many considered the lifting of economic sanctions in Burma in 2012 premature, a rather naively predictable response to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest where the leader of the National League for Democracy had spent 15 of the previous 23 years. There has been much protest from human rights groups, highlighting that the new government were composed of many of the same generals, but without their uniforms, who continued to blatantly persecute Burma's ethnic minorities both through forced displacement and brutal acts of aggression.
But the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi and other well-known political prisoners provided the propaganda, while the power of the multinational corporations provided the pressure on the UN that resulted in the lifting of economic sanctions. Since then, swathes of land of exceptional environmental wealth have been destroyed in Burma to develop gas pipelines, remove hardwoods, mine minerals and build vast motorways and perhaps even to extend the range of the opium fields. In doing so many thousands more people, particularly the Rohingya have suffered further persecution and displacement, many to refugee camps in neighbouring countries. Persecution from the government's military, the Tatmadaw, who reportedly set up camps beside villages and then over a period will loot, rape, conscript children to their ranks and enslave villagers. Insurrection comes at a price and reports of brutality and murder are not uncommon. Once the village has been scavenged and left depleted, the soldiers will move on.
Makeshift Homes on the Border
Despite all this, there is some hope. The first truly democratic elections are scheduled to take place at the end of 2015. For many, hope rests squarely with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. But she has yet to stand shoulder to shoulder with the persecuted minorities, choosing instead to align herself with the Buddhist majority in their rejection of land rights for Burma's other ethnic groups. Perhaps she is awaiting the appropriate moment - many hope that the lessons from the histories of other divided nations will propel Burma towards peace and the restoration of human rights to all of its citizens. Though as the constitution stands, Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be president even if the NLD win, due to the constitutional clause, clearly drafted to exclude her, that states that nobody who has a foreign spouse or whose children have a foreign spouse can be president. The current president, Thein Sein, appears to be in no mood to change this, rather safeguarding the power of the military rule through constitutional rules that mean that 25% of seats must be held by the military and a vote must win 75% (plus 1); virtually ensuring that the military bloc vote can block any change.
Clearly there are millions from within Burma and in the international community who want to see transitional democracy and a political settlement achieved with no further bloodshed, but for the two million internally displaced people, refugees and migrants living in neighbouring countries, this is long overdue. In the meantime, the eyes of the world should hold their gaze in observing the processes and outcomes from this year’s elections and be prepared to challenge if they are found to be wanting.
All Images provided by author.
