14 Myanmar Nationals Arrested on Malaysian Border
14 Myanmar Nationals Arrested on Malaysian Border
On September 12th 2021, the Bangkok Post published a report on the arrest of four Myanmar nationals on the Thai side of the Thai-Malaysian border opposite the Sadao district. The Sadao district encompasses the small town of Danok, which functions as the major border crossing between Thailand and Malaysia. The first seven migrants and their driver were intercepted on a border road. The second seven migrants were found hiding in a bush waiting to be transported. The driver, Sukhipli Arong, was hired to transport the migrants to the Malaysian border for 1000 baht ($29.95) per passenger. The migrants said that they had travelled earlier in taxis from Ang Thong province to the Na Mon district in Songkhla, a roughly 14 hour journey. The migrants had paid 14,000 Malaysian ringgits ($1,347) to brokers for jobs in Malaysia. The report ends by mentioning that an investigation into the human smuggling ring is underway.
These migrants are part of a large population who flee Myanmar to escape political instability and religious persecution. Burmese immigrants are Malaysia’s fifth largest immigrant population, making up 1.76% of the total population. On February 1st, 2021, control of Myanmar was seized by the Tatmadaw, the Burmese military, under the direction of military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing. Hlaing was allegedly responsible for the military’s attacks on ethnic minorities such as Rohingya Muslims. The current military rule harkens back to a nearly fifty year period from 1962 to 2011 in which Myanmar was ruled by a series of militant governments including the Burma Socialist Programme Party and the military junta. This period also saw extensive Burmese emigration and subsequent exploitation of Burmese migrants by human traffickers on the Thailand-Malaysia border. A United States senate report from 2009 details how human traffickers take possession of migrants and issue ransom demands under threat of being turned over to Thai human peddlers to work on fishing boats or in brothels. There were also numerous reports of sexual abuse and rape of Burmese women at the border.
It is likely that human trafficking rings are benefitting off of Myanmar’s current military rule. The Bangkok Post report’s foucs on the arrest of the migrants rather than the reason for their exodus from Myanmar reflects the Thai government’s ambivalent attitude towards human trafficking issues. In 2015, several human trafficking camps and mass graves sites were discovered in Southern Thailand which were known about by Thai government officials. Thailand has a history of turning away boats of Rohingyas and other minority groups entering the country by sea. It will take long term international pressure on Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia to resolve this humanitarian crisis.
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