According to official figures, there are a million Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. In the wake of recent democratic elections in the country, Life spoke to four of them to see whether they hold any hopes of returning home
Mohamed Alyas - roti vendor
The 38-year-old believes last weekend’s victory for Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD), will do little to bring about positive change for the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority, many of whom have no citizenship and are adrift in their own home as stateless people.
Alyas, who has lived in Thailand for over two decades and sells roti around Sukhumvit 46, said that while he is happy for the people of Myanmar that Mrs Suu Kyi won the elections, he could not help feeling disgruntled by the iconic freedom fighter’s silence on the plight of the Rohingya.
Alyas, who learned to read and write Thai with the help of sympathetic neighbours, said Mrs Suu Kyi’s inexcusable silence had further dampened any hope of a better tomorrow for the thousands of Rohingya that are living in squalid conditions both in Myanmar and Thailand, where they remain fair game for corrupt police and immigration officers.
“Before I looked up to Suu Kyi as a mother figure, and the only person that could help our cause,” said Alyas, in Thai. “I purchased memorabilia of her to show my support. That is why I am sad to say that for the Rohingya, Suu Kyi’s victory is hollow. Today, Suu Kyi for me is like a stepmother. My only hope is that the international community will eventually put pressure on Suu Kyi and the newly set up government to act to stop the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. There is much more to the problems we are facing in Myanmar than democratic reform.”
Though hopeful, he believes that the outcome of the elections will make no difference in stopping the Rohingya from being a target of a virulent hate campaign which has seen women and children dying every day.
“If I got the slightest hope that as a Rohingya I could live in Myanmar, I would pack my bags and return to my country tomorrow,’’ said Alyas. “Being stateless does not classify you as even having refugee status.”
Eieihan - maid
Eieihan, 37, has been working as a domestic worker in Thailand ever since she decided to leave Myanmar in 1996 to escape destitution. For someone whose girlhood reverberated with the sound of gunshots fired in the sky by a group of soldiers who came stomping around her village day after day, the historic election is not only just one step closer to democracy, but also the promise of a better life for civilians.
“If Aung San Suu Kyi is given a chance to run the country, then it would be good,” said Eieihan.
“But I don’t know how the future is going to turn out. If the country develops, I’m sure it will benefit everyone.
“It would be the ultimate dream if Aung San Suu Kyi is able to make the country better. However, I don’t know how much she is going to be allowed to try to prove herself.”
Educated just to primary school level and living in the remote southeastern city of Hpa-An, where career opportunities were less than inadequate, Eieihan knew she needed to move somewhere else. She made her way to Mae Sot where she wound up as a domestic worker.
After several years, she followed her friends to Bangkok and continued in the same line of work.
Three of her five siblings also take shelter in Thailand and the family occasionally reunites.
After almost 20 years of living in the Kingdom, Eieihan now speaks fluent Thai, skilfully cooks Thai food, and enjoys
watching Thai soap operas more than anything else. Her best friend is her employer’s dog.
“Even though I have lived in Thailand longer than I actually lived in my own country, there is no place like home,” Eieihan. “We hope for the best for the future of Myanmar. There is nobody who does not want to go home.
“If I went home, I would be able to live with my parents. But if my country still doesn’t have a job for me, it won’t be easy to go back.”
Thidacho - petrol station attendant
Thidacho, 35, is of Mon descent, an ethnic minority in Myanmar. She has been plugging away as a petrol station attendant in Bangkok for over four years, braving a 12-hour night shift from dusk to dawn. Doing this six days a week, the graveyard-shift worker barely has time to care for herself, let alone politics.
“When it’s an election, I believe it’s something that everyone is excited about,” said Thidacho. “But what this election actually means or who was there for me to vote for, I don’t really know. What the NLD got from winning or how they won, I don’t understand that either. Honestly, I haven’t been following the news and I don’t have much to say about any of this.”
Her apathy to the historic election clearly reflects her tough background. When Thidacho was a teenager, she fled poverty in the southeastern city of Myawaddy to become a domestic worker in Thailand. Here, she met her future husband, who is also a Mon. After eight months, she was called home to look after her parents and he soon followed her to get married. Their happy ending was supposed to continue there but the couple were forced to move from their home once again.
“If we had money, why would we leave our country and come to Thailand?” said Thidacho. “Who wants to be poor? But there was no life there.”
The couple found the same job at the same petrol station. She works alongside him and lives at a house the owner of the petrol station provides for them to share with 20 other Mon. She hardly touches her own salary every month and makes sure to send it to her six-year-old son who is reared by her parents back in her hometown.
With all of the previous life challenges she has already faced up to, Thidacho rightfully doubts this election is going to affect her.
“It doesn’t matter who won because I’m still going to have to keep working,” said Thidacho. “I don’t pay attention to it because I have to work, otherwise I’m not going to have money. Many people think that it’s going to get better. But I don’t know. No matter who won, it’s not going to make me richer. All I have to focus on is to keep working.”
Myint Wai - Burmese language teacher
Myanmar refugee Myint Wai is glad Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party won a historic landslide victory last weekend, ushering in a democratic era that political activists have long waited for.
However, while this is a significant step in the right direction, he believes Myanmar is still not out of the woods and will continue to face an uphill battle in bringing about change.
A senior political activist, Wai has resided in Thailand for 27 years, and continues to monitor the political situation back home closely. He teaches English to migrant workers in his free time.
“I believe Suu Kyi’s aim is to create a government of national unity, which will pave the way for national reconciliation and eventually a real democratic nation,” remarked Wai, who also serves as deputy director of the Thai Allied Committee with Desegregated Burma Foundation.
“However, from what I have heard, the military are already finding ways to discredit her victory, tarnishing her reputation by saying that she received financial support from Muslim groups.”
Wai hopes Mrs Suu Kyi’s victory will eventually pave the way for him to get amnesty to return home. Even though the former soldier acknowledges this is unlikely, he believes in the current circumstances there is an outside chance for it to be realised, if the international community continues to put pressure on the government.
Myanmar has been under military rule for a very long time, he said, so it will take more than Mrs Suu Kyi and the NLD to resuscitate the country politically, economically and socially. Civil society has to support this endeavour too.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see how excited everyone was to vote,” he added. “Among the hundreds that came to vote, there was a real sense of unity and eagerness to have their say in the elections.
“I believe that for a number of migrant Myanmar workers in Thailand, Suu Kyi’s victory means the country’s economy will see better days. “When that happens, be assured that they will want to return home.’’
