In the first of a series of articles from the Thai-Burma border, the BBC's Kate McGeown looks at the thousands of political and economic migrants who flee Burma for Thailand every year.
If you did not know that the town of Mae Sot was in Thailand, you would probably assume it was in Burma.

Burmese script is written on almost every shop front, most of the men walk round town wearing longyis (sarongs) and traditional Burmese teashops are on every corner.

The presence of so much that is quintessentially Burmese is unsurprising, given that Burmese nationals in this border town now outnumber Thais by more than two to one.
It is the same story in the countryside nearby, which is home to an increasing number of Burmese living in UN-administered camps, as well as a large population of economic migrants.

Despite the fact they are in the minority, being a Thai in this area has distinct advantages. Most Burmese are either confined to refugee camps, or working to feed their families amidst the constant threat of deportation.

"Burmese people face many challenges here," said Ko Phyo, the deputy head of local migrant association Yaung Chi Oo (New Dawn).

"But every year more continue to come, because the situation in Burma is getting worse and worse."

Fleeing for their lives

Burma is ruled by a repressive military junta, which is showing little desire to improve the rights and living conditions of its poverty-stricken people.

Not only is it hard for ordinary citizens to earn a living, it is becoming increasingly dangerous for some people to continue living there at all.
Members of certain ethnic groups are particularly at risk - especially the Karen, who live in areas of conflict between the military and rebel fighters.

Many people from these groups have fled across the Thai border, and are now living in refugee camps.

There are three main camps around Mae Sot - Mae La, Noe Po and Umpium. Together, they are home to about 97,500 people.

Many camp residents - particularly the recent arrivals - are just grateful for a safe place to stay and food to eat.

"I'm so happy I'm here," said 50-year-old Naw Saw Mu, who fled from a village near Taungoo after being forced to work without pay and seeing surrounding villages being burned down by the government army.

After enduring weeks of living in the jungle, surviving on scant food and in constant danger of landmines, she arrived at Umpium camp last year.

"It's just so good to be safe," she said.

But other people, who have been cooped up in the camps for longer, are frustrated that they cannot leave to find work in nearby Thai towns.

"I can't move freely. I feel like I'm under house arrest," said 30-year-old The The.
Many of these refugees will eventually get the chance to resettle in a third country, but most of them just want to live like normal citizens in Thailand.

"I've been here for 18 years, and I speak Thai," said 44-year-old Sa Thu Mway. "I just want to get a plot of land somewhere, so I can build a house and grow food for my family."

Evading the authorities

Of course there are plenty of Burmese who do live freely in Thailand - but for many of them, this freedom comes with the risk of being deported.

These people are mostly economic migrants, who are ineligible for refugee status even if they wanted it.

I've seen migrants deported in the morning, who are back in Mae Sot for lunch
Ko Phyo, Yaung Chi Oo

An estimated 50% of Mae Sot's 80,000 Burmese migrant workers do not have proper work permits. According to Ko Phyo, this leaves them open to abuse from unscrupulous bosses, most of whom run garment factories.
"Sometimes bosses pay less that the legal Thai minimum wage, or withhold payment altogether," said Ko Phyo. "There are also cases of physical abuse and rape."

Factory owners are not the only people to benefit from the migrants' illegal status. Thai police and immigration officials regularly extort bribes from people anxious to avoid being deported, Ko Phyo said.

"They even ask for people's cash and phones on the street," he said.

If the worst happens, and a migrant gets deported, there are two possible options.

In most cases, the Thai authorities merely cross the nearby bridge to Burma and leave the person there. On payment of a small bribe to the Burmese authorities, the migrant can come straight back again.

"I've seen migrants deported in the morning, who are back in Mae Sot for lunch," said Ko Phyo.

Most Burmese migrants have faced this kind of deportation frequently.
"I've been deported five times and I'm not scared any more. I just come right back," said 24-year-old garment worker Chit Htwe.

Deportation gets more serious when the migrant is handed over to the Burmese government. That happened to Ko Phyo himself, and his friends and colleagues had to raise 300,000 Baht ($8,300) to prevent him being jailed.

A group of men from Arakan state, one of Burma's poorest regions, fear this is what may have happened to their colleagues.

Desperate to leave home, they sold their possessions and bought a boat, which they sailed from the provincial capital Sitwe to the Thai coastal town of Ranong. There they were arrested and brought to Mae Sot, from where they were deported back to Burma.

Half the group were handed to border guards, who soon let them go back to Thailand, but they fear the other half were handed over to more senior officials, as they have not seen them since.

In the murky world of Mae Sot, many such disappearances go unsolved. But despite the dangers, every year more and more people stream across the border looking for work, asylum or both.

And every year they make the area around Mae Sot more and more Burmese.

In the next piece in the series, Kate McGeown looks at the Karen rebel army and whether it stands a chance against the Burmese government. Do you live on the Burma-Thai border? Use the form below to send us your experiences and comments:

Name
Your E-mail address
Town & Country
Phone number (optional):
Comments
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6397243.stm

1 - For the last 3.5 years ASSK has had her ability to communicate completely cut off and
has been physically isolated in virtual solitary confinement.
2 -The only visitor (other than her own doctor and attendants) has been Gambari who
met her twice in ‘06 without achieving any positive results, nor any full disclosure of what
they talked about.
3 - Those of us who are frequent visitors to Burma, and Burmese in Burma, remark that
ASSK is fading in people’s minds, especially young people – a younger generation who
has NEVER heard her voice, nor seen her, even on TV.
4 - the regime is erasing her presence and her very existence - and will likely NOT EVER
compromise with her, or allow her voice to be heard again.
5 - previous periods of house arrest were quite different - visitors were allowed, at times
she could speak to crowds, and she occasionally was allowed to travel within the
country.....
6 - She is now being falsely charged with tax evasion, by which the regime may sentence
her to a long term as a criminal. (She has actually not been charged yet with anything
despite so many years of confinement)
II - WHAT COULD CHANGE THE MINDS AT THE UN, ASEAN,
BURMA’S NEIGHBORS, and others?
We think there is only one thing that could have possibly changed the outcome of the
U.N. vote, ASEAN’s inaction, and India’s stance. (and possibly Russia’s position)
IMAGINE IF AUNG SAN SUU KYI had spoken at the UN, and to the Chinese and Russian
delegations, and spoken to all the ASEAN leaders and ministers, and traveled to and
spoke to leaders and crowds in India, Thailand, Singapore, Europe and Japan.
And, if she had spoken before the US Congress, the EU and British Parliaments, various
Asian bodies, and had many times been interviewed and featured on CNN, BBC, 60
Minutes, Fox, NBC, ABC, Oprah, Larry King, and more importantly - the equivalents in
Europe and Asia.
And, if she attended a special long overdue Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to properly
award her the honor, and to make world news out of the reasons for this long, long delay.
And, she appeared again and again with other Nobel laureates, the Dalai Lama, the Pope,
Jolie and Brad, Bono, and Shan and Karen refugees, etc.
And, big cameras accompanied her to Thai border refugee camps and Burmese expatriate
communities in Asia, US and Japan.

(To be continued)

from: Support Free Burma (SFB)
-thoughts and strategies for change in Burma-
San Francisco, California, USA
info@supportfreeburma.org
To all of you that are concerned with Burma -
OUR GROUP HAS A SERIOUS MESSAGE AND A STRATEGY THAT WE WOULD LIKE
ALL OF YOU TO READ, CONTEMPLATE, DISCUSS, AND
THEN PLEASE RESPOND TO US -
- FOR THE SAKE OF THE BURMESE PEOPLE!
Please share this with your members
BURMA ASSESSMENT and NEW STRATEGY
If you look on the web, there are many, many Burma activists groups throughout the US,
Canada, a dozen or more European countries, and many Asian countries.
Many people have spent much time and admirable effort for the sake of Burma.
However, now let's have a sober look at the situation.
The Burmese regime is even tougher, better armed, more defiant, and has the opposition
in Burma nearly completely squelched. After 18 years are we making progress? Have we
really forced the regime to do anything? Unfortunately, despite all of our good intentions
and noble efforts we are not getting concessions from the Burmese regime!
Examples: we banned selling weapons to the regime - so it buys them from China,
Russia, India etc; we have created various economic and business sanctions - and nearly
all Asian countries rush in; we work to get Western oil companies out of Burma - and
China, India, Russia, and South Korea jump right in; we've demanded the release of Aung
San Suu Kyi - but instead, she's now isolated, muzzled, and has no influence; in many
cities we have divested, protested, embargoed, and banned - but other countries just see
an open door to Burma. (We are not suggesting abandoning these kinds of things, but
let's pause and look at the current situation.)
Is the regime stronger now than before, or is the opposition?
Is the opposition (both inside and outside Burma) gaining influence and
strength, or losing them?
Has world and media attention really become greater, or lesser over these long
years?
All of our efforts have been done with the best of intentions, and long, hard work. Many
thanks to all!
But.......should we continue with these tactics, or do we need some new strategies?
The January 12, 2007 veto, of the resolution against Burma, at the U.N. Security Council,
was disappointing - but (unfortunately) not that unexpected. And, ASEAN’s unwillingness
to deal adequately with Burma’s terrible abuses are frustrating. And none of Burma’s
neighbors - India, Thailand, and China are of significant help at this time.
We need new and/or revitalized strategies -
and IMPORTANTLY - we need for each of us to be open and willing to embrace new
ideas, and perhaps change ‘set in stone’ positions.
(please consider printing this, in order to easily refer to it)
OUTLINE:
I - THE CURRENT STATUS OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI
II - WHAT COULD CHANGE THE MINDS AT THE UN, ASEAN, etc?
III - WHAT DOES A LEADER DO? THE PEOPLE’S INPUT......
IV - RESPONSE TO ‘SHE SAID SHE WILL NOT LEAVE BURMA’
V - FREEING HER IN BURMA IS NOT REALLY AN OPTION ANYMORE
VI - EFFECTS IN BURMA AS SHE IS HEARD AND SEEN ON CNN....
VII - HOW TO GET HER OUT
VIII – OTHER POINTS
IX - CONCLUSIONS
X - WE WANT INPUT FROM YOU, AND PEOPLE IN BURMA
I - THE CURRENT STATUS OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI
(To be continued)......

RANONG, Thailand and Ruili, China — It is 3 a.m. and 32-year-old Nilar is already awake, preparing to go to the market to buy ingredients for her soup business. Her movements are alert, but her neighbours in this town near the border with Burma are still fast asleep.

Far away, Htun Shwe, 58, prays at home before he goes to the morning market in Ruili, a Chinese town on the border with Burma, to buy ingredients for his Burmese-style curry restaurant.

While the morning routines of Nilar and Htun Shwe, both Burmese, sound similar in Thailand and China, their situations are quite different.

Both head for the market in the mornings; both sell Burmese-style curry. Both left their hometowns in Burma to make more money. Yet both lead quite different lives in societies that are host to a sizable number of Burmese migrants.

Nilar left her small village in Tenasserim Division, Burma six years ago. These days, she carries the fresh curry she cooks everyday in a big basket on her head, peddling them at lunch time to Burmese migrant workers. Some 100,000 many of them work in the fishing industry here.

She earns about 100 baht a day (2.5 U.S. dollars), to support her and her four children. The job does not seem particularly dangerous, but for Nilar the daily trip to the market became risky after five run-ins with a Thai gang on her way there.

Four years ago, five gang members on two motorbikes harassed her, stripped her and stole the 507 baht (13 dollars) she was to use to buy that day's curry ingredients.

She now dreads going to the market, but must do so because she is the main breadwinner in her family.

So, she has devised a way to keep her money safe. "When they (the gang members) see me, they search my body," says Nilar. Now, to fool the gang, "I tie the money with a rubber band at the edge of my sarong to hide it."

Nilar says she knows that Thai authorities advise migrant workers in the border town not to go out between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. But how can she make money if she cannot go out in the early mornings?

In Ruili in south-western China, meantime, it is quite a different picture for Htun Shwe, a former teacher in Burma who runs his own restaurant along a narrow street near the famous Ruili gems market, an area busy with Burmese migrants.

After returning from the market each morning, he and his four children begin cooking curry so that they are ready for the lunch-hour rush of customers and before the dinner clientele.

At midday, Htun Shwe's shop can have some 100 customers daily. He makes a profit of about 70 yuan (350 baht or 9 dollars) everyday.

Rushing to and from tables of customers at lunchtime, his face bathed in sweat, Htun Shwe says, "Here, things are well." In China, he says he can earn as much as he is willing to work, and the currency is stable.

There is no question that working across the border from Burma is good for him and other Burmese, says Htun Shwe, who arrived here from Mandalay, Burma's second largest city


He says he has no worries about staying in Ruili after getting a medical check-up and a work permit from Chinese authorities, especially if ties between Burma and China continue to go well.
Htun Shwe says there is no discrimination against Burmese workers from the local Chinese or the Chinese authorities.
Over in Thailand, Nilar fears the Thai gangs in the early morning, and Thai police the rest of the day. She holds an Thai work permit, but it is for working in fisheries only — and that is not her current job.
A year ago, Nilar recalls that she was selling curry in the street when two Thai motorcycle policemen arrested her.
Her fisheries work permit did her no good, so she borrowed money to pay a 2,000 baht (50 dollar) bribe to be released. "I really wanted to cry at the time," said Nilar. It took her a month to earn the money to repay her friends. "I did not feel well."
Since then, Nilar keeps a close watch out for police too when she sells curry on Ranong's streets. Though she has been in Thailand a long time, she has never made much money, usually just enough for her family's daily needs.
For Htun Shwe, life in China has been kinder. With a bicycle pump and a screwdriver, he began life here by repairing flat tyres on the streets of Ruili. Now he has saved more than 5,000 dollars. "Although it (China) is another country, it is good to stay here," he said. "If you harmoniously stay under their law, it is not bad here."
Both Nilar and Htun Shwe left their homeland in search for a better life. Estimates are that there are more than one million Burmese workers in Thailand, and more than 20,000 in Yunnan province, where Ruili is. More than 4,000 live around Ruili.
There are other differences in the Nilar's and Htun Shwe's lives. For Burmese, a one-year work permit in China costs 60 yuan (22.5 dollars) and a one-year work permit for Thailand costs 3,800 baht (95 dollars). In both cases the registration process takes a year.
But in China, a Burmese can also apply for a three-month temporary stay permit for 27 yuan (3.38 dollars).
But even then, most Burmese in Ruili do not have proper papers and police often arrest undocumented workers and deport them, or fine them, says local Burmese resident Hein Naing.
Nonetheless, Burmese migrants in China say they feel safe and secure.
But though they are often mistreated and discriminated against in Thailand, Burmese nationals continue to migrate there for work.
Hein Naing, who has lived for more than 10 years in Ruili and recently spent a month in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, say this is because travel remains easy between the two countries and there are plenty o f jobs available in Thailand.
Hein Naing adds that for years, the biggest obstacle to Burmese working in China was its huge population, which meant that the Chinese government had to find work for its own people first.But over the years, rising incomes have allowed Chinese citizens to leave low-paying jobs and take on better-paying manufacturing jobs in cities and special economic zones. This has left room for cheaper Burmese labour in rural areas, in jobs like cleaning cars and tending to teashops, working as goldsmiths and blacksmiths. Many Burmese work in Ruili's gem industry.


"Whatever you say, there is more liberty staying along the China border than the Thai border," says Hein Naing. "There is no abuse in China for workers who come and live legally in Ruili."
Win Myint, a Burmese who lives in Mae Sot, Thailand, says that Burmese migrants do not find it easy to speak up when they have problems or their rights are violated.
"Burmese people don't want to have problems, so they remain quiet and end up being more oppressed," says Win Myint, who has lived for about 20 years in Thailand and has published two Thai-Burmese phrase books for migrants working along the border.
"It is their tradition that Burmese are afraid to go to the police. If they go to a police station (in Thailand), the language (barrier) will be difficult," Win Myint says, adding that they fear being deported or becoming victims of extortion.
Pranom Somwong of the Chiang Mai-based Migrants Assistants Programme says that the plight and perceptions of Burmese migrants in Thailand are not helped by a lot of bad history between the two countries and insensitive media reports that fan the flames of misunderstanding and prejudice.
"I think English newspapers have more information about the problems of migrant workers," said Pranom. "But the problem is in the Thai-language media," which lacks information and understanding of Burmese migrant labour in Thailand.
Still, she acknowledges that Thai reporting is now "more positive and better than before" because also of non-government groups' efforts to dialogue with the media.
Win Myint also notes that Thai textbooks still focus on Burmese invasions of more than 100 years ago. He says that many younger Thais would like to have good relations with neighbouring countries, but century-old nationalistic attitudes remain popular in some circles.
"When we talk about patriotism in Burma, we talk only of the invading British and the Japanese," he says. "But in Thai textbooks, they only talk of Burma invading Thailand in the past."
But undocumented migration relates in the end to what the Burmese government does. Win Myint says that if the the government were to take a stand with the Thai government over the exploitation of Burmese migrants, the situation could quickly improve.
But the Burmese government is the main reason for there being millions of Burmese migrants outside the country in the first place. Social, economic and political turmoil forces more and more Burmese across the Thai and Chinese borders.
Burmese workers in both China and Thailand say they left for economic reasons, but all say they would return home if and when the economic situation improved in Burma.
"Working here is risky and frightening. If things were going well in Burma, I would work there," says Nilar. "(But) What can I do? I have to work in danger," she says.
Htun Shwe is feeling older. Life in Ruili is stable, but thinking of himself as a foreign worker makes him uncomfortable. "Actually, our native town is the best," he says. "I don't want to be here, but it is the only option," he says.
Like many others, they cannot yet imagine their future lives, but "one day" hope that they can return to their Burmese homes. (END/Copyright IPS)

Twenty seven music stars including U2, R.E.M., Eric Clapton, Avril Lavigne, Peter Gabriel, Coldplay, and Pearl Jam have released "For the Lady," a brand-new double CD set dedicated to freeing the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi and the 50 million people of Burma.

"For The Lady" features unreleased material by R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Tom Morello's The Nightwatchman, Damien Rice, Lili Hadyn and Better Than Ezra.

The album also features a song in Burmese written by a jailed student democracy activist. Like the leaders of former communist states, Burma's military regime is fearful of the power of rock and roll, and singing a freedom song can result in a seven-year prison sentence.

Proceeds from the CD go to the U.S. Campaign for Burma.