Return To Home Land (part I)

Return to home land (က်ေနာ္ ႏွင့္ ျပည္ေတာ္ျပန္ခရီ)း

Grassroots-HRE Written by Kyaw Thein Kha June 21, 2009

I just want to share my experience when I returned home from Malaysia. After working for about one year for an NGO on the Thai-Burma border, I moved to Malaysia, having been asked to help a Burmese social organization there. A one month visa was stamped into my passport at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). I stayed in Kuala Lumpur for a month, helping the organization with whatever they needed. Two days before my visa expired I went to Putra Jaya immigration office to extend my visa for another one month. Instead, one of the Malaysian immigration officers stamped a rejected stamp on my passport. I was very angry with the officer and asked him why he did this; even if he could not issue another one month visa, he should simply say that he could not do so. Now, my passport was declined by immigration. It is not easy for a Burmese passport holder to apply for a tourist visa to go to Thailand, one of the neighboring countries of Burma. The rejected stamp on my passport would make it difficult for me to apply for the visas in the embassies. The consular would not easily issue a visa on a passport with rejected stamp. Finally, I decided to stay in Malaysia until my visa expired. I stayed in Malaysia illegally for over one year. One day, I had to have surgery at KL general hospital because of a urinal problem in the male reproductive organ. I still remember the day on which I was discharged from the hospital, 6th May, 2008. When I arrived at my room I heard everybody, talking about something called „Nargis‟, and I didn‟t know what this was. When I was hospitalized for a week I didn‟t ask my friends to come and see me, as I didn‟t want them to waste their time when they could be working in the factories. This meant that I hadn‟t heard about „Nargis‟, I had no idea what it was. When I asked about it I learned the awful news that it was the name of the cyclone that had had a horrendous affect in Yangon and Delta region of Burma on the 2nd and 3rd of May 2008. I was also told that Nargis killed over 100,000 people and made 1,000,000 people homeless in the delta region. I was curious to know more about the Nargis victims so I rushed to the internet shop near my room. I visited the news sites and used Google search where I looked up pictures of the Nargis victims. I, then, saw the pictures of the victims‟ dead bodies children, men, women and the dead bodies of animals. These were terrible pictures. I had been out of contact with my family for a long time and I wanted to know their situation now, I started to worry about them a lot. When I felt well and the wound had almost recovered I decided to return home. I had to contact a broker who would transfer me to the hands of different brokers along the way to Burma. As I was staying in Malaysia illegally, I could not fly home. There is only one way for unregistered immigrants to choose and that is to be smuggled through the borders illegally. To do that we have to pay money to brokers who know how to smuggle across the Malaysia-Thai border and the Thai-Burma border. I informed the broker the route I would like to take: Kuala Lumpur - Mae Sot - Yangon. Mae Sot is a town on the Thai-Burma border. The brokers said that I had to pay 800 Malaysian Ringgit to arrive in Burma (230$US) for his services. I didn‟t have enough money for the full amount so I borrowed the rest from one of my friends. I had to take the bus from KL to Penang as the broker lived in Penang. It was about a five-hour drive to Penang, the bus left KL at 11 pm and it arrived in Penang bus terminal at 4 am and then the broker picked me up by motorbike at 6 am. When I arrived at the broker‟s house, he explained to me about the track detail. He was also a Burmese.

He explained that the two Malaysian brokers would pick me up at a Burmese restaurant at 3 pm, and so there was enough time for me to have a shower, eat and take a rest. I had already understood that it was very dangerous for a person to be smuggled through the borders illegally, but I didn‟t have any legal travel documents. I only had one option. I knew that if I was found by the police along the way, I‟d surely be arrested. I had a lot of stress and worries in my situation; I couldn‟t shower or eat. I already knew about the brokers, as I was a social worker in Malaysia. The victims whom I helped often told me how the brokers had treated them badly. I dared not trust every broker; if I were trafficked, I‟d be handed over to the rubber plantation owners or fisheries boats and be made to be a slave. Then, that would be the end of my life. There are some brokers, however, who are working honestly for their survival. If there were no brokers, helping to smuggle through the borders, how could we go back home? We don‟t know the way. We could be arrested by Malaysian police on the way through the Malaysia-Thai border. Supposing that we could fortunately and safely be smuggled into Thailand from Malaysia, there is still the possibility that we would be arrested by the Thai police when we pass the check points on the way to Mae Sot. It is not as easy as we think to be smuggled through a border illegally. Due to these reasons we have to use brokers. For me, my trust was only in Buddha. Whatever happened to me, good or bad, depended on the consequence of my Karma what I did in the past. I kept the teachings of Buddha in the deepest level of my heart. If I didn‟t die on the way, I‟d arrive home. That‟s all I could think in my current situation. At about 12:30 noon the Burmese broker brought me to a nearby Burmese restaurant and we waited for the two Malaysian brokers. At nearly 3 pm the two Malaysian brokers drove a taxi towards the two of us. Then, the three brokers talked in Malay, I didn‟t understand what they were saying. I told the Burmese broker that I could not pay all 800 Ringgits at once and I‟d pay 400 Ringgits when I was smuggled into Thailand, and then I‟d pay the rest when I had safely arrived in Mae Sot. The Burmese broker said that I couldn‟t do it like this, and that I had to pay the full 800 ringgit to his brother who is a broker in Thailand. He also said that he wanted me to trust him as he had cleared everything on the way. So I had to agree with his terms. I, then, said good bye to the Burmese broker and got in a taxi to the Malaysia-Thai border with the two Malaysian brokers. As I could not speak Malay, I didn‟t say anything and sat quietly along the way, wondering if it would be okay when I arrived at the border. It was about 6 pm when we arrived in a village near the border (Malaysia‟s side). The two brokers brought me up to a house belonging to a Malaysian farmer. The farmer and his family spoke to me in Malay, I explained (in English) that I could not speak Malay, and then they spoke in Thai. I said that I could understand a little bit of what they said, but that I couldn‟t Thai either. The two brokers handed me over to the Malaysian farmer and they went on their way. A man who was supposed to be the son of farmer drove me to Malaysia-Thai border. When we arrived at the border, the son of the Malaysian farmer handed me over to the hands of a Thai broker. The Thai broker picked me up by a motorbike. When we passed the border check point, the Thai police neglected the two of us as if they didn‟t see that we smuggled into Thailand illegally. The Thai broker transferred me to the hands of a Burmese broker whose brother was the broker in Penang whom I first met on the way. He asked me to pay him all 800 ringgits, so I paid him what he asked for. I thought that he‟d allowed me to sleep in his house for the night, but he said, “You don’t have to sleep in my house tonight. I’ll drive you up to the place where you have to sleep. Get on the motorbike.” Then, he drove the motorbike very fast and we arrived at a building that was supposed to be an office. Later I realized that this was the Thai immigration office. There was a lock-up in the Thai immigration office. I saw Burmese people who were returning home locked up in the cell; there were about fifty Burmese in total. “You have to sleep in this cell tonight,” said the broker, “They are also going back to Burma like you. The truck that goes to Mae Sot comes every other day. The truck came to the immigration cell this morning. So, it’ll come here the day after tomorrow, and then you have to set forth to Mae Sot with the truck. I often come here. Don’t worry. I’ll bring the water in the next morning.” Then, he left. I felt strange as I had never been in a jail or cell in my life. Simultaneously, I think that I accepted the situation as I wanted to go back home. The feeling, then, calmed down.

While my mind was going all over the place, a Mon broker opened the cell‟s door so that I could enter. I did as he asked me to. The bad smell hit me as soon as I entered the cell. I saw men, pregnant women and women with the children; some children were only two or three years of age. Part (II), to be continued……. To read more news and articles: Please visit http://kyawtheinkha-en.blogspot.com