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Burmese Immigrants Head for the Hills

About a thousand Burmese laborers in the southern province of Surat Thani have gone to hideouts in the nearby mountainous areas over the past week, subsequent to hearing rumors that Burmese armed forces were coming to take them home to participate in a referendum on a new Burmese constitution being held on May 10.

Oil palm, fruit and rubber plantations in Khiri Ratthanikhom, Tha Chang, Chaiya and Phunphin districts and Wipawadi sub-district have been left without a workforce during the peak harvesting season.

A rubber farm operator who refused to be named said even legal, registered Burmese workers loaded up their bags and fled after they heard reports from their fellow workers. He said he guaranteed them that they could not be rounded up because their employ was legally registered, but they insisted on leaving out of fear of being persecuted in Burma for illegally leaving the country.

“I said it was impossible for Burmese soldiers to arrest people on Thai soil, but they did not listen. The visit of Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein has intensified their fears,” he said, referring to the Burmese leader’s three-day executive stopover which was completed yesterday. “We have not tapped rubber for almost a week in Surat Thani and neighbouring provinces,” he went on to add. Pol Lt-Col Sommart Kiangsin, of Khiri Ratthanikhom district, said the rumor had been around for about a week after three men in a pick-up truck seized migrant workers’ work permits at a local palm plantation and warned them about a clean-up action.

Pol Lt-Col Krit Sangpol, provincial customs office chief blamed the rampant rumors on the latest surprise inspection of a palm oil factory by local government administrative officials and army volunteers, who wore camouflage uniforms and also carried shotguns. Burmese workers seem to have an unexplainable fear of armed men in uniform.

Burmese Immigrants Head for the Hills

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