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  • The Burmese Situation

    4 Burmese dead in trafficking horror

    RANONG: Fifty-four Burmese, 17 men and 37 women, suffocated to death while being transported in the sealed container of a seafood delivery truck yesterday en route from Ranong to Phuket.

    Col Kraithong Chanthongbai of Suksamran District Police today told the Gazette that police received a call from local people saying that a 10-wheeled truck had been left by the side of Petchkasem Rd in Village 3, Tambon Naka, Suksamran District, Ranong.

    “Inside the container were 121 Burmese. We found 54 bodies: 17 men and 37 women. The other 67 were still alive,” Col Kraithong said.

    Although the container on the truck has a refrigeration unit to preserve seafood, it was not switched on, he said. (Phuket Gazette)
    It's a common theme. Almost every week, and sometimes every day, there's an article in our local newspaper here in Phuket about illegal Burmese immigrants. The amount of people trying to get across the Thai-Burmese border never seems to stop. They do contribute a significant amount to the local Thai, even though the Burmese have historically been an enemy of Thailand. The Burmese workers seem to be the significant construction force in this part of the world. As each of them work for about a dollar a day on construction sites, the ever increasing growth of Phuket is largely attributable to these desperate people.

    It was in HELL, another post, about some guy training to be an EMT in the Philippines, an area of the world not exactly reknowned for its emergency medical services, who was planning on using said skills to help the Burmese in their country. Personally, I found the idea of this guy who appeared to be heroic and dedicated quite impressive, but my experiences and training made me look at the whole thing in a more cynical light. Having been part of medical missions in the Philippines, where I've donated my time and money towards helping poor remotely located villagers, I had a fairly good understanding of the sacrifices involved, and the desperation that so sorely needed to be helped. But I also understood that despite a lifetime of medical training and experience, that sitting in a jungle location with no ancillary hospital services available, limited supplies, and limited tropical medicine experience made the practice of medicine, if you want to call it that, minimal, to say the least. I had found it both frustrating and rewarding.

    I had no idea that people would want me to get involved here in Thailand. The Philippines have a way of ignoring things like medical licensure; they're desperate for any help that they can get, so they overlook the whole concept of credentials not being reciprocal from other countries. Not so in Thailand; to practice medicine here, one has to take the Thai medical boards. It's no easy task considering the fact that the test is only offered in the Thai language. That's why I was terribly surprised when a local organization, with ties to the Canadian embassy here, was interested in talking to me about providing medical care to the Burmese. I didn't think this was ever going to be an option, but I decided to further educate myself in this regard. There was no harm in talking.

    It was an eye opening conversation, to say the least.

    They asked me if I knew what was going on with the Burmese over the border. I demonstrated my unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the issues. I basically told them that I saw Rambo IV, and that I pretty much knew all that I needed to know. I thought it was funny; surprisingly, they saw the humor, and didn't get insulted by it. From that, I presumed, that what was depicted in the movie might not have been that far from the truth.

    Up on the Thai Burmese border, in Thailand, is an area called Mesot. In that city is a rather large refugee medical and school camp, where Burmese by the hundreds congregate to get medical care and education. Various agencies help to provide services there, mostly with respect to building school houses for the children. As a lot of these children are orphans, they present special problems when dealing with their care. A few physicians, from various countries, visit from time to time to provide health care at the refugee camp. These physicians go there for a week or two, to a month or two, at a time. There are a few full time doctors that spend their time there; surprisingly, some are Thai. From what I could gather from the conversation, the local Thai physicians don't spend much time, if any, providing medical mission care to the Burmese.

    What I found interesting, is that occasionally, teams would actually go across the Thai Burmese border, bringing medical supplies "on their backs" to various areas in Burma, mostly areas inhabited by the Karin peoples. There are some zones across the border, six if I remember correctly, where the Burmese military "ignore" foreign trespassers on their soil. Occasionally, teams of people, including a physician or two, will go across the border, provide some basic health and education care, and then return. Going deeper into Burma, or, going into areas outside of these six or so small zones, is a problem. Teams occasionally do it, but, it's not recommended. And there's a relatively simple reason.

    The Burmese military are under "shoot to kill" orders.

    In fact, it is not really safe to enter these six or so local zones, as, one never knows when these zones are not considered to be "safe". The Burmese military can change their minds at will; one day they may overlook a certain area, the next day, they may consider it to be off limits and act accordingly. From what I could gather, it was clear that one never knew if one's journey into the near reaches of Burma would be "safe", or frought with danger. Generally speaking, the Burmese escaped to Thailand for their care; the teams tended not to travel to Burma, and if they did, they didn't go very far, or, for very long. I was told that this year, six foreigners, as members of these teams, have been shot and killed so far. These were medical and religious missionaries. I guess Rambo wasn't too far off.

    Well, as for me, I got the impression that things were organized, to some degree. The whole thing seemed admirable, but lacking. The major players in this sort of missionary work, such as large international groups and UNICEF, did go into Burma from time to time to provide some sort of services, but they tended to go deeper in country, and at the invitation and with the permission of, the Burmese military. Providing care to the Karin peoples near the Thai border didn't seem to be part of their purview. Basically, it was too dangerous.


    As I have some experience in this medical missionary thing, they asked to stay in touch with me. I denied their request to spend a month or two on the Thai-Burmese border, as I didn't think the current girlfriend would appreciate it. When she heard the "shoot to kill" statement, I got fingernails in my thigh, and at that point, I firmly understood that my future providing some sort of help to these people was going to be restricted. I also thought the entire concept to be a bit futile, especially with regard to medical licensure, a fact which I was told was overlooked, when the Thai's felt like overlooking it. And the numbers of Burmese people involved, well, it all seemed as if it was an overwhelming issue which would never be resolved until there were major changes in Burma itself.

    A truly sad and frustrating situation for all involved.
    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

    (more comments in my User Profile)
    russbo.com



  • #2
    Admittedly, I dont know alot about the intricacies and history of political/ religious Burma. I probably will research a little on my own, since it's being brought up so intermittantly regularly, but if anyone wants to post some links to the above, mostly to fill in blanks over space and time, that would help also.

    wow. that's quite a few ppl really.

    Blooming tianshi lotus.

    Comment


    • #3
      Here you go.

      I was looking at some history about "nata" and the 18 lohan subduings / yins" and I found this citing some background on this burma situation.









      to tie it back to tibet and the muslim discussion that's been going on,
      I also found some links that I posted here that any one can feel free to view aswell.







      Besides the language development and transgression throughout, I think that together, it's an interesting piece of information to consider in respect to the rest toward better understanding of what's going on and some of the things that led to that.

      Why the heavy martial laws ? go ponder.

      Blooming tianshi lotus.

      Comment


      • #4
        Well, I found out why the Thai's don't really devote their free time towards taking care of the "poor Burmese". Other than the fact that historically, they have been mortal enemies.

        The police found the drivers of the truck that was bringing these illegals into the country. And they did not arrest them. Think that would have been a good idea? Find the drivers, find the ringleaders, expose the whole network that gets involved in this?

        Not really.

        It turns out that the police, as I've been told, gets "paid" to allow this activity to happen. These people are smuggled in to provide construction work for all the development here. The network that's involved in these smuggling operations extends quite far. Hence, instead of arresting the drivers and their "bosses", they arrest the illegal Burmese, and send them back to Burma.

        Only to see them again next week...


        Asia is an interesting place. If you thought America was racist, this is even worse.
        Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

        "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

        (more comments in my User Profile)
        russbo.com


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        • #5
          at least asians are honest in their racism...
          "Life is a run. In attack we run, in defense we run. When you can no longer run, time to die" - Shichiroji "Seven samurai"

          Comment


          • #6
            I think it all depends upon how you define "honest".

            It's hidden here. In Thailand, there is a lot of racism, as there is in Singapore. It's just not open. At least in America, where I grew up (New York), racism was prevalent, and widely expressed. You knew where you stood with various people.

            The Thai's kind of live by a caste system, which is not widely expressed, but seems to be widely understood. It's also hidden behind the famous "smile". In Singapore, it's not so hidden, but it's also not expressed well. Singaporean Chinese seem to dislike people who are not their own, and from what some Singaporean Chinese told me, they don't exactly like each other sometimes too, LOL. Remember, in Singapore there are people from various parts of Asia who live there. They tend to have distinct areas that they live in.

            The Thai's are a different story. You have to live here to find it.
            Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

            "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

            (more comments in my User Profile)
            russbo.com


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            • #7
              Privately brewed racism, in greatly muslim (?) thailand, huh? well, say it isn't so. whatever would drive such thing?


              and Can you tell us how this thai 'caste system' works exactly?


              Blooming tianshi lotus.

              Comment


              • #8
                Thailand is not greatly muslim. It is over ninety five percent Buddhist.

                The area that I live in, in the south, is fifty percent Muslim. I've had some interesting experiences, to say the least.

                Like India, the Thai's live by a caste system, but unlike India, you don't see it. It's more hidden. The Thai's live by comparison; for example, if a woman has five older sisters, and you want to know which one is getting married next week, you'll get the response "older sister". If you want to know which one is moving to Malaysia, you'll get the response "older sister". Instead of referring to them by name, they are referred to by status. Older people are called "pi", which is a name of respect used for older people (as we use "Mr." or "Mrs"), younger people are called Nong. Doesn't matter who you or they are; older people get the pi prefix, younger get the nong.

                Government officials and police are high up on the hierarchy, and respect must be shown accordingly. Successful businessmen are up there also. High level politicians are up "higher", the royal family and the king are on the top.

                Fisherman, farmers, people with dark skin (those who work outside in the sun, therefore tans are a no no here), are lower class. Those who live and work in the polluted and crowded big cities, such as Bangkok, generally think themselves on a higher level than those who live in the ever increasingly multi millionaire's paradise of Phuket, which is in the south (more muslims). People in Bangkok think themselves on a higher level than those who live in Issan, the northeastern part of Thailand near Cambodia. It's comical sometimes, to see how these people think.

                Monks inhabit the highest level in society. Period. Buddhism here is far different than the shit Buddhism you see exhibited in China.

                Foreigners are relatively high up on the scale, predominantly because they are white skinned and have a lot of money. Money plays a role in your status here, as does age and education.

                Big bald guys get respect where ever they go. Period.

                How you greet people, with the "wai", all depends upon their status versus yours. If you meet someone with higher status, you wai "higher" than if you meet someone with lower status, relative to yourself.

                But unlike India, they don't throw it in your face. It is all done in a relatively respectful sort of way, without making people "lose face". But it exists, and it is a common thread in life here.
                Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                (more comments in my User Profile)
                russbo.com


                Comment


                • #9
                  That reminds me alot of the small asian polynesiasn island my mother's portugese english family grew up in, except that they're predominantly catholic there, so it's more preists and nuns and brothers and sisters of that faith who have the most respect and influence out there. Even the king and queen and princesses and so on abide that.

                  If still waters run deep though, there is a huuge karma train with that resent pool's name on it. I dont buy that nobody looses face, just that it's kept quiet they do. tribal cr*p is notorious like that, but unless someone up by it, I dont know if it's so easy to own or wrap a head around so openly.

                  I also think it's a really good veil for alot of stuff to go on 'unnoticed' and untended in a handover or handup bridging. the distinction is there, but how to get from one to another from each, breeds exactly the type of activities and options that initiated the thread.

                  and government officials and police and military are corrupt, you say?

                  status quo is alot of fun. .. unless you happen to be a victim of the underside that is.


                  Blooming tianshi lotus.

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