Bandan Buadaeng
Taweesak Siripornpiboon,Ph.D.
Patcharin Sirasoonthorn,Ph.D.
Abstract
The Thai government accepts many displaced persons, from Myanmar Myanmar
However, only a little evidence exists to indicate the problems. Therefore, this article arises from the researcher’s greatest concern about social problems. Applying documentary analysis and the quantitative method, the result helps identifying the situation. First, he provides the investigation related to criminal statistics from local police stations. Then, he interviewed in-depth nearby local residents concerning the problems. The study found that there were 4 dimensions of social security which consisted of human trafficking, forest destruction, illegal immigration and drug addiction.
However, only a little evidence exists to indicate the problems. Therefore, this article arises from the researcher’s greatest concern about social problems. Applying documentary analysis and the quantitative method, the result helps identifying the situation. First, he provides the investigation related to criminal statistics from local police stations. Then, he interviewed in-depth nearby local residents concerning the problems. The study found that there were 4 dimensions of social security which consisted of human trafficking, forest destruction, illegal immigration and drug addiction.
Introduction
One of the important problems in the world is the refugee resettlement. Today, there are more than 700 refugee camps around the world. The total number of these refugees is about 42 million. The top five countries that have the highest number of refugees are Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Germany and Jordan. The two countries of origin of most refugees are Afghanistan and Iraq. (UNHCR, 2004)
In Thailand, the problem emerged in 1962. The revolution of General Ne Win in Myanmar which converted the socialism administration to Myanmar administration destroyed the contract for minorities’ autonomy. This caused long time disputes between the Burmese military government and ethnic groups. While the ethnic groups wanted to fight for their autonomy, the Burmese government wanted to keep them in order. Though the war zone was limited to within Burmese border, its impacts are crossing the border into Thailand.
The flux of war refugees dispersing along border areas such as Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kanchana Buri, and Ratchaburi provinces corresponds to what are in effect, war zones on the Myanmar side. Therefore, there are 9 Temporary Shelters in 4 provinces of Thailand. These shelters have been established for Burmese persons who got the impact from the fighting in Myanmar between Myanmar Military government and the minority groups. Four of the camps or shelters are in Maehongson province, 3 are in Tak province, 1 is in Ratchaburee province and 1 is in Kanchanaburee.
The Karen ethnic group has strong forces and liberal ideology. They refuse to negotiate with Burmese as the other groups. Since the Karen area is located on the opposite side of Tak province, refugees have pouring into Tak’s 5 bordering districts where the Thai government has set up temporary shelters with the support from the United Nations. However, these temporary shelters have been targeted by the Burmese military since they are located closely to the border. Therefore, the Thai National Security Council decided to move the temporary shelters at least 10 kilometers from the border and reducing the number of shelters in Tak province to 3 locations which, as of now, are Mae La temporary shelter in Tha Song Yang district, Um Piam shelter in Phob Phra district, and Nupoh shelter in Um Phang district (Khuncheewan Buadaeng, 2008)
Almost of the Temporary Shelter in Thailand were surrounding by local community. Therefore, there are multiple impacts on the life of local people. Mae La temporary shelter in Tak province, for instance, was established in 1996 in Mae Ok Hu village 9, Tambon Mae La, Tha Song Yang district. The shelter had outstanding characteristics. First, it is the largest shelter, as it covers 183.68 hectares and had been established from 6 sub- temporary shelters, which are as follows: 1.Mae La village; 2.Ka Moa Re Ko village; 3. Kler Ko village; 4.Sogro village; 5.Mae Salid village and 6. Mae Ta-wo village. Secondly, its location surrounds 7 communities where there was a high local population of about 5,000 persons (Mae La temporary shelter, 2008). Third, it has the most displaced persons living there, with approximately 31,000 persons, and lastly, it has the high complexity with multi-dimensional problems occurring and impacting the surrounding communities such as illegal logging, solid waste and waste water. (Border Patrol police camp in Tak province, 2010).
However, the multi-dimensional problems occurring in surrounding villages of the temporary shelters reported by government offices are rather unreliability. This data causes confusion of an unclear picture of the real situation. Thus, this article intends to investigate the problems of the area. Its major objective is also to create policy recommendations for improving the life of the local villagers. The author has a strong belief that by doing this the possible conflicts between villagers and government organizations could be prevented.
Methods
This article arises from a research project named “Social Security in the Globalized Era: the case of Mae La Temporary Shelter, Thasongyang District, Tak Province, Thailand”. The project used mixed methodology combining documentary and survey research. The data for documentary research were statistical analyzed from the reports of police stations and hospitals, official documents from Mae La local administration, and reports from ROPMED Dengue Diagnostic Center, Mahidol University. The simples for survey research were the people leaving in the surrounding community. The statistical techniques are frequency and percentage.
Results
The analytical results of secondary data from police stations in all three districts where the shelters are located were very interesting. It was found that patients’ record from Mae Ra Mard, the records of illegal immigrants, and from fire arms during the last five years were found. Drug cases were found only in Mae Ra Mard and Tha Song Yang districts while deforestation cases were found in all three districts. Illegal immigration related cases and deforestation were mostly found in Mae Ra Mard district. Among all districts, Tha Song Yang recorded the highest cases of Marihuana, Cannabis and Volatile drugs cases. Then, Mae Ra Mard was the second district which recorded the highest case in war use fire arms.
During the years 2007 – 2009, Mae Ra Mard hospital reports displayed the top ten illness rankings such as acute upper respiratory infection, acute pharyngitis, acute bronchitis, acute nasopharyngitis, dyspepsia, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis. Lots of these illnesses were related to the polluted environment of food and drinking water.
In 2008, studies of Mae La local administration office found that refugees in Mae La temporary shelter had caused criminal cases of theft during the harvest season. One officer stated that:
“…refugees did not receive enough food so [they] wandered out to steal vegetables and animals from nearby villages. This caused disputes between refugees and villagers…” (Montree Kijwirojgul,head of Mae La Local Administration Office, 2008).
Regarding to resources’ scarcity, another officer mentioned that:
“…since people in the shelter could not formally go out, when food and other utilities were used up, they sneaked out to illegally collect forest resources. They cut down trees..” (Montree Kijwirojgul,head of Mae La Local Administration Office, 2008).
Moreover, the mountainous landscape with thick forest surroundings the shelter became the most perfect disease carrier, especially Malaria. According to ROPMED Dengue Diagnostic Center, the Thai-Myanmar borderline area has become the area of Malaria virus which has known as one of the strongest and most resistant virus in the world.(Mae La temporary shelter, 2008)
Other diseases such as cholera and dengue fever also spread to surrounding sub-districts. The responsible agency for the medical treatment, AMI (Aide Medical Internationale), has limited resources. Thus, the health officers only perform basic medical treatment. Health promotion activities are only the mission impossible of these officers (Tak Provincial Health Office, 2006).
Therefore, it is obvious that the resources’ limitations of state local organizations laccompanied with insufficient support from overseas donors led to poor living conditions for both refugees and surrounding villagers. To cover up state’s failure, some state officers report the differ situation from reality. For example, some officers refused to show the real criminal cases or underplaying the real number of illegal immigration cases. Some may fake report the real number of war refugees who escaping from the temporary shelter. Apart from these, corruptions related to illegal labors of the refugees are enormous. This phenomenon leads to social problems such as social inequity, illegal immigration, conflicts of interest between refugees and nearby villagers. Worst still, the commute refugees becoming the most effective host of diseases such as malaria or dengue fever, HIV, and TB.
Table 1: General public opinion survey on Mae La temporary shelter project
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
Moreover, the finding of the survey research which gathered from 498 samples indicated that respondents know the conditions of the temporary shelter well, and 77% have had contact with people from the displaced persons from fighting. As for opinions regarding the construction of temporary shelter, 59.6% are neutral while 38.2% disagree with this project. Only a small percentage, 2.2%, agreed with the project (Table 1).
Table 2 : General public opinion survey on displaced persons from fighting
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
The attitudes of local residents toward displaced persons from fighting in the area, most are neutral (57.2%). Still, some respondents believe that displaced persons are the causes of problems. Only 8.4% feel sympathy and want to help (Table 2)
Table 3 : positive opinions of local residents on Mae La temporary shelter construction
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
The respondents’ opinion on the advantage of temporary shelter construction, most (72.5%) do not think that there will be any advantage for individuals or society. Others think that the advantages are cheaper and more labors (17.1%) and better sells of their goods (10.4%) (Table 3).
Table 4 : Local problems that need solution
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
Problems that still persisting in the community and need urgent solution; 48.2% are tenure rights for agricultural land and dwellings, 23.7% diseases, 12.7% low agricultural harvest, 8.8% poverty, and 2.2% stealing of agricultural products. (Table 4)
Table 5 : Changes in the community after the establishment of Mae La temporary shelter.
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
After the establishment of temporary shelter, the respondents feel that social security decreased by 32.9%;, quality of health by 33.9%, environmental quality by 90.0%, natural and forest resources by 96.8%; and livelihood (avocation) became harder by 30.7%. Though there were groups benefited from raises in sells, it only amounted to 11.6%. 62.7% of the respondents think that the cause lies in the temporary shelter, while 37.3 think that the problems are due to other causes but not the temporary shelter. (Table 5)
Table 6 : Authorities expected to help solve the problems in local community
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
Moreover, the authorities that respondents want to ask for help are Ministry of Interior 63.5%, followed by private sectors and Ministry of Social Development and Human Society, 17.5% and 3.8% respectively. Note that 9.0% of the sample did not expect any help from any organization. (Table 6)
Table 7 : Treatments of war refugees in Mae La temporary shelter
Source: Pilot survey result, November 2009
Regarding the policy not to pressure the refugee back to Myanmar, 51.2% has ‘no comment’ while 42.8% ‘against’ and 6.0% ‘agree’. The three most appropriate treatments of war refugees according to the survey are ‘send to the third country’ 41.2%, ‘pressure back’ 40.6%, and ‘move the temporary shelter’ 17.5%. (Table 7)
Table 8 : Security problems in community around Mae La temporary shelter
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
Result of the second survey related to the security problem revealed a clear picture. The local residents residing around Mae La temporary shelter during 26-27 January 2010 felt that they have been a vulnerable group and risky of security problems. The samples of 493 people, 49.5% are male and 50.5% are female. Average age is 34 years, living in the area for 5-10 years 20.3% and 10 years or above 66.7%. 99.6% know of the refugee camp very well and use to have contact with people in the temporary shelter (80.3%). Literacy rates for Thai language listening, speaking, reading, and writing are 94.9%, 96.1%, 93.9% and 93.1% respectively. Opinions on security problem issues include ‘human trafficking’ 44.2%, ‘narcotic drugs’ 17.8%, ‘illegal immigration’ 13.8%, ‘illegal logging’ 12.4%, and ‘terrorism’ 4.1% respectively.
Table 9 : Caused of security problems in community around Mae La temporary shelter
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
From the above problems, 74.0% think that these circumstances may provide impacts to the local villagers and only 7.3% think that there will be no impacts. Opinion on the causes of problems are ‘refugees’, ‘involving government officers’ and ‘people in the community’ and others (33.5%, 25.4%, 15.8%, 13.0% and 12.4%) respectively.
Table 10 : Groups of people involved with the security problem around Mae La temporary shelter
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
In sum, it was obvious that problems caused by temporary shelter were related to the ‘human trafficking’, followed by ‘illegal logging’, ‘illegal immigration’, ‘drugs’, and ‘terrorism’ for 48.9%, 14.4%, 14.2%, 12.0%, and 4.7% respectively. The roots of the problems were also clearly identified as the ‘conspiracy between people inside and outside of temporary shelter’ 51.3%, followed by ‘the refugee’ 27.6% and ‘people outside temporary shelter’ 21.1%. (Table 10)
Table 11 : Agencies that local people expected to solve the problems
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
The above table showed that the local villagers expected that the agencies expected to solve the problems are Border Patrol Police, Military, and Local police (31.4%, 29.8% and 15.0% respectively). (Table11)
Table 12 : Security problems in need of solution
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
Table 12 revealed a clear picture of expectation of local people towards the involving actors. Without their consideration, people also felt that problems of social security such as human trafficking (35.7%), drugs (24.5%) and illegal logging (15.0%).
Table 13 : Prevention and solutions measures of the problems and impacts on community
Source: The second survey result, January 2010
The prevention and solutions of the problems and impacts were identified as a ‘more severe legal penalties’, ‘ultimate penalties for officers’, ‘move the refugee camp’, and ‘enforce laws’, 'increase security officers’ for 26.2%, 25.6%, 20.1%, 15.0% and 13.0% respectively (Table 13)
This article wants to emphasize that unreliable data from various sources of state organizations. Some were out of date, others were fault reported. Thus, more involving of academic researchers is very helpful for policy planners. The author is also highlighted that conflicts in Thai society are not only “the political issues”. Indeed, it is the development issues which numerous actors and organizations have been involved. Solving political conflicts between the “red” and the “yellow” shirts is merely an end of the “painting political scenario” not the end of the violence. To prevent new forms of conflict, thus, more consideration needs to be put on the better policy related to increasing quality of living of the people.
In the case of Mae La temporary shelter, it is clear that state officers have been aggressively involving in numerous activities which related to the foundation sources of the conflicts. These included corruptions, fault reports, ignorance, and laziness. As a result, problems of social security have been increasing found, especially human trafficking, health, illegal labors, illegal immigration, drug, prostitutes, and deforestation.
Moreover, the different in definition of “human trafficking” for local villagers and legal definition was reported in this study. For local people, “human trafficking” referred to 1) Actors: merchandised people, or victims from aliens or Myanmar. These people were illegally stayed in Thailand, or having war refugee status; and currently living in the Mae La temporary shelter and vice versa. 2) Methods: by persuasion, deception, or distortion and disclosing of certain facts to deceive the victims voluntarily pay for and participate in the trip to Thailand illegally, or transporting from the studied area into the inner area. 3) Intention: for money or business. While the Thai Immigration Act B.A. 2522 does not cover war refugee or displaced persons from fighting, this definition in this study do cover them.
Conclusion
Establishing Mae La temporary shelter has created changes in many dimensions; living conditions, physical resources, biological resources and local values. These changes are affecting people living in the surround areas both positively and negatively. Iniquity of support policy between Thai citizens and refugees, corruptions and ignorance from involving actors and organizations may lead to unsatisfactory and disappointment. The root of future movement and conflicts was increasing found in this area. To prevent the future conflicts, more considerations need to put on to the issues of human trafficking, health effect, violence from conflicts of interest, environment degradation, drug, and corruptions. To solve the problems, the involving organizations need to be concerned of the conflicts of interest between the state and local villagers. For local villagers, the positive impacts of Mae La temporary shelter are in the form of short term benefit. These include cheap, non-skilled labors, and the survival of small and medium business enterprises. The search for a better policy and plan is thus crucial to reduce poverty and human insecurity among local villagers. To do this new form of international good governance as well as borderless development policy and plan need to put on the development stage.
References
Border patrol police camp in Tak province. The reports, 2010.
Khuncheewan Buadaeng, 2008. The relationship on Moei River between Karen and Thai Local people. First
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Mae La temporary shelter. (2008). The reports.
Mae Ra Mard Local Police Station. (2010). The reports.
Mae Ra Mard Hospital. (2010). The reports.
Montree Kijwirojgul, head of Mae La Local Administration Office. Siamrat Newspaper, 10 January
2008
Oom Phang Local Police Station. (2010). The reports.
Tak Provincial Health Office. (2006). The reports.
Tha Song Yang Local Police Station. (2010). The reports.
UNHCR. (2004). Refugees, volume 3 : number 136, “Sudan Crisis in Darfur.”
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