The Great Repatriation;
Aggaravating the region's problems is the great repatriation of workers. The following was in the news today.
Tuesday February 17 8:39 AM EST
Thais Repatriate Thousands of Illegal Workers
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has repatriated about 30,000 illegal foreign workers in the past three months as the country grapples with an economic crisis and growing unemployment, officials said on Tuesday. Most, or about 85 percent of the repatriated illegal workers, had come from Myanmar (Burma),official immigration records show.
The records show that as of February 5, 29,412 illegal Myanmar workers had been sent home through border checkpoints since the start of November. Demand for cheap but illegal foreign labour has fallen in the face of an economic crisis which is forecast to almost double unemployment in Thailand to over two million.
Labour and Social Welfare Minister Trairong Suwanakhiri has said he will repatriate an estimated 300,000 alien workers registered to work in Thailand when their current one-year terms expire.
The number of aliens registered to work in Thailand has more than halved from 300,000 in September, officials said. "The official record shows as of February 10, only 141,610 alien workers working with Thai employers," a registrar at the Ministry of Labour & Social Welfare told Reuters. Trairong has also urged the Ministry of Interior to help send back a further one million workers who have entered the country and are working illegally.
Foreign workers who once sought work on Thailand's formerly booming construction and agricultural industries have found their skills no longer required as building projects stall or newly unemployed urban Thais move back to the provinces.
"We received reports from the provinces that employers had stopped hiring nearly 30,000 Myanmar workers and 7,000 Thais have been hired to replace them," a labour official said.
In Malaysia, as previously mentioned, we have had as many as 800K Indonesian workers. As the economy continues to shrink, many of these will be sent back, adding to the growing ranks of hungry and disgruntled people.
On a personal note: Not all repatriated workers will simply face hunger back at home. I habituate a nearby coffee shop, where, until recently the servers were all Burmese, friendly young men, who spoke better English then Cantonese or Bahasa Malayu. One of these, was a fellow about 28 years old. He was a college graduate, and had been a teacher in Burma (Myanmar), but left as a result of falling in disfavor with the regime. In our brief chats I came to understand he had to leave in the interest of self preservation.
Recently immigration in Malaysia refused to renew his and his fellow server's visas. I went in one morning and they simply were not there. The Chinese owner explained he was forced to put them on a plane. I shall always wonder at the fate of that friendly young school teacher.
Stitch |
