Burned, beaten, and hunted: Myanmar worker survives alleged torture in Thailand

The kettle was coming to a boil as Thar Thar, a 29-year-old migrant worker from Myanmar, was forced to his knees inside a room at a hotpot restaurant in Thailand’s Rayong Province on April 30. By this time, he had already endured hours of being beaten and scalded with hot water. Now his captors were threatening to pour the contents of the kettle down his throat. “They said they would make it so I could never speak again,” he told Myanmar Now. One of the men who held him down gripped the back of his neck, while another clamped his jaw open. As steam started shooting out of the kettle, the sense of panic that had been growing inside him reached a fever pitch. Thrashing his head to the side, he somehow broke free of the two men. He lunged for the door, which had not been fully closed, and fled into the darkness, pursued by his captors. Racing barefoot through dark fields, burned and bleeding, he kept going until the sound of the others running behind him faded. Thar Thar receives treatment for his burns and other injuries (Photo: Myanmar Now) Three weeks later, he was sitting in a cramped office in Mahachai, an area west of Bangkok known for its huge migrant population. The office belonged to a group that assists Myanmar nationals working in Thailand, who are often subjected to various forms of mistreatment and abuse from unscrupulous employers. Even here, however, Thar Thar’s case seemed extreme. Carefully removing his shirt, he revealed dark bruises on his arms and torso and patches of skin that had peeled away from repeated scalding. Other wounds—inflicted, he said, with metal rods, pliers, and even golf clubs—had begun to scab over, but were still painful, and kept him awake at night. Thar Thar described his ordeal, which is currently under investigation by the Thai authorities, in detail. He told Myanmar Now that six people had been involved in his torture, all of them Chinese nationals. He said they had accused him of helping other Myanmar workers to leave the Chinese-run construction site in eastern Thailand where they were employed. So far, two of the six suspects have been charged. The whereabouts of the other four is unknown, but the alleged ringleader is believed to have fled to Malaysia. ‘Not that rare’ Originally from Waingmaw Township in Kachin State, Thar Thar left home earlier this year hoping to earn enough money in Thailand to support his wife and two children. Like countless others driven abroad by deteriorating conditions in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup, he borrowed heavily to finance his journey. Through contacts on the Chinese messaging app WeChat, he managed to secure a position at a flooring factory as a Chinese-Myanmar interpreter, using language skills he had acquired while working at Chinese-invested banana plantations in his home state. Expecting a salary of 20,000 baht (about US$615) a month, he entered Thailand legally in March this year. Soon after he arrived, however, he learned that he would be working at a Chinese-run construction site near the resort town of Pattaya instead. He also discovered wages were not paid in full—that workers only received small “advances” rather than the amount they were told they would get. According to Andy Hall, a long-time specialist on migrant worker issues in Thailand, this is a familiar scenario encountered by many Myanmar nationals working in the country. “This kind of situation, it’s not that rare in Thailand,” Hall told Myanmar Now, adding that conditions for Myanmar workers have “really, really” worsened in recent years, as millions flee war, forced conscription, and economic collapse. After two months, Thar Thar decided to quit. But he was still owed around 16,000 baht in unpaid wages, and wanted to recover this money before leaving. It was on April 30 that his employers told him they would finally pay him what he was owed. Two vehicles—a BMW and a Ford—came to pick him up at the construction site. Inside the BMW was a Chinese national named Ta Han, or Xin Ran, who he recognised as the same man who met him when he first arrived in Thailand. The hotpot restaurant where Thar Thar says he was assaulted by a group of six Chinese nationals on April 30 (Photo: Myanmar Now) They drove nearly an hour, until they reached a largely deserted hotpot restaurant at the Amata City industrial zone in Rayong. He was escorted into a small glass-walled office where four Chinese men, two Chinese women, and another Myanmar interpreter were waiting. As soon as he entered, one of the men kicked him to the ground. “When I asked why they were beating me, they told me to shut up,” he said. “They forced me face down and started hitting me with iron rods.” The assault escalated rapidly. Thar Thar says he was beaten repeatedly with golf clubs and metal bars while the attackers accused him of taking Myanmar workers away from the company. He said that one of the women, who appeared to be pregnant, boiled water in electric kettles and poured it over his back, arms, and neck. Others blocked the exits while the other Myanmar interpreter was forced to sit and watch. “They treated me like a dog,” he said. “They poured boiling water on me, beat me, kicked me. I wasn’t allowed to stand up.” At one point, he said, the attackers showed him videos depicting mutilation and torture, threatening to do the same to him. After that, he said, they crushed his fingertips with pliers and started pulling at his fingernails. The abuse began at around 5pm, according to Thar Thar. And it was about 9pm when he finally made his escape. More desperate than ever Myanmar labour rights groups say the case highlights the growing vulnerability of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, many of whom arrive deeply indebted and dependent on informal labour brokers after fleeing conflict and economic hardship at home. According to Hall, who previously worked as an advisor on migrant issues to Myanmar’s ousted elected government, the situation is more desperate now than ever. “If they lose their legal status [in Thailand], it can be a death sentence,” he said, noting that many face imprisonment or forced military service if they have to return to Myanmar. He also noted that the number of Chinese-owned companies in Thailand has increased dramatically in recent years, in tandem with the influx of cheap labour from Myanmar. Nay Lin Thu, head of a labour activist group assisting fellow Myanmar workers in Thailand, described the case as one of the most brutal he had ever encountered in Thailand. When Myanmar Now reporters returned to the hotpot restaurant with Thar Thar on May 13, the building was closed. Standing outside the place where he says he was tortured, he said he no longer felt fear. “I’m not afraid because I did nothing wrong,” he said. “But when I see this place, I feel furious.”

Burned, beaten, and hunted: Myanmar worker survives alleged torture in Thailand

The case of a man who says he was tortured by his Chinese employers is a shocking reminder of the vulnerability of Myanmar’s migrant workers

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