For Myanmar fishermen caught in junta’s net, hopes for equal treatment

In the early hours of November 30, a Thai fishing vessel with a crew consisting mostly of Myanmar nationals from Dawei cast its nets into the Andaman Sea, somewhere between the Thai town of Ranong and Kawthaung in Myanmar. Myo Han, one of the Myanmar fishermen aboard the boat, was intently focussed on his work. Like the others, his attention was fixed on the nets that they were hauling in, unloading, and casting out again. They were all oblivious to the fact that a net was also closing in on them. But just as they were throwing their nets out over the water yet again, their captain started shouting at them. Even then, Myo Han and the other Myanmar fishermen were too preoccupied with the task at hand to pay any attention. It was only after they heard gunshots ring out that they realised what was happening: A Myanmar navy ship was firing on Thai fishing boats that had strayed into Myanmar waters. As the naval vessel closed in on one of the boats, the one that Myo Han was in sped off, mirroring the frantic escape of fish in the sea. “We could hear the gunshots, and the captain said that one of our boats had been captured. He was speaking from the other side of the boat, so we couldn’t hear him clearly, but the gunshots were unmistakable. We escaped just as they seized the boat behind us. But we lost our fishing nets,” said Myo Han, who has worked on Thai fishing boats for eight years. Speaking in his native Dawei dialect, he recalled seeing around six other Thai fishing boats in the area cut their nets and flee. The boat that was seized was carrying 27 Myanmar fishermen from Namaka, a village near the southern Thai coastal town of Phang Nga. They were all detained, along with four Thai nationals. Another Thai who jumped overboard died while trying to escape. Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra condemned the decision to fire on the boats and called for the immediate release of the Thai nationals and the fishing vessel. On December 5, Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement confirming that the Myanmar junta had handed over the four Thai fishermen. However, details regarding the release of the boat and the Thai citizens remain unclear. While the prime minister called for the release of the Thai nationals, the 27 Myanmar workers were left out, despite being legally employed on Thai fishing boats with proper documentation from Thailand’s Ministry of Labour. The Thai government and the boat’s owner failed to take any responsibility for the Myanmar fishermen—a situation that Myo Han hopes will be corrected. “Aren’t Myanmar people the same as Thai people? I want them to be released like the Thais,” he remarked. Myo Han, who managed to escape from the Myanmar navy while working aboard a Thai fishing boat (Myanmar Now) To learn more about the situation of the detained Myanmar fisherman, Myanmar Now travelled to Namaka, roughly a half-hour’s drive from Phang Nga. The coastal village of around 1,000 households is home to many Myanmar migrants, mostly from around Dawei in Tanintharyi Region, as well as from Mon and Rakhine states. Almost exactly 20 years ago, on December 26, 2004, it was hit by a massive tsunami that claimed the lives of nearly a quarter of a million people in 14 countries around the Indian Ocean. Many of those who perished in Namaka were from Myanmar. Two decades later, many of these Myanmar migrants are still struggling to recover. The men make a precarious living by catching fish, which the women then clean and dry. The recent arrest of more than two dozen of their fellow villagers has served as yet another reminder of how little certainty they have in their lives. While the families of the detained Myanmar citizens are no doubt hopeful that they will soon be released, they declined to speak to Myanmar Now about the current situation out of fear that doing so could put them in an even more vulnerable position. However, others close to the families agreed to share some details about how they are dealing with this latest setback. “Right now, they’re making ends meet with the little income they can earn from odd jobs, but this can’t sustain them for long. If the men remain in prison, their families will also have to bear the burden of sending food and care packages,” said a woman in her 50s who spoke on condition of anonymity. A further concern, she said, is that the men could end up not just in prison, but on the frontlines of the conflict that has raged in Myanmar for nearly four years, thanks to a junta-imposed conscription law that went into effect earlier this year. “If this had happened before, the families wouldn’t have been as worried as they are now. They would have been confident that their loved ones would be released after serving their sentences. Now, they are deeply concerned that they will be conscripted into the army,” she said. According to local fishermen, migrants from Myanmar are only permitted to do manual labour on the Thai boats, while all skilled duties, like operating or navigating the boats, are performed by Thais. This means, they said, that the detained Myanmar fishermen should not be held responsible for the presence of the boats in Myanmar’s territorial waters. While Thailand denies sending fishing boats into Myanmar waters, the fishermen, some with 20 to 30 years of experience, told Myanmar Now that it is, in fact, a common occurrence. Ye Thu, an activist who has been working to establish a union for Myanmar fishermen in Ranong, also noted that Myanmar nationals working on Thai fishing boats have no control over anything that the boats’ owners or captains do. “The Myanmar workers can only follow orders. If they’re told to cast the net, they have to do it,” he said. A Thai fishing boat with a crew of Myanmar fishermen prepares to leave port (Myanmar Now) There have been previous incidents where the Myanmar navy arrested both Thai and Myanmar citizens, sending them to prison. The Thai prisoners were later transferred to Thailand under a prisoner exchange arrangement facilitated by the Thai-Myanmar Joint Boundary Committee. Many are closely watching how Thai authorities handle the current incident, which has attracted widespread media attention. Ye Thu remarked that it would create tensions if the negotiations were focused only on securing the release of Thai citizens and fishing vessels while overlooking the freedom of Myanmar workers. “It would send a message to Myanmar and Cambodian workers that no one will take responsibility for them if they run into trouble doing their jobs,” he said. It is thought that this is why Thai authorities are handling the case carefully. Investigations have also found that the released Thai nationals have not returned to the Thai village where the fishermen reside. On December 2, Myanmar’s junta stated that the recent boat seizure was carried out in line with the protocol for violations of the country’s territorial sovereignty, and that there were no casualties involved. This statement, made by the junta’s spokesperson through audio files sent only to pro-regime Telegram channels, also mentioned that some of the detainees were being investigated for suspected ties to terrorism. While it is not unusual for the regime to label its opponents as “terrorists,” it was unclear why it made this claim in relation to Myanmar migrants living in a Thai village. According to residents, there are no resistance groups operating in Namaka. In Ranong, a long-time resident from Myanmar, Min Shwe Thein, said that the Thai government and Thai employers should be held responsible for the 27 Myanmar detainees, as they were legally authorised to work by the Thai government. He also emphasised that they had no control over where they fished. “They didn’t know a thing. They only went where their bosses took them. If they were told to fish in a certain area, they had no choice but to do so,” he said, adding that the captain who operated the boat and those who directed the fishermen to cast the nets should bear more responsibility than the fishermen themselves. “Even if they crossed into Myanmar’s territorial waters, why are the Thai nationals released but not the Myanmar workers? This is unreasonable,” Min Shwe Thein said.

For Myanmar fishermen caught in junta’s net, hopes for equal treatment

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