Thailand could benefit by easing restrictions, registering workers, and gaining from income tax
A few months ago at a university campus in Bangkok, a group of military top brass got together for a closed-door briefing about Burma. The hot topic was the nearly two million Burmese workers in Thailand.
While most of the top brass quietly admitted that they hired Burmese citizens to do their housework, all were concerned that the presence of so many Burmese in the country posed a security threat. What if Thailand went to war with Burma, where would these workers stand? We know that the Burmese don't like their government but could we count on them to help us, these soldiers asked themselves. Furthermore, how many are spies or secret/security agents? Nobody knows. Perhaps we need to learn how to be nice to them, said one academic. Not a bad idea, indeed. If not for security's sake, how about for the sake of human decency?
Such a mindset has always shaped Thailand's Burma policy. The Labour Ministry has ordered 1.3 million workers from neighbouring Burma, Cambodia and Laos to begin the process of officially registering and verifying their nationality by the weekend or risk deportation.
Around 850,000 migrant workers in Thailand have met the deadline to start the registration process, leaving about half a million more to do so. The Thai authorities estimate there are up to another 1.2 million unregistered migrants in the country who will not be eligible for the new process.
To enter the process, migrants must pay registration and medical fees of Bt3,800 baht. This is a large sum for people who mostly have low-paid jobs in the manufacturing, agricultural, fisheries and domestic sectors - the kind of jobs shunned by most Thais. Human rights organisations say this registration system leaves migrants open to abuse.
"The abuses against migrant workers will more than likely increase as a result of more migrant workers becoming undocumented, and therefore vulnerable," said Phil Robertson of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
HRW released a damning report last week documenting systemic abuse against migrant workers, from extrajudicial killings to torture, arbitrary arrest and extortion.
Thailand's policy on migrant workers is myopic to say the least. Policy-makers, namely the security community and the military, don't look at these people as workers who contribute to the country's economy. Instead they are seen as potential security threats and a problem. That's the mentality that continues to prevail today.
But if the past few decades tell us anything, it is that Thailand's economy can absorb these workers. If it couldn't, they would not be wasting their time in the country. But this is a nation obsessed with controlling everything, and our policy-makers insist on "controlling" them as opposed to letter market forces dictate the natural flow of the labour force. And since they cannot control this issue, they toss the burden onto employers - thus, the registration drive. Long lines of waiting migrants preparing to face disgruntled Thai officials, with seemingly endless paperwork, will indeed be very discouraging. It will be cheaper and easier for employers to pay Bt500 to local police instead of going through this process.
This security-obsessed labour policy doesn't work. We should start by examining each sector - fisheries, agriculture, textiles, construction, and so on - to see how many workers each can absorb. There are other ways for the state to make money other then slapping hefty fees on these poor workers. Taxing regular income is one way of doing this.
During the Thaksin administration, the government tried to place the burden on neighbouring countries. They would do the documentation, and Thai factory owners or labour agents would just go and pick and choose the workers required. It sounded easy, but it wasn't. The scheme became a way for officials in those neighbouring governments to line their pockets. Moreover, in countries such as Burma, many people are from areas not within the reach of the state apparatus. In many cases, some are in rebel-controlled areas, and in such cases one can forget about proper documentation.
Given these types of obstacles, coupled with Thailand's preoccupation with security, it is not a surprise that human trafficking is rife in the country.
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