SAMUT PRAKAN – Organising protests, gathering supporters and distributing posters of their beloved leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar workers in Thailand are adding to a chorus of dissent against a coup that has upended their home country.
Thailand’s economy is reliant on millions of low-wage labourers – mostly from neighbouring Myanmar – who largely toil behind the scenes to keep the kingdom’s industries humming.
They live a precarious existence and largely distrust Thai authorities, due to widespread discrimination and frequent crackdowns against illegal workers, and usually keep to themselves.
But a military coup that deposed Suu Kyi has sent shockwaves through the normally quiet community, who have begun staging near daily protests across Bangkok.
”We Burmese who live abroad cannot stay quiet. We all need to demand justice in front of our embassy and stage protests,” said Kyaw Thu Ya, a worker living in here, an hour south of the capital.
“I feel uncomfortable because I am not living in my country, and I understand my limits.
“If I were in Myanmar right now, I would go out and protest every day.”
No chance to live
For now, they do what they can.
In a small house, Kyaw Thu Ya gathers with friends to plan a protest in front of the United Nations office, preparing posters of Suu Kyi and coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing – superimposed with a large “X” across his face.
“Min Aung Hlaing doesn’t know the word ‘enough’,” said Pu, a Myanmar street vendor, who said she hasn’t been able to sleep or eat properly since she learned of the putsch.
Myanmar endured nearly five decades of military rule until beginning an uneasy move towards democracy in 2011, and Pu, 48, said access to education was limited when she was growing up.
“The military didn’t give us a chance to live... so I made up my mind and moved (to Thailand).”
She said the fact that millions move to Thailand to seek work and better lives is an indictment of military rule, under which the country’s economy sharply declined.
“Myanmar has never had a chance to progress due to the military’s interference.
“Now that this coup has happened again, I’d fight all the way against it.” – AFP, February 9, 2021
