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In a demonstration of her popular appeal, Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi received a rapturous welcome on Thursday as she presided over a town hall-type meeting with some of the huge population of migrant workers from her homeland who eke out a living in Thailand.
Suu Kyi met with Myanmar migrant workers in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok, where she urged them to be honest with their employers and hosts in Thailand and to abide by the law. Suu Kyi likened them to guests of Thailand and urged them to talk with their employers to find solutions to any issues that may arise.
“When living together, it is normal that some little difficulties or problems may occur, but talking over them is the best solution,” Suu Kyi said.
Thailand is home to between two million and three million migrant workers from Myanmar, many of whom do back-breaking jobs most Thais are unwilling to do. Suu Kyi’s visit has prompted renewed calls for better protection for the workers, who are vulnerable to abuse, rights groups say.
“We hope she will pressure the Thai government to have sympathy for us,” said Ma Kout Shwe, a Myanmar steel worker in the crowd at the Talay Thai market in Mahachai, a fishing port just west of Bangkok, the capital.
Their enthusiasm undimmed by the rain, the crowd chanted “Mother Suu” after Suu Kyi, dressed in a traditional blue dress, met workers and responded to questions. In Mahachai, migrants man the fishing boats and work in seafood processing plants.
Migrant Rohingya workers welcome Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to Thailand. Photo: Reuters
Suu Kyi and Thai junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha will sign a pact on Friday to help Myanmar migrants work legally in Thailand. It will be the first meeting of the democracy icon and members of the Thai military government that seized power in a May 2014 coup.
When Suu Kyi last visited Thailand four years ago, it was as head of her country’s opposition party. She has returned as the country’s elected leader and therefore faces greater scrutiny than she did as a democracy heroine fighting military rule.
Questions have arisen about her government’s policies toward the Rohingya, which critics say fall short of what they expected from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
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“In 2012, she gave a promise to the workers... that she would support them, both to return to Myanmar but also to have a better life here,” said Andy Hall, who advises the Migrant Workers Rights Network.
“I think the workers see her visit, both as something that would result in greater protection for them, but also [as] another sign that the time is coming when they can eventually go back home to their motherland and continue their lives there.”
(Kyodo/Reuters/AP)
