IDPs Face Difficulties Due to Lack of Jobs and Falling Price of Rubber

January 8, 2015

Rates of Burma’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) illegally migrating to Thailand are increasing due to the falling price of rubber and lack of job opportunities, as well as high rates of taxation. The price of rubber has been falling since April 2014, and in Thailand, rubber is valued at 35-40 baht per kilo. In Burma, although the price of rubber has risen from 400 kyat per pound to between 500-600 kyat per pound, prices remain too low to provide a livable salary, prompting workers to move away from rubber farming.

“Yebyu Township rubber plantation owners and farmers are moving to Thailand with their families to find work on a construction site or as domestic workers, while some migrants working in rubber plantations in Thailand are moving to Bangkok to find a new job,” explains 34 year-old Nai Tun, from Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Region.

According to Panang Bein’s village administrator Nai Hta Poe, about 300 people left the village in 2014-2015 to find work in other areas of Burma, and other countries, such as Thailand, due to falling rubber prices and the authorities’ ban on local residents searching the forest for wood.
“In our village,” said Nai Hta Poe, “we have 500 households with a population of around 1,000 people, most of whom are working on rubber plantations and find wood in the forest for [their] incomes. We open military training for two months at a time, for which we collect 1,500 kyat per house. We tax plantations 5,000 kyat per year.”

Members of the IDP community state that, “we can’t find wood in the forest because the New Mon State Party (NMSP) closed the forest. We don’t have jobs, so we need to migrate to Thailand and work there.”

According to current tax rates in IDP areas, the NMSP collects 5,000 kyat per acre of plantation, while the authorities apply various taxes to farmers, according to the type of property. For example, plantation owners are taxed 20,000 kyat for 100,000 betel nuts, while rubber is taxed according to current rubber prices.

One village resident expresses her feelings regarding recent tax increases in Eastern Ye Township: “I needed to take my children out of school because we need to work for our future, to get a better life for our livelihood. Schooling is expensive and there are more taxes. We also need to spend on health [care]. The hospital in the village can only treat some of our diseases, so we need to go to Town or Moulmein.”

According to a 28-year-old politically educated and engaged resident from NMSP controlled area, “Even we, IDPs, get nothing free. IDP children need 5,000 kyat to register for school and 20,000 kyat for general expenses. We don’t have more income, we just have enough for our families’ daily expenses. The New Mon State Party should take responsibility for the children’s education in IDP areas.”

Another villager, from Sin Swe Village, explains the taxation in his village; “In Sin Swe Village, we need to pay 200,000 kyat per house to build the monastery. We couldn’t pay it, so we decided to leave the village and work in another area. Then, the authorities also ask for 3,000 kyat for the teacher’s salary; this tax depends on how many children attend school in the family. Once they open the military training, we will also need to pay 1,500 kyat per house, but the soldiers’ families do not need to pay it.”

In NMSP-controlled Nyi Sar, students must pay 5,000 kyat to enroll in grade 6 and 20,000 kyat for the school year. “If you are [in a] high standard, we need to pay more,” said Nai Nee of Panang Bein Village.

“The reason that we live here is that we have been faced with human rights abuse when we lived in our village. We couldn’t suffer any more so we moved here and began living the IDP life. Nowadays, we don’t have any property in our village, so we don’t have a chance to go back to our area. We even want to go to Thailand, but we don’t have ID cards to make a migrant passport, and we don’t have money either. We went to Thailand illegally and were arrested by Thai police and sent back to the border. Currently, people from IDP camps mostly go to Thailand to get jobs. Some IDPs can send money to their parents. We have to stay like that, we don’t have any jobs in IDP areas,” said Saw Poe Poe, 38, from Htee Pha Doh IDP camp.

Since the NMSP found armed group members Nai Lon and Nai Soung, for security reasons authorities from the NMSP have asked villagers to report to them whenever they see a new person when they go to their farms. NMSP authorities do not allow the sale or drinking of alcohol or beer from Joe Kablu, Panang Bein, Suvana Bhum, and Bod Sot villages until Eastern Ye’s Ha Kuu Lao Village.

“Our country only knows taxing. The government does not take responsibility as other governments do; they do nothing for their citizens. It is difficult for the people who invest in the plantation. I would like to suggest that the government do something for the price of rubber,” said Nai Chit Oo, a rubber plantation worker from Wae Kha Mi Village, Thanbyuzayat Township.

Many rubber plantation owners have stopped working their plantations because they know there is no profit in it. Hardships are compounded as villagers are eager to sell their plantations, but no one will buy due to worries that the military will confiscate the plantation.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News