Thailand: Returnees have little to look forward to

As the world's attention focuses on the use of military force by mainly Western powers in the conflict in Libya, the stories of more than 1 million migrant workers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who had been working in Libya, have been totally overshadowed.

These stories are very much part of the larger saga of Libya's relations with the world because countries other than Europe have become tied to the fortunes of Moammar Gadhafi. Thailand is one of these countries.

It was most likely a surprise for many people in Thailand to learn, after the conflict in Libya erupted, that there were 23,000 Thai citizens working in that country. As reported in the Bangkok Post on Feb 23, 2011, these workers had been recruited by 30 different companies. About 9,000 Thai workers were living in Benghazi and Tripoli, while the rest were employed in other parts of the country. Most were working at oil refineries, although some in the cities were probably working in domestic jobs. Thais constituted about a quarter of the 100,000 Asian migrants in Libya, the majority of whom were from Bangladesh.

Over the following few weeks, several thousand Thai workers were able to leave Libya via the ports of Tripoli or Benghazi or by fleeing to Tunisia. As of March 9, altogether 7,654 Thais had been repatriated and the Thai government proclaimed that the remaining workers (save for some who have said they planned to remain in Libya) will be expatriated.

The decision by Col Gadhafi to order his forces to attack areas under the control of rebels, and the subsequent escalation of the conflict following the authorisation of the United Nations Security Council of a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians, brought the repatriation of foreign workers to a halt, hopefully temporarily.

Most Thai workers in Libya, like other Thai workers overseas, are from northeastern Thailand. In the Libyan case, the largest numbers are from Nakhon Ratchasima and Udon Thani. In other words, these workers are kinsmen to villagers and workers in urban Thailand who have roots in the northeastern region of the country. The majority are therefore from the same class background as the largest number of supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and of Puea Thai Party, the largest opposition party in Parliament.

According to one report, Thai workers had to pay between 120,000 and 180,000 baht to job placement firms for their positions in Libya. Such fees included cost of transportation, processing of visa applications, and bureaucratic costs in Libya itself, as well as providing a significant profit for the brokers.

While the government has set up a fund which returned migrants could apply to for help in their transition back to their home communities, the maximum amount of 15,000 baht eligible to a returnee does not begin to cover the losses he has incurred.

Thai workers returning from Libya face situations in which it will be very difficult for them to find work. The Thai economy today is faltering, and will falter more because Japan, Thailand's major trading partner, has suffered a massive tragedy that will depress its economy for months, if not years.

The jobs that returnees might have filled a few years ago are today filled by legal and illegal migrants within Thailand. Even in the Northeast, some factories that were originally founded to provide local people with jobs are now employing Burmese.

Indebted Thai returnees from Libya will have to join other rural people facing economic hardship, such as those living near the Pak Moon dam in Ubon Ratchathani whose livelihoods have been significantly reduced as a consequence of government policies; they will thus become members of a growing number of the working class who find their government unresponsive to their plight.

Thai workers returning home from Libya will also bring back personal experiences of escaping from a country in which there has been a breakdown of political order.

As we have seen, Thailand also came close to a major breakdown in political order during March to May last year, and many of the underlying issues that led to that breakdown remain unresolved. The issues that will be of greatest concern to the returnees from Libya, and indeed to all other overseas migrants, include first and foremost the lack of jobs at competitive wages within Thailand.

It is the poor job market in Thailand that that leads so many to seek work abroad.

Secondly, returned Thai workers are aware that the Thai government does not accord them the same positive attention which the Philippine government gives its workers.

Filipino workers who develop health or other problems abroad are given assistance by their government's embassies and consulates and they are accorded significant public acclaim at home for their contributions to the national economy.

Finally, returned workers will most probably find themselves among kinsmen and friends who share a disenchantment with a political system in which their voices are not allowed to be heard in meaningful ways in the shaping of public policy.

To be sure, the returned migrants will find that the political situation has undergone some positive changes - the emergency rule has ended, and an election is now on the calendar. Nonetheless, unless these deep issues are adequately addressed, the potential for civil conflict in Thailand will remain.

Meanwhile, one wonders about the fate of the many Thai workers who did not succeed in leaving Libya.

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Charles Keyes is a professor emeritus of Anthropology and Asian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Source: Bangkok Post