BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) ? By
the time Muslim rubber tappers came across the boy in a jungle in
southern Thailand, he was so weak he couldn’t even wave away the flies
and mosquitoes that covered his body.
The teenager, a stateless Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, had become
paralysed from the waist down after 10 weeks in a traffickers’ camp
overseen by brutal guards, where he was forced to squat during the day
and sleep in a foetal position at night.
The rubber tappers rescued the boy, whose name has been withheld to
protect his identity, along with 30 others who had also lost the use of
their legs, and took them to a nearby mosque where they were given food
and shelter and slowly recovered.
The boy had left his home in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State after
two bouts of bloody riots in 2012. Barely 16, he hoped to find a job to
help his struggling family but was incarcerated instead, first by Thai
authorities and later by human traffickers.
Since June 2012, at least 240 people have been killed and more than
140,000 displaced in religious conflict in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, most
of them the long-persecuted Rohingya, Muslims, whom Myanmar does not
recognise as citizens.
The violence and the subsequent flight of tens of thousands of
Rohingya to neighbouring countries caused international outrage and
raised questions about the Myanmar government’s commitment to reforms.
Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to the boy in the outskirts of Bangkok, where he is now living.
"I left Myanmar around November/December 2012 on a fishing boat.
There were about 100 people and we came without help from brokers. I
just paid the boatman what I had, which was 40,000 kyats (about US$40),"
he said.
"The sea was rough and many of us were seasick. I was scared but what
could I do? A woman gave birth on the boat. After 12 days we arrived in
Thailand but we were arrested.
"I was stuck at the Ranong Immigration Detention Centre (in southern
Thailand near the Myanmar border) for 11 months. One day, we were told
we would be deported back to Myanmar. The boats were to carry us to
Kawthaung (in Myanmar) but we ended up at a place where cars were
waiting. The cars took us to the jungle camp run by the traffickers.
"The first time they beat us was just after we ? about 400 of us ?
arrived at the camp in the early morning. They threatened us and made us
call our relatives to ask for money so we would be released. When
people said they did not have money or relatives to contact, they were
beaten up even more.
"We had to squat during the day and sleep in a foetal position at
night. We couldn’t move. The guards would swear and beat us if we tried
to change position.
"After 10 weeks in the camp, my legs started wobbling when I tried to
stand up. My body would sway. Within two or three days, I could no
longer move them. I had to drag myself on my bottom to get anywhere,
including going to the toilet.
"Many people died in the camp ? some from beating, but they were
already weak from not having enough food, and some from diseases because
living conditions were not clean.
"The guards were Bangladeshis and Thai Muslims. They said, 'If you
pay, we will let you go. If you don’t, you will have to stay here till
you die.'"
Eventually the traffickers ran away, taking with them the able-bodied Rohingya, after hearing that police were on the way.
“The traffickers left us for dead," the boy said. "There were about
30 others who were like me. For two days, we didn’t have any food or
water because we couldn’t move."
When the Thai Muslim rubber tappers found the group, they could
barely communicate. "One of them said 'Salam alaikum' so I realised they
were Muslims too and replied, 'Alaikum salam,'"
"The rubber tappers took us to a mosque where we stayed for about two
and a half months. They fed us and looked after us. I learnt to walk
again there. It took me two months. It still hurts when I walk now.
"Myself and my seven siblings were born and raised in Aung Mingalar
quarter in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. My parents were also born
there. But we don’t have ID cards.
"Being stateless meant we couldn’t travel outside Sittwe and it was
hard to find a regular job. But we could still travel within Sittwe and
could find ways to earn an income. My father was a tailor and I helped
him since I was young.
"Things worsened after the riots. Aung Mingalar was under lockdown.
We could not leave and nobody could come in. We used to have Rakhine
Buddhist friends but all contacts were cut off after the riots.
"My father’s business was gone. My two brothers were injured and we
had to destroy our thatched roof so the fire wouldn’t reach us during
the riots.
"I couldn’t see any future and I felt very bitter and upset about the
killings and the destruction. My parents didn’t want me to leave. If I
had known how it would turn out, I wouldn’t have left.
"After recovering at the mosque, I came to Bangkok. I’m staying with
other Rohingya. Most people who were with me at the mosque are now in
Malaysia. To go to Malaysia, you need money and I don’t have money.
"I want to find work so I can earn money and send it home. My family is facing even more difficulties."
(Mizzima acknowledges with thanks permission publish this Thomson Reuters report, which was filed on May 27).
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