‘My Aim in Life Is to Work for My Country but I Ended up on a Fishing Boat’

I’m not afraid of the Burmese government

Khaing Hla Pyaint is a 30-year-old Arakanese soldier from Mun-Bra, a town near Sittwe in Arakan State. Helping his people and serving his country are an integral part of who he is. When asked his name and where he is from, Khaing Hla Pyaint replies that his first aim in life is to serve his country and help his people. That is the reason why he came to Thailand. Asking if he could have his photo taken, Khaing Hla Pyaint says: It’s fine. I’m not afraid of the Burmese government.

Khaing Hla Pyaint is not sure when he came to Thailand, but maybe around 2004 or 2005.

At that time there was lots of fighting and conflict. The government investigated the people a lot so it was a difficult time to travel. People didn’t really travel much at the time. If the authorities know that you are travelling and you won’t come back to your country again they will investigate a lot. There was a man, like a carrier, who helped me and my friends go to Rangoon.

From Rangoon to Dawei, Khaing Hla Pyaint and his friends took a bus. Khaing Hla Pyaint says that it is very difficult for Arakanese to travel on that road and they were lucky to reach Dawei.

Whenever Arakanese people travel on that road the Burmese authorities investigate you, sometimes they will detain you, and sometimes they will ask for a lot of bribes.

After arriving to Dawei, Khaing Hla Pyaint got news that there is an Arakanese man who had just been released from prison. Khaing Hla Pyaint and his friends traveled to where the ex-prisoner lived and finally crossed onto an island to find him.

At last we found him and we saw that he is a very good man. Whenever there are lots of people in trouble, he helps them. And even some people don’t have money to go back, he gives them money… We met him and asked him how we could go to Thailand.

Khaing Hla Pyaint and his friends followed the man’s advice. They decided to travel through different places until they would reach a broker not far away from Kaw Thong, a border town on the Burma-Thailand border. If only they could make it to Kaw Thong it would be easy to cross the border to Thailand.

Unfortunately, we were caught by authorities…  There were lots of people so they asked for a lot of money… We had to stay there. The Burmese authorities allowed us to stay the night, but we had to sleep in the pig farm. We slept with the pigs in the mud.

 

… I wanted to travel to Thailand with my own will

The next day, they traveled to Kaw Thong and got news that there is a broker.

We heard that there is an Arakanese broker so we went to that place and asked for help. We stayed in this Arakanese monastery. A lot of people stayed there.  I lived there for about a month… When there is a problem, like people don’t have money to go to Thailand they stay there. The Arakanese monk showed us the way and where to go and how to reach Thailand… There were over 30 people who stayed in the monastery. The monk was clever, he knew that whenever there are a lot of people in one place the authorities investigate. So he asked us to work, to dig the mountains, dig the mud. Whenever you are doing that the authorities won’t ask questions. And at night we would all sleep in the mountains.

At last we found the broker who could help us. Some of my friends suggested we should ask money from our parents because we didn’t have anything. But I wanted to travel to Thailand with my own will, not my parents’ money. And I didn’t want to give them trouble. When you are connected with a broker you have to give them the money back. So when you get to Thailand you need to work and pay back the money.

 

… We had to lay on top of each other and they covered us with some kind of mat

Khaing Hla Pyaint borrowed the money from the broker and started his journey towards Phuket.

The broker can only take a certain amount of people on the truck but there were many more who wanted to go. At the back of the truck, or a minibus, we had to lay on top of each other and they covered us with some kind of mat or something. It took one night… About 12 hours. We had to stay there with no space. In the middle of the way the driver stopped and gave us a chance to move, to turn to the other side.

All we could do was pray and hope we will survive. Somehow I could move a little bit. But I could only be on one side… The driver dropped us off in the jungle where we couldn’t be seen. We just had to wait there… I was very hungry. It had been a long journey. We tried to find food in the jungle but we could only find one jackfruit, and it was small.

The group had no water either. Khaing Hla Pyaint says there was a village nearby and a villager who was in contact with the broker finally came and took them back to the village.

He cooked for us and gave us food. Sometime in the evening another broker came and took us to another place where we were in secret. They locked us in a room… They were afraid that we would run away and not pay back the brokers. We were supposed to work in Phuket and then pay back the money. Sometimes they don’t take the people on a bus, sometimes they take them on a boat. They don’t have to worry that the people run away, because there’s nowhere but the sea to go.

 

… My aim in life is to work for my country but I ended up on a fishing boat

Once Khaing Hla Pyaint arrived to Phuket, he started working on a fishing boat.

There were lots of people from Burma working there: Rakhaing, Karen, Mon, Burman, all people worked there. Also illegal migrants. When you have to work with lots of different kinds of people, and they are not educated people, they don’t know how to give respect for each other… Sometimes there are conflicts… Sometimes they kill each other.

When Khaing Hla Pyaint was working on the boat, he met an Arakanese man and shared his story with him.

We talked about our life stories and how we’d been travelling. I told him that my aim in life is to work for my country but I ended up on a fishing boat… The man said that if I want to go somewhere he will show me the way. I also had contact with my cousin, or brother, and he said that if I want to go he will give me the money. The person who wanted to help me didn’t have much money. He could only support and help one person. So my friends had to stay there

[in Phuket].

 

On the fishing boat you are not quite sure when you are going to die

Khaing Hla Pyaint worked in Phuket for about three months before he met this man.

I was very glad to at last find a man who could help me. People don’t want to go and work on the fishing boat. Life is very hard and you have to work all day long… One time when I had to go to the sea and catch the fish there was a big storm. There were big waves. One of the captains asked me what I will do if the boat sinks. I said that I will try to hold on to a box.

Khaing Hla Pyaint says that part of his life on the fishing boat was very difficult. He wanted to go to another place. And his two friends said they would go to Malaysia. Finally he decided to go to Sula, a one day journey from Phuket.

With the help of his brother Khaing Hla Pyaint didn’t have to pay back to the broker, but he had to borrow money from another broker to go to Sula where he started working in a rubber field.

It was much better to work in the rubber field compared to the fishing boat. Life was much more comfortable. You don’t have to worry for your life. On the fishing boat you are not quite sure when you are going to die. Lots of people and they kill each other. It is not a safe place. At least in the field there is no killing… The fishing boats are not very far so you can see what’s happening on other boats. For example, you can see people killing each other. They call the police sometimes and the Thai police come. When they come and investigate they also see that there are lots of illegal immigrants. So I didn’t want to stay there anymore. I knew I would be deported back to Burma.

 

In Sula prison it was more comfortable… At least we could lay down

Khaing Hla Pyaint didn’t have to pay back the broker because when he was working on the field the authorities found him.

They put us into prison and said we would be deported back to Burma. They kept me in the prison and I was supposed to be deported… But at least the prison served us three meals per day, although it was just a little bit of rice, like a handful of rice… They also fed us boiled cucumbers.

Khaing Hla Pyaint says he had to stay there for one month. After that, they were taken back to the border and put in prison in Kaw Thong.

In Sula prison it was more comfortable… At least we could lay down. But when we were taken to Kaw Thong prison, there were lots of people. The place was very small and there was no space”. Khaing Hla Pyaint shows how they had to sit day and night with their knees in their mouth due to lack of space. “We all had to sit like this, also when we slept. I stayed there something like 15 days, I’m not sure. If people can pay them money then they get out. Some people had to stay there for six or seven months and sometimes even a year.

While in Kaw Thong prison Khaing Hla Pyaint became seriously ill.

And then I realised they had no medicine or doctors. So I called my brother and asked him to help… There were lots of brokers there, and they let me use a phone because they know then they can get money if people come get me. My brother came and took me out. He took me to another Arakanese monastery… Then my skin turned white because of the disease. I had a lot of fever. I think maybe it was lack of protein or nutrients… After I went to the monastery, I ate good food and slept well. Then I started feeling better again.

 

I managed to save enough to pay the broker and I was free to go

After recovering in the monastery, Khaing Hla Pyaint went back to Sula. He crossed the border with another broker and went back to the rubber field where he had been working before his arrest. Khaing Hla Pyaint lived there for about six or seven months. He explains that it was a good place for him because the field leader was very nice to him.

The field leader used to arrange things for me and help me… I didn’t have to work with Burmese people, I worked with Thai people. Burmese people worked from 6am to 6pm, 12 hours. Thai people only worked from 6am to 12 pm, 6 hours. And then they also got paid more. Sometimes I got paid 200 baht per day. Burmese people would only get 150 although they worked all day… I talked to the Thais using body language.

At some point a case came up and the owner had to leave. Because he wasn’t there anymore things got more difficult for me. I couldn’t work with the Thai people anymore… I managed to save enough to pay the broker and I was free to go. So I left to go to a new place.

 

I didn’t want other people to have the same kind of trouble I had

Khaing Hla Pyaint moved to another place and started working cutting teak in a factory.

I had to cut it with a saw. There was lots of teak and we had to cut it to pieces and export to other countries. I was there for about one year… When I was working there, I didn’t have to give any money back to a broker anymore, I had no debt now. So I saved some money and helped other people who wanted to cross the border from Kaw Thong.

Khaing Hla Pyaint didn’t want other people to go through what he went through. So he kept working in the factory and saving money, using it to help others cross the border.

I was informed sometimes when there were some people who wanted to cross the order. I helped them and provided them with some money too. I just wanted to help the people… For example, you are in the border town, and you will ask another broker. Other brokers will ask you for lots of money, for example the travel cost was 5,000 but they ask for 10,000. I knew the place already and I knew how to survive. So I didn’t want other people to have the same kind of trouble I had.

Eventually, Khaing Hla Pyaint grew tired of the clashes between the Arakanese and the Burman in the factory.

There was some kind of clash with the Arakanese and the Burman people. They can’t live together, they are not getting along with each other. Sometimes there were lots of killings and sometimes people ended up in prison. So I got very fed up with that, and I didn’t want to stay there anymore.

Khaing Hla Pyaint decided to move to another place. He says that some of the people he helped paid him back. Others who couldn’t didn’t pay but Khaing Hla Pyaint didn’t care about that.

It was OK for me. I had already saved some money… There were also some good people who wanted to help me. They asked if they can collect money from other people and give it to me. But I said they don’t need to do that for me. But I encouraged them and told them that if you are still in this place and you find some kind of helpless people you should go and help them.

 

…. I went to the jungle to serve the army

At this point I had been working on a fishing boat, rubber field and a factory. I didn’t want that kind of life. My first aim was to work for my country and to suffer for my country. And I realised that there are some kind of activities and some kind of group working for Arakanese people in Mae Sot.

Khaing Hla Pyaint decided to go to Mae Sot, where he thought he could finally serve his country and help his people, the reason why he had come to Thailand years before. With the help of some people, Khaing Hla Pyaint traveled to Bangkok, and from there a kind of Arakanese group helped him get to Mae Sot.

When I came to Mae Sot I met with the All Arakan Student and Youth Congress (AASYC), a new generation group formed by Arakanese young people. They also have an army. A kind of army, not a big one. They were settled somewhere in the Karen State, and they asked me to serve in that camp. So I became a soldier. They gave me transportation and I went to the jungle to serve the army.

 

It’s like your aim in life is not only about yourself it’s about your country

Khaing Hla Pyaint explains that they wanted to protect local Arakanese communities.

They [AASYC] realised they didn’t really have a strong army to protect the Arakanese people, so they collected young Arakanese who wanted to work there. The aim of the army was to get training and then be settled somewhere near the Indian-Burmese border… We worked separately from the Karen, but the KNU gave us a place and training… We had to get our own food and everything.

Khaing Hla Pyaint is not sure how long he was there but maybe for over one year.

Karen were also fighting against the Burmese government, and we were fighting against the government. So we had the same aim… When we stayed in the jungle sometimes we had to fight the Burmese army. And the Burmese have a lot of weapons and they are a large army, and we only had a small army. So at some point we just couldn’t fight them anymore and we had to stay away.

We came to Mae Sot from the jungle but the group was… we couldn’t have the army anymore. Because we didn’t have enough resources, not enough people. But in our minds we still wanted to work. When you are working you still have the mind to work for your country. So you save some money and then you support some offices, some organisations. You still work hard and it’s very hard to live like that. It’s like your aim in life is not only about yourself it’s about your country.

 

Sometimes I was being tortured

When Khaing Hla Pyaint came back from the jungle he worked selling vegetables and other goods at a back of a pickup.

We moved from place to place in town and earned money like that”. As Khaing Hla Pyaint kept working selling vegetables, he became more familiar with the owner whose family lived in Myawaddi. They had lived there for a long time and had both Thai and Burmese ID cards. “Sometimes I would go and visit there. It was like a family.

One day he was traveling to Myawaddi for a family visit when it all turned into a living nightmare.  It started from the authorities investigating him.

They found out about me, the Burmese authorities suspected me. They took me away and put me in detention, in prison. They tortured me.

Khaing Hla Pyaint was not kept in prison but he was a prisoner in a Burmese army camp in Myawaddi.

I was alone there, no one else was kept there. For some illegal immigrants they will keep them in prison. But I wasn’t kept there. They say that when you are in that army camp, it is very dangerous for you, because you are not sure what it will lead to. Sometimes they will kill you at that point, or they ask for lots of money. Sometimes they deport you somewhere like Insein prison or something like that.

When I was kept there, they gave punishment. I had to sit like this [Khaing Hla Pyaint shows how his legs were put through holes in the wooden stocks]. It’s made of wood, and there are two holes, or maybe six holes sometimes.  That is also a kind of punishment. Sometimes I was being tortured.

 

… They probably would have killed me

When Khaing Hla Pyaint was arrested, the owner of the business heard about it.

The owner heard that I had been arrested. So they came and took me out. The owner and other people said I was very lucky. That otherwise they probably would have killed me… Maybe they knew [about his connection to the Arakanese army], because of the way you are, your working style. When you are a soldier, you work in a certain way. You are not like local people.

Khaing Hla Pyaint explains that he thinks that the Thai people helped him also because he had helped the owner’s elderly mother.

The owner, they have an old lady at the age of 80, and she doesn’t have children or grandchildren to look after her. So I would go and help the old woman. She also had back pain so she couldn’t do work. And sometimes she couldn’t even go to the toilet or help herself to do things. So with most of the things I helped the old lady. So it’s like… If you don’t look after your parents and other people do, you feel some kind of gratitude.

 

There are not many people who want to give themselves for their country

After all these difficulties, Khaing Hla Pyaint was able to come back to Mae Sot and work for an Arakanese organisation one more time.

When I worked for AASYA, and the group separated, I felt like there was no hope for working in the future. But when I got into contact with my friends, they encouraged me and told me that this is the only reason why you came to Thailand, so why do you want to give up easily. Then I realised that there is no turning point, we don’t have to go back and do something else. You are destined to work with this, so you have to work with this. There are not many people who want to give themselves for their country. For example, when you work here, it’s like you don’t have your private life. You can’t work outside. You are here so you are attached to this. You have to give training, sometimes you have to travel. You don’t have your own life, so not many people want to do this. My friends encouraged me and said there are not many people who want to do this kind of thing, so once you have determined and want to do this, you should keep working on it. I realised my friends were right and I should keep working for my country.

 

After the duties are finished then I will go back to the jungle

Khaing Hla Pyaint explains that the Arakanese group he now works for also has an army, and they are settled somewhere in the Karen area. He is a soldier in this army, and he used to fight with them in the jungle.

I fought with them in the jungle against the Burmese. I was there for about one year before. I am now serving duties, for the group here… I am a soldier, and my main aim was to get training and then fight back the Burmese army. But right now they don’t have fighting and they don’t have work to be done in the jungle. So I am here in town. I have been given responsibilities and I need to complete my duties.

Khaing Hla Pyaint says that he has been in town for about a year now, working for the organisation.

I want to help my organisation by increasing the human resources and collect arms to fight back the Burmese government. I want to help them increase the number of soldiers. I believe that to fight back the Burmese government you need to have a strong political organisation and an army, so I will work for that, try for that. After my duties here are finished then I will go back to the jungle. I don’t know when I’ll go back. I’ll just go when they ask me to go.

Read Part II to find out how Khaing Hla Pyaint’s past experiences made him realise he wants to fight for the freedom of his people.

 

Khaing Hla Pyaint’s story is based on an interview with Burma Link. Written by Burma Link.