The long road home

After years of conflict and fractured lives, Burmese communities in Thailand are hoping to be able to return home.

Thailand is home for up to two million people from Myanmar – many had to leave their home country because of persecution and to escape poverty.

Around 120,000 refugees, mostly Karen, live in camps along the Thai Myanmar border. Many work in factories, on fishing vessels, building sites or fish processing industries.

Dr. Cynthia Muang is director of the Mao Tao Refugee clinic on the Thai Myanmar border. Muang set up the clinic during the 1988 crackdown by the Myanmar military against pro-democracy student-led protests when thousands fled to the border of Thailand. She says people want to see more reforms.

"Generally, we can say that people on the border here are very excited about the political change," says Muang. "At the same time, people want to see progress because they know that a sort of political dialogue is going on."

She says the refugees do not have the easiest lives in Thailand, which adds to their desire to return home.

There is "suffering and displacement and poverty and human rights violations – we cannot see any improvement or it’s even worse so people (are) really excited. And people want to go back safe and secure and with dignity."

Positive signs

The recent visit to Myanmar by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added to the refugees’ hope of soon being able to return home. Images of Clinton and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi embracing were seen as symbolic of changes underway in Myanmar since President Thien Sein came to office in March this year.

The release of several hundred political prisoners, an easing of media restrictions and steps for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to reenter the political landscape all add to a positive outlook.

In Bangkok, Joseph Serrani, foreign affairs coordinator with the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), says while there is a "lot of optimism," some of the initial positive energy has dimmed.

While people have more hope now, it has "already started to fade a bit when they look at the actual realities," says Serrani.

Migrant worker advocate Andy Hall is one person who is not so optimistic. "Most (migrant workers) do not see that they’re going back anytime in the near future because of the economic development differences between Myanmar and Thailand," Hall said.

Ongoing rights abuses

Despite the upbeat outlook, a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch says human rights abuses against ethnic communities, especially the Kachin, are still ongoing.

In June the Myanmar Army began attacks against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), resulting in 50,000 ethnic Kachin being forced to flee their homes.

The Myanmar Government has granted United Nations agencies access to the displaced although HRW wants to see a long term commitment from the government and donors.

But former political prisoners living Thailand are skeptical after years of political intransigence. Tate Naing, secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPP), says the political developments that have so far taken place "are designed to ease international pressure," to get sanctions lifted and increase tourism in the country. "It’s totally designed for short term purposes," Tate Naing told Deutsche Welle.

Welcome changes

The reforms in Myanmar have also been welcomed by Thai business. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra travelled to Myanmar this week and held talks with President Thein Sein and a 30 minute audience with opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

On the border in Mae Sot, Myanmar re-opened the main border bridge across to the Myanmar town of Myawaddy.

Father Robert Htway, chairman of the Karen Refugee Committee in Mae Sot, says for the refugees living in Thai camps, the mood was upbeat especially so after the visit by US Secretary of State, Clinton.

"For a long time, I didn’t have (any) hope. But I see the situation now we know Hillary Clinton will go back to Myanmar. So we shall see. For me, a civilian, who is a refugee, if the government makes real changes all the people will want to go back to their home country," Htway told Deutsche Welle.

But Lynn Yoshikawa, an advocate with the Washington-based Refugees International, says patience will be needed. "It’s great that the discussion is starting but the potential for the refugees in Thailand to be able to return to Eastern Burma remains very distant," says. 　

Author: Ron Corben
Editor: Sarah Berning