During 21-23 September 2010, Mr. Singhadej Chu-Amnart, Minister Counselor (Labour Affairs), Mr. Somphong Kangthong, Counselor (responsible for consular work), went to investigate the facts with Malaysian authority after they were reported that there were over 2,000 Thai fishermen in Tanjung Manis of Sarawak state.
Tanjung Manis is served as an important port of Sarawak state. It is situated on Borneo Peninsular and has numbers of rivers which connect the city to other cities. As for transportation, it takes 2 hours to go from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu by plane, 1 hour to go from Sibu to Sarikei by car, and 1 hour to go from Sarikei to the port of Tanjung Manis by ferry before the land transportation is available again.
The team discussed with the Director of Sarikei Immigration Office (responsible for Tanjung Manis district area) and the Chief of Tanjung Manis Immigration Office in order to summarize the facts and problems that occurred to Thai fishermen as the team was reported that there were around 300 Thai medium and large fishing boats, which was hired from Malaysian enterprises (Tanjun Manis Fisheries Office’s statistic), that operated deep-sea fishing in Malaysian waters. According to the investigation of the seaman books, there were 2,473 fishermen who claimed that they held Thai nationality. These foreign fishermen had to come to report to the Fisheries Office every month.
The team then went to the port of Tanjung Manis Fisheries Office, where foreign fishermen came to upload their catch and came to report, and found that there were around 30 medium and large fishing boats with the mixture of Vietnamese, Burmese, Cambodian, and Thai fishermen. After investigation, it was found that there were 5 boats that had the majority of Thai fishermen on board. Most of them faced with bad working condition. Some of them had to stay on a fishing boat for months as they could not get on shore because their fishing boats had not been registered or they had not reported to Malaysian authority. Some did not receive instant payment as they had to wait until the money was transferred to their accounts in Thailand. Right now, there were 2 fishermen, Mr. Natthawut Pronpootarn (from Buri Ram) and Mr. Piyawat Ninlawan (from Roi Et), who asked for assistance to help them return to Thailand as they could not endure the working condition and the late payment. They said that their captain told them to let them return to Thailand 6 months ago but nothing had happened since. In this way, they surrendered to the Immigration Office and the officials prepared to arrange to send them to Semuja detention centre in Kuching before they would be allowed to go back to Thailand.
According to the investigation of the fishermen’s seaman books, there were 20 fishermen who claimed that they held Thai nationality but it was found that there was only 1 fisherman whose document was correctly verified. Other held fake documents or used other people identity in their seaman books. Most of them were Burmese and Cambodian. Therefore, it was expected that the figure of Thai fishermen would not reach 2,473. However, the exact numbers could not be confirmed at present because there were still plenty of vessels that operated beyond territorial waters that had never come to report or registered in accordance with the rules.
Forced labours, illegal workers, and human trafficking are vital and huge problems that occur to Thai fishermen. There might be plenty more of them who want to return to Thailand as they can not endure the working condition. The solutions to the problems require many agencies to take part and accelerate to inform Thai people about these facts in order to prevent them from deception problems.
