Yangon International Airport, May 5, 2014: This is my last GIST blog entry, and it becomes a little bit emotional, because it also means GIST has come to an end. But this entry is giving me an opportunity to reflect on my three-month long journey.
We launched GIST in Yangon, Myanmar, in late January 2014. When we began the journey, we talked about expectations. Some of my expectations include: to learn more about migrant workers and the ASEAN integration, to explore Southeast East Asia and the diversity of the region and discover myself.
During the last three months, I traveled to Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It was my first time to all of these countries. And I learned about the diversity, cultures and the people of these beautiful countries. Southeast Asia is a relatively small region, yet it is so diverse. I enjoyed the experience of interacting with people from different cultures, gaining new perspectives and even trying new food. I feel that my first expectation has been met.
I’ve also had a chance to better understand about ASEAN integration and migrant workers We have been talking about the integration in 2015. I’ve talked to a lot of people during my time in Thailand and Malaysia, and what I learned is that ASEAN will try to integration skilled labor. There have been discussions on 7 professions, including nursing, doctor, hospitality and tourism, dentistry, engineering and accounting. People who work in these fields will have a greater flexibility to move around in the region. For example, if you graduate in engineering in Cambodia, you will be able to practice in Malaysia if you pass certain tests and criteria required by the Malaysian government. However, there has not been any discussion on how ASEAN will deal with unskilled labors. Unskilled labors usually refer to migrant workers who do labor intensive jobs such as construction, fishing, agriculture, seafood processing and manufacturing. Each year, there are thousand Cambodians who immigrate to work in Thailand due to poverty and unemployment in Cambodia. As of 2012, according to Thailand Development Research Institute, there were 65 thousand registered Cambodian workers in Thailand. That does not include the undocumented/illegal workers. Migrant workers face a lot of challenges and are vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. But ASEAN committee has not taken any effective measures to protect the rights of the migrant workers. It is not likely that the 2015 integration will change anything for their lives either. “ASEAN continues to fall short on broad agreement on labor, and I don’t see this is gonna change. They have other priorities like economics and trade,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division.
Mr. Robertson also noted that Cambodian workers will continue to face two difficult choices: Choice 1: Going through an agency that might put them in difficult job such as working in fishing industry, and they won’t be able to do anything about it. If you’re a man from Prey Veng province, you would go through this agency because you don’t have a lot of money. You might be sent to the sea for a fishing job and might get abused. Those are the kind of situations that put the workers in danger of human trafficking. Choice 2: They go through an agency in Phnom Penh which charges them a lot of money to come to Thailand. They might not have that money to pay and they would risk themselves to come illegally and fall into human trafficking, too.
None of the two choices serves the migrants’ interests. And ASEAN is not likely to do anything to change the two bad choices.
My last expectation is to learn more about myself and to plan for where I am going next after APLP. Today we had a debrief with our program director Scott McLeod. We went through a series of questions to reflect on our travels. One of the main themes was Trust. Trust is important. Do we trust people when we travel? What make us distrust them? I realized that I used to trust people more easily. But my travels during GIST taught me to trust people less and to trust myself more. Do we trust that people will do what we want them to do? Or do we trust that people will do the right thing? I came to realized that I don’t like sole traveling and that I can trust myself more. This is a little bit of a self-discovery, and I hope to continue my self-exploration journey even after GIST.
As we end GIST in Yangon, I feel thankful to this great learning opportunity. And I look forward to seeing where my post-APLP experience will bring me.
We launched GIST in Yangon, Myanmar, in late January 2014. When we began the journey, we talked about expectations. Some of my expectations include: to learn more about migrant workers and the ASEAN integration, to explore Southeast East Asia and the diversity of the region and discover myself.
During the last three months, I traveled to Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It was my first time to all of these countries. And I learned about the diversity, cultures and the people of these beautiful countries. Southeast Asia is a relatively small region, yet it is so diverse. I enjoyed the experience of interacting with people from different cultures, gaining new perspectives and even trying new food. I feel that my first expectation has been met.
I’ve also had a chance to better understand about ASEAN integration and migrant workers We have been talking about the integration in 2015. I’ve talked to a lot of people during my time in Thailand and Malaysia, and what I learned is that ASEAN will try to integration skilled labor. There have been discussions on 7 professions, including nursing, doctor, hospitality and tourism, dentistry, engineering and accounting. People who work in these fields will have a greater flexibility to move around in the region. For example, if you graduate in engineering in Cambodia, you will be able to practice in Malaysia if you pass certain tests and criteria required by the Malaysian government. However, there has not been any discussion on how ASEAN will deal with unskilled labors. Unskilled labors usually refer to migrant workers who do labor intensive jobs such as construction, fishing, agriculture, seafood processing and manufacturing. Each year, there are thousand Cambodians who immigrate to work in Thailand due to poverty and unemployment in Cambodia. As of 2012, according to Thailand Development Research Institute, there were 65 thousand registered Cambodian workers in Thailand. That does not include the undocumented/illegal workers. Migrant workers face a lot of challenges and are vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. But ASEAN committee has not taken any effective measures to protect the rights of the migrant workers. It is not likely that the 2015 integration will change anything for their lives either. “ASEAN continues to fall short on broad agreement on labor, and I don’t see this is gonna change. They have other priorities like economics and trade,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division.
Mr. Robertson also noted that Cambodian workers will continue to face two difficult choices: Choice 1: Going through an agency that might put them in difficult job such as working in fishing industry, and they won’t be able to do anything about it. If you’re a man from Prey Veng province, you would go through this agency because you don’t have a lot of money. You might be sent to the sea for a fishing job and might get abused. Those are the kind of situations that put the workers in danger of human trafficking. Choice 2: They go through an agency in Phnom Penh which charges them a lot of money to come to Thailand. They might not have that money to pay and they would risk themselves to come illegally and fall into human trafficking, too.
None of the two choices serves the migrants’ interests. And ASEAN is not likely to do anything to change the two bad choices.
My last expectation is to learn more about myself and to plan for where I am going next after APLP. Today we had a debrief with our program director Scott McLeod. We went through a series of questions to reflect on our travels. One of the main themes was Trust. Trust is important. Do we trust people when we travel? What make us distrust them? I realized that I used to trust people more easily. But my travels during GIST taught me to trust people less and to trust myself more. Do we trust that people will do what we want them to do? Or do we trust that people will do the right thing? I came to realized that I don’t like sole traveling and that I can trust myself more. This is a little bit of a self-discovery, and I hope to continue my self-exploration journey even after GIST.
As we end GIST in Yangon, I feel thankful to this great learning opportunity. And I look forward to seeing where my post-APLP experience will bring me.