[infelconi]

UNEASY RIDERS

Migrant workers who shell out their hard-earned money for two-wheeled transportation are forced to live in fear of routine police raids in which their motorbikes are confiscated and used to extract stiff fines, writes ERIKA FRY from Chiang Mai

Well before dawn on a December morning last year, Sai Sai was asleep and nearly naked when police tugged at his blanket and charged him with riding a motorbike without a licence.

At the time, it was a direction he'd never dreamed the morning - however, rudely begun - would take.

He'd assumed this was just another of the jarring, but not unprecedented, 5 a.m. raids that police occasionally carry out at migrant camps to check legal documents and work permits.

Sai Sai has lived at the camp on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, working construction, for the past four years. He lives there with his wife and daughter in a house far less glamorous than the ones he builds, scraped together from cardboard and corrugated sheet metal.

That morning the police had shown up at the camp in force - about 30 officers in four trucks, and with a reporter taking pictures that would run the next day in the pages of the Chiang Mai Daily News.

By migrants' accounts, the officers took the homes by storm. Sai Sai says they'd nearly brought down his door and his bedroom's mosquito netting. Other migrants in the camp said they lost cameras and cell phones in the raid because officers told them they had "no right to use them". Sai Sai's three-year-old daughter, to the scorn of an officer, began to cry.

Even so, Sai Sai was confident, as he and his family filed outside on the orders of the officer, that'd he'd done nothing wrong and they'd have no problems. He is a registered worker, he works hard and he is "not a bad man."

But by the episode's end, hours later, he'd had "his" motorbike confiscated, visited two police stations, and paid 1,600 baht (though official receipts were written for less) for an infraction that police were telling him he'd committed in his sleep. (At the station, Sai Sai asked how he could be charged with driving a motorbike when he had been sleeping, but was given no answer).

Twenty-six others in the camp were found guilty of the same thing.

An officer with the Region 5 Police force that raided Sai Sai's camp explained that such sweeps at migrant camps are routine. The station tries to conduct about 10 such sweeps per month in an effort to manage illegal migration - an increasing problem for the province - as well as to check for stolen motorcycles, which he says have also been on the rise in the region, and are oftentimes taken by gangs of migrant motorcycle bandits.

He considers the raids an important means to maintaining national security - and explained that heightened surveillance of the migrant population has been policy since 2000, when Burmese rebels took control of hundreds of hostages at a hospital in Ratchaburi.

He also explained that police have the power to confiscate a bike if it is not in the possession of its registered owner. Migrant workers cannot obtain a licence to drive motorbikes, nor can they register a bike under their name, said the officer, so the 27 in possession of workers at Sai Sai's camp had been accordingly seized.

Nonetheless, Sai Sai had had his motorbike for over a year. He used it to drive around his work site and to take his daughter to school. He was paying for the bike - registered for him by his employer - in monthly installments. At the time of the police raid, Sai Sai had provided the officers his employer's registration documents and a receipt of payment that bore his own name.

The police told him that he was an alien and that he had no right to buy a bike.

Yet Sai Sai is hardly the first migrant worker to have purchased a bike; and he is one of an increasing number to have had a bike confiscated - and at some cost, returned - in raids that police contend are routine, and human rights groups denounce as corrupt, discriminatory and unlawful.

Most migrants understand they drive a motorbike at a risk, and that using one invites the same quiet, unquestioned (though, as a migrant, slightly more costly - anywhere from 200-2,000 baht) exchanges most Thai motorists have with traffic policemen.

Whether for reasons of practicality or convenience, many migrant workers still decide to pay for motorbikes and whatever additional fees are asked of them - by shopkeepers or individuals that register the bikes - for the service. Employers, relatives, and bike shop owners - the last of which tend to be the most unscrupulous brokers - often register the bikes for the migrants and collect upwards of 500 baht for the favour. A fee is also charged on occasions when they are asked to go retrieve a confiscated bike from a police station.

Inevitability of exploitation

The workers' willingness to submit themselves to this sort of screwed-at-every-turn scheme may stem from widespread confusion over rules, as well as what they perceive as the inevitability of exploitation.

Workers in Chiang Mai province are not subject to the strict decrees implemented in Phang-nga and a few other provinces - restricting mobile phone use and movement after dark, for example. The decrees were once proposed in Chiang Mai, however, and many people - migrants and advocacy workers included - are unclear on what the rules really are.

Migrants who believe they are under the thumb of such strict regulations are often resigned to the thought that they will have to break them. As well, the uncertainty seems to have encouraged exploitation and adhoc rulemaking by authorities in some communities. The headman in a village near Mae Rim, for example, subjects migrant workers to a 6 p.m. curfew (he collects 600 baht when he sees them out) and a prohibition on growing sweet peppers - which one season had brought the migrant farmers more profits than flower-growing Thai farmers.

Meanwhile, the migrants' confiscated motorbikes are suspected "stolen" only until the suspected migrant pays a sum of money to get them back, leaving one to wonder whether policy managing the nation's migrant population is in many cases less about preserving national security than advancing personal or financial interests.

Two Thursdays ago, at a time when Sai Murng would normally be driving home from a computer course at Chiang Mai's Migrant Learning Centre, he found himself vaulting over the school's back wall.

Though he is a registered worker and had his documents on hand, Sai Murng was scared when, right around the 8 p.m. dismissal time, four police trucks surrounded the school that offers nightly Thai, English and computer classes.

As Sai Murng fled, police approached the school, wanting to check students' identification and inspect the 70 or 80 motorbikes - Sai Murng's included - parked alongside the school. Meanwhile, plainclothes officers entered the school and began taking pictures and materials from the shelves. A few students, again to the scorn of officers, began to cry.

"The students were very, very nervous." said one of the teachers. "It was as if they were raiding a casino."

Calmer, Sai Murng returned to the school to find police still there but his motorbike - with the registration, insurance, and payment documentation inside it - already confiscated and on its way to the station.

He rode with the officers to the station, called the registered owner of the bike to join him, paid 1,000 baht for driving without a licence (bargained down from 1,500 because he did not have anything more), and had his bike returned.

He drove off with it and without a licence.

So, too, did 50 or so students at the Migrant Learning Centre that were able to provide police a motorbike registration booklet and evidence that the registered owner had given it to them (some of the individuals came to the school, while others spoke to the police on students' mobile phones).

By the end of the incident, police had hauled off about 15 bikes and one student, who was arrested, handcuffed and kept for one night at the station after he, following Sai Murng, fled over the back wall.

Many of the bikes confiscated at the school have since been recovered by their migrant owners, all from the same station, but according to widely varying procedure and wide-ranging sums of money. One individual paid 200 baht for not having bike registration; the majority of others paid 1,500 or 2,000 baht and were charged for driving without a licence (as in Sai Sai's case, the charge arose from an inspection of parked bikes - more confoundingly, this charge was levelled while others with motorbikes were dismissed to drive off without a licence). Some were given receipts.

The only standard in the process seemed to be that officers collected from the migrants what they could (in all cases where migrants paid less than 1,500, it was because they did not have that much with them.) In all cases, it was also a fair bit of money for workers who make around 160 baht per day.

It is also worth noting that the procedure differed from that used in Sai Sai's case, which differed from still other cases where bikes had been confiscated by other stations in early morning raids.


'Raids are illegal'

Despite the inconsistency in application of the law, one might perceive the police's protocol in these cases as generous - they could have rejected lesser payments and confiscated all 80 of the students' bikes, since all belonged to migrant workers who are prohibited from registering bikes and having driver's licences.

Human rights lawyer and chair of the Cross Cultural Foundation Somchai Homlaor thinks differently. He contends that confiscation of motorbikes, as well as police conduct during these raids, is illegal, and whether it be out of misunderstaning or malice, these cases are examples of the habitual exploitation and rights violations that Thailand's migrant workers face.

He says that it is very unfair the way a number of people profit from the situation. "I'm afraid it's a kind of corruption and very shameful trying to get money from these poor migrants."

He objects to past raids for a number of reasons. For example, at Sai Sai's camp "police did not have a search warrant from the court and raided the camp before sunrise. This is prohibited by law."

That migrant homes do not have an official house number; or that migrants must report to work shortly after sunrise (two justifications that have been given to these claims of unlawfulness) does not exempt officers from having to follow the letter of the law and respect personal property, he says.

What's more, the police have no power to confiscate property; if officers find that a driver is unlicensed, says Somchai, they can assess a fine, but taking the bike is against the law.

This is particularly true in cases like Sai Sai's and the Learning Centre, when"at the time of confiscation, no one was riding a motorbike. No one at that time was violating the law."

Sai Sai still speaks of feeling alternatively baffled and humiliated throughout the charade in which - without explanation of what was going on, where they were going or hint to put on proper dress (Sai Sai was still in the shorts he had thrown on when police broke into his bedroom) - the officers asked for motorbike keys, told the migrants to climb on and hauled them off to the police station.

In addition to finding fault with the appropriateness and trasparency of procedure, Somchai argues that, according to the Thai Constitution, there is no problem with migrant workers having motorbikes. He says bikes are considered "moveable property" and so, "anyone has the right to be an owner or to purchase them".

Meanwhile, even if migrant workers cannot register their bikes in their own name, he says that "according to the law, licences and registration are not documents of entitlement.

"Police have the duty to protect people and prevent crime, but not in a way that violates the rights of people. To what extent does a raid on a school or a migrant camp protect Thai national security?"

He sees such practices - singling out all migrant workers without strong reason for doing so - as discriminatory, if not corrupt police work.

"They must have some grounds, some indicator or complaint that this kind of bike was stolen or that these are migrants that make problems. They can't just go after all migrant workers."

Why not license migrants?

An officer with the Chiang Mai's Chang Phueak Police Station said that though he was not familiar with the details of the Learning Centre case, there was no special campaign targetting migrant workers that drive motorbikes.

He doesn't think it is a problem, other than for young migrants who, like young Thais, go joyriding at night and make a lot of noise.

On the other side of the issue, and in the wake of the increasing number of such incidents, the Cross Cultural Foundation has sent a letter to Police Region 5 to seek clarification and file a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the practice of confiscating motorbikes, which the foundation feels is unfair and in violation of the rights of migrant workers.

Somchai believes that allowing migrants to obtain licences would ease police work and actually improve national security. He says migrant workers already have Thai-issued IDs, and allowing them to have a licence would help officers in their efforts to monitor crime and the migrant population. "It's best if they can live in Thailand like normal people."

In Chiang Mai, where a number of foreign tourists - many without appropriate licences, Asian driving sensibilities, or any particular business to do so - easily rent bikes and go zipping around its hilly roads, the restrictive policies on the province's migrant workers seem particularly at odds.

Sai Sai is apt to agree. He says he still feels sick and confused when he thinks back to being hauled down to the police station and told he has no rights of ownership. He was so incensed that, a week after the raid, he joined in an International Migrant Day demonstration to demand his right to a driver's licence.

He shakes his head, as if, months later, he is still trying to sort out the whole nightmare. "I don't understand how I was at fault. I work hard and try to save. I follow the law and just try to make a living." He gestured at the cardboard walls of his living room and said, "We have many burdens. Why do they want me to pay?"

He's no longer driving a motorbike. Though his employer retrieved it for him 6 days after the raid, Sai Sai returned it to the shop, saying he can no longer afford the installments, what with his daughter's schooling and the fines he's still paying from December.

(Editor's Note: The Chiang Mai governor did not want to comment on the issue until the new government articulates its policy on migrant workers.)

Pic 1: A migrant camp, like those raided near Chiang Mai.
Pic 2: A migrant workers' home. Low wages make finding shelter difficult.
Pic3: Though migrant workers cannot register motorbikes, many are allowed to purchase them.

[timmybrown]

I get tired of a lot of Thais lambasting the traffic cops for taking kick-backs. Why? Well, most of the time, if the rider hadn't broken the law in the first place, they wouldn't have been stopped!

That was what I thought too until I was "fined" for driving a red license plate (new car) on a weekend afternoon. The police insisted I was wrong. I know I have the rights to at least drive until 6pm or 7pm but it wasn't even anytime near then. I didn't waste much time arguing with the Thai police though cos I won't want to cause him to lose face and his piston "accidentally" shoot me.

About 2 weeks ago my colleague was stopped and fined by the police because the police claimed he cannot see the "province" name at the bottom of the license plate. You know, the small print at the end of the license plate where it says which province the car came from.

I heard most Thai police don't collect "fines" themselves no more nowadays cos there's a new system in place. They're now paid "commisions" (a certain percentage) for the fines they collect on the street, thats why they don't need to "corrupt" no more. This is the latest rumour I've been hearing from my Thai friends.

[Qutlsilh]

The only standard in the process seemed to be that officers collected from the migrants what they could (in all cases where migrants paid less than 1,500, it was because they did not have that much with them.) In all cases, it was also a fair bit of money for workers who make around 160 baht per day. Makes me wonder if these migrants are allowed to open Thai bank accounts in which to keep excess money. Keeping such a large amount of money relative to income on their person or in their living quarters is risky, given that - according to this article - some fines may be being levied on an immediate 'ability to pay' basis.

[kanchouska]

I'm a bit of a fan of Erica Fry (reporter of this article) but i wasn't very impressed with this article, not as good as usual.

The police force are in a habit of busting any poor youngsters for motorcycle violations etc... and not just migrants.

I get tired of a lot of Thais lambasting the traffic cops for taking kick-backs. Why? Well, most of the time, if the rider hadn't broken the law in the first place, they wouldn't have been stopped! Take not wearing a helmet and not having a license for example! Oh yes, ironically the one pic posted above with this article actually was of a rider in their village not wearing one!