Proud to be a Burmese

Most of the Burmese living in ASEAN countries faced discrimination. Well, the clocks inside the country stopped for many decades compare to the countries boasted to be Tigers of Asia. To me they are real Tigers that consume the rights of Burmese people by helping the unjust regime of Burma to stay in power forever.

Once upon a time, my passport was thrown back to me by an Immigration officer at Don Maung International airport, in front of curious travelers who even do not need a visa to a country famous for hospitality in South East Asia. Only reason I could think of that time was it was probably due to the bad things done by Burmese Kings to Thai people a few centuries ago. It was more than two decades ago, the time when there were very few Burmese travels out of the country’s self isolation.

Now, there are Millions of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand and Malaysia, and many white collar migrants in tiny island, Singapore. Whether a person is blue collar or white collar worker, being a Burmese Citizen in neighboring countries, means many of them are going to live without their due rights. One of the reasons could be increase competition in crowded labor markets for cheap workers. But, for many of  them once identified as “Myanmar national” exposed all the ways to abuse and extort by corrupt authorities of the many host countries as well as some of  its people.