IMNA : At 6 pm on February 12th of this year, a 15 year-old Mon migrant worker named Mehm Banyar Seik was shot at his home in quarter 15 of Narthapi Township, in Thailand’s Songkhala province. A member of the victim’s extended family agreed to be interviewed by IMNA for this story.
The victim and several extended family members moved to Thailand one year ago, from their home in Mudon Township. Mehm Banyar Seik reportedly worked at a nearby rubber plantation with his uncle and aunt.
According to the victim’s great-aunt, on the night of the shooting Mehm Banyar Seik was taking a shower, while his younger aunt was cooking and his uncle was busy making rubber flats in the family’s front yard. Reportedly, 4 Thai individuals on motorbikes arrived at the house and ordered Mehm Banyar Seik, his uncle, and his aunt to stand in the front yard, where they were tied up at gunpoint.
According to the victim’s relative, chaos ensued when Mehm Baynar Seik’s aunt dropped the small child she was holding. She was freed from her bonds long enough to seize the child and escape on a motorbike; her husband used fled during the distraction. Mehm Banyar Seik was left bound in the front yard with his captors.
Mehm Banyar Seik’ uncle, who was hiding nearby, reportedly heard shots, and then witnessed the family’s attackers leaving the property. Family members and neighbors returned to the property, where they found the victim’s body.
Mehm Banyar Seik had apparently been shot through the neck at point-blank range. His body was sent to the quarter’s local hospital for investigation. His murderers have not yet been apprehended.
The family member interviewed by IMNA quoted the policewoman who investigated the case as saying, “You have to show us those Thai people if you recognize them. They [Mehm Banyar Seik’s murderers] should not be free. You have to cooperate with us until we find them.”
Violence against Burmese migrant workers is on the rise in Narthapi Township. The woman interviewed for this story informed IMNA that a mere month before her grand-nephew’s murder, a female Mon migrant worker, also from Township Quarter 15, was attacked by a gang of Thai individuals, who cut off her thumb before departing and avoiding arrest by the local police force. Mehm Banyar Seik’s family has reportedly decided to avoid further attacks by returning to Burma.
“We would like to go back [to Burma] because we are so sad about what happened to Mehm Banyar Seik. We saw only this one shooting near us, it is also happening other places that we can’t see. It [violence] is not less anywhere else here. [Once we are back] I will not encourage the youths from our land to come Thailand, because some will get shot and their families will never see or know them again,” the victim’s relative told IMNA.
Mehm Banyar Seik’ relatives cremated him on February 15 in a religious ceremony. The victim’s boss contributed 10,000 baht to his former employee’s funeral, and agreed to present an additional 30,000 to the victim’s family, to be given to his parents upon the clan’s return to Burma.
According to the relative interviewed by IMNA, Mehn Banyar Seik’s former boss has also pledged to help the victim’s family pursue the investigation of their relative’s murder, until the culprits are found.
