Ex-slave labourer tells gruesome tales of torture, murder on Thai trawlers

[hellodolly]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

You are speaking as someone with a some level of education i presume- but these guys unfortunetly have probably never had any level of education and potentially do not possess the ability of forethought.

It is not only a lack of education it is not knowing any other way to survive.

It dosen't take education to work in a rice paddy but if you don't know where it is or how to get therre much less the fact that you don't have to have an education to do the work you will never try for it.

[FiestyFarang]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

It says they were detained at brothels etc, so therefore how would he be able to open a bank account!

[PETDCAT]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

I would guess they dont have the necessary passport or id to open any account.

[Tchooptip]

They are later told to visit brothels, or brought to such places, where they can spend all the money on liquor and women, so they don't have any money left if they want to escape," said Sak, now 39, after spending 20 years as a slave labourer.

That is a horrible, sad, story. Shame on Thailand.

However, in his 20 years of being a slave, not once did he think he shouldn't blow his money on booze and hookers, and instead plan an escape and use that money to help fund it?

Yes yes, very strange

[EyesWideOpen]

Seagoing " Thainess"..... Have heard rumors of this kind of treatment for years,

sort of sad to hear a direct account of it.. :-(

[ableguy]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

Tell me does the fish talk about its earlier life ?

[katana]

Recent Channel 4 News report on the same:

http://www.channel4.com/news/nightmare-island-where-traffickers-imprison-burmas-muslims/

[oldsailor35]

Does anybody expect more from a nation that survives on lies, corruption, extortion, human trafficking, murder, torture, beating up old people, abusing women. narcotics, alcohol, no wonder its called the land of smiles.(because its people can do nothing else to hide the shame)

Labeling the nation as all that! ,Oh my word! ....Anyways I will do something similar..... I expect no more from Thai-Visa posters that get off on moaning and complaining about the Land they live in...Not nice is it!

Wake up mate ! Its not about the land they live in, nor necessarily the average Somchai and his wife, but the corrupt polies and officials they are complaining about

[HerbalEd]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

You are right, but .... Will you live by these words and never again buy seafood in a store/market or order seafood at a restaurant? Because it's inevitable that when you do you are at times buying slave-labor seafood.

[oldsailor35]

These trawlers should be stopped randomly, the crews separated from the skipper and his regular hands. Then all questioned separately. Everything should be recorded and the trawler owners have the final responsibility. The RTN are sitting around everywhere along the coastline with sweet FA to do, use them.

[oldsailor35]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

You are right, but .... Will you live by these words and never again buy seafood in a store/market or order seafood at a restaurant? Because it's inevitable that when you do you are at times buying slave-labor seafood.

Definately not ! there are thousands of genuine seafood producers throughout Thailand, why punish them , its up to government to cull the real culprits. What a stupid question.

[Hippidy He Ho]

These trawlers should be stopped randomly, the crews separated from the skipper and his regular hands. Then all questioned separately. Everything should be recorded and the trawler owners have the final responsibility.

But the skipper is probably Thai and the regular hands only some peasant Burmese or whatever. Take their side over a Thai? Are you mad?

[HerbalEd]

Does anybody expect more from a nation that survives on lies, corruption, extortion, human trafficking, murder, torture, beating up old people, abusing women. narcotics, alcohol, no wonder its called the land of smiles.(because its people can do nothing else to hide the shame)

Except for the "land of smiles" part, you are talking about a lot of countries ... not just Thailand. Even much of the chocolate we eat is produced by child slave labor in West Africa ... and then there's carpets, clothing & shoes, diamonds, gold, etc., etc., etc.

If all these items were actually produced by fairly-paid labor then the price of our well fed, well heeled lives would be much, much more expensive than it is now. Most people say they want to end slave labor and unfair labor practices, but would they really when they saw how radically it'd change their lifestyle? Did you ever stop and think why it is that we westerners can live so cheaply in third-world countries like Thailand? No, we don't practice these terrible things, but we do indeed profit from it.

Edited August 11, 2013 by HerbalEd

[Hippidy He Ho]

Seagoing " Thainess"..... Have heard rumors of this kind of treatment for years,

sort of sad to hear a direct account of it.. :-(

I remember a case about a year ago in Phuket.

A Thai captain kept 3 Burmese 'slaves'. Reportedly kept them as animals and threw their food on the floor in front of them.

One snapped and killed him. They threw him overboard. But couldn't navigate the boat and ended up close to Phuket where they were found by authorities drifting in the waters.

The 3 were not given names but were found to be illegal Burmese that could not be identified....

The poor b@stards probably had the Thai's family come in to torture them to death before throwing them into the ocean.

The thread is probably on here somewhere, I remember a photo of the 3 poor guys being led off the boat.

[HerbalEd]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

It says they were detained at brothels etc, so therefore how would he be able to open a bank account!

Because he's illiterate and totally unsophisticated to the ways of "your" world. You are thinking about his world and what he "should" do from your world. Sure, you'd know exactly what to do ... or so you think ... but he is not you.

[HerbalEd]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

You are right, but .... Will you live by these words and never again buy seafood in a store/market or order seafood at a restaurant? Because it's inevitable that when you do you are at times buying slave-labor seafood.

Definately not ! there are thousands of genuine seafood producers throughout Thailand, why punish them , its up to government to cull the real culprits. What a stupid question.

And what a rude comment. Ever heard of rhetorical questions? I guess not.

[Rimbuman]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

Don't have to be like that if you send this to the media from the country where you come from.

I forward not only this but all the crazy stuff thats going on here to the media of my country of my origin all the time and what they do with this info is up to them, I do what I can.

So should all of the TV members (who feel that something should be done) do, just try to make a difference.

[hellodolly]

Does anybody expect more from a nation that survives on lies, corruption, extortion, human trafficking, murder, torture, beating up old people, abusing women. narcotics, alcohol, no wonder its called the land of smiles.(because its people can do nothing else to hide the shame)

Labeling the nation as all that! ,Oh my word! ....Anyways I will do something similar..... I expect no more from Thai-Visa posters that get off on moaning and complaining about the Land they live in...Not nice is it!

maybe its not nice to hear, but take off your rose coloured tints and you'll see its all that and more, sadly..

Well that is one way of looking at it.

Then again it is preferable to have colored tints on that you can see through than to be blind.

I can not imagine any one other than a person who hates them selves living in a country they thought was that bad.

[hellodolly]

Does anybody expect more from a nation that survives on lies, corruption, extortion, human trafficking, murder, torture, beating up old people, abusing women. narcotics, alcohol, no wonder its called the land of smiles.(because its people can do nothing else to hide the shame)

Except for the "land of smiles" part, you are talking about a lot of countries ... not just Thailand. Even much of the chocolate we eat is produced by child slave labor in West Africa ... and then there's carpets, clothing & shoes, diamonds, gold, etc., etc., etc.

If all these items were actually produced by fairly-paid labor then the price of our well fed, well heeled lives would be much, much more expensive than it is now. Most people say they want to end slave labor and unfair labor practices, but would they really when they saw how radically it'd change their lifestyle? Did you ever stop and think why it is that we westerners can live so cheaply in third-world countries like Thailand? No, we don't practice these terrible things, but we do indeed profit from it.

They are like the anti abortionists back home who constantly demonstrate to try and stop it. Yet not a one of them will lift a finger to help an unwanted child.

All flash

no cash

[NeverToReturn]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

You are speaking as someone with a some level of education i presume- but these guys unfortunetly have probably never had any level of education and potentially do not possess the ability of forethought.

You over rate your education, common sense isn't learned in a classroom. Go to any university to confirm this if you may.

[Nisa]

While human trafficking and slave labor exist with more horrific accounts than mentioned here ... I would wager this article and the events of this alleged individual are complete BS.

[kocheedogyi]

Well, so what? Thailand has been classified as one of the best tourist destinations in the world and commended for its efforts to end human trafficking.

[dighambara]

Lest we forget...

A much bigger shame to the name of Thailand.

These same fishermen are quick to turn Pirate whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Following the overrun of South Vietnam, refugees claimed Thai fishermen were their biggest obstacle to freedom.

It was typical for any Vietnamese woman to be raped a dozen times before reaching safety.

Around 20 million Vietnamese now live in the US.

[siamjimi]

Isn't one simple solution to "trawl" the waters and stop vessels offshore and inspect their crew and documentation for that crew. Remove illegals, jail their captors, seize the vessels and sell them - create a zero tolerance atmosphere and this will all go away within the fishing industry.

If the government is serious about this and takes this sort of action they will get kudos for their efforts.

I see no downside to this approach other than raging confrontational boat owners and crews that may fight and run - but those rouge vessels and crew need to be identified and captured anyways.

Good mobile coastal marine policing units such as the international coast guards. The Thai Navy would get a lot of practices with this methodology and their daily interventions would do the trick 4 sure.

These atrocities against people, must be stopped abruptly with assertive actions - there really is no other way - this has been going on for hundreds of years and could be stopped within 1 year if done properly with the right coordinated initiatives in place.

The only thing stopping this is the totally corrupt Thai hierarchy that has been and always will be benefiting from the trafficking and labor exploitation of the fishing industries in Thailand.

[smutcakes]

I have no doubt that life on a Thai trawler would be tough, but some of his statements come across as pure BS. Living in a fishing area, I am yet to see the armed guards waiting to take crews to their secured shore locations or being "forced" to spend their money on booze and broads.

Banks are not that scarce - in fact you can deposit money via 7-11, if you have the will. But I might have a few regrets if after 20 years hard work, I had nothing to show for it.

You are speaking as someone with a some level of education i presume- but these guys unfortunetly have probably never had any level of education and potentially do not possess the ability of forethought.

You over rate your education, common sense isn't learned in a classroom. Go to any university to confirm this if you may.

Well maybe education is not the correct word, but common sense is probably gained from life experience. eg. you know how to open a bank account, know how to book a bus, or get a passport. These are gained i presume from living and absorbing things that go on around you as you grow up. I expect these guys lived in a completely parallel universe to your everyday person and what is a simple and logical thing to you or I, would simply never even enter their heads-not to mention that they probably did not have any way to get to a bank, no ID cards, permanent address etc etc even if they had contemplated it.

[jaidam]

I have 2 comments to make as regards this thread.

There are only very few fishing companies in the southern gulf from Prachuap south to the border. Look at any fleet of trawlers and they are painted in the company colours. The owners like to live at the river mouths where their fleet unload the catch, often directly to their own canning plant. Its easy to see the residences of these rich fleet owners as their houses are immaculate mansions with beautiful gardens and high walls and fences surrounded by wooden shanties of other villagers. If, and its a big if, there is real slavery going on in the southern gulf it would take a day max to round up these fleet owners and put the thumbscrews on to find out the truth.

Second point is if you are going to be held captive, it could be way worse than being held captive in a brothel.

[hanuman2543]

This story will be denied and forgotten tomorrow. Shame on everybody participating in and profiting from this humanitarian nightmare. Nobody should buy fish caught under these conditions.

You are right, but .... Will you live by these words and never again buy seafood in a store/market or order seafood at a restaurant? Because it's inevitable that when you do you are at times buying slave-labor seafood.

Yes I will, but the main reason is that I don't like seafood. You are right that it is a difficult thing to do and the most effective thing to do is making these horrible conditions public over and over again, especially in the main markets for Thai seafood and approach every Thai politician who come to visit these markets and throw the truth in their faces and don't let them walk away with the same lame excuses over and over again.

[Credo]

Much of the slavery business is probably a conspiracy of silence. The big owners probably know that it goes on, but they are probably paying the wages that is then cut between the various groups, including the boat captain and the crew.

Slavery isn't cheap. The price is high, and not just in terms of baht.

[Sailingbum1]

This kind of news makes one want to become a vigilante professional killer.

And if there where no repercussions, I wouldn't mind trying it out myself.

After that, I'd take out mafia kingpins and any and all political companions who profit from such evil.

Well, hopeful dreaming anyways. Perhaps I play too many PC games.............

A common sentiment.

When I was a kid in 1970s U.S. I used to read a book series called "The Executioner" who's main character did just that. Set lose a 1000 of these like minded guys throughout the world for a year and things would start to straiten out.

Of course we would thin down the political arina so much we would have to grade these people's crime and ethics abuses on a curveor risk total government shutdown

[nosatisfaction]

Blackbeard alive and well!

BW

Actually Blackbeard's ship as well as a lot of pirate ships of that era were run on very democratic grounds - hence piracy in those times being an attractive alternative to the regular navy.

Correct, just look at " Pirate of the Caribean", more than educational,and if not anough look"Gone with the wind" or "The wizard of OZ"

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