Cambodian migrant worker Rang Sarath, 23, decided to quit his job as an excavator driver in Thailand in June in favor of working for a furniture maker in his home country. The salaries are the same, $300 per month, but now in Banteay Meanchey province he has to work more, at least 12 hours a day to earn that wage.
Sarath says that he made the move to protect himself from growing threats of discrimination or violence in Thailand, where he had lived since he was 15 years old.
“They look down on us, they call us dogs,” he said.
As several workers faced violence, and many more felt threatened, Cambodian migrant laborers say they are not sure they would return to Thailand after the conflict between neighboring countries escalated this year. But both Cambodian workers and their employers in Thailand are bracing for substantial losses if the splintered economic relationship isn’t fixed.
Up until this year, Thailand was Cambodia’s top destination for migrant workers – official counts by the United Nations show more than 400,000 workers in 2023, but estimates that include undocumented workers put the figure between 1 and 2 million workers annually. Amid rising political border spats, Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen urged migrant workers to evacuate Thailand since June, and many more fled the country as a five-day conflict erupted on 24 July. Workers like Sarath said they left out of fear, as tales of discrimination and violence spread on Cambodian social media.
Labor Minister Heng Sour announced that more than 920,000 migrant workers had returned to Cambodia between July and late August.
Leung Sophon, an official of the Cambodian labor NGO Centre for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (Central) in Thailand, said that since the start of the border dispute between the two countries this year, workers reported at least 20 cases of violence against Cambodian workers by Thai civilians. He estimated there were more cases, as Cambodian workers were reluctant to give specific information while they were in Thailand, fearing for their safety.
He said that cases of Thai civilians attacking foreign workers – including Cambodians, Laos and Myanmar citizens – have been going on for a long time, but in small numbers. But he said that the discrimination and violence against Cambodian workers have increased since the end of July.
“A small number of Thais do not like foreign workers coming to work in Thailand, and they often go to suppress them,” Sophon said.
As the tension built along the Thailand-Cambodia border, a wave of nationalism rose among Thais, fuelled in part by misinformation and anti-migrant sentiments on social media, eventually escalating to sporadic physical violence.
The majority of this rhetoric is being spread by groups of right-wing extremists known previously for ultra-royalism and attacks on pro-democracy activists. For the past year, they have been spreading misinformation about migrants, such as suggesting that they put too much burden on Thai social services, and staging protests with an anti-migration agenda. While they previously targeted workers from Myanmar, particularly those who participated in anti-Myanmar junta activism, they turned to threatening violence against Cambodians after the border dispute escalated into an armed conflict. At least one member of these groups made several posts on social media threatening to attack Cambodians if any Thai soldiers got injured.
Following a group of Thai youths’ attack on three Cambodian workers in late July, some social media users said the workers were “asking for it” and “deserved it,” while others said that kind of violence could be tolerated if migrant workers “caused problems”. Even humanitarian aid and welfare for Cambodian migrants became divisive, with social media users saying that Thai hospitals should not be taking Cambodian patients and that the budget used to fund education for migrant children should be cut. The latter demand is also backed by a number of Thai senators.
Speaking to Prachatai in late September, Adisorn Kerdmongkol from the Migrant Working Group said that he has received reports of right-wing group members knocking on doors and asking if any Cambodian live there, or raiding construction sites and waiting around to attack Cambodian workers.
The threats reached the point where some Cambodian workers were putting thanakha whitening cream on their faces so people would think that they are from Myanmar and so they would not be a target.
Even after the two countries reached a ceasefire agreement, the harassment continued. Right-wing group leader Akkarawut Kraisisombat posted on his Facebook page on 16 September asking his followers to send pictures of stalls run by Cambodians in the famous Rong Kluea Market near the border in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province because running shops is a reserved profession under Thai law. He threatened to destroy the stalls and force the owners to return to Cambodia.
Attack from a neighbor
For a Cambodian family that faced an attack in Thailand, that act of violence and its consequences left them deeper in economic instability.
La Thaovi, 32, used to work in Pathum Thani province in Thailand, where she and her husband Yao Loi earned a total 900 baht (about US$28) per day from painting houses.
The couple’s decision to leave Thailand on 29 July was sudden.
According to Thaovi, she and her husband were eating dinner that day next to three Thai men who also worked with the same construction team. The Thai men were drinking with their meal and discussing the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
Suddenly, one of the men – who is apparently the brother of her boss – got up and stabbed Loi three times on his back and arm, Thaovi said.
She said that after the incident, the boss ignored his employees and did not pay her and her husband all the money they had worked for.
“My husband never had a problem with them,” she said. “[The Thai man] didn’t say anything, he just came and stabbed my husband.”
That night she tried to call a taxi to the border at 9 pm, but because it was late and there were few taxis out, she had to pay extra, around 6,000 baht (US$185).
“If we had left in the morning, I’m afraid those Thais would come looking for me again,” she recounted.
She bought some medicine and bandages instead of sending her husband to a hospital.
“I don’t know where to take my husband for treatment because it’s in a rural area and I’m afraid Thai doctors will discriminate against us and not treat my husband,” she said.
So they finally left for the border at 3 am on 30 July and finally crossed the border at 9 am. When they arrived in Cambodia, Thaovi said she spent $100 to purchase medicine for her husband.
The couple had been unemployed for two months, but in early October began working for a construction site in Cambodia’s Poipet City, where the boss said they would pay her 25,000 riel ($6.25), and her husband 35,000 ($8.75) –almost half of what they previously earned daily in Thailand. Thaovi said that they hadn’t been paid in their first week on site.
The medical bills are adding up on top of their other expenses, like school fees for their children and debt payments.
“I’m really worried because I don’t have a job [salary] and my bank debt is almost due,” she said.
Empty fields
As workers try to find new jobs in Cambodia, the economic reality is setting in both for workers and their former employers back in Thailand. The local policy research institute CDRI reported that conditions for this newly returned migrant worker population – reported at 910,000 as of 11 August – could worsen from their already-vulnerable position if they can’t be matched into new jobs in Cambodia and receive financial assistance.
Sophon, of the Cambodian labor NGO Central, said he suspects returned migrant workers will not be able to find work immediately and will face difficulties in terms of livelihood and debt payments. As a result, he has heard of a small number of Cambodian workers trying to return to Thailand to regain their jobs, despite the risks of crossing during the border closures.
“I think if there are not enough jobs for the Cambodian workers who have returned to their homeland, they will return to Thailand to find the same jobs,” he said.
Thailand is also trying to figure out a solution for its new labor shortages, but its own political turmoil stunted efforts so far.
On 19 August, then-Ministry of Labour Pongkawin Jungrungruangkit said that the Cabinet will bring in more migrants from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Nepal to replace Cambodian workers.
But since then, Pongkawin and other members of former-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s cabinet were removed over the premier’s handling of a phone call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen.
Under the new Bhumjaithai-led government, Deputy Prime Minister Bowornsak Uwanno told parliament the new government was focused foremost on two memoranda of understanding about drawing borders between Cambodia and Thailand.
Meanwhile, Thai employers say they need dire solutions to fulfill their labor shortages. Nilubon Pongpayom, founder of a network of entrepreneurs employing migrants called the “White Employers Group,” said that fishery, agriculture, and manufacturing industries are particularly affected.
With border crossings still closed, fruit plantation owners struggle to find workers for the current harvest season. Nilubon said longan could be especially impacted, as farmers are also suffering an irregular rainy season, on top of losing migrant workers. As a result, they are finding it difficult to sell products or are being forced to undersell by Chinese middlemen.
When asked if Cambodian workers can be replaced by other nationalities, Nilubon said that it will be difficult. Ongoing conflict in Myanmar means people are unable to come to Thailand, while there are not enough migrants from Laos to replace Cambodians.
The Thai government recently had said that it would grant work permits to refugees living in nine camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border. However, Nilubon said that the policy is unclear and employers are not sure who to contact if they want to hire the refugees. She is concerned that the policy would only benefit new recruitment agents and workers with connections and suggests that the government consult with employers who are already hiring migrants about their needs and advise them on how to hire refugees.
She noted that border disputes affect ordinary people making a living, but the government has not tried to offer an explanation or create an understanding so they would be able to discern the issues.
“If we want to continue to conduct business with our neighbour, we should also see it from the economic angle, not just about military operations. Otherwise, no investor will want to invest, and the economy will be further damaged.”
Nilubon noted that news reports about workers, attacks on migrants, and an incident in Chiang Mai where a migrant attacked a teenager have all been used to fuel racist hatred, but in the end, the country has to face the consequence.
“We must stop racism and the government must make clear the regulations for hiring workers and must not encourage the Thai crowd towards incitement,” she said, noting that she is concerned that the situation would escalate to the point that Thais would seek revenge for a shrinking economy by attacking migrants.
But until then, families say they are split in their decisions, and sometimes literally. Sarath, the 23-year-old worker who returned to Banteay Meanchey, told reporters that his family decided to stay behind in Thailand, after their employer ensured he would protect families. Sarath said his concerns ultimately made him leave Thailand, while his family felt they would face more struggles if they tried to leave a good-paying job while they still hold hefty microfinance loans.
“My parents said that if they came back to Cambodia, they wouldn’t have jobs or could earn less money than in Thailand,” he said. “I feel sad and don’t know how to talk about living apart.”
This article is a collaboration between Mekong Independent and Prachatai English.