Many Myanmar in Samut Sakhon opt to continue working

SAMUT SAKHON, Nov 5 (TNA) -- Many Myanmar citizens who are registered and legally working in Thailand’s central province of Samut Sakhon prefer not to return to Myanmar and exercise voting rights in a historic general election this Sunday. Sompong Srakaew, director of Labor Rights Promotion Network, told Thai New Agency that more than 200,000 Myanmar workers are officially registered in the province. Most of them are employed in the fishing industry. It is initially estimated that less than 5 per cent of the Myanmar workers in Samut Sakhon would return home and exercise rights because fishing business or trawlers do not take holidays while many of them have their families stayed in Thailand, said Mr Sompong. A 35-year-old Myanmar worker identified only Saeng has been working in the province about 12 years and is responsible for supervising Myanmar workers in Samut Sakhon said he would return home and exercise election rights this Sunday. However, some of his friends do not plan to travel to their native home because of high travelling expenses, said Mr Saeng. Moreover, many of them have not yet received nationality identification from the Myanmar government so they cannot vote this time, he added. (TNA)