surviving bloodshed in Myanmar

Zaw Zaw, now at home in Wellington.

As an idealistic 21-year-old, Zaw Zaw left his family farm in Myanmar in hope of contributing to a decades-long war against the Burmese government.

Eight years later, having witnessed bloodshed, torture and after surviving years of forced labour and detention, he just wants peace and quiet.

When he left his parents and two sisters in 2006, Zaw Zaw had no idea it would be eight years before he spoke to them again.

Zaw Zaw is thankful he no longer has to witness death and torture on a daily basis.

"I spoke to my Mum first, then my Dad – they were very happy, very happy, because they thought I was dead. Eight years is a long time.

"They cried, even myself I was very tearful because they are my parents and I love them, and they love me as well."

He had left their Irrawady farm, in the south-east delta region of the country, to join to the Karen National Liberation Army's long fight for independence.

It was not that he didn't love his family or that he wanted to leave them, Zaw explained.

"It's like elephant and ant, the force is not balanced, so it's better to use my brain and find a way to survive myself. It's not because I don't love my people, it's about survival."

Zaw and a few friends from home spent five months at a recruitment camp, where they waited for the call to arms – they needed at least 60 men before they could join the conflict they could hear unravelling nearby.

Before that happened though, the camp was raided by government forces.

"Most of the people in that area and in that camp were killed, including children," said Zaw.

"People were running all over the place, we can see blood spreading out in different directions.

"There are bombs and actually not much hope to survive as I can see right in front of me people dying, falling down."

Zaw survived the raid, and fled on foot to nearby jungle.

"We had no idea where to go and what to do, we just had to run for our lives."

He had lost his friends in the siege and he foraged food in the jungle and walked north for three days before he came across a man who offered help.

Zaw had crossed the border into Thailand, and was sheltered for several months by a farmer he worked for – until someone from another town reported him to Thai police.

He claimed it was these corrupt officials who sold him into forced labour – it would be four years before he was able to escape.

Modern slavery on Thai fishing boats is well-documented by human rights advocates now, though exact numbers of those being exploited are hard to come by.

A recent International Labour Organisation survey of 600 fishers found nearly 17 per cent said they were in forced labour and reported witnessing violence on board.

A Guardian investigation published in June last year revealed one of the world's biggest shrimp exporters, based in Thailand, was using slave labour in its production – former workers told of 20-hour shifts, regular beatings, torture and execution-style killings. 

An AP investigation reported last week again backed the stories of former slaves. 

And Zaw is living proof it happens, but that the lucky survive.

He said he saw people shot, stabbed, shoved overboard or tortured if they didn't meet demands.

He saw a group of four Burmese men bound together with a large tyre, doused with petrol and set alight, and another beaten to death with a shovel.

He wasn't paid a cent, stealing fish to barter when he was close to shore, was fed meagre rations and sometimes only allowed to sleep two hours in a night.

Zaw said if someone wanted off the ships, they had two choices given to them.

"When we get back to land they ask whether you are going to take the dollar or the gun – if you choose the gun you got shot, and if you choose the money most likely you would get killed as well."

After four years of being shuffled between boats working the South China Sea off Indonesia, Zaw started praying and planning for an escape.

"I just couldn't cope anymore. I thought I might die or I might kill someone."

His opportunity came two weeks later – he had wrapped everything he owned in plastic and sealed it in a tin, tied it to himself, and literally jumped ship in the dead of the night.

"I had to swim for quite awhile, but I had come to understand the current a little bit so that helped.

"One of the dangers I faced in that water was big fish, but maybe God looked after me because the fish didn't do anything to me, they might have eaten me."

Zaw estimates he swam for at least four hours before he hit land.

He had swum ashore somewhere in the Riau Islands in Indonesia, where he came across a family who fed him and sheltered him for a week, but it wasn't long before he ended up back in the hands of police.

Zaw was sent to the Tanjung Pinang Detention Centre – an Australian-funded refugee and asylum seekers' processing centre with a brutal reputation.

Afghan asylum seekers at Tanjung Pinang, speaking to journalists in 2009, claimed they were beaten and robbed by guards and were treated like animals .

Zaw was there for about three years, and in that time took part in a hunger strike in protest of the conditions and once attempted suicide.

He had wanted to go home to Myanmar but had been told he would face imprisonment for leaving the country without papers.

So he applied for refugee status.

He waited nine months to be interviewed by the International Organisation for Migration, and although he was then registered with the UN as a refugee, he wasn't released from Tanjung Pinang until three years after he had gone in.

Zaw was then allowed to live – but not work – in Jakarta until it was time to come to New Zealand.

With no choice about where he was placed, he arrived here in June last year.

"I remember it was cold and raining when I arrived. I was lonely and worried about my future."

Now 29, Zaw has settled in a flat in Strathmore, is working on his English and working hard to save money for his family, who he wants to bring here.

He's thankful that he no longer witnesses death and torture on a daily basis.

"Not seeing those things here anymore in New Zealand means I can start a new life with a new mind and new body and focus on my beliefs."

Zaw says other than missing his family terribly, he's doing okay – and is desperate to shed some light on the journey he has endured in hope that it might help others.

"I might not be able to help others with money but if the words of the story help this will be my contribution.

"Even if I cannot be a light from the sun sparkling for others, I still want to try to be like candlelight."

- Zaw Zaw was interviewed with the support of Red Cross cross-cultural worker and interpreter Dennis Maang.

 - Dominion Post

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