The Asia Pacific Report: Debbie Stodard

0:006.22 a.m. It is in time for the Asia Pacific report and joining us this morning is Debbie Stotter. Debbie is a Malaysian activist working as a reporter who has worked as a reporter advisor at Human Rights Advocates in 1981, founding the Alcyan Burmite 1996. It was Secretary General of the FIDH for a good number of years previously before. And of course an active human rights campaign in her part of the world. Debbie Stotter, good morning. Thank you for joining us. Hi, can you hear me clearly? Yes, Debbie, thank you for joining us and thank you for your time this morning. Yeah, thank you. I suppose to be here. Debbie, getting into our discussion this morning, the Burmese election. Now, for whatever its worth, I think the international world knows now. It's been quite a number of decades that Burma or Myanmar has the hotel

1:00referred to it these days and what it appears to on the map. It is in fact a military dictatorship. And even political parties are subject to the claws and the laws of the junta above. But this election, I mean, have we learnt anything from Burmese politics or Burmese society going forward with this election? The military junta had a sham election over December and January in order to legitimize continued rule under the control after launching a coup in February 2021. And what's really important to note is that parties that won 90% of the seats in 2020 were outlawed and excluded. And despite military coercion and threats, very few people actually voted.

2:00According to our figures, 10 and a half million people of voting age were deliberately excluded by the junta. And then another 11 million boycotted, 11 million voters that were in areas under military control actually boycotted the vote, despite threats and coercion to force them to vote for military and those parties. So we've actually had a sham election where the voter turnout was very low. But at the same time, there were over 300 airstrikes during the electoral period. And that included another 800 politics. So this election has actually not brought any peace or stability to the country or to the people of Bromland Myanmar. And in February alone, there were 849 armed attacks, including 224 airstrikes in more than half

3:05the townships in the country. Just yesterday, the military junta bombed a detention camp in Arakan state and killed over 100 prisoners of war. People, their own soldiers in the airstrike. So we can already see that it has not actually reduced the conflict or the crimes committed by the military junta. And there is, and the Kuntabos, a gentleman online is actually trying to bring in new laws that will allow him to be both head of state and head of the military. Debbie, moving on to another election, the Thai election. Now, of course, that concluded a few weeks ago. And I think they're waiting for a verification of votes. But those who actually want the election are not wasting any time in creating a new government for themselves. And we've seen the old political houses of Thailand

4:05back in power. It wasn't to speak about the so-called youth vote and the vibrancy we saw in the buildup to the election where many people thought that this is not going to be a change of political course in Thailand. We've seen, many may say, a complete opposite the remaining of the status quo. But those progressive parties not failing very well in the Thai election. You know, this was a big blow to progressive hopes in the country, but it was not unexpected. While the majority of the voters, the young voters continue to support progressive parties, the military and the establishment in Thailand were able to exploit fear and insecurity around the Thai Cambodia War and drum up a lot of nationalism.

5:07So people came to the vote, especially older voters, feeling both fear, a combination of fear and nationalism, which secured votes for the old guard. I think this is really a horrific situation because we've seen some of that impact in Europe over the Ukraine war. And now with the war, the war in Iran happening, the attacks and the Gulf, the war basically escalated war and the Gulf, it is going to be a situation where a lot of repressive regimes and pro repressive regimes are likely to exploit this fear and insecurity, particularly the economic upheavals that will be feeling across the world. Turkey offered the fallout from the Iran war.

6:08I mean, migrant workers from the Southeast Asian countries, including especially, of course, the Philippines, Indonesia, other places as well, are very likely by the billions in that region. And although there is a flow of air traffic improved or air traffic flow from the Emirates and other Gulf states in the last few days, we've still seen airports like, you know, what Ben Gurion airport in Israel shut down. And this, unfortunately, has seen a great fallout from those who are working in that area. The Thai workers posting on social media sites of them being unable to travel back home as well as them being unsafe in the region. Your thoughts on that, Debbie? You know, in Qatar, in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Emirates, migrant workers make up up to 80% of the total population.

7:09And they have been working in critical sectors, including hospitality, care work, security and construction. And it has actually been really a huge scandal. It should be considered a global scandal because it's not just migrants from Southeast Asia. The migrants from Southeast Asia, countries like Bangladesh, Indian and Nepal and Pakistan, and indeed migrants from Africa, including Somalia, are present in those countries. Entire families have vacated their condos and their accommodation and forced their migrant domestic workers to stay behind with a limited amount of money to guard their property, even in the threat of air strikes and drone strikes. But I think what has happened is that there's been an estimated 1,500 casualties

8:09both dead and injured combined. But what we haven't seen in the Gulf region is an acknowledgement of how many migrant workers were affected. And it is very likely that a significant number of those affected migrant workers given that migrant worker accommodations are not protected against drone strikes. And in fact, local authorities have been remiss in warning migrant workers in their own languages about the danger. But I think one of the absolutely horrific scandals is that while migrant workers have not had the freedom to leave, those who can leave are subjected to price gouging. Most workers earn about $300 a month, but evacuation, it can cost thousands of dollars

9:11because of the high demand for people to leave the area. People are being price gouged. If they have the freedom to leave, they just don't have the finances to do so. And migrant workers are also being used to clear debris from bombings without being given the proper safety training or even the safety equipment to do that. Debbie, start out. Thank you for joining us, and really, Islam International News discussion. Have a good rest of your week ahead of you, Debbie. Debbie, thank you once again. And wishing all our Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly those in situations of conflict, whether in Burma or Nagar, a safer Ramadan. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words.