BANGKOK – Hope that the conditions will improve for the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar under Aung San Suu Kyi’s new government has contributed to a slowdown in the number fleeing to Thailand and beyond, the United Nations and European Union said on Monday.

As the season that smuggling and trafficking ships typically ply their human cargoes across the Bay of Bengal comes to a close, the number of migrants leaving Myanmar is down sharply on the year, the UN refugee agency said on Monday.

“It is striking, there are many less people coming than last year,” Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR, told Reuters after an event on refugees in Bangkok. “It’s a combination of factors. As well as the new government, there are stronger activities against smuggling and trafficking. And the discovery of the mass graves last year also shocked people.”

Thai police launched a campaign in May 2015 following the discovery of 30 bodies in graves near a human-trafficking camp close to the Malaysian border. The crackdown led criminals to abandon ships at sea with thousands of migrants aboard.

Mass graves of suspected human-trafficking victims were also found on the Malaysian side of the border.

Mass graves of suspected migrants found in Malaysia

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The Star/ANN, Reuters, AFP

Thai and Bangladeshi crackdowns on human smugglers have also disrupted the networks that brought migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea to Thailand and Malaysia.

Many of the migrants are Rohingya, fleeing poverty and persecution in Rakhine state in western Myanmar after religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims there in 2012.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is forming a government that will take power on April 1. She and the NLD have been criticised for saying little about how they will address the Rohingya’s situation in Rakhine State where about 140,000 people remain in camps.

The flow of migrants and refugees to Thailand from areas of conflict in other parts of Myanmar has also decreased as people hope for improvements under the NLD government, said the European Union’s Ambassador to Thailand Jesus Sanz. “The positive change in Myanmar is the main cause for the reduction in numbers,” Sanz told Reuters. “It remains to be seen how quickly the government of Myanmar will be able to stabilise the situation there and give real opportunities to these people.”

The EU helps finance camps in Thailand near the border with Myanmar that hold more than 100,000 refugees.

The United Nations hoped political change in Myanmar would allow those refugees, some of whom have lived in Thailand for decades, to go home. “I hope that voluntary repatriation will be a possibility in a year or two,” Volker said.

Rohingya, victims of human trafficking

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Reuters, The Nation/ANN, The Daily Star/ANN, The Star/ANN, Vice News, AFP

JAKARTA – Thousands of Indonesian taxi drivers will take to the streets of the capital on Tuesday for a protest rally to demand the government prohibits ride-hailing apps like Grab and Uber, as a price war intensifies.

The proliferation of cheap taxis using ride-sharing apps Go-Jek, Grab and Uber has made the traditional pick-up and drop-off taxi services unprofitable, threatening the business models of the country’s top taxi firms PT Blue Bird and Express Transindo Utama.

“Online transport apps have destroyed some local taxis, mainly the small players,” said Andre Djokosoetono, director of Blue Bird, the country’s largest taxi operator. “We are fighting to make sure everyone is treated fairly and there aren’t any players disadvantaged by these apps.”

The Transportation Ministry has asked that the taxi-hailing apps be banned since they are not registered as public transport.

But the Communications Ministry, which oversees the app operators, has said the firms can go on operating.

Nasihin, a taxi driver for Express, said he used to earn about 250,000 rupiah (S$26) a day in salary before the arrival of the ride-hailing apps.

Now he struggles to bring home a steady income. “Tomorrow, I have to go to the protest because what they are doing is illegal,” he said. “Taxi drivers are getting very angry.”

The mobile apps have shaken up the market, sparking a cut-throat price war and forcing diversification away from unprofitable taxis into motorcycle taxis.

Uber protests around the world

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Reuters, AFP

Go-Jek and Grab drivers say they regularly offer rides at below cost to grab market share. The two privately held companies declined to provide details on pricing and their financial performances.

“A price war is not unusual for the introduction of a businesses like this…as promotions are huge to seize market share,” said Patrick Walujo, co-founder of private equity firm Northstar Group, one of three investment companies that have together provided more than US$200 million (S$272 million) in funding to Go-Jek. “Perhaps Grab is hoping it can squeeze us. The reality is that because we offer multiple services and products our drivers generate more revenues, and our investors understand that.”

Both Go-Jek and Grab offer cheap motorbike taxi services.

Go-Jek has capped the cost of a motorbike ride at 15,000 rupiah anywhere in Jakarta. Last week, Grab gave first-time users up to 20 free rides.

Both firms say they have the biggest share of the motorcycle taxi business in the city of about 10 million people. “This is a growth stage where we really focus on expanding the market by investing to reach a large number of customers, so we can get large volumes,” Grab’s managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata told Reuters.

KL cabbies gather to protest Uber and GrabCar

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