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| Burmese fishermen raise their hands as they are asked who among them wants to go home at the compound of Pusaka Benjina Resources fishing company in Benjina, Aru Islands, Indonesia, Friday, April 3, 2015. Hundreds of foreign fishermen on Friday rushed at the chance to be rescued from the isolated island where an Associated Press report revealed slavery runs rampant in the industry. Indonesian officials investigating abuses offered to take them out of concern for the men's safety. |
BENJINA, Indonesia (AP) -- At first the men filtered in by twos and threes, hearing whispers of a possible rescue.
Then,
as the news rippled around the island, hundreds of weathered former and
current slaves with long, greasy hair and tattoos streamed from their
trawlers, down the hills, even out of the jungle, running toward what
they had only dreamed of for years: Freedom."
I
will go see my parents. They haven't heard from me, and I haven't heard
from them since I left," said Win Win Ko, 42, beaming, his smile
showing missing teeth. The captain on his fishing boat had kicked out
four teeth with his military boots, he said, because Win was not moving
fish fast enough from the deck to the hold below.
The
Burmese men were among hundreds of migrant workers revealed in an
Associated Press investigation to have been lured or tricked into
leaving their countries and forced into catching fish for consumers
around the world, including the United States.
In response to the AP's
findings, Indonesian government officials visited the island village of
Benjina on Friday and found brutal conditions, down to an "enforcer"
paid to beat men up. They offered immediate evacuation.
The
officials first gave the invitation for protection just to a small
group of men who talked openly about their abuse. But then Asep
Burhanuddin, director general of Indonesia's Marine Resources and
Fisheries Surveillance, said everybody was welcome, including those
hiding in the forest because they were too scared to come out.
"They can all come," he said. "We don't want to leave a single person behind."
About
320 men took up the offer. Even as a downpour started, some dashed
through the rain. They sprinted back to their boats, jumped over the
rails and threw themselves through windows. They stuffed their meager
belongings into plastic bags, small suitcases and day packs, and rushed
back to the dock, not wanting to be left behind.
A small boat going from trawler to trawler to pick up men was soon loaded down.
Throughout
the day and until darkness fell, they kept coming, more and more men,
hugging, laughing, spilling onto the seven trawlers that were their ride
out. Even just before the trawlers pushed off Benjina on the 24-hour
trip to neighboring Tual island, fishermen were still running to the
shore and clambering onto the vessels. Some were so sick and emaciated,
they stumbled or had to be carried up the gang plank.
While
excitement and relief flooded through many of the fishermen on the
dock, others looked scared and unsure of what to expect next. Many
complained they had no money to start over.
"I'm really happy, but I'm confused," said Nay Hla Win, 32. "I don't know what my future is in Myanmar."
Indonesian
officials said security in Benjina is limited, with only two Navy
officials stationed there to protect them. The men will be housed at a
government compound while immigration is sorted out. Officials from
Myanmar are set to visit the islands next week and will assist with
locating other men and getting the ones freed from Benjina home.
The
dramatic rescue came after a round of interviews Indonesian officials
held with the fishermen, where they confirmed the abuse reported in the
AP story, which included video of eight men locked in a cage and a slave
graveyard. The men, mostly from Myanmar, talked of how they were beaten
and shocked with Taser-like devices at sea, forced to work almost
nonstop without clean water or proper food, paid little or nothing at
all and prevented from going home.
There was
essentially no way out: The island is so remote, there was no phone
service until a cell tower was installed last month, and it is a
difficult place to reach in the best of circumstances.
The
abuse went even further at the hands of the man known as "the
enforcer." This man, deeply feared and hated by the workers, was hired
by their boat captains to punish them for misbehavior, they said.
Saw
Eail Htoo and Myo Naing were among those he tormented. After three
months at sea working with only two to four hours of sleep a night, the
two Burmese slaves just wanted to rest. They fell asleep on the deck.
Their
Thai captain decided to make an example of them, they said. So the two
were driven by motorbike to a hill above the port. They were handcuffed
together and placed in front of an Indonesian flag. Then they were
punched in the face and kicked until they collapsed into the dirt, they
said, blood oozing from their ripped faces.
Even then, the enforcer would not stop.
"He
kept kicking me," said Naing, rail-thin with a military-style haircut.
"I kept thinking, if I was at home, this wouldn't be happening."
The
findings documented by Indonesian officials and the AP came in stark
contrast to what a Thai delegation reported they saw during a visit to
Benjina earlier this week. Their trip was focused only on finding Thai
nationals who had been trafficked. They denied mistreatment on the boats
and said the crews were all Thai, even though the AP found many migrant
workers from other countries are issued fake documents with Thai names
and addresses.
"We examined the boats and the
crews, and the result is most of the crews are happy and a few of them
are sick and willing to go home," said Thai police Lt. Gen. Saritchai
Anekwiang, who was leading the delegation.
"Generally, the boat
conditions are good."
Thailand, the world's
third-largest seafood exporter, has been under further pressure to clean
up its industry since the AP's investigation, which used satellites to
track fish caught by slaves on a large refrigerated cargo ship from
Benjina to Thailand. The investigation linked the seafood to supply
chains of some of America's largest supermarkets and retailers.
The
report prompted the U.S. government and major seafood industry leaders
to urge Thailand to end slavery at sea and to punish those responsible.
Thailand's biggest seafood company, Thai Union Frozen Products,
announced it was cutting ties with a supplier after determining it might
be involved with forced labor and other abuses.
Last
week, the International Organization for Migration said there could be
as many as 4,000 foreign men, many trafficked or enslaved, who are
stranded on islands surrounding Benjina following a fishing moratorium
called by the Indonesian Fisheries Ministry to crack down on poaching.
Indonesia has some of the world's richest fishing grounds, and the
government estimates billions of dollars in seafood are stolen from its
waters by foreign crews every year.
Three-quarters
of the more than 320 migrant workers who left the island on Friday were
Burmese, but about 50 from the country refused to go, saying they had
not received their salaries and did not want leave without money.
Some
were also from Cambodia and Laos. A few Thais were allowed to board the
boats, but the Indonesians said Thai nationals could stay on Benjina
more safely, since Thai captains were less likely to abuse them.
"I
expected to evacuate all of them, but I did not expect it this soon,"
said Ida Kusuma, one of the leaders of the Fisheries Ministry
delegation. "But I think it's good."
Police
are investigating in Benjina and will decide whether to prosecute those
involved in abuse, said Kedo Arya, head of Maluku province prosecutor's
office. The Indonesian officials were told "the enforcer" was being
detained.
For those like Naing, who recalled
being tortured, beaten and locked in a room for a month and 17 days for
simply falling asleep, the thought of finally leaving the island was
impossible to believe.
"Is it real that we are going home?" he asked.
A
firework soon shot off from one of the boats, signaling it was indeed
time to go. The same trawlers where the fishermen had suffered years of
abuse were heading back to sea. This time crowded with free men full of
hope.
