Money draws in Cambodians

However, the social bonds and relationships among Cambodian workers living in the Kingdom are quite fragile, and they rely on relatives who arrived in Thailand before them, and on their Thai employers.
For them, living and working in Thailand are not much different from what they did in Cambodia, as the two countries share many similarities, such as food, culture and living conditions.
Cambodian workers in Thailand, particularly in Chon Buri, tend to establish themselves over a diverse area. They are quite different in that regard from workers from Myanmar, who work and live as a community, such as in the Mahachai area of Samut Sakhon.
Amnat Sudsanguan, 48, owner of a fishing boat at Bang Saray in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district, said Thailand and Cambodia shared many things, such as human disposition, culture and tradition, such as making New Year merit and Songkran water blessings.
He said Pchum Ben was one of the most recognised Cambodian religious festivals, culminating in celebrations on the 15th day of the 10th month of the Khmer calendar. It is a time when many Cambodians pay their respects to deceased relatives. It is also the time when relatives get together.
Cambodians mark a longer period than Thais, 10 to 15 days, to celebrate the Songkran festival, and 80 per cent of Cambodian workers in Thailand head back to their homeland during that long holiday period.
Cambodians who work as crews on fishing boats based in Bang Saray came to this country for the main purpose of earning more money than they could back home. Almost half of money they earn is sent back to support their families in Cambodia.
Amnat said many vendors in Bang Saray provided a money-transfer service for Cambodian workers who want to send money back home.
“Most Cambodian workers living in Thailand were persuaded to come here by their relatives or neighbours,” said Amnat, who has been in the fishing industry for 16 years.
All fishing crews are men, while Cambodian women have less strenuous and less dangerous jobs, such as being waitresses at local restaurants or working in retail stores in the area.
He said the fishing crews worked 25 days a month and earned Bt1,000 a day when working on the boat. Employers and crews stay together like a family.
“We join together even at mealtimes.”
He said most Cambodian workers had mobile phones and 80 per cent of them used the Internet watch Cambodian movies and songs.
Kieng, 43, a Cambodian member of a fishing crew, has worked in Thailand for more than 12 years, following his relatives who had worked here before. He said he liked working in Thailand, where he is income is better than what he earned in Cambodia.
“When I first began working in Thailand, I did not know how to manage, as I did know anyone in Thailand. However, when I registered legally and got my non-Thai identification card, I was not afraid of living here any more,” he said.
Kieng said migrant workers from Cambodia tried to blend themselves in with the Thai people, who share similar cultures, personalities and ways of life, even in the way they dress and what they eat.
“In Cambodia, money is power. But in Thailand, the law and legal system are quite strict, more than in Cambodia,” he said.
Kieng said Cambodian women, especially teenagers, were doing better at adapting to living in Thailand than men, especially in dress and lifestyle. About 80 per cent of Cambodian women have been assimilated with Thais. If they do not speak, they are indistinguishable from Thais.
Tari Hai, 37, has been working in Thailand in construction for about three years, both in Saraburi and Chon Buri. In Cambodia, he stayed with family, which farmed rice in Battambang province in the country’s northwest.
“We did nothing and earned nothing when it was out of the planting season or during a drought. In Thailand, I get wages every day, enough for me to send money back home to support my father and mother,” he said.
“I return home to Cambodia once a year to see my family. In Thailand, however, I stay with my relatives in an accommodation provided by the Thai employer,” Tari Hai said.