MASS MIGRATION
Illegal immigrants crossing from Sumatra into Malaysia and the presence in Thailand of hundreds of thousands of refugees and illegal immigrants from Myanmar are just the tip of the iceberg. The problem from mass migration can be expected to grow and create problems in intra-ASEAN relations.
One major cause of migration, legal and illegal, is inequity in economic development among countries that creates both push and pull factors. It is noted that people in abject poverty normally do not migrate as they are too occupied with day to day survival and that it is from middle range countries, just emerging from extreme poverty, that seek to migrate.
Present problems related to migration in ASEAN countries are related mainly to illegal mass migration which is transnational in nature. There are two major causes: economic inequity due to different level of development, and political uncertainty and turmoil in a country that cause people to escape from threats of persecution or violence. Thailand’s migrants from Myanmar, as a result of government suppression of dissident in 1988 as well as continuing ethno-nationalist strife, that number more than 500,000. Other than the refugees, there are those who are economic migrants, seeking better economic opportunity. The political and ethnic turmoil in Indonesia has caused the influx of illegal migrants to Malaysia. Proximity and easy access due to porous nature of frontier also encourage influx. As compassion fatigue unavoidably sets in after a period of time, conflict between the receiving country and the country of origin could result.
Mass migration becomes a security issue when the government and its people perceive it to be a political, economic, social, or cultural threat. As states are increasingly putting up barrier to migration, criminal elements have found the illegal trafficking of people to be a lucrative business opportunity. Thus the issue of migration becomes a threat also by its association with transnational crimes.