THE ANT ARMY : A SIGNIFICANT MECHANISM OF THAILAND-MYANMAR ILLEGAL TRADE (1988-2012)

Abstract

The “Ant Army” is a general term which the Thai authorities refer to an individual person or a group of people involved in smuggling business. People that have been employed to carry goods cross the border along the river and hill paths, back and forth without customs declaration to avoid tariffs and taxes in the same manner as the ants that always carry food back to their habitats. In 1988, the military regime that ruled Myanmar since 1962 stepped down after the nationwide protest, known as 8888 uprising. However, another group of soldiers, the so-called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) came in. It was also in 1988 that Thailand under Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan implemented a new policy “from a battlefield to a market place” to promote regional trade between Thailand and neighboring countries. Therefore, Thailand-Myanmar border trade has reached a crucial turning point. This thesis studies the causes and processes of the illegal trade along Thai-Myanmar border. Several theories have been used to explain these phenomena, such as the world-system analysis to elaborate the economic relationship between Thailand and Myanmar, the smuggling theory to explain how the smuggling was conducted, and finally, the rational choice to explain how the economic cooperation among ethnic groups and Burmese authorities still going on amid their political conflicts. Fieldworks were mainly conducted in Mae Sot and various places along Thailand-Myanmar’s border including several Myanmar’s major cities such as Yangon, Mandalay, Mawlamyine, and Hpa-An to observe the smuggled goods’ destinations and its routes from Mae Sot to Mawlamyine.