Comment on Myanmar fisherman goes home after 22 years as a slave

[...] after being gone eight years and forced to work on a boat in faraway Indonesia, Myint Naing was willing to risk everything to see his mother again. [...] the captain vowed to kill him for trying to jump ship, and chained him for three days without food or water. Myint is one of more than 800 current and former slaves rescued or repatriated after a year-long Associated Press investigation into pervasive labor abuses in Southeast Asia's fishing industry. Thailand's booming seafood business alone runs on an estimated 200,000 migrant workers, many of them forced onto boats after being tricked, kidnapped or sold. In 1993, a broker visited Myint's village in southern Myanmar with promises of jobs for young men in Thailand. Myint was only 18 years old, with no travel experience, but his family was desperate for money. When the agent returned, he hustled his new recruits to grab their bags immediately. After 15 days, his boat finally docked on the remote Indonesian island of Tual, surrounded by one of the world's richest fishing grounds. Myint spent weeks at a time on the open ocean, living only on rice and the parts of the catch no one else would eat. Anyone who took a break or fell ill was hit by the captain. To meet growing demand, brokers sometimes even drugged and kidnapped migrant workers to get them on board. [...] one day in April, a friend told him an AP report on slavery had spurred the Indonesian government to start rescuing current and former slaves. EDITOR'S NOTE — Myint Naing's story comes from interviews with him, his family, his friends and other former slaves, and through following his journey to his home in Myanmar.