KHRG Report: Living Conditions Arou

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: KHRG Report: Living Conditions Around Pa'An Town

Status: R


************************Posted by BurmaNet************************
  "Appropriate Information Technologies--Practical Strategies"
******************************************************************

      AN INDEPENDENT REPORT BY THE KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP

________________________________________________________________  

            LIVING_CONDITIONS_AROUND_PA'AN_TOWN
________________________________________________________________  

                           May 5, 1993
Filename: may5_93

The following statement regarding current conditions around Pa'an
Town was given by a recently arrived refugee who lived there. 
Pa'an is the capital of Karen State, and there is no fighting in
the immediate area.  This man's name has been changed to protect
him, although he and his family have no plans to return to Pa'an.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NAME:    Saw Ghay Htoo         SEX: M       AGE: 40
FAMILY:  Married with 4 children

In Pa'an I worked for the Agriculture Corporation, which is
controlled by the government.  In other words, it's all controlled
by military men.  It's left over from the BSPP times [Burma
Socialist Programme Party, Ne Win's pre-1988 dictatorship], when
all farmland was national property.  The farmers had to buy their
seed, fertiliser, etc. from the Agriculture Corporation and sell
their crop to the Corporation as well.  The farmers were left with
just enough profit to survive.

Now it's still the same.  Every farmer has to sell 3 baskets of
unhulled rice per acre to the Agriculture Trade Corporation.  Each
basket weighs 46 pounds.  The farmers are only paid 50 Kyat per
basket, even though the market price is 150 Kyat per basket.  To
plant one acre takes one and a half baskets, and one acre can
produce 20 or 30 baskets in a good year.  The farmers often only
get 15 or less baskets per acre though, because at ploughing time
they all have to go and hide from the soldiers to avoid being taken
as porters.  Also, the land is not fertile anymore because it has
been used for so long with no fertiliser.  The farmers can't afford
fertiliser, so they can't grow enough rice. Some farmers have 7 to
10 acres, but some only have 2 or 3 acres, and they need about 50
baskets of unhulled rice to feed their family for the year.  Apart
from being forced to sell rice to the Corporation, the rest of
their rice goes to pay off their loans from the Corporation and to
hire bullocks and workers.  The farmers have to work very hard, but
at the end they're left with nothing.  Many even have to eat rice
soup instead of rice now, because they don't have enough rice to
survive.

Everyone must also pay "porter fees" - the SLORC comes and takes
money and says it will be used to hire porters.  In town, every
family must pay about 80 or 90 Kyat per month.  In rural areas, the
troops demand 200 or 300 Kyat per month from every family.  Each
village or town suburb has a leader who is responsible to come up
with the money each month.  If it isn't enough, and it often isn't,
the SLORC takes people as porters.  Whether the fees have been paid
or not, the soldiers also come around at night often, checking
every house for "unregistered visitors" [Civilians everywhere are
under orders to report all overnight visitors to SLORC
authorities].  They say this is what they're looking for, but they
really just want porters.  At each house where they find an
unregistered visitor, they take everyone in the house as porters.

I'm not sure what happens to the porter fees - maybe some goes for
porters or to build roads and things, but I think maybe the SLORC
just uses it for themselves.  All the money to build everything
comes from the people - we're forced to pay different fees every
month, always collected by the Army.

In the villages people are forced to act as sentries on roads,
bridges, etc.  If the soldiers catch them sleeping when they're
supposed to  be sentries, they have to pay fines of chickens, rice
or personal belongings.  The SLORC also forces 10 or 20 people from
every village to be in their militia.  The soldiers don't give them
any training, just give them a gun, take them along on patrol and
order them to fight the Karen Army.  The SLORC makes every family
in the villages give 3 baskets of rice every month to support this
militia.

Near Pa'an, every family that lives along the main road has to
build a brick wall 5 feet high with an iron gate in front of their
house.  The wall has to be white.  You must pay for it yourself,
and if you can't then you have to leave.  People don't want to lose
their homes, so they have to borrow money to build the wall.  For
the families of military men, the SLORC arranges and pays for it.

Leaf roofs are no longer allowed either, except on the roofs of
shops owned by military families.  The SLORC does all of this so
they can say, "Look, we have made the city beautiful and improved
your living standard".  I think it has something to do with the
advice of Ne Win's astrologers.

Since 1988, many of the ricefields have been taken from farmers
because the SLORC has forced thousands of people to move to the
fields outside Pa'an.  They have forced people from Pa'an, Rangoon,
and all over the country to move there.   I'm not sure how many
people are there now, but it's already about as big as Pa'an.  The
SLORC says they were moved because the places they stayed before
were too crowded, but I think maybe it's another idea of Ne Win's
astrologers.  There are also some civil servants with over 20
years' service who moved there voluntarily.  Every family has to
pay 2000 Kyat for a piece of ground 60 feet by 40 feet.  There is
no water, electricity, drainage or anything for the people there. 
Even in Pa'an town, only the few people who can afford a meter box
can get electricity.

After 1988, all the people I worked with who had been involved in
the demonstrations were transferred or arrested.  Under the SLORC,
I was only paid 750 to 800 Kyat per month, and I have 4 kids.  It
was never enough - hulled rice is 450 Kyat per basket, and a 1 viss
[1.6 kilogram] chicken costs 150 Kyat.  We had to live on
vegetables and fishpaste, and whenever we got sick we had to go in
debt.  It was just impossible to live, so we came here.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Karen Human Rights Group
Box 22
Mae Sot, Tak 63110
Thailand

(Email for the KHRG sent to strider@xxxxxxxxxxx will be forwarded
to them)