Window on Burma #9

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BINA  -- The Burma Independent News Agency  --  

Window on Burma  #9   
  
(From Mojo, Issue #4, July 1999)


VILLAGERS FROM PA-AN DISTRICT ARE FORCIBLY RELOCATED

Light Infantry Unit #2 of the #44 Corps, and DKBA Special Security Group
led by
Maung Chit Thu, forced residents of 10 villages in Pa-an District to
relocate. 
Villagers were driven from Thaw Ka Tay, Hto Thu Khee, Mae Pale Wakhee, Day Law
Phya, Kauk Kyike, Thaw Nywa U Pwa, Wa Ka Lu Pu, Thaw Wapu, Htee Wa Ka Le,
Pawi,
and Thaw Mo Pha.  All are in the Mae Pale Bridge area.

The SPDC gives many important reasons for their vicious and inhumane practice
of burning down villages and chasing out the residents.


FORCED LABOR AT PAI KYONE TOWNSHIP

Eight hundred and sixty villagers from 16 villages in Pai Kyone Township were
forced to construct, without pay, a road connecting Naboo Township and Daw Lan
village.  The workers also had to provide their own food and transport to the
worksite. If anyone failed to show up for work, he was fined. 

>From April 24 to May 19, the men broke stones. The women carried the stones in
baskets on their heads.  

On May 23rd, each village was ordered to send 50 people to the opening
ceremony
for the new bridge at Daw Lan, again at their own cost, local people said.


ARMY ORDERS TO VILLAGE HEADMAN REVEALED

SPDC Light Infantry Unit #231 sent the following letter to the headman in
(name
deleted) village, Karen State: 
?As soon as you receive this letter, send four villagers to our camp.  

?I have already asked you this many times.  Why haven?t you sent them yet?
You
had better have a good answer for me, because I will not write again.?  

?Location: Temporary Camp?  
?Date: (month & date deleted), 1999? 
?Signature: Aye Win, Army Intelligence Officer, LIU #231?.  

The letter, which was brought to the ?Mojo? office, bears the official
military
seal.


GOVERNMENT TROOPS ROB VILLAGERS IN KAREN STATE

The SPDC Light Infantry Unit #28 stole 3 blankets, 5 sarongs, 3 goats, 3
shirts, 2 rice bowls, 30 chickens and other household goods from Daga Village
in Hlaing Bwe Township on May 21, 1999.  

Light Infantry Unit #104 stole the following at Htee Mu Hta Village: 50
chickens, 1 pig, 4 rice buckets, 40 viss of sweets, and 5,000 kyat.  


Light Infantry Unit #547, led by Maj. Win Naing, went to The Bu Village, Pai
Kyone Township, on May 21st, and stole 40 chickens, 4 ducks, 3 rice buckets,
one large can of cooking oil, 7 tins of honey, 1 pig, and 3,000 kyat.  On May
22, the same Maj. Win Naing arrived at Naw De Village, Pai Kyone Township, and
took 23 chickens and 6 ducks.

SPDC soldiers are not given enough rations by their commanders, so they resort
to robbery of poor and defenseless villagers in order to feed themselves. 


ANGER AND MISERY PLAGUE THE SPDC?S OWN TROOPS

A sergeant attached to a regiment based in Kalay Township went back to his
hometown while on military leave, and spoke frankly to his friends and
relations of his feelings about army life.  

?The soldiers know that the people are angry with them, but there is nothing
they can do about it,? he said.  ?Their situation is the same as that of the
civilians: not enough food, extremely bad living conditions, and poor
education.?  

?For example, even the soldiers? wives must attend military training.  No wife
wants to attend, actually, but the SPDC needs these ?volunteer? troops to keep
the peace in the townships.  I told my wife, ?Go ahead and attend, because if
you don?t show up, something will surely happen to me.??  

The sergeant, who has 25 years? service in the army, was angry and resentful.


SPDC EARNS FOREIGN CURRENCY WHILE WORKERS SUFFER

There are a lot of foreign-owned companies in Mingladon Township, such as the
London Cigarette Company, Mama Noodle Factory, Postand Garment Factory, Huapoo
Garment Factory, Unimit Garment Factory, Tobika Japanese Cosmetic Company,
Tiger Beer Company, Suzuki Motorcycle Factory (under construction), Bosco
Steel
Factory, Daewoo Garment Factory, and Seagull Stainless Steel Factory.  Every
factory has at least 100 workers, and some, such as Huapoo Garment, have up to
10,000 workers.  

In order to insure tight control of the workers, the SPDC is now ordering the
foreign managers of Mingladon factories to post former army officers to
factory
positions, where they can prevent any worker strikes.  Workers often work
overtime, and at low wages, so they are already feeling frustrated and
oppressed.  ?Something is going to happen soon,? said one worker from
Mingladon
Township.


SPDC IMPOSES MAGAZINE SELF-CENSORSHIP

Using the Literary Censorship Board, the SPDC strictly controls what
appears in
the country?s magazines, because they know that many writers are
sympathetic to
the democracy movement and to Aung San Suu Kyi.  Censorship methods include
inking over the offending passages in each copy, or sometimes tearing out
whole
pages or stories in the magazine, even though it may only be a few words that
they find objectionable.  Pictures of famous people, too, can be considered
subversive, although photos of army officers are almost always approved, of
course. 

Magazines are not required to submit articles before printing, but they must
submit the copies of each issue before distribution.  Then the Censorship
Board
decides if the issue is acceptable.  This vague self-censorship rule has meant
that some magazines have lost up to 16 pages at a time.  Occasionally a whole

issue is confiscated.  The resulting loss of time and effort infuriates
editors.

Here?s another example of SPDC censorship: many poets celebrated the
passing of
Michael Aris with commemorative writings.  The SPDC took note of who wrote
what, and then banned certain poets from writing for any future
publications.  
Among those banned were Min Thu Wun, Tin Moe, and Nan Nyunt Shwe.


MINISTER U AUNG THAUNG WANTS HIS ?PAJERO?

Government ministers, army generals, and other officials are able to own
?Pajero?s? because they get a lot of ?tea money? from Burmese and foreign
joint-venture companies.  But Minister for Light Industry (?Industry -1?) U
Aung Thaung is different: he doesn?t take bribes.  

Instead, he ordered each of the Directors in the Ministry?s seven Departments
to give him 800,000 kyat per Department.  This is because he needed 5,600,000
kyat to buy his own Pajero. Therefore, every Director in Industry-1 had to
work
very ?creatively? to raise such a large amount of money from his Department,
according to reports from some of the Ministry?s staff.


A STUDENT SPEAKS OUT

Mojo recently interviewed Ko Kyaw Thein Aung (second year Maths, Rangoon
University, Hlaing Campus), who reached the Thai-Burma border in April this
year.  

Kyaw Thein Aung: ?I took part in the 1996 and 1998 student demonstrations in
Rangoon.  The MIS were looking to arrest me, so this year in April I
escaped to
the border.?
MOJO: What happened in 1996 and 1998?
KTA: At every demonstration in history, the students have always stood on the
side of truth. In December 1996, we urged the government to allow freedom of
education and student rights, especially to form a student union.  But the
SLORC/SPDC didn?t agree, and they arrested the students.  They closed down all
the universities, so there were no classes. But they told us to take the final
exams anyway.
The reason for the August 1998 demonstrations was because the students wanted
the government to call the People?s Parliament. We believe that it is
everyone?s duty to ask the government for this People?s Parliament. That is
why
we demonstrated against the SPDC's disregard for the result of the 1990
elections.
MOJO: What happened in August ?98?
KTA: The NLD had asked the SPDC to convene the People?s Parliament, with a
deadline of August 21.  But SPDC ignored the call and continued to arrest
students. On August 24, at 12:15 pm, the students started demonstrating at the
Hledan Intersection, near Rangoon University.
MOJO:   What were you asking of the government?
KTA: We asked them for three things: to resign the dictatorship, to call the
Parliament, and to release the political prisoners.
Why? We don?t have educational freedom under the military dictatorship.
Moreover, the workers, farmers, even monks, are very oppressed by this junta. 
If the elected members get power and form a government, then the people
will be
safe and happy.  We want not only freedom of education, but also improvement
for all the people of the country.
MOJO: Who was involved in the August 24th demonstrations?
KTA: Students of the Rangoon University?s Hlaing Campus, Rangoon Institute of
Technology students, Government Technical Institute students, and some high

school students.
MOJO: We heard that the demonstration happened again on September 22, one
month
later.
KTA: Yes. AT 4:45 pm, between 30th and 31st streets, students demonstrated
again. 
MOJO: What was the attitude of the general public toward the demonstrations?
KTA: They supported us as much as they could.  They gave us food and water,
and
they tried to block SPDC troops from attacking the students.
MOJO: What do you think about the current situation?
KTA: The universities have been closed since 1996, and so now the Burmese
higher
education system has already been destroyed.  As for the general situation:
economic, education, and health conditions are very bad. The SPDC cannot solve
the problem, because SPDC is responsible for the current situation. They must
hand power over to the elected members of parliament, and open the tripartite
dialog with the NLD and ethnic minorities. 
MOJO: Do you think another demonstration will happen soon?
KTA: As long as oppressive and unlawful activities exist, there will always be
demonstrations.


***********

[WHAT IS ?MOJO??  ?Mojo? means ?Lightning? in Burmese.   ?Mojo? is an
independent newspaper from the Burmese community in Thailand.  Its primary
content is social, political, and economic news from all over Burma, and its
intended readers are the people inside Burma itself.  

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?Dialogue is inevitable. We will not just sit and wait. We will continue doing
what has to be done.?
  NLD General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi]