Window on Burma #15 (NEWS NOTES)

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BINA  -- The Burma Independent News Agency  --  

Window on Burma  #15

(From MoJo #5, August 1999)


NEWS NOTES:

1) EXPLOITATION AND ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT OF FARMERS
2) ARMY ORDERS VILLAGERS TO REPORT FOR FORCED LABOR
3) SPDC OFFICERS OPENLY EXTORT FOOD AND MONEY
4) SPDC AND DKBA 6-DAY ROBBERY SPREE LEAVES VILLAGERS STARVING
5) DKBA MERCENARIES ROB VILLAGERS OF CASH AND GOLD
6) DKBA MERCENARIES COPY SPDC METHODS OF ROBBING AND KILLING CIVILIANS
7) SPDC SOLDIERS RESENT MIS, DESERTIONS INCREASING
8) QUIET STRIKE IN RANGOON'S HLAING THA YA TOWNSHIP
9) BURMA?S TRAVEL PASS
10) JAIL CONDITIONS IN BURMA


EXPLOITATION AND ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT OF FARMERS 
 
Much of the SPDC army?s work nowadays consists of supervising forced labor
in the construction of bridges, roads, and pagoda repair.  Small-scale
farmers and their families in villages all over Burma are the main
suppliers of forced labor for SPDC troops.  

In order to get more spending money, the soldiers report their high labor
costs to the government, but they put the money they get into their own
pockets.  The laborers are never paid.  

Furthermore, many military units are not fed by their commanders.  For
example, local farmers in Myin Gyan Township (Mandalay Div.) report that
they are constantly ordered to supply the troops with food.

Another SPDC practice is to instruct farmers what to plant on their land.
Yellow peas, sesame seed, and tobacco are the traditional crops of farmers
in certain parts of Burma.  The government, however, now orders farmers to
grow different crops, such as cotton, to benefit the army?s own economic
objectives, and then they take a percent of the yield as a tax.  

A farmer from Mon State said that if the area they plant with the
government?s crop produces an insufficient harvest, they must pay the loss
in crop value with cash to the SPDC. 


ARMY ORDERS VILLAGERS TO REPORT FOR FORCED LABOR 

Copy of an Army Order submitted to the MoJo office states:  ?At least one
member of each family in the village must report to the #20 Ward PDC office
of Shwe Pauk Kan new township on June 13 at 6:30 am for ground clearing
detail.?


SPDC OFFICERS OPENLY EXTORT FOOD AND MONEY 

SPDC LIU #548, Column 1, led by Tin Maung Htwe, arrived at Lone Dar on June
29.  They took a 20-days-old pig from a villager, without any reason.  ?It
is a fine,? they said.  

Maj. Thet Thone, of LIU #2, Brigade #44, came to Ta Maw Township on July 6.
 He demanded payment of 17,500 kyat per village, for 10 villages, as porter
fees.  He also demanded one pig, weighing over 30 viss.  The village
headmen had to take responsibility for the execution of these orders, by
letter to them.


SPDC AND DKBA 6-DAY ROBBERY SPREE LEAVES VILLAGERS STARVING 

[Background: The DKBA (?Democratic Karen Buddhist Army?) left the Karen
National Union?s 40-year-old resistance movement in 1995, and now they
fight their KNU brothers with money and weapons supplied by the SPDC.]  

Maj. Soe Myint of LIU #2, and Maung Chit Thu of DKBA leading group, went to
the villages along Mae Pa Lae River, Pa-an District, on June 19-24, in and
out.  In Pah Klu village, 85 chickens, one goat, 5 baskets of rice were
stolen.  Again at Wa Kee village, 20 chickens, 2 pigs, 4 baskets of rice
were taken.  Again at Ta Ri Kyo and Day Law Pla villages, 66 chickens, 5
pigs, 6 ducks, eight goats, 6 baskets of rice, were taken by force.


DKBA MERCENARIES ROB VILLAGERS OF CASH AND GOLD

DKBA Regiment #2, led by Ah Shar, arrived at Kyet Tu Ywe village in Pa-an
District, formerly the KNU Brigade #7 area, on May 28th, at 8 pm.  They
proceeded to rob the villagers of 100,000 Kyat and several grams of gold,
shooting and seriously wounding a 65-year-old man.


DKBA MERCENARIES COPY SPDC METHODS OF ROBBING AND KILLING CIVILIANS

DKBA Regiment #4 (of military unit 999), led by Saw Chit Win, arrived at
Apa Lan Gone village in Pa-an District on May 25th, at 8 pm.  They arrested
U Chap Paw?s son, Saw Kyaw Kaw, 31 years old, for allegedly having had
contact with the KNU.  A DKBA soldier shot at Saw Kyaw Kaw, who died
immediately.  However, the bullet passed through Saw Kyaw Kaw?s body and
struck DKBA commander Saw Chit Win, who sustained some injury.

Saw Chit Win then ordered the villagers to pay him 350,000 kyat for his
?medical expenses?.  But having no money to give him, over half of the 200
families in the village ran away in fear.


SPDC SOLDIERS RESENT MIS, DESERTIONS INCREASING

The Burmese ?State Peace and Development Committee?, which runs the army,
also needs the Military Intelligence Service to stay in power.  Therefore,
a rivalry has developed between these two armed groups.  Army soldiers
complain that MIS agents are taking bribes and living well, while the army
has not enough money to feed the troops.  This causes the soldiers to lose
heart, and desertions have increased.  

MIS knows about the deserters, and their agents check every bus station in
the major cities to catch them.  For example, Aye Tun and Myo Aung from LIU
#42 based in Shwe Bo Township were arrested at the Kyauk Mae railway
station.  Another 5 soldiers from LIU #247 were arrested in May.  Many
soldiers feel deceived by their officers for many reasons, so they run away.

Disputes have also broken out between the MIS and the SPDC?s civilian
intelligence groups  the USDA, the Volunteer Fire Department, and the Red
Cross.  The civilian groups brag that they know all the MIS agents? names
and where they are stationed.  This rivalry among SPDC spy groups is
weakening SPDC intelligence efforts and the military control of the
population.


QUIET STRIKE IN RANGOON'S HLAING THA YA TOWNSHIP 

SPDC government took land from local people in the Hlaing Tha Ya Township
by claiming that the the local people, who had title to the land, had
encroached on it.  Then the army unlawfully occupied the land.  

The true owners of the land, over 100 people, at 9:15 am on 30 May 1999,
demonstrated for 20 minutes against the army at the Township PDC office.
They carried a sign saying, "We are Demonstrating without Support of
Political Parties", and "We Are Striking Peacefully to Recover our Land".
But even though the people were peacefully gathered, the MI arrested the
two strike leaders that evening, and held them in jail for six days.


BURMA?S TRAVEL PASS

Citizens in Burma are no longer allowed to travel at will.  A Government
Travel Certificate from Aung Than Tha village was recently sent to the MoJo
office.  It is an example of the travel pass that the government requires
of its citizens if they want to go from one place to another.  The pass
must be paid for with cash.


JAIL CONDITIONS IN BURMA 

Many countries and human rights organizations confirm the terrible
conditions in Burma's jails.  

Some of these conditions and occurrences are:

Insufficient and poor quality food;
Insufficient water for drinking or washing;
Overcrowding of cells;
Hard labor severely enforced;
Absence of medicine or medical care;
Widespread mental and physical torture; and
Death from torture or neglect.  

Many prisoners have also become paralyzed, crippled, or have contracted
serious diseases while in jail.  Family visits are restricted or not
allowed.  There is almost never any legal help permitted.  Therefore, many
prisoners attempt to escape by breaking out of the jail, whenever possible.  

On June 8, for example, five prisoners at Moulmein jail, cell block #5
(two) and cell block #16 (three), broke the iron bars on their windows and
were able to escape.


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