KAO WAO NEWS NO. 78
An electronic newsletter for social justice and
freedom in
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READERS’ FRONT
DEPORTATION OR
PROTECTION FOR GUERRILLA LEADER
MON COMMUNITY RIGHTS
IN THAI VERSION
DETAINED VILLAGERS
SEEK HAVEN IN THE EAST
THE
SPEAK BURMESE OR PAY
THE PRICE
DKBA: NEVER
SURRENDER TO SPDC
THE DIVERSE MINDSETS
OF BURMESE POLITICAL CULTURES
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READERS’ FRONT
Dear Readers,
We invite comments and suggestions on improvements to
Kao-Wao newsletter. With your help, we hope that Kao-Wao News will continue to
grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in
Regards,
Editor
[email protected],
[email protected]
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Dear Kao Wao,
The Kao Wao’s webpage Mon version
is boring. I am looking to read more new articles and current events in
Mon language in your website but it has not been updated. It would be
great if you can add current news and related issues in
All the best,
Nai Mon (
________________________________
On Speak Burmese or Pay the Price
If the SPDC keeps up
this kind of injustice, the nation will continue to be in civil strife and one
day fall to complete RUIN....and when that day comes, Taloke
Poke (rotten Chinese) will march in and then all the people will be forced to
speak Chinese OR PAY THE PRICE...
WOOT LAIR MAIR!!! (The Wheel of Karma will
turn) If we don't want to pay the price, then we have to get rid of SPDC
and restore Freedom, Equality, and Democracy to Each and Every Ethnic Group.
Sincerely,
Yebaw Day
(Via internet discussion)
___________________________________
Racial discrimination
with Burman-centric mentality, the regime has been undertaking an ethnic
cleansing operation and wiping out the peaceful, loving Mon peoples from their
Mon land.
Min Thura
Wynn
(Via internet discussion)
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DEPORTATION OR
PROTECTION FOR GUERRILLA LEADER
(Kao Wao:
The fate of Mon guerrilla leader, Nai
Pan Nyunt and his spouse, under Thai army custody is unclear on whether they
will be deported back to Burma or not.
Colonel Pan Nyunt was reportedly transferred to Karnchanaburi
Immigration Detention Centre. Following
a rumor that the HRP leader will be deported back to
“I was not allowed to
see him because the officer who decides if he can have visitors was absent at
that time. The police in charge said to come the next day and not to
worry,” said a Mon community leader in
The police source,
according to MUL leader, said Nai Pan Nyunt's injuries have not completely recovered yet; he needs
weekly check ups at the hospital.
Colonel Nai Pan Nyunt broke away
from the New Mon State Party with 153 troops and formed the Hongsawatoi
Restoration Party (HRP) in November 2001 claiming the cease-fire agreement
between the military junta and New Mon State Party was fruitless and resumed
fighting against the junta.
The leader HRP escaped with 3 gunshot wounds, one through
the neck, after a bloody sabotage near Thailand-Burma’s southern border on
All of his five children and two guards were killed while
he and his wife escaped with wounds during the attack, reportedly by the Karen
National Union which hasn’t claimed responsibility, and Muslim supporters, at a
camp near Prachub Khirikhan
Thai border in southern
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Book Review
MON COMMUNITY RIGHTS
IN THAI VERSION
Mon Community Rights (Thai Version): The case of the impact
of the gas pipeline towards local community and Mon refugees at Sangkhlaburi District,
With the size of 14.5 x 21 cm, 498 pages and price in Thai
Baht 350, this research surveys Mon ethno-history from prehistory to the
present; from Dvaravati and Hariphunchai
in Thailand to Thaton, Martaban
and Pegu kingdoms in Burma until the Mon downfall in
1757; the Mon migrations and settlements in Thailand from Ayutthaya
to early Bangkok period. It also covers Mon culture, tradition, and ways
of life in Thailand; the roles of Mon people in Thai history and influences of
Mon culture in Thailand, in order to synthesize the concept of Mon community
rights, with the help of data from Mon ancient law, Mon literature and
interviews with Mon people in the communities.
The book found that Mon community rights are also based on
the beliefs in animism and Buddhism. The Mon community entity is formed on the
awareness of distinguished identity of the Mon people. The structure of power
ideology and relation of community are from the level of the family's
House-hold Spirit, the clan's Ancestor Spirit, the Guardian Spirit of the village,
the monastery of the group of villages and localities. The Mon Community Rights
includes the rights in using language, protection from the community, religious
belief, community establishment, community leader election, receiving justice,
the right of the first comer, the benefit maker as necessary and the common
resource management.
The book surveys the political movements for autonomous
rights of the Mon people in
It evaluates violations of human rights against the Mon
people, on the non-acquisition of Thai nationality, and discrimination
practices on Mon refugees. The incidents invoke the call for Thai nationality
and official refugee status. The conclusion suggests a policy for the Mon
community rights and human rights for Mon refugees in
“It is a good information paper for those
many Thai Mons who can not read in their language.
The Thai Mons are getting more active and even have
the rights to officially learn their language; but it is still a long way to go
because many resource (teachers and materials) are needed to revitalize their
language,” said a Thai Mon leader in Bangkok.
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Over 500
villagers of Paukpinkwin in southern Ye were detained
by Burma Army
DETAINED VILLAGERS
SEEK HAVEN IN THE EAST
(Reported by Tarragon:
Sangkhlaburi – A village headman
newly arrived to a Mon refugee camp reported that villagers, suspected as rebel
sympathizers, are being held in detention by the Burma Army.
The village headman, along with his family, escaped from
the village at night fearing for their lives. “I told my family that I
must leave the village, or I will be killed,” he said during an interview in
the camp.
A Buddhist temple, which is also a meeting center and a
school for the Mon, has been transformed into a Burma Army base and temporary
detention center for the 12 detainees, along with the children are all being
held there. The detainees are not permitted to use mosquito nets when
they sleep at night, critical in the malarial infested jungle.
Local source reported the BA has been using the temple for
its base for about four months, launching several operations against the Mon
armed group. Held in the detention center at gunpoint, the villagers were
fed only one meal a day even though their families had come by to feed them
twice a day through the soldiers, the soldiers keep the food for
themselves.
About half of the villagers (over 500) were detained in
other places for one day, where there were many mosquitoes and malaria; some of
them, mostly children were suffering from malaria and high fever.
A villager spoke to Kao Wao that a young woman from Paukpinkwin is suffering from psychological stress and her
newborn baby son is suffering from malaria while being detained at the Burma Army’s
temporary camp. Her parents were not allowed to see her and had to care
for her baby who was sick and crying for his mother, said the villager who fled
to the border seeking refuge two months ago.
Four villagers confirmed the facts of what he said.
“She is too afraid of Burmese soldiers. I took her to
see the traditional (herbal) doctor in the village and then took her back to
the detention center. Due to duress she is unable to breast-feed her
baby, which caused the boy to cry the whole day and
the baby is suffering from malaria now,” said the headman.
The State Peace and Development Council, the government of
The BA destroyed nine houses belonging to the villagers, as
punishment for providing shelter to Mon rebels.
Recently over one hundred villagers fled from the village
into an area designated as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp under the
New Mon State Party control area, while some have fled to border. The village
headman last week migrated to
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Torture,
imprisonment and violence against women continue
Three villagers, suspected as rebel sympathizers, have been
sentenced to seven years in jail and a young man was brutally beaten to death
in the prison after the SPDC claimed they were rebel supporters.
The BA also killed Mr. Nai Chit Htwe age 35, who was the SPDC officer of Transportation
Department. He was in charge of the railway station in the village.
According to the headman, he was accused of being a Mon
rebel supporter for he was a Mon nationality even though he was the government
civil servant.
During the past nine months the SPDC has been staying in
the village. The BA joined in with the village headmen and collected 1,800,000
Kyats in taxes, say two women who arrived at the border, who spoke under
condition of anonymity to Kao Wao during an interview. The two women
secretly fled from their village, leaving their children behind in the village.
Ms. Mi Chan (not real name), age 14, was raped and wounded
in the arm while trying to escape from the BA soldiers who threatened her with
a knife. She was raped at her own house at about 8 p.m
local time; the headman quoted her mother as saying. Some say the perpetrator
is a captain, but some say they didn’t know who the perpetrator was.
“The young girl shouted and the villagers including
me went to rescue her,” an eye witness said.
One of the two women from a different group say that
another woman Ms. Mi Tar (not real name), age 16, was also raped after being
taken away for three days from her house.
“I am reluctant to visit her because she was upset in her
house, she didn’t dare to visit even her neighbors (likely because she had been
raped, villagers look down on rape victims, and the victims are too ashamed to
face them),” said the woman who is Tar’s friend and also a neighbor.
However, the village headman said he couldn’t confirm that
Tar was raped even though her friend said it was the case. “The village headman
was wrong, I am sure she was raped,” Ms. Htay added.
Local witness said the victim was accused of being the
girlfriend of a Mon armed guerrilla. Her mother told the BA Captain Ba Lay not to harass her daughter, then the Captain reacted
angrily shouting at her, “Do you want a life sentence punishment?”
To escape being raped by the BA soldiers, some of the young
women fled to safer areas, one of the five families from another part of
northern
Many local Mon people who cannot speak Burmese were fined
and tortured as punishment.
“Ms Mi Soila (not real name) age
21, fled from the village after she was taken by the soldiers one night as
punishment for not speaking Burmese,” Ms Mi Yin said. Her mother, she said,
told her to flee from the village for fear of being raped in the future.
“If we speak to them in the Mon (language) when the
soldiers asked in Burmese then we are fined and punished, such as carrying
heavy loads on our heads,” says an old woman, Mrs Mi
Day who recently arrived onto Thai soil.
Local villagers reported the BA soldiers punished the
villagers for not speaking back in Burmese.
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SPEAK BURMESE OR PAY
THE PRICE
(
Refugees who recently fled to Thai Burma border reported
that Mon people who cannot speak Burmese were discriminated and abused by the
Burma Army during its military operation against the ethnic armed group.
“The villagers who could not answer questions in Burmese
demanded by the State Peace and Development Council’s soldiers were taken to a
military base and freed after being drilled over and over to speak many times
in Burmese,” says an elder woman, Mrs. Mi Mon (not her real name) from a group
of five families who left her village in southern Ye and have arrived onto Thai
soil near the border last week.
When asked what kinds of questions the BA usually asked,
she said that the soldiers wanted to know what food or curry was cooked, they
would come around to the houses during the cooking hours.
A young woman, Miss Mi Soila was
taken to the army base because she couldn’t speak or even understand the
Burmese when a soldier asked her what kind of curry she was cooking, said the
elder woman who arrived to the Thai border with her grandchildren. Mrs.
Mi Yin of the group agreed with the elder woman’s claim.
Mrs. Mi Htay (not her real name)
from Wae Kwao village who
is now staying in the Halockhanee Mon Refugee camp
said that her nephew was punished for not speaking Burmese properly and ordered
to clear grass and bushes after he didn’t understand a question in Burmese
asked by soldiers while traveling outside the village.
Some of the villagers, Htay said,
were fined between 100,000 and 300,000 Kyats (Burmese currency) for not being
able to speak Burmese. They were accused of supporting the Hongsawatoi
Restoration Party (HRP), Mon armed group, for they did not reply to answers
shouted by soldiers. “The BA accused the villagers of being keep secret
for pretend as cannot speak Burmese and many have been tortured because they
cannot speak Burmese language,” she added.
A village headman of Wae Kwao (Paukpinkwin) from Ye Byu Township, Tenasserim Division
told Kao Wao that most of the villagers in southern Ye area cannot speak
Burmese and the assimilation policy is used by the SPDC soldiers while staying
in the villages. He and his family fled from the village to escape from
being killed for he was accused as a Mon armed group sympathizer. He said that
the SPDC in Ye township, Mon state, deployed troops to capture him and
villagers during his trip to the border.
Civilians in this area rarely have any citizenship cards or
ID cards since the immigration officers cannot go into this area. Many villages
in southern Ye and Ye Byu
area is defined by the SPDC as a Black Area (free-fire zone) and they also lost
the chance to vote in the general election in 1990.
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Relationship
between
(By Shah Paung/
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, said on
Thursday it had intercepted a
message indicating that the Burma
Army intended to confiscate its weapons.
According to DKBA Maj Saw Lay
Win, the intercepted message said Burmese forces would “start to confiscate our
weapons on November 25.”
Maj Saw Lay Win said the DKBA
would refuse to give up its weapons. “We will fight them (government forces)
back,” he vowed.
Maj Saw Lay Win’s DKBA forces,
deployed near
In 1995, the DKBA broke away from the Karen National Union,
or KNU, and agreed a cease-fire with
Maj SawLay
Win said there had been no official word from
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DKBA: NEVER
SURRENDER TO SPDC
(Taing Taw,
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army says that it will fight
against SPDC in response to a rumor that the DKBA must give up their arms to
the military junta.
Captain Lay Winn of the DKBA at the
He says that Lay Winn had looked at the probable area of
confrontation, which is about three, or four kilometers from the Thai Burma
border town in preparation to fight back when its troops were pressured to give
up their arms. Karen National Union (KNU), he added, is also being
deployed around the area, which is not so far from the Three Pagodas Pass.
Reflecting the tense nature of relationship after General
Khin Nyunt and MI (Military Intelligence) were dismissed, the Burma Army
commander in the
“Lay Winn was forced not to join a religious ceremony while
the (Burma Army) Commander was there,” says the resident to Kao Wao under
condition of anonymity.
Secretary 1, Lieutenant Generals Thein
Sein and Mauna Bo, the chief commanders of the
southern
New Mon State Party (NMSP) liaison office in Sangkhlaburi said that its leaders including Vice-President
General Htaw Mon recently met the SPDC leaders to
talk about the process of the cease-fire agreement. “The SPDC told our
leaders not to change the truce process because of the ousting of Prime Minister
Khin Nyunt,” Chief Liaison Officer Mr. Nai Ong Shein said.
Today, the leaders of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and
the SPDC met in the capital of Karen state.
*************************************************************
The second
part series on the role of the military and civil society in
THE DIVERSE MINDSETS
OF BURMESE POLITICAL CULTURES
(By Banya Hongsar,
Can only the Burman (SPDC or Tadmadaw)
maintain the Union of Burma and keep the nation strong in the future?
However, the SPDC has controlled power for over fifteen years, with little
military might and political treaties by its opponents. The SPDC knows that the
NLD cannot defeat them unless Daw Suu leads the campaign, and the ethnic armed
groups have very limited resources to launch a military strike against
A clash of dogmatic ideologies, the lack of a political
will, no vision in the making, and self-serving political individuals who are
entirely motivated by power are at the root of all the problems in the country.
All there energy is spent on maintaining their status in the game, with the
SPDC holding onto its rigid policy in playing an active role in power politics
and the NLD holding steadfast to its mandate on the popular 1990 election
results. The UNLD+UNA remain glued to its policy of self-determination
and federalist political agenda. The exile and border based political and
armed organizations waste a lot of their time clinging to its political goal in
toppling the SPDC and military rule in the country. However, no political
mindset has been installed that encompasses everyone’s motivations about
community life and no massive campaign has taken place to achieve a consensus
and reach for a common goal for the people. As a consequence, people suffer,
with no end in site of poverty, displacement, ongoing conflict, lack of
economic freedom and the lack of health and education programs for the
community. People are not informed at all or are part of any decision making
that goes on when foreign aid comes in, as none have been invited to give their
opinions on the local, national and State’s political affairs, whether it be on
AIDS, housing, education, etc.
A new mindset and simple politics:
Like it or not, a new political mindset on
Unless all Burmese people have access to adequate schools,
clinics, hospitals, shopping centers, the Internet, recreational sporting halls
and other community institutions such as libraries, transportation and housing,
water supply and electricity, none of the political ideology is best served by the
community. A new mindset ought to begin individually and collectively,
the SPDC, the NLD and NDF+NCUB, led by ethnic leaders, ought to bring a new
vision of hope to the local communities that promote economic and resource
management, infrastructure and forest community development projects and bring
to the book all injustices committed by Burma's soldiers, and insurgent groups
and Tadmadaw members.
Community leaders must make it their top priority to move
the reform agenda forward, bring together the SPDC, NLD and NCUB leaders to
begin a dialogue on the political future of the country. Of course, the role of
civil society groups and the rights of all people must be protected by a new
Constitution. A big, top-heavy government is an ineffective government while a
small government is much better at nation building being informed by the grass
roots. Unless the role of non-military men and women, students, businessmen,
religious leaders and local traders take center stage in nation building, our
country will be weak and development will be hindered. No military led
government, dominated by one party has ever achieved prosperity and lacks the
national capacity to maintain good governance. For example,
U Aung Zaw, Editor of the Irrawaddy Magazine, declared at the Burma Debate in 2000,
“I think that the democracy movement needs to be more critical. We need more
critical thinkers, more open minded Burmese who want to promote democracy in
Starting from Scratch?
To introduce a new political mindset in the community,
public and private education, health system, financial and economic management,
public administration and all forms of public services should be placed into
the hands of local civilians. Politicians and army-affiliated personnel
should be willing to work with the people or step aside and find alternative
employment for a living. A framework of democracy and federalism is required to
promote community living and an independent media is a crucial tool to support
this cause. There are hundreds and thousands of books and journals on
Hundreds of thousands of armed resistances forces,
political activists, human right’s workers, journalists, and workers from all
walks of life have to be prepared to work together for a new campaign in the
country. A campaign to achieve a "just
No peace without equality, no harmony without tolerance, no
unity without respect and no democracy without freedom of expression. The SPDC,
the NLD and other politicians and leaders of all organizations have to heal all
their wounds of the past and retreat from the disease of ideology and rein in
their egos in clinging to power by way of the divide and rule policy. The SPDC
and its friend the military stand guard in almost every street corner which
creates fear that suppresses public confidence. Leaders of all parties (army
leaders and political leaders alike) ought to lift up the spirits of their
fellow citizens to take a more active role in local, national, and regional
affairs in working together in creating a new policy, agenda, and framework
that will work for their people. If leaders don’t listen to their followers or
if the government does not care about the people’s opinion, then society will
die and our future will be sorrowful.
From the table to the grass-root community activities
Over the last fifteen years, hundreds of seminars,
conferences, training, and workshops have been conducted on
Citizens of
End of Part Two
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In the Region
(The Nation:
The Malaysian Parliament yesterday condemned the
security crackdown that lead to the deaths of 85 Thai Muslims in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district last month.
“The (Malaysian) Parliament endorsed a motion proposed by Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS)
party that condemned the aggressive use of power in Narathiwat
province that led to numerous deaths among Muslims. We join the international
community in condemning the incident,” the Malay-language newspaper, Berita Harian, reported.
A PAS MP, Syed Hasman, said that the motion was proposed because Muslims
in the southern provinces of
The crackdown had affected the feeling of Malaysians,
particularly those living in
Passing the motion did not constitute interference in
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak
Phuangketkeow, meanwhile, said the endorsement of the
motion was an internal issue for
Sihasak told the BBC that
He said the Thai government has asked
The Malaysian ministers said earlier that they wished to
meet Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
to discuss the incident.
“We would like to give the time and opportunity for our
investigation panel to gather information and evidence,” Sihasak
said.
“To get the information the Malaysian ministers want, they
do not have to come to
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KAO WAO NEWS GROUP
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