* To monitor human rights situations in Mon territory
and other areas southern part of
* To protect and promote internationally recognized
human rights in
human rights foundation of monland
Human Rights Report 4/97 (September, 1997)
Conscription of Forced
Labour by the SLORC
in Mon Areas' Development Projects
Report One
Ye-Tavoy Railway Construction
Report Two
Ye-Magyi Truck Road
Report Three
Kya-lnn-Seikyi-Taungbauk
Truck Road
Some Acronyms
SLORC
- State Law and Order Restoration
Council,
NMSP
- New
KNU - Karen National
KNLA
- Karen National Liberation Army,
IB - Regular Infantry
Battalion of SLORC,
LIB
- Light Infantry Battalion of SLORC,
Conscription of Forced
Labour by the SLORC
in Mon Areas' Development Projects
Introduction of road construction in Mon areas
When the military regime, SLORC, seized
power in
While SLORC is implementing
various infrastructure development projects in the whole
In Mon areas, the SLORC has built mainly motor and
rail roads by forcing the local Mon villagers. In this report, we would like to
explain three road construction projects which has
used many thousands of Mon villagers to contribute free labour. And we also
focus on-going situation of construction of forced labour in previous 9 months
of 1997.
The three road construction projects are:
(1) 110 mile (160 kilometers)
long Ye-Tavoy railway construction
(2) 15 mile long Ye-Magyi
truck road and
(3) 15 mile
long Kya-Inn-Seikyi-Taungbauk Truck road.
The above Ye-Tavoy railway
construction is an infrastructure development project of the government while
the other two projects are local development implemented by the local SLORC
authorities. Even the later two truck road constructions are considerably small
development projects, thousands of villagers are conscripted as forced
labourers to work in there and they are effected with
various difficulties in their daily life.
Appalling condition in the work-site and Mistreatment
by the military
Through for many years since
the military conscripted the local villagers to build the railway and motor
road, they were never provided any assistance by the military. They have to
bring their own tools and foods to work in the construction.
Under the instruction of the
military, the villagers were also put with burden works such as digging the
earth, building embankment, collecting fire-woods and rails bed stones and
etc.,. Since they have to contribute labour mostly in burden works, they have
no rest time. In any work-site, they were never provided any shelters, foods,
and other needs in the construction. Besides the help
provided by the military, they also collect extortion from the villagers such
as security tax in the area, money for hiring labourers and others.
While they are working in the
construction, if their workforce is not met the satisfaction of the soldiers,
they are severely punished. Or, if they took a rest in the construction site,
they must be severely punished by the soldiers. If they are late to work, they
also must be punished by the military again.
For instances,
In third
week of March, a column of IB 61 which came from Ye to try arresting some
robbers who actived in area between Koemile and Yapu area. When the soldiers launched a patrol inside the
forest, they met about 20 villagers from Paukpin, Natkyisin villagers who were
gathering firewoods. They arrested and beat all those villagers although they
met the evidence that the villagers were cutting trees and sawing to get the
needed length of fire-woods. The villagers explained to the soldiers they were
instructed by LIB 408 to collect fire-woods for railway construction in making
bricks, but the soldiers did not accept the complaint.
In second week of April,
1997, a sick man from Paukpingwin village working in the Ye-Tavoy railway construction
was severely beaten by LIB 408. His name is Nai Seal, 54 years old, and he was
conscripted as forced labourer although he got sick. While he was working, he
tired and took a rest. Two soldiers who guarded the labourers came and beat him
with their gun butts. He lost consciousness for a while and after he recovered
the soldiers forced him to continue working.
In the last week of April,
1997, three villagers from Paukpingwin, Nai Aung Ngwe, Nai Gale, and Ah Lon (13
years old), were arrested in their farm while they were reaping the crops. They
were detained for half day in the military outpost of LIB 408 in Paukpingwin
village and the soldiers beat them
with accusation they escaped the work-duties instructed by the soldiers, (see
interview # 1)
In first week of March
1997, a man from Weithalee village of Kya-Inn-Seikyi township, Nai Nyae (60
years old), was beaten by the soldiers from LIB 356. He could not work like
other villagers in building the embankment of Kya-Inn-Seikyi-Taungbauk truck
road and one soldiers came and beat him severely. Then
other two soldiers came and joined him in beating the old man. (The
interviewee, 75 years old, in the below interview # 3 was also beaten by
soldiers)
Normally,
the villagers who are hardly working in construction under the bad weather
conditions such as hard rains and sunshine always get sickness. But the
military have never provided them with medicines and no health worker is
assisted in the construction sites. The villagers brought along with them and
when they are sick, they have to buy medicines and treat themselves.
Report One
Ye-Tavoy railway
construction
Long-term conscription of forced labour and the
situation in 1997
Sine the month of September,
1993, this railway construction was started with forced labourers of local
villagers from four townships namely Ye
The SLORC always claimed that
this road was built with self-help of the concerned community. In the beginning
half year of 1996, huge number, about 200, 000, of villagers and town residents
from lower section of
In mid 1996, to counter the
mounting of international pressure against its use of forced labour, SLORC
reduced uses of forced labourers in the railway construction and in stead of
using villagers they replaced with soldiers from local battalions to work with
available payment. The battalions from LIB 401 through 410 has received payment
from government and but at the same time, thousands of villagers have been
still forced to work in the construction. From September through October, the
villagers were conscripted again by these local military battalions From
October 1996 up to the beginning of 1997, the conscription of massive villagers
were stopped for a while. However, villagers from some village tracts were also
forced to do many jobs supporting the construction such as collecting materials
to build camps for soldiers in the work-sites along the road, gathering
fire-woods and bring logistics and water, etc..
In February 1997, the
conscription of forced labour was resumed again. SLORC had hurried to complete
another section of construction from Ye to Koe-mile,
the end point of
Besides building the
embankment, the villagers all village tracts along the road were forced in
works such as cutting trees to get fire-woods in making bricks for bridge
construction, to gather rails bed stones from the streams and forests and crash
it to be a needed size and bring it to the embankment. And some were forced to
cut hard-woods for rails sleepers.
At the same time, in April
1997, the military conscripted the villagers to find rails bed stones in the
area. It was also a hard work. In every morning, the villagers had to travel to
stream and collect the big stones. Then they crashed it into the needed pieces
and brought it to rail road embankment. When we conducted interview with
villagers, they explained that the whole family members including mother, sons and
daughters had no time to work in their farms, plantations and fishing. They
have considerably no income for the whole dry season.
Almost the construction of
railway embankment was completed for the whole route, since the beginning of
1997, and as a next step SLORC has planned to complete building of bridges
along the route. Estimately, there are 26 bridges to be built across big river
and small streams along the route. In 1996, its local troops forced the
villagers for a preparation in each bridge such as filling dirt and wood beside
the stream or river banks and make it to be strong.
In each of bridge building,
it needs a lot of bricks. A total of 26 bridges need many hundred tons of
bricks and SLORC local troops could not bring it from the brick-making
factories far from the area. Then it planned to make bricks in the places close
to each bridge. In the process of making bricks, they needed huge fire-wood.
The huge fire-wood must be used to burn the earth to become a good quality
bricks. To get these fire-woods, the villagers in Natkyisin and Yepu village
tracts were forced since the beginning of 1997 to find it in forests.
According a villager from
Paukpingwin (in Natkyisin village tract), each family from this village tract
had to provide at least 4 kyins of fire-woods per month. (100 cubic feet is a
Kyin) They were instructed to provide the fire-woods from February through May.
The villagers had responsibility to bring their fire-woods from forests to the
railway and put it beside the road. At the same time, about 10 oxen-carts of
each village were asked by the military for the transportation of these
fire-woods to the designated places. Once when one village sold his oxen-cart
as he cleverly refused from the conscription of oxen-cart from him, he was severely
beaten by the military.
After many trees were cut in
nearer forests, the villagers have to go further inside the forest to get
fire-woods. The military will not accept the bad quality of fire-wood and the
collection of it was a hard work-duty for all villagers to complete in set
time. According to a villager who reached to a Mon refugee camp, he said that
if one person of the family to get one Kyin of firewood and bring it to the
designed places, he may have to spend at least 7 days. Thus, all family
members have to hurry to get the set quota of fire-wood by the military or they
will face punishment. For the villagers who could not provide fire-woods must
have to hire substitute or buy it from other villagers. One Kyin of fire-wood
costs about 1000 Kyat.
While some villagers from the
same village tract were facing to find fire-wood, some villagers from another
village tract to find rails sleepers. The villagers from Yapu village tract who
have no responsibility to find fire-wood were forced to provide rails sleepers.
The military need the high quality of hard-wood to make sleepers. These
villagers were instructed to bring totally about 2,500 pieces of sleepers. The measures of a sleeper is six inches square in block and six
feets in length.
At the same time, the
villagers from both village tracts were forced to collect stones for rails bed
stones without any payment. All families in these villages were also
consistently forced to collect rails bed stones in the streams or hills and
bring to the embankment of railway, crash it into the needed size, and lay it
on the embankment.
Each family was forced to
work these works at least one week per month.
In 1997, the construction of
this road section was used with forced labour of about 500 prisoners. Those
prisoners were normally brought from
The role of soldiers in the construction
Since mid of June, 1996, through
the beginning of 1997, only two battalions of SLORC's LIB 401 and 407 have
continuously worked in the construction. The both battalions' soldiers received
payment from this project and before they started the projects, each battalions received about one million Kyat advance payment
from the government. The government agreed to give contract and whenever they
completed some processes of the construction, they must surely receive the
possible payment from the government again.
The above mentioned
LIB 401 and 407 have taken contract to work in the construction section between
the Eindayaza and Hsinku village.
The LIB 408 also took contract from the government and worked in the
construction section between Paukpingwin and 14 miles area for two months in
September and October, 1996, and later the soldiers abandoned the agreement and
stopped working.
When the soldiers forced the
villagers in the construction, they did not feel how the works were hard and
when they really worked even with payment, they knew all works in the
construction were hard. When the soldiers agreed to work in the construction
and took contract from the government, the villagers had already completed the
building of rail embankment which is the most hardest
works among all processes of the construction. When the soldiers started
working, they did not have to build the embankment and just collected rails bed
stones and laid on the embankment. This work was the
last process of construction before laying iron rails.
Up to May 1997, only two
battalions LIB 401 and LIB 407 left in the construction and the other
battalions returned to their barracks and stopped working. Most soldiers felt
disappointed for hard work in the construction and abandoned it, but the
government never took actions to their men. Previously whenever the villagers
escaped from the conscription of forced labour or work-force was not met
satisfaction of the soldiers, they must have been severely beaten or mistreated
by the soldiers.
After many soldiers disagreed
and abandoned working in the construction, the government could not finish this
construction in time as it hoped. That was why the conscription of forced
labour from the local villagers was resumed again at the beginning of 1997. The
population number working in the construction was not huge like previous years
in 1995 and 1996. According to villagers in the Hsinku and Eindayaza village
tracts, although the LIB 401 and 408 are working in the construction, the
villagers were also asked by these battalions to build the labour camps, to
make cooking, to collect fire-woods for the military. At least 2 male villagers
from each village have been constantly asked by the military.
In the Paukpingwin-14-mile
construction section, after LIB 408 stopped working, the higher SLORC
authorities tried to get another troops to replace. But no troop came and
agreed to work. Then, the officers from LIB 408 started conscripting the
villagers again.
SLORC hired and gave contract
to the skill workers who came from other areas to make bricks for bridge
construction. Those skill workers received 600 Kyat per kyin of bricks from the
factories. (One Kyin of brick is in measures of 100 cubic feets.) According to
them they receive about 2,000 Kyat per Kyin when they sell it to the private or
construction companies. But they satisfied with the price the military paid
them because they did not have no duty to collect
firewoods.
Thus, the villagers have been
suffered from the conscription of forced labour for the whole time and when they
could not provide manual labour they have to contribute payment to the military
or hired the substitute. As a result, the local villagers abandoned their
villages, homes, farms, lives-stocks and then escaped into border area's
refugee camps or
Interview # 1
Name: Nai Aung Ngwe
Age/ Sex: 37 years/ male
Nationality/ Religion: Mon/Buddhism
Occupation: Farmer
Native Place:
Interview Date:
When did you arrive here (a plantation in east of
Ye-Tavoy motor road because he was internally displaced) and why?
I arrived here about three
days ago. The Burmese Army and the village chairman forced us to work in that
railway construction very often. We had no time to work in our own farm. We had
to work for them for the whole time and later we faced food-shortage and then I
moved here.
Which part of road you had to contribute labour?
This year (in 1997), we almost
had to work in work-site closely to our village. The section from our village to 14 mile
village (about 5 mile long section). Last year (in 1996) we had to go to
Tavoyan area (in southern part of the railway), in section between Ye Bone and
Kalein Aung.
How many days in one month you have to work in the
work-site close to your village?
About 20 days in one month.
We had no extra time to work in farm. We had to go to the work-site everyday in
the morning. We brought our own tool and foods from our homes and worked for
them (the military).
Besides your village, did other villagers have to work
like you?
Yes. There were many hundreds
of villagers from Waepeal, Natkyisin, Kyaukadin and others worked in the
construction sites like us. But they worked in the respective section close to
their village. The military defined the construction section for those
villagers.
What were the main works you had worked as the whole
time you were used as forced labourer?
We had to collect a lot of
fire-woods. The soldiers told us to collect it and bring to brick-making
factories, to burn the earth. The bricks were used to build bridges. We went
into forest and cut many small trees and carried it to the factories or to the
construction site and then the oxen-carts came and brought it to the factories.
The military and the village chairman (village leader) told to every family in
the village, each of them must provide four kyins of fire-woods in one month.
We had to provide 4 kyins of fire-woods every month from February through May
in this year.
Where the brick-making factories were established?
Normally, the factories were
built beside every bridge along the route. We had to walk at least 2-3 hours
from the forest we cut fire-wood to the factories.
Did you receive any payment for fire-wood from the
military? Did the workers in the
brick-making factories receive payment for their labour?
No. We, the villagers, did
not receive any payment. But the workers in the factories received payment from
the military. They received about 600 Kyat per kyin of bricks produced from
their factories. Most workers came from Ye northern area's villages and they
were not native villagers.
Did you have to work only collecting fire-woods? Or, did you have to contribute labour in
other works related to railway construction?
No. Not only collecting
fire-woods, but we also had to gather stones to lay on
the embankment. Besides collecting fire-woods, at least about four days every
month we had to gather bigs and small stones to embankment and crashed to get
the needed size. We gathered these stones in streams and hills. Every day about
40 villagers from the village had to work this stone-gathering work and on a
rotating basis, each family had to work about 4 days per month.
How many days you have to spend to collect one kyin of
fire-woods?
At least five days. We went
into forests for three days to cut some 10 inches or one feet diameter of trees
and bring it to the factories. We cut trees about three days and then spent two
days to bring it to the factories. Every family had to send two members to
complete this work within five days.
How did the military conscript the villagers to work
in the construction?
They conscripted the
villagers to work in the construction and other works related to the railway
construction through our village chairman. They have all lists of family and
population number with them. The LIB 408 discussed and sent instruction to
village chairman that how many kyins of fire-woods they needed from our village
or how many villagers they needed to gather rail bed stones.
If someone refused to work according to the
instruction, how he/she was treated by the military or your village chairman?
If someone refused the order,
he must be severely beaten by the soldiers from village's base. Nobody dared to
refuse because they knew behaviour of the soldiers. But when the villagers were
late to reach to work-site on the set date, they were severely punished by the
soldiers. Our village chairman is very bad in treating his villagers. He always
follows according to military instructions and he also likes to beat or punish
his own villagers. He also owns an small detention
cell in his house's compound. The village chairman, himself, told to the
villagers that "If you refuse to collect fire-woods or rails bed stones,
please leave from this village soon. I wouldn't like to see you faces anymore".
Did the military beat the villagers in the
construction sites or in their bases?
Did the soldiers ever beat you?
In both
places. Yes, I was beaten by the
soldiers from our village base, LIB 408. Once at the beginning of January, when
I worked reaping rice in my farm, village chairman and four soldiers came and
arrested three of us, me, my brother and my 13 years old son. We were brought
to the bases. The soldiers told us why we escaped to the farm and refused the
order that the military need 20 villagers to work in the railway. I told them
just three days ago, I came back to home after
collecting two kyins of fire-woods for the factories. The village chairman did
not remember our work-duties that he gave and did not support our complaint.
Then the soldiers beat us with gun-butts, jungle-boots and fists. On the next
day they sent us to the work-site again.
Will you stay here longer or return to your village?
I
would not like to abandon my farm. If the situation is better I will return or
the situation is worse I will go into
Report Two
Ye-
This road is divided into two
sections. The first section is from Ye to Khawza village and the second section
is from Khaw Za to Magyi village, the edge of
In 1995, under the
supervision of IB 61 and LIB 304, the first section of 10 mile long truck road
was completed by forcing the villagers nearby to contribute unpaid labour. In
1996, some part of this road was destroyed by flood water and the local troops
collected cash from the local villagers to repair it. When they actually
repaired it, the troops asked unpaid labour from the villages again.
The remaining section is
shorter than the first one and it has only 5 miles long. The construction of
this section was started since mid 1996 and the military defined the route
along the old cart-track. In enlarging the width of the road, the military
confiscated many acres of rice farmlands without any payment along the route.
In building the embankment,
all families from the villages along the route namely Khaw Za, Yinye, Yindein,
Thabya, Khonkanya, Mitawhlagyi, Mitawhlagale, Magyi, Taungkhon, Kyauktayan,
were conscripted by the military to contribute unpaid labour. At least 30 to 50
villagers from each village had been working to build the embankment since
January to May of 1997. They had to work in the construction at least one week
in every month. The main work-duty was to dig the earth from outside of the
route and fill it in the defined embankment up to 3 feets in height. If they
hired a substitute labourer they have to pay 200 Kyat per day.
When the route crosses the
rivers and streams, the villagers have been also forced to build the bridges
and the military never provided any machine support. The villagers have to
build these bridges according to instruction by the military by their own
hands. There are totally 7 big bridges on the route. Some bridges are already
completed building. The villagers themselves have to find big logs to use for
poles and surfaces of the bridge and the villagers' oxen-carts and fishing
boats were also asked by the military without payment to bring these logs from
the islands or forests.
At the moment, almost the
embankment of the whole road Ye to Magyi is completed
and there is no exact plan by government whether they create this road as
proper one by laying tar or not. Anyhow, because of forced conscription on
villagers to provide unpaid labour and cash collection to complete this road,
many local Mon villagers abandoned their villages and escaped the forced
labour.
Interview
# 2
Name: Nai Kyi
Age/Sex: (33) years, Male
Nationality/ Religion: Mon/ Buddhism
Occupation: Farmer
Native Place: Khaw Za village, Ye Township,
Interview Date:
When did you arrive to this village (a
Mon refugee camp)? And why?
I arrived here about one week
ago. We were always forced to work for the military while we were in village.
We had to work for the military for the whole time such as building the road,
portering, building barracks and etc.. Because of
regular tax extortion by the military, last year I sold my farm and became a
day-labourer. In this year, I had very few day to work
for income to support my family. At the end, I have to come here with my
family.
Which road you have to build?
Ye-Magyi
truck road. We have to build this road in the section close
to our village. What kind of work did you have to work?
For the whole dry season, we
had continuously worked building the embankment of this road. We dug out earth
from outside of embankment and filled it on the embankment. They (the
military) need the embankment with 3 feets in height. The width of the
embankment is about 12 feets along the whole route. We dug the earth outside of
the route, carried and filled it on the embankment up
to its height was reached about 3 feets.
How did the military define work-duty for each family
and how many day did you have to work in each month?
They instructed the order to
the village headmen that how many yard of road embankment for our villagers and
the village headmen defined the work-duty to all villagers. On a rotation
basis, every time they demanded villagers, about one third of the whole village
had to go and build the embankment. The village headmen instructed to complete
about 4 feet of embankment for each family. We had to complete this work-duty
about three days and then we could return. Sometime, we had to work for four
days. In one month, we were asked to work like this work-duty for three times.
Thus, we contributed labour at least about 10 days in the construction.
Besides the building of embankment, did you have to
work another works related to this construction?
Yes. We had to build bridges
in every stream which crosses the route. All bridges were built by men and the
military did not provide any mechanical assistance to the villagers. In
building these bridges, the oxen-carts and boats were also conscripted by the
military. The villagers cut big trees to make poles and surfaces of the
bridges. The villagers had to carry these big trees by boats along the seacoast
or by oxen-carts.
Did the soldiers guard the villagers while you were
working in the construction?
No. Sometimes, the commanders
and his soldiers came from Ye and checked the construction situation of the
road every week. When they pass along the embankment, the soldiers always shout
the villagers to hurry up to complete work-duty. The villagers were also afraid
when the soldiers. Sometimes they also kicked the men when they dissatisfied on
their workforce. If they met someone taking a rest, he must be kicked.
How much your income for one month? Is it enough to feed you family?
As
a day-labourer, I earn about 3000 Kyat per month. I worked in a fishing boat
and went into sea to catch fishes. We gave fishes to the boat owner and
received salary from him. If I didn't have to work for the military, I received
full salary. But later when I often worked for the military in construction or
building the military barracks, the boat owner cut my salary. It made me very difficult to support my
family. That was why I flee from my
native village.
Report Three
This truck road is about 15
miles long and situating inside
The whole construction
project is administrated by IB No. 32, which bases in Kya-Inn-Seikyi town and
Taungbauk village. So the instructed orders for the conscription of villagers
were come from the military commanders of this military battalion. The
villagers from villagers namely Taungbauk, Htipaukhlo, Waitharlee, Pharkapo,
Bokadaw, Lakepoke, Kalortort Chaung, Badargyi, West Waitharlee, Tadarpyat,
Kyaukpon, Kyaukya and others, were constantly forced to build the embankment of
this road. The most villages are around the construction area and some are
situating on the bank of Zami river.
About, at low estimation, 500
villagers were asked by the military in every day construction work. The
biggest village such as Taung Bauk and Wai Thar Lee village had to provide at
least about 50 villagers per day to work in the construction. Due to the
population numbers of a village, the village headmen had to arrange to send the
villagers according to instruction by the battalion. Even a very small village
with 40 households had to provide about 10 villagers every day. Hence, each men
or women from each family had to work in the construction about ten days within
one month.
The road passes through the
rice-fields and rubber plantations owned by Taungbauk, Htipaukhlo, Waitharlee
and Bokadaw villagers. Although the road runs along former cart path, the
embankment was enlarged and the lands along the route were confiscated. Besides
for the width of embankment, about 10 feet of the lands in each side of the
route were also confiscated to get earth from these spaces and fill it on the embankment.
All these lands were confiscated by the military without compensation. The
width of the embankment is about 15 feet and the height of it has about 5 feet
at highest place while about 3 feet at lowest place.
At the beginning of 1997, the
villagers around the area were also suffered by arresting of porters by the
military to launch the military offensives against the KNU/KNLA. The arrests
and ransom related to the portering forced the villagers to leave their home
villages in the dry season. Many poorest families in the area reached to
Interview # 3
Name: Nai Aung Kyi
Sex/ Age: Male/ 75 years
Nationality/ Religion:
Mon/ Buddhist
Occupation: Farmer
Native Place: Wai Thar Lee village, Kya-Inn-Seikyi
township, Karen State
When did you arrive to this village (Halockhani
refugee camp) and what is your main work in your native village?
I arrived here two days ago.
(He has no house and his whole family stayed with other refugees' houses.)
While I was in my village, I had a small farm and I grew rice. But the soil is
bad and we could not get much crops. I also cut
fire-woods in the forest and sell it to make income. After the end of rainy
season, I grew vegetables and sell it in the village.
In this year, after I gave
rice to the government (the government officials buy rice from local farmers
with low price, and. the farmers feel likely they give their rice to government
with free of charge), I left only 200 baskets of rice. In March, one of my
sons was arrested by soldiers to use him as porter and I gave 25, 000 Kyat to
the military in Kya-Inn-Seikyi town to take him back. Many villagers were
arrested by soldiers were arrested by soldiers and they were sent to the
front-lines in offensives against the Karen soldiers.
Besides the arrests of the porters in dry season, did
the soldiers forced you to provide free labour in the construction?
Yes. The soldiers forced us to
build the road that came from Kya-Inn-Seikyi town. The Burmese troops from IB.
No. 32 from Kya-Inn-Seikyi town always came to our village and called the
meetings with village headmen and sometimes, with villagers. Normally, every
time they came they asked for regular porters or labourers to build the road.
The villager labourers were
used to build the Kya-Inn-Seikyi-Taungbauk road construction. Since last year
November, about 50 villagers from our village had to work in the construction
everyday. Some rich villagers paid cash to military through village headmen and
avoid the forced labour. But they were very little number.
Where is the work-site? Did the villagers sleep in the work-sites?
No. The work-site is not so
far from our village. We can go early morning and take foods along with us. We
completed works about
How did the military instruct conscripting the
villagers who were far from the construction?
They gave the orders directly
to the village headmen and instructed the number of villagers to work in the
construction site. If the village headmen refused, the military threatened the
villagers that they will burn down the villages. The soldiers could not reach
very often to these villages but while they launched patrol with huge number of
troops they could burn down the villages into ashes. So the villagers were
afraid and went to the construction.
Did the soldiers guard the villagers while they were
working? Did they mistreat the
villager?
Yes. Most soldiers from
Kya-Inn-Seikyi town were guarding the villagers while working. They walked
around and along the embankment and if they met the villagers stopped working,
he must be beaten by them. Once, I was also beaten by two young soldiers. As I
was an old man, while I was taking a rest under a small tree in the rice-field,
the two soldiers met and shout me to continue working. I could not move fast to
the construction and because of I was slow, they came
and beat me severely. They beat me with their strong fist. One soldier tied me
up with his strong arms and other one beat my face with his fist. My whole face
became black and two teeth broke. I got severe injury.
Were the other
villagers beaten like you?
I think very few. Most young
villagers could work for the whole time and met satisfaction of the soldiers.
The old man like me we could not work hard and that made the soldiers to anger.
Besides the conscription
of forced labour in the road construction, can you explain me what other abuses
have been committed by soldiers?
The arresting of the porter is
very constant in our village. Sometimes, in the normal situation when there
were no fightings with Karen troops, they always asked for regular porters to
carry supplies and ammunitions for their patrol. From February through May,
they came into village very often and arrest the villagers to use as porters in
their big offensives against the Karen troops. About 50 villagers from our
village were arrested and they were sent to the frontline. Before I came here,
as I knew, three villagers disappeared and I thought they will die in the
battles.
Related to portering case,
how did the villagers have to pay the military?
If one of your relatives,
your son or husband, was arrested you must have to pay the military from 10,
000 Kyat (in February) to 25, 000 Kyat (in March) to get him back. The
portering fee for each family every month is around 300 Kyat. While they have
offensives against the Karen troops, they asked about 1000 Kyat per month.