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KHRG: Kya-In and Kawkereik Township
- Subject: KHRG: Kya-In and Kawkereik Township
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 02 Mar 1996 22:25:00
Received: (from strider) by igc4.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.16 ) id WAA21736; Sat, 2 Mar 1996 22:25:32 -0800
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 1996 22:25:32 -0800
Subject: KHRG: Kya-In and Kawkereik Townships #96-07, 1/2
SLORC IN KYA-IN & KAWKAREIK TOWNSHIPS
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
February 10, 1996 / KHRG #96-07
** PART ONE OF TWO - FOR PART TWO SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTING **
[CERTAIN DETAILS OF THIS REPORT HAVE BEEN OMITTED OR REPLACED
BY 'XXXX' FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.]
This report contains interviews conducted between December 1995 and
February 1996 with villagers from the area south of Kawkareik in Karen
State. When most of the interviews were conducted, the military situation
in the area was relatively quiet; however, by February 1996 many people
were beginning to flee the area due to rumours of an impending SLORC
offensive. Much of the area lies along SLORC's path should they decide
to launch a major offensive against the new Karen National Union
headquarters areas of Ta Law Thaw and Lay Po Hta. At the time of
printing of this report, a new KNU delegation is heading to Moulmein to
attempt to reopen ceasefire negotiations; however, hopes are low and
there are reports that SLORC is pushing a road towards the offensive
area and massing troops. If an offensive begins, the situation for all the
villagers in this report will grow much worse. In fear of an offensive,
hundreds of people have already fled to refugee camps in Thailand. In
at least one camp, the fear of a mass influx caused Thai authorities to
prohibit any new houses from being built, causing 400 new arrivals to be
jammed into the small huts of people already there.
The final 4 interviews in this report are with new arrivals in Thailand,
but all the other interviews were conducted with people in many different
villages inside Burma. For security reasons, some details have been
omitted or blanked out, and all names of those interviewed have been
changed. False names are indicated by enclosing them in quotes.
TOPIC SUMMARY: Executions (Stories #3,4,9-12), torture (#4, 9-11),
detention (#3,4,6,8,9-11), shootings (#1,13), beatings (#4,6,9,14,15),
abuse of women (#4,13), looting (#1,2,4,9,13, 14), cash extortion
(#1,2,6-9,11,13), food extortion (#1,2,4-6,9,13), land confiscation (#1),
conditions for traders (#7,8), commandeered boats (#7,8), commodity
prices (#7,8), DKBA (#2, 4,9,16), People's Militia (#7,8), people fleeing
villages (#1,6,8), new refugees in Thailand (#14-17). FORCED LABOUR:
Army camps (#1,2,4,5,7-10,13,14,16), porters (#2,4,6,7,9,13,17),
guides/messengers (#1,4,6), roads (#8,17), farming (#1,2), logging
(#1,6,9,15).
_____________________________________________________________________________
#1.
NAME: "Maung Sein" SEX: M AGE: 37 Pwo Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 5 children aged 5-15
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kawkareik Township
My village is south of Kawkareik, near the Han Thayaw River. It has over
30 houses. It is quite close to here. It is also close to SLORC Battalion
#330. Their camp has 50 soldiers. They order us to cut wood and
bamboo, and if there is also other work to do we are ordered to do it.
Each day two of us have to go for sentry duty. If we fail to go, we have
to give 100 Kyats each as compensation. We go in the mornings and
come back in the evenings. When they tell us to go find liquor for them
we have to go. Sometimes they order us to go and send letters to distant
places and we have to obey. We have to eat our own food - their rice
supplies are exclusively for them. They also ordered us to find good
timber and then made us pull those logs. They sell this timber in
Kawkareik and do business. We do not receive anything at all. It's sheer
bullying. We are forced to do it despite our resentment. They don't even
provide our food, we have to take our own food to eat.
As for me, I do the work. I have to go twice in a month. People who
don't go have to pay 100 Kyats each day - for 3 days that means 300
Kyats. Villagers close to SLORC have to go to them to do their errands,
while villagers in remote areas have to carry their loads. Soldiers watch us
while we work. While I laboured hard drawing the heavy logs, the
soldiers shouted at me and abused me like anything. Imagine, harsh
words thrown at you while you are bending under the weight of heavy
logs. Women have to go too, over ten at a time - that's including
unmarried young ladies. Today our village had to provide 20 workers.
Tomorrow another village will have to provide 20 workers. The next day
another village will have to give 20 people to work for them. Such is the
rotation. Two people have to guard their barracks for them, and 20
people are given hard labour assignments whenever they need us. There's
no distinction between the young and the old - those old folks who can't
go have to give 100 Kyats per day.
They demand our chicken and ducks and we are forced to give them, for
sure. That happens two or three times a month. And they demand rice,
certainly. Their rice supplies are very poor quality. So they take our good
rice and give us back their poor quality rice to eat. They do that to every
village which is within their reach. They come in the evenings and steal all
the fowl from the villagers. When they come, sometimes we flee but
sometimes we don't. When they open fire on people they usually miss,
because people run very fast to save their lives. Last year they shot into
our village at random and hurt some people.
This year in August they took some of our farmland, they took by force
some cattle and buffalos from the villagers and ordered us to till the
ground for them. That land yields 200 baskets of paddy. It belongs to
Maung XXXX. Then when these soldiers had to transfer to another
area, they sold the crops back to the villagers and forced them to buy it.
That earned them 3,000 Kyats from each village, 9,000 Kyats altogether
from 3 villages. [The crop was still in the field, not yet ready for harvest
when the soldiers left.] When a new group of soldiers arrived they
repeated the same thing. The villagers had to go together, one person from
each house, and take their own tools, for 4 days each month. For those
who didn't go, the soldiers seized their cattle and buffalos and never
returned them. So people have to go despite all the inconvenience. Now
the harvest is finished. The villagers were forced to reap and winnow the
crop, and then the soldiers took it away with them to the city and sold it to
the merchants. It happens over and over again. The soldiers who do this
are from Battalion #230.
This year it's just the same as last year. Those who can endure, they
endure, and those who cannot leave the area right away. Now more
people are leaving and fewer are staying on. More and more people have
lost their ability to endure it any longer. There were over 100 households
in my village, now only 30 remain. Some move to places far away from
the military camps, some fled into the jungles, and some fled to Thailand.
As for me, well! I will watch what my neighbours do, and if they move I
will move.
_____________________________________________________________________________
#2.
NAME: "Pi Yeh Paw" SEX: F AGE: 67 Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 5 children aged 23-45
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kya In Township
Our village is close to here. We pay them [SLORC] their dues, but still
when they come they take our chickens and other birds. They take even
the small chickens, and the eggs under the brooding hens. We can't stop
them, so we have to endure it. They don't listen to our objections. But
when I chased them with a stick, that made a difference! They never
come to stay, just to steal. They came and took over 10 viss [16 kg.] of
chickens, and after eating them all they came back again in search of more
chicken curry. If we don't do what they want they will harm us. What
sort of people are they? They come very often, the last time was just a
day or two ago. Just wait and you'll see, they'll be back again in 3 or 4
days. They come in a group of forty. They are number 310 [battalion].
#310 has been coming for the last 2 months [before that it was #231].
All the SLORC groups are looters. They even take our clothes if they are
not too old.
Our village has 200 or 300 houses, I think. So they cannot go into every
house. They roam along the streets of big villages and grab whatever they
see along the way. They take everything they see. Porters always have to
accompany them. They have to carry the chickens - Burmese soldiers
would never carry anything themselves, you need not ask about that. The
porters also have to carry melons and pumpkins. The Burmese soldiers
pick our pumpkins and things to cook with the chickens they steal from
us. My son had to go as a porter, and when he couldn't go I had to pay
porter money, 150 Kyat per day, 300 Kyat for 2 days. People have to go
in groups of five, every two days [on rotating basis]. That's not easy.
Do you think that's easy, brother? If we don't go they molest the villagers.
I've had to carry their loads myself.
We also have to give pork to Battalion 310, and we also have to go work
for them where their Column is based. People from M--- and
T--- villages have to go very often. They have to plant paddy,
plough the land and dig the soil for them.
Naw B---'s mother had to give them 2 of her son's [handwoven] shirts.
Very good shirts - one shirt costs 1500 Kyats. These Burmans are so
cunning - they begin by asking for just one betelnut, then they end by
taking away sackfuls. I said to them "You take our things to go and sell
them, don't you?" They admitted it and said they did. We don't dare to
hang our sarongs out to dry at night - if it's not too old and worn, they'll
steal it. They are gamblers, and when they lose at gambling they just take
a hintha duck and sell it for 200 Kyat. I have no love for them. We have
to bear so much bullying, so certainly we feel bitter.
I have not yet met any Ko Per Baw ['Yellow Headbands', meaning DKBA
- the self-named 'Democratic Karen Buddhist Army' formed in December
1994 which is allied with SLORC, completely supplied and partly
controlled by SLORC]. I only heard about them. They say something
and they do something else. Their leaders say that they don't eat meat, but
their soldiers eat meat and steal sarongs from the villagers. I heard that
when they arrived in Raw Keh and Pah Kya they stole chickens and
clothing. We do not want to see such things. People said they'd come,
but they never came. It is good that they don't appear. It is best that we
don't encounter them, don't you think so?
_____________________________________________________________________________
#3.
NAME: "Naw Say Wah" SEX: F AGE: 22 Pwo Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 2 baby daughters aged 3 months and 3 years
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kya In Township
["Naw Say Wah"'s husband Saw XXXX, age 37, was killed by SLORC on
17 or 18 December 1995 - see interview with "Pi Beh Wah" in this report.]
My husband went to XXXX village to do farm work with other
people there. It was within the last 10 days. They arrested him at XXXX
village. He was going to get some cattle vaccinated when a column
of Burmese soldiers arrived and arrested him. They were #XXX Battalion.
They took him to XXXX military camp, about 3 miles away. He was
there for 4 days. I went to the camp along with the village headwoman.
The officer asked me, "Don't you love your husband? What does he do
for his living?" I said he is a farmer. We asked to see him but they
wouldn't allow it. I had to come back home. They said that after 1 or 2
days he would be released for sure. But after two days I heard news that
he was killed, and they told me to make offerings to the monks. Now I
am living with my mother. I am so desperate because of my two children.
The elder one is 3, and the younger is only 3 months old.
_____________________________________________________________________________
#4.
NAME: "Pi Beh Wah" SEX: F AGE: 61 Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 2 children aged 12 and 43
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kawkareik Township
The headman of that other village told us that "Naw Say Wah"'s husband
[Saw XXXX] had been arrested. He wanted her [his wife] to come to
him. Her husband lives in our village but was working in that village. His
name was not registered in that village, so the SLORC came there and
asked about him. As soon as they caught him, they asked him about his
work and he said he was a farmer. They beat him as soon as they arrested
him. They said "You tried to run away because you are a Ringworm!"
[derogatory SLORC name for Karen soldiers]. He told them he ran
away because he was afraid of them. Then the Burmese soldiers took
turns hitting him, some of them with their rifle butts. They tied him with a
rope, they pulled off his shirt and sarong, covered his face with his own
sarong and kept beating him. Then they took him away to XXXX
military camp. When villagers from xxxx went and asked about him, the
Burmese soldiers asked them what he does for his living. They told the
soldiers that he's only a farmer. They told them again and again. The
soldiers kept asking, "Has he got a gun?" and the villagers told them he
doesn't. The officer told them, "The prisoner says he has a revolver".
The villagers answered, "He said that from fear of you, because you used
harsh interrogation on him". The officer said, "The village heads wouldn't
dare sign vouching that he has no weapons". Then the xxxx headman
spoke for him, and said "He was just an ordinary farmer when he lived in
my village. I'll sign for him." The officer threatened him, saying "If
that's the case, you'll have to sign now. But if one day the truth comes
out, you won't only be imprisoned, you'll be given the death penalty."
The village headman said he would sign even if they killed him, because he
would stand on the side of truth. As he signed his name, he asked the
officer to let the young man go back with him. The officer said the man
would have to be detained one or two more days while they did more
interrogation, and only then he could be released.
A day or two later, the headman heard that it was very hard for the young
man, that they were continuing to beat him without resting and that Saw
XXXX was crying because the beatings were so bad. So he was going to
go to the camp again, but that morning the Burmese soldiers came to the
village. They started asking questions about whether there were insurgents
there. They started making trouble, arresting people here and there at
random, including women and children. The headman had to vouch for
all of them. He said, "Please set all my people free, set free everyone
you've accused of being rebels. If any of them have been rebel soldiers
once, that was because they were afraid of the rebels. Now they are doing
nothing against you. You're asking about the past, like speaking to the
dead. How can the dead come out of their graves? It is the present which
matters." Then the soldiers let everyone in the village go, but they
demanded food and chickens. The villagers were afraid and had to give it
to them, and when they got the rice and chickens they went to leave. The
headman asked again, "Major, sir! Please tell me whether you have killed
the young man or whether he lives. If he is dead we have to make
offerings to the monks and prepare a funeral according to our Karen
custom. His wife is in deep trouble, and she has no relatives here. Tell us
if she should go back to her village." The Burmese Major answered,
"Then send his wife back. You can call the monks, and his wife can go
back." He wouldn't say that he had killed Saw XXXX. We asked the
people in XXXX [the village surrounding the Army camp] and they
said yes, they saw him and his head was beaten to a pulp, his eyes were
destroyed and he had turned blue all over so maybe his bones were
broken. He was bound by a rope. The soldiers finished him with a knife.
Then they dug a hole and buried him there.
This is how they are. They ask us for pigs and chickens, and if we cannot
give them then they threaten to bombard us with big guns. We have to go
whenever they summon us, day or night [village elders are constantly
summoned to the camp to receive orders]. We cannot disobey them, or
they will fine us or when we go to Kawkareik they will arrest us. They are
harassing us to death. Not only our village, but other villages as well.
[She began pointing to people around the room.] Look at those people,
they were tortured by the soldiers but they were lucky enough to survive.
As for his daughter, they molested her, raped her and then murdered her.
She was only 20 years of age then, and had 2 children. They are so cruel.
What can we do? If I were a witch, I would be able to kill and eat them.
That's all I want to say.
The officer responsible for killing Saw XXXX is XXXX. He is
Company Commander of Company X, Battalion XXX at XXXX camp.
He did not do the killing himself, his men did it. The porters from our
village told me about it.
As an elder I have to provide them porters and labour force. We have to
send our villagers to help repair their camp buildings at Kawkareik,
carrying our own food and things with us. We have to finish the work in
the time they set - if 5 days, we have to finish in 5 days. If they ask 100
people, we have to send 100 people. They also demand that the villagers
give them wood and bamboo. We can never expect anything from them.
On the contrary, when the villagers are reluctant to go I have to plead with
them to go, because I'm afraid if the soldiers come the village will be
destroyed. I have to say, "My son, please go - we cannot overcome them
yet, so please go and work without pay for them." They don't even give
you water to drink while you work for them. We cannot even borrow the
pails from them when we want to draw water. Once I complained to the
officer - I told him "We are working now for your welfare and the welfare
of your military families, it is not for us to come and put up with this.
Why are we even denied water?" Only then did they give us water. I tell
them, "If you don't like it, I will report it to higher authorities". I
think they are a bit afraid of such confrontations. The soldiers are a bit
afraid of our village because of this. As for the village on the other bank
of the river, they are given hell and never have time to rest.
They demanded our village give them 20 viss [32 kg.] of betelnuts, and
11 baskets of rice during last month. As for my village, when they
demand 5 baskets I give them only 6 pyis [1 basket = 16 pyi]. They
demanded 2,000 betelnuts. What do they want with betelnuts at this time
of peace negotiations? I rebuked them telling them they should not lower
the dignity of the Tatmadaw [Burmese Army] like this. We have to be
tactful and diplomatic like that when we cannot meet their demands.
When I said that, we were exempted from giving it. If the young man
who was killed had been from my village, the tragedy wouldn't have
happened. But the village heads of those other villages were too afraid.
They had been beaten so very often. Sure the other village headwomen
are beaten. They have to go whenever they're summoned, even at
midnight, and they can only come home at 4 a.m. Who knows what the
soldiers would do to those headwomen at such hours of the night? People
from my village don't have to suffer like that. If they call us, we won't go.
I'm only a village head, I'm not a guide. I know how to deal with both the
government and the rebels when necessary. If they ask me to serve as
their guide at night, I refuse them. This is not my duty. The younger
village headwomen ask me to go along with them, they say they need my
presence. How do their husbands feel seeing them going off with
Burmese soldiers in the middle of the night? I told the Burmese Major
frankly, "Suppose your wife or daughter were called by a Karen rebel
under similar circumstances, even for only one night, even if that Karen
rebel actually did nothing to the women, how would you feel then?" And
I was exempted. But the other women village heads have to go. Those
women have to fan them while they're eating, they even have to wipe their
mouths after their meals - these things have been witnessed by people. As
for me, the soldiers won't even allow me to get close to them - maybe
because I stink like anything, and those other women are pretty.
They send us written orders for things, and they even write what they'll do
to the village head if the village fails to comply. Such-and-such amount at
so-and-so time, they write it all. Sometimes they are so irritating we use
them for toilet paper. Now things are getting worse. Before, we only had
to fear the SLORC, and the Karen rebels, but now we are also in fear of
the Yellow Headbands [DKBA]. When I asked the SLORC Major
whether they provide the rice for the Yellow Headbands, he said they do
provide the rice for them and he complained that the Yellow Headbands
eat 3 times every day [Karen generally only eat 2 meals a day]. "If that's
so then why did you call them?", I said. "You yourself called them here,
so if you can't feed them just send them away. We don't have any rice to
give them." There used to be just two sides in this war, now we're up to
three already.
I'm certain it would be best if there were no SLORC. They are so
oppressive. Even when the villagers tell them truthfully that they're not
rebels and sign statements, they still mistreat them. They don't follow the
law they've laid down. They tell us to report to the officer about any
misconduct by a soldier, but if we do that the soldiers will shoot us dead!
Everything is in their hands and they can fabricate anything they want. It
is so unpleasant, I can't even express it in words. Now it is our lot to fear
3 sides - one kind of fear for SLORC, another kind for KNU and still
another for the Yellow Headbands. Village headwomen are often
murdered, and no one even knows who did the crime, SLORC, KNU, or
the Yellow Headbands. So I'm overcome with disgust, I want to resign as
village head. It would be alright if they listen to us, but they never
listen to what we say. It's such an insult when SLORC says they'll slap my
face, even though I'm the age of their mothers. They've never dared actually
do it. They only threatened to shoot me one time, and that time it only
ended up with them beating me. It's because when they said they'd shoot me I
told them sarcastically, "Do it then, since the SLORC issues you
ammunition to shoot us". They drew their knives to intimidate me, they
said "You old woman!", and one of them hit me with both hands on my
shoulders. He shouted, "If you were not the age of my mother, your
cheeks would surely have burst!" They scolded me so much that it hurt
my teeth [a common figure of speech]. I don't want to speak about them
anymore.
I'm getting old now and tired of running here and running there. In awhile
the SLORC will come and shoot, then the rebels will shoot -
it's not easy being in between the two forces and trying to appease them.
Better to leave them alone and let them shoot their guts out.
With time I began to be bold to both sides, so
they think this old lady is very brave. I am already 61 years old and I am
not bothered so much if I should die. Of course, I would like to die a
good death. Even when trying to do good, if one receives evil in return
that's nothing but kamma, merits and demerits of one's past existence.
When one's old like me there's scarcely any wind left to speak, one gets
her hands and feet knocking together. We can't even afford to buy one tin
of condensed milk - what a situation! It used to be that when we had to
take 30 viss of chickens to them, then sometimes they used to give us one
tin of condensed milk. When even one needle comes out from them, one
big axe has to go out from us. There's no use in speaking about SLORC,
and I have exhausted all my words. There is just one thing I want most,
and that is to see peace and justice before I die.
_____________________________________________________________________________
#5.
NAME: "Saw Day Htoo" SEX: M AGE: 31 Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 3 children aged 2-8
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kya In Twp
["Saw Day Htoo" is a village elder who is often summoned to go to the
SLORC camp.]
I have to go to their camp sometimes once a month, sometimes three times
a month. I have to do their errands. All of us have to go to weed the
grass and roof their huts. About 10, 20, 30 villagers at a time, or as many
as they demand. Only men go, from about 17 or 18 years old up to age
30 or 40. Sometimes we have to go only for one day if it is at xxxx
village, but if we have to go to Kawkareik it is for 3 days and 3 nights. I
have never asked them their Battalion number. Their commander is Bo
XXXX. We also have to give them pork, 15 viss [24 kg.] whenever they
want it. They send their orders through the Secretary or Chairman of the
village.
They have demanded a list of all the people and numbers of cattle, carts
etc. in the village. I cannot guess why, I really have no idea. [The list is
most likely to determine quotas for forced labour, confiscation of bullock
carts, extortion of money and livestock and crop confiscation.] I haven't
given them the list. I don't dare do it. They have insisted, but I told
them I haven't made the list yet. The officer scolded me for taking so long
and said other villages had done it already. I told him I'm staying in a
remote place so I have no time to make out the list.
If they come, it won't be easy. They say we must not run away when we
see them coming. Those who are blacklisted as rebels [even if they're
not] already left the village because they're afraid. Also, over 10
households of people from xxxx village came to stay in our village because
they could no longer endure the atrocities done to them by SLORC [there
is a SLORC camp at that village]. Even their own Burman people
cannot bear their oppression and many of them have fled the country.
SLORC says they help the people, but we can't trust them. They eat our
rice, drink our water, force us to work for them, and yet they still do not
hesitate to beat us, even old people. They call us "dogs", so people feel
grossly insulted. We are afraid. They usually arrest the elders, that's why
I am afraid. If we do not do their bidding they say they'll burn our houses
and confiscate our rice. They say they'll make havoc in our village, and
we're afraid this might happen to us. They called villagers from Ker Paw
Hta and Kya Ker Wah villages, and when the villagers didn't go they
marched on those villages and burned all the houses. That is why we're
afraid.
_____________________________________________________________________________
#6.
NAME: "U Maung Shwe" SEX: M AGE: 40+ Karen/Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 4 children
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kawkareik Township
[There is a SLORC Army camp located right in "U Maung Shwe"'s village.]
There are 210 houses in the village. There are Burmans, Mons, and
Shans - three groups. There are a few more Mon people than the others.
The SLORC camp is in the middle of the village, near the monastery.
They've had their camp there for about 7 years. It is Infantry Battalion
XXX. Now there is only one Company at the camp, about 100 soldiers. The
highest ranking officer is XXXX. In the camp they have barracks and a food
supply storehouse,
but most of the soldiers live outside the camp. Some of them stay in the
monastery and some in the village. They stay in the houses of the
villagers. They use the firewood that has been stacked by the house
owner to cook.
We have to do work for them. During rainy season they brought in logs
and we had to cut them into planks with saws. I don't know where they
got those logs. [Information from other villages confirms that they force
villagers further up the XXXX river to cut the logs and float them
down the river. His village is on the river.] We have to
pull the logs up the riverbank and cut them, then pull the planks down and
load them onto boats. We have to take turns doing that work for one day.
Your turn comes around every 3 or 4 days, sometimes once a week. We
have to provide up to 30 people each day. If husbands are not home then
the women have to give money. It is 150 Kyats per day. If people are
sick, they have to explain the situation and then when they are well again
they have to make up the work they missed. As for porters, they have to
go for 6 days at a time. If you can't go it is 150 Kyats per day, so 900
Kyats for 6 days. Women can do the work, but children are too small to
be able to do it. Women have to do a variety of work for them, such as
carrying sacks of rice, or carrying their things when they move from one
place to another. Also, one or two villagers have to be on standby as
messengers. Sometimes they have to go and buy food for the soldiers,
sometimes they have to go and fetch video cassettes.
For the camp and the troops we have to give 15 viss [24 kg.] of various
kinds of meat, as well as chickens that we have to buy for them. We don't
have to give them oil or salt, but they sometimes take these things from
our kitchens. How can we refuse them? We are afraid. Sometimes the
soldiers arrest or beat the villagers. This year there have been some
beatings because people arrived late for forced labour. Now that the
soldiers have been in our village a long time they have become more
familiar to us, though we are still not free from fear.
Only the village elders are allowed to go in and come out of their camp.
The people they arrest from other villages [and bring to their camp] are
not allowed to see anyone. The last time they went to XXXX village they
arrested some people, kept them inside a school and then took them away
by boat. They bring the people secretly, sometimes after dark.
We had 300 houses before but now only 200 houses are left. The others
have gone, some to Thailand. There are Mons, Shans, and Burmans as
well who have left. The situation now is not good. Some people are well
off but many are poor. There is no stability. It is only because we can't
avoid it that we do work for the soldiers. They rule us with absolute
power. What they demand and what they say, nobody is willing to do or
hear these things. But we want to stay undisturbed. What can we do,
when they are using the power of force against us? Those who remain in
the village do so because they have their property there, and those who are
poor, they stay because they have no money to leave. If they had money
many people would not hesitate to leave the village. This is the situation
of our village.
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#7.
NAME: "Pa Boe" SEX: M AGE: XX Pwo Karen Buddhist trader
FAMILY: Single
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Kya In Township
["Pa Boe" is one of many traders who go with trading boats on the Han
Thayaw River.]
Kya In is on the Han Thayaw River. It has 300 houses. I have lived in the
area since I was born. I have a house there. I stay with my father. The
SLORC troops stay at Kya In. They are Battalion 310. It's not their
Battalion Headquarters, it's a Company camp. There is no Company
Commander there, only a Sergeant. I don't know his name because I
haven't been in their camp. There are only 12 soldiers there, together with
4 People's Militia. Sometimes the People's Militia stay in the camp,
sometimes in the village. They are Kya In villagers. They are forced to
join the militia, of course. It is a must to become a People's Militia man.
They have to stay in for six months, then they are changed. The Army
doesn't pay them - the villagers have to give them their pay. The villagers
have to give them money, and with that money they buy rice. Each militia
man gets 450 Kyat per month [US$3.75 at market rate, only enough for
about 10 kg. of rice; a SLORC Army private gets 750 Kyat per month].
They stay with the soldiers in the camp, but their duty is to watch the
coming and going of the boats. They have no other duty. The village
elders wanted to abolish the People's Militia - they said it is not
necessary, and they grumbled because we have to give money. But it wasn't
abolished, so villagers still have to join.
We also have to work on gardens and fencing for the soldiers, and we
have to dig their trenches. We don't always have to do this kind of work -
only when their superiors are coming and they need to clean up the place.
Sometimes we have to go once in a month, sometimes twice, for one day
or half a day each time. One person from each house has to go. If no
one from the house can go, we have to report to the headman and he
pleads for us to be exempted. Whenever there are columns going to the
frontline we have to go as porters. They are always going to attack - even
now, there are some such soldiers [a column heading for an offensive] in
our village. We have to pay porter fees, sometimes 300 Kyats or as much
as 500 Kyats. It depends on the person and the length of porter duty.
Sometimes we have to go as porters for 2, 3, or 4 days - there are no set
time periods. I have to go 6 or 7 times a year. Sometimes we have to
take our own food, sometimes they feed us. We have to carry rice, food
supplies, shells and ammunition, from Kya In to An Kong. Sometimes
they use our boats to carry the things in rainy season, because it is
difficult then to transport things on people's backs.
There are 4 boats in our village [motorized wooden trading boats about
20 feet long, owned by traders]. At their camp they make our boats stand
by for duties. Each turn is 7 days. One boat has to serve them for 7 days
while another boat has to be on standby. [Therefore, boat owners only
have use of their own boat one week out of every two.] I only make this
trip up the river once a month. The boat is not mine, it's someone else's.
We bring things like chillies, onions, cooking oil, candles and soap. On
the way back, when it's betelnut season we take betelnut, and when it's
pepper season we take pepper. Before we can start a trip from the village
we have to ask permission. There are also checkpoints along the way.
We have to face them and give them money - 500 Kyats, or sometimes
700 Kyats [per trip]. We don't always see them at each checkpoint - they
are only there at certain times. But when we see them face to face, they
make their demands. Then we have to give them 40, 50, up to 100 Kyats,
whatever they ask. There are checkpoints near Mudon and An Kong
where we almost always see them.
In rainy season, one basket of rice cost 1,000 Kyats - now it is down to
600 Kyats, so we are a little better off [the price is down in Kya In
because it is harvest time, but 600 Kyats is still about double the price of
rice a year ago. Prices of 1,000 Kyats would lead to starvation among
much of the population]. We do not want to give the soldiers all the
things they demand. But as for us, we just have to live with our problems
and hardships. What we need most is forebearance.
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* [END OF PART ONE - FOR PART 2 OF 2 SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTING] *