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KHRG #96 -23
FORCED RELOCATION IN CENTRAL SHAN STATE
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
June 25, 1996 / KHRG #96-23
[PART 6 OF 6 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT & APPENDIX]
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#17.
NAME: "Phra Ain Da Ya" SEX: M AGE: 43 Shan Buddhist monk
["Phra Ain Da Ya" has been a monk in Thailand for many years already,
but recently visited the relocation areas in Shan State and helps many of
the new refugees coming through daily.]
I went back on the 19th of last month [April], and I returned to Thailand on
May 7. I went in a hurry, because these girls' father [his brother] called
me back to visit. I went via Mae Sai and Kengtung. It took 2 days [by
car]. From Kengtung, I went via Mung Peng, I crossed the Salween, went
via Kun Hing, then along the road to Nam Sang, Ko Lam, Pang Long, and
to Lai Kha. I got to Lai Kha on the 21st. When I got there they told me
what had happened. They said they didn't want to live there anymore,
because it was impossible to stay. They had been driven out from their
homes at 9 o'clock at night. The whole village. 200-300 houses. The
villagers all fled from their homes, that very night. My parents asked if
they could come back with me to Thailand. So I said alright, so that they
would know that someone is willing to help them. But I told them, "Ask
permission from the Burmese. They were the ones who did it. You should
ask the provincial authorities, the township authorities. Tell them you
don't
want to live in Shan State any more, because it's impossible to live here".
But they didn't give permission. They said "You can't go. It's an internal
affair. So you don't have to go. Just stay." So then I came back. People
in Lai Kha also wanted to come with me. In Lai Kha there were also
problems. There was a budget from the central administration, about a
million baht for a road, but the army base and the township administration
had taken it all. So the people in the town had to spend their own money,
to buy bricks and sand. The people in the villages also had to pay for
this.
Those in the countryside had to move. They weren't allowed to go back to
get their cattle. They weren't allowed to work in their fields or orchards.
They couldn't go and look after their houses. They had to leave the doors
open. Within just four days, they had to go and live in new places. They
were all so confused about what to do. They didn't know what they would
eat until the coming year. The Burmese said "Wherever you stay, you'll just
have to get by there." If they go back to work in their old fields, they'll
be shot.
People were ordered to move at intervals. The orders came in the township
of Lai Kha first. Then came the township of Mong Nong. Then Mong
Kung, then Kun Hing, then the northern part of Mong Nai, then the
northern part of Lang Ker. After the order to move, they were given four
days. If they didn't move within four days, they were arrested, or the
village was burned. The soldiers would shoot the cattle or whatever and eat
them for free. Lai Kha township, Mong Nong township, Mong Kung, Mong
Nai, Northern Lang Ker, Kun Hing, Chiang Tong, Nam Sang - all of seven
townships. These are permanent villages that have been there for hundreds
of years. Big villages. Some villages had 200 houses. Some had 100.
There were temples and chedis, but the monks had to move, so no one is
looking after them. The temples and chedis were several thousand years
old.
Four days to move. It was difficult. For those who had cars or tractors or
carts, it was not a problem. It was a problem for those who had to carry
things on their own shoulders. People had hundreds of tangs of rice to
carry. They had to go back and forth. They were crying. The soldiers said
if they stayed they would shoot them. There was an old couple who
refused to leave their house in Wan Luk, in Hai Seng village tract, because
they had lived there for so long. They were burned together with their
house. There were also people who went back to see their houses, who had
big houses, they were worried that the houses would be damaged or
someone would steal something, and they met some soldiers who asked
them why they had not left. The soldiers have to patrol every day to check
that people have not come back to work or see their houses or animals. In
the village of Goong Yon, in Goon Sai village tract, on the 4th of this
month [May] some people went back to see their houses. The soldiers
found them and asked them what they were doing. They said they were
visiting their house, and so the soldiers made them come out from the house
and burned the two houses down. So they just wandered around and didn't
know where to go. That was the day we left to come back. It's worse than
in the Japanese time. There have been so many killings.
On average 80 out of 100 villages were forced to move. A lot. I could tell
you about this for ever. Most of them are away from the car roads, 3 km.
or 5 km. or more. Around Lai Kha, they moved all the villages east of the
road [the north-south Mong Kung-Lai Kha-Pang Long road]. This is the
road to Mong Kung. They haven't moved any villages on the west side.
They think the east side is where there are a lot of Shan soldiers. There
are
Shan soldiers to the west, but they have an agreement - this is Garn Yord's
men, and this [on the east side] is Yord Serk. But in Mong Kung, they've
moved the whole of the township, west and east. Then there's Mong Nong,
the whole of that too. They're moving everyone to places near the roads,
but in fact the roads are just dirt roads through the jungle. There's
nothing
there. There's no water or anything. They just want the people to lose all
their possessions and not have any strength. They want to destroy people's
morale and their money, so the Shan soldiers can't survive. There's Kher
Lao and Kher Ngern, two of them. They were Yord Serk's men. There's
about 1,500 or 1,600 of them. They don't all stay in one place. They're
scattered around. About 50 out of 100 MTA didn't surrender. Khun Sa
surrendered, and that was that. Now he's a problem for the Burmese. But
the ones who didn't sell heroin, Garn Yord and Yord Serk, they have shown
that they are real politicians. The Burmese think they are hardliners. So
the plan [of the Burmese] is to make these people all surrender.
Particularly
Yord Serk. Particularly Garn Yord. And everybody else. Whatever
happens, it's a long term conflict. The Burmese think that if they do this,
then Garn Yord and Yord Serk will have to feel sorry for the people and
surrender. That's what they think. If Garn Yord and York Serk carry on
fighting, they will put more and more pressure on the population. They
said if Kher Lao or Yord Serk come and surrender today, then you will be
able to go home tomorrow. You won't have to give up your homes and
temples.
Just in Lai Kha township, they moved about 150 villages.... So let's take
the village circle of Nong Gor: there's Nong Gor, Wan Gong, Wan Na,
Nam Ho Mu, Gong Teng, Boong Ger, Ho Pung, Gong Lang, Gong Ling,
Gong Gat, Wan Mai. That's 11 villages. Then in Hai Seng, there's Wan
Look, Nong Jam, Wan Kang, Wan Mon, Bong Let, Nong Tao, ...16
villages altogether. Then there's Wan Ler and Wan Heng [village tracts],
and so on. These areas are very fertile, so lots of people lived there.
There was no written order. It was like this: Soldiers from Nam Sang and
Lang
Ker came to do the relocations in Lai Kha. They used soldiers from other
places. They couldn't use the soldiers in Lai Kha because they knew the
local people. The local people could have appealed to them. In Mong
Kung it was the soldiers from Kun Hing. In Mong Nong it was also the
soldiers from Kun Hing. They used #515 [Battalion] from Mong Nai, #99
from Lang Ker. There's also #515 from Mong Ton. They're all mixed up
when they do it - also #77, 55, 15, 99. You can't just say it's a single
battalion, so it's easy to deny they did it. If you blame 77, they can say
"It wasn't us", or if you say it was 515, they'll say it was 67. Frankly,
this is worse than in Japanese times. At least the Japanese only came once.
These Burmese come again and again.
At the relocation places they must know who is there and who isn't.
Sometimes there are no soldiers. They just give the order, that's all.
Sometimes there are soldiers staying there. Some people had to move near
roads, some not near to roads. It depended on the township officer and
battalion commander. Like Wan Ler, they made all the villages move
together there, but it's 10 kms from the main road. And Nong Kor,
everyone knows who is coming and going, the Burmese know exactly how
many people are in Nong Kor - yet they made the people there move. It's
only 8 kilometres from the Township. And Hai Seng is only 5 kilometres.
It's all just to make the population suffer. It's to cut off their
strength,
cut their possessions, so they can't support themselves. Or maybe they are
indirectly trying to force everyone out [of Burma]. They know a lot have
come to Thailand. It costs 300 a person to come to Thailand at the
checkpoint. If people are going back, they ask how many years you've
spent [in Thailand], and if it's one year you have to pay 150. If you say
one month, then they make you pay 50 baht. They're taking it in every day.
Some people are sneaking in and out of their old fields when the soldiers
aren't around. They hear news if the soldiers are coming. They can't grow
anything in the new places. The soil isn't good. It's a new area. But the
soldiers said to the people, you'll just have to plant where you are
staying.
The people living there already can't oppose this. If they oppose it, the
soldiers will arrest them. The people living there have to make sacrifices,
and the people being moved have to build new houses. A lot have died.
>From the village of these girls [Nam Wo] over 10 children under 12 have
died. They say they've offended the spirits, but I don't know what spirits.
It's because they've moved to a new place. They have to live in hovels.
It's
unhygienic. They are used to living in big houses, but now they have to
cook and sleep in the same place, in these dog hovels. That's why they died
so easily. The sun's hot. The water's no good. But they don't know which
water is good. Back in their homes, they know which water is good. In
Wan Sang, I took a photo of one of the children that died. The mother was
looking after it. It was five years old. The child had a fever, I think it
was because of the water. It died later. A lot of people who have run away
to Mong Ton have also died. There was one couple with children; they were
fleeing to Thailand but the mother died on the way, and the father went
crazy. No one knew what to do with their children. They split them up and
sent them to be looked after by different people in the village of xxxx,
near
here.
The Burmese give nothing to the people they've moved. All they do is
come and take things from them - fish and chickens and cows. It's so easy
for them. They don't have to breed any animals for themselves. And they
rape women. They're not humans. It's the same for every village that's
been moved. The villages where people have been moved to and those that
they come from are as different as people and angels. People in the old
villages used to be traders, and had some money. And now they have to
come and live in hovels. There are long rows of hovels. They won't starve
this year, but next year I'm not sure.
Here are some relocation places I went to in the township of Lai Kha. [He
pointed to a map, near Lai Kha along the roads north to Mong Kung and
northeast to Mong Hsu.] Wan Sang is 7 kms north of the town. It's near
the road. Altogether 3 village tracts were moved there, so there must be no
less than 3,000 people there. This is Hai Seng. This is Nong Gor. This is
Wan Ti. They are along the road to Mong Hsu. At Hai Seng there are
many villages. There are over 1,000 people. At Nong Gor there are also
1,000 plus. At Wan Ti there are 1,500 plus. Some people have been made
to work on the road.
In Nam Sang, here is a photo of people being forced to work. This was not
in Lai Kha township, this was in Nam Sang. They are being forced to cut
the grass at the side of the road. The Burmese are afraid that they will be
shot [from the roadside scrub]. This road goes from Nam Sang to
Kengtung. They have to clear about 4 metres along both sides, from Kun
Hing to Nam Sang. These people doing the work are people who have
been forced to move. They are from every village. In this area they've all
moved. There's nothing left. They've been moved to places near the road,
the road that goes to Kengtung. They've been moved there from the east
and from the west. Nam Wo, Wan Bung, Nam Wong, Goong Sai. Here,
this is Hai Neng. Goong Sar. There are 3 or 4 villages. Loi La. Loi Ai.
Wan Mak Lang. Wan Nong. Mwe Tor. Nam Oon. They've all been
moved to this area. This is called Kai Long. It's north of Nam Sang, and
southeast of Lai Kha. It's about 15 kms from the town. There are several
thousand households here. This is where the people in the photo working
on the road were from. Each village may have to do it for about 10 kms.
The villages are each given stretches to do. Soldiers keep guard, in case
they run away.
They're not moving people east of the Salween [River]. But they are
moving people from south of Kun Hing to the north, from Keng Lom to
the Salween, they've all been moved north. The situation is the same for
all
these people. They've been given four days to move.
I saw villagers doing labour guarding the roads, from Tachilek all the way
to
the Salween, in little huts. And in the west, from Nam Sang to the
Salween. In Lai Kha, the people in the town are used for building the road
to the south, to Pang Long. It's an old road, but it's being rebuilt. It's
a
surfaced road. They have to carry stones. They said if it wasn't finished
by
the 20th [of May], the township officer and the battalion commander
would have to resign. So the battalion came and hurried the local people to
do it, 200 people every day. It is 25 kilometres, and there are still 15
kilometres to go.
Out of 100 people 80 have lost their homes. They don't know what to do.
It will have a long-term effect. It will certainly have an effect on
Thailand.
Thailand doesn't know what to do about it. Look at this car from Mong
Ton [in a photo]. This kind of car is bringing people every day. There are
about 200 people here. They're waiting here, because police are waiting
further down. They don't dare go on. I saw them there and saw how
difficult it was for them. They'll come through whenever they can, one by
one. They'll look for work. Some came through and didn't have any food.
They were sitting in the lychee orchards. Other people felt sorry for them,
so they bought rice for them. It's like that every day. There are so many.
Thousands. The people who have been relocated, when they don't have
enough to eat, they are bound to come to Thailand. The people from Lai
Kha I told you about, if they had a place to come to, they would all come,
all 300 households. And they are people from the town, not just villagers.
I told them they shouldn't come yet, they should wait for a while. Children
are coming. Adults are also coming. Old people are also coming. They go
to Fang, Chiang Dao, Pai, Mae Hong Son. As far as Lampun, and
Lampang. I don't know where they end up. There are cars taking them.
They are coming all the time, and the Burmese are taking money all the
time. 300 kyats each. They let them go wherever they want to. It's going
to be a long-term problem for Thailand. The best solution would be to set
up a refugee camp. It would be safe, and could be controlled. But
Thailand's policy is not to go against Burma. They are economic partners at
the moment.
It's a dark country. It's uncivilised. I don't know of anywhere in the
world
where they do this kind of thing. Just imagine if it was you, if it was
your
house, and you had lost everything, you wouldn't know what to say. I
myself, I've gone and seen it and I can describe the events, but the people
who've had to leave their village, where they have children, grandchildren,
rice, water, everything. They don't understand any reason. They're totally
confused. The angels can't help them. It's hard to say the real reason.
It's not Khun Sa, it's not that the Shan soldiers fight them [the Burmese].
It's the Four Cuts Policy: Cut communications, Cut supplies, Cut strength,
Cut
support for the soldiers. The first cut is to make the population poor, the
second cut is not to let people think. It's their strategy. They want
people
to be all confused, so they won't be able to think, and the soldiers can
control them easily. But it's not worth it. I know these people, and they
are good people. As a monk, I want there to be peace, I want people to be
able to survive each day, but it's impossible. I don't know what to say.
Please tell people of the world what is going on, okay? I don't know who to
tell about these things.
- [END OF REPORT] -
- [SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR APPENDIX LIST OF RELOCATED VILLAGE NAMES] -