Interview with a Chin villager in S

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Interview with a Chin villager in Sagain Division, Burma

Interview with a Chin villager in Sagain Division, Burma

via The Rangoon Post

I left because there were so many problems in Burma. I had problems with
the army because when I was
doing forced labour in January this year, I heard about the killing of a
soldier on the railway construction
so I was worried about my cousin's sister. She was also working on the
railway with her baby but she was
working at a different place than me. I was so worried about her that
during rest time I asked a soldier if I
could go there but he wouldn't allow it. When I had to start work again,
I couldn't do it and I just stood
there. That soldier ordered me to work but as I didn't do it, he beat
me. Then I left the work.

I had to work on the railway [Kalemyo - Gangaw] six times. The first
time was in October 1993. I had to
go myself because I am the second eldest son. My parents are of old age
and couldn't do this work. I
have 7 brothers and sisters. My eldest brother already left home. I
always had to go because my younger
brothers and sisters were too young and not fit for this. I had to go
sometimes for 2 weeks, sometimes 3
weeks. I had to miss school.

My quarter is part of Kalemyo town. For workers, SLORC gave an order to
the town council and the town
council ordered the people. They tell how many people have to come from
each quarter. The town council
must get the quota of people they ask for. The people of Storm quarter
were divided into 6 groups. Each
of these groups was divided in two: A and B. At any one time, all 6
groups had to go. When they first
started, everyone had to go. But later, they called only A and then B
could rest. When A finished, then
they called B and A could rest. About 160 people from our quarter had to
go at a time, in all 6 groups.

We had to work about 20 miles away from Storm, near Nat Chaung. It was
according to their orders. The
first time it was in Tang Go, near Nat Chaung, about 22 miles away, and
then in Zing Gelin, near to
Kalemyo. Different places each time. It was always according to their
orders. I had to go with my own
bicycle. At night we couldn't go back home. We were kept near the river
because we had to cook for
ourselves. So that place was a little far from the worksite, about 2
falongs [1 falong = 220 yards, so the

distance was 440 yards]. The women stayed together at another place. We
had a large roof covered with
a plastic for all of us. There were three elderly men among us and they
arranged everything for us. For the
women, they built some huts with bamboo and branches. There were no
guards at night.

For work, the men between 20 and 30 years old had to dig the ground. The
teenagers, and there were
many of them, had to carry the ground. It was hard work, especially
digging. I had to carry the ground, but
not only that. It depended on the situation. I also had to load the
ground into baskets.

Most of the workers were young, mainly teenagers. One girl was only 10
years old. No one else from her
family could go. There were old people about 50 years old. They were
working as cooks for the other
people. There were many women there, and most of them were old women.
Some babies were brought
along with their mothers. The women did the same work as the men, but
everyone was always changing
duties with each other.

We had to bring our own food. The people had to bring their own tools.
No salary. It was a must for each
family to go. But the rich people hire someone else to go for them. So
for them, there is no problem. But
for those who cannot pay, they must go. That's why sometimes young
children and old women have to go.
If you couldn't go, some people had to pay 1,200 Kyats, some 1,500
Kyats. It depended on the villager. I
think it depended on their family conditions. [These are fines paid to
SLORC if a family cannot go or hire
a replacement.]

At work, some groups had 20 people, others 30 people. It varied
according to the group. There were
soldiers around. They didn't do anything. Just walking here and there to
watch us. If people weren't
working, they hit them. Sometimes on the back, sometimes on the head.
There was a boy who was very
young. The soldier was also very young. About 20. They started
quarrelling, the soldier called another
soldier and they hit the boy badly. He was badly injured on his head and
he was hospitalised in Kalemyo.
The leader of the B group sent him to hospital. He was in hospital for
about 1 week.

Another story I only heard about because it happened at another place. A
woman with a baby was
working on the railroad and her baby was crying. She asked a soldier if
she could go and feed her baby
but the soldier didn't allow her. But she went to her baby anyway to
feed him. Then the soldier hit her. All
the workers saw the scene. One of them was a relative of that woman. He
was so angry that he went to
hit the soldier with a pitchfork and that soldier died on the spot.
Another soldier also saw the incident and
shot the villager dead. At that time, all the people started beating the
soldiers. There were three soldiers
who were guarding their group. One of them ran away and another one died
as well. After that, those
people had their workload increased as punishment. That group had to do
three times more work.

Problems between soldiers and villagers happened all the time. Most of
the workers were young and it
was very hot. Many wanted to go and swim in the river after their work

and also during the work time. That
was not allowed. Some young soldiers had problems with those from B
group who were swimming and
they started quarrelling. Then, a senior officer came and called all of
the young villagers to their camp.
They never came back. Maybe they were killed.

As far as I know, 6 people died on this railroad while I was working
there. Some died in the river. It was
very hot and the river was very big. Two boys went to swim and drowned.
The others died because of
malaria. Most of the people got sick, but it was a must to keep working.

Even in the rainy season, if the weather was fine, they were calling the
people. It depended on the
weather. Each group had to do a stretch of embankment: the height was 30
feet, the length 40 feet and
the width about 15 feet. Also, my younger brothers and sisters had to
crush gravel at home, in the town.
They had to do this three times. The first time, they had to make 1 foot
X 10 feet X 10 feet of gravel. The
second time, SLORC demanded 60 cooking-oil tins of gravel [big tins,
about 15 litres each]. They had to
send the gravel to the railway by themselves.

The last time I worked on the railway was in March 1995. Some of the
villagers were called after March,
but mostly before March. By March, the construction was over. But
afterwards, they were still calling
villagers to pour water on the tracks to harden the ground. Now they
also call people to guard the railway,
not all the time, but it happens sometimes when an important person
comes.

Most of the troops on the railway were not from Kalemyo. They were from
Gangaw [most likely Infantry
Battalion #50]. There are many Battalions around Kalemyo, #87, #88, #89,
also Military Intelligence.
There is a quarter called San Piang very close to the army camp. Many
soldiers are staying around
Kalemyo. So there are many problems with the villagers. Mostly the
junior soldiers are causing troubles to
the villagers. Sometimes they take their bicycles. They don't ask, they
just use them. The women don't
dare go out in the streets, only in groups of two or three. They are so
afraid of being raped by the
soldiers. They call people to the army camps for cooking. They don't
call only the people, but also their
vehicles. Whenever they need them, they order them to come to carry all
the army things.

These camps have been there since 1989. The soldiers occupied the
graveyard. They also called local
people for loke-ar-pay ['volunteer', but actually forced] work. The
graveyard was from the Roman Catholic
Church. They announced that the tombs must be taken away within three
days, otherwise they will be
destroyed. So the people had to take their bones. But most of them
couldn't. Then the bulldozer came to
destroy. This order was given by Major Aung Khin. While the bulldozer
was destroying and crushing the
tombs, one of the crosses stood up again after the bulldozer passed over
it. The bulldozer passed again
over that cross but again the cross stood back up. So the bulldozer
driver was freaked out and did not
dare pass over again. But Major Aung Khin ordered him to pass over
again. The driver refused and

wouldn't dare destroy the cross. He was dismissed on the spot and Major
Aung Khin drove the bulldozer
himself and destroyed all the graveyard.

The stronger people are called as porters. Not many from my quarter, but
I know of two boys from Storm
who had to go as porters for up to two months before they were released,
in December 1994. There are
so many taxes: house taxes, bicycle taxes 25 Kyats per year, TV taxes
150 Kyats a year, even if you
have a tape recorder it is 60 Kyats per year.

There was a USDA rally held in February 1995 [Union Solidarity
Development Association, SLORC's
attempt to establish a 'mass support' organisation - people nationwide
are forced or threatened into
joining and attending rallies, which are then shown in the media by
SLORC as signs of popular support].
The government occupied one of the female high schools to organise it
and it was attended by General
Khin Nyunt himself [Secretary-1 of SLORC and head of Military
Intelligence]. A group was formed in the
school of each quarter of town, and the USDA members also went. [Note:
those who fail to attend USDA
rallies face possible expulsion from school, loss of their jobs, having
their water or power cut off, or
beatings and fines.]

I left and arrived at Moreh, at the Manipur [India] border on 17 March
1995. I know nothing about how my
family is doing now. [Note: Moreh is on the Manipur side opposite Tamu.
Chin refugees get no
assistance in Manipur, so some try to get to Delhi and register as
'persons of concern' with UNHCR to
receive 1,200 rupees (US$35) per month - however, UNHCR is now rejecting
many people who apply
for this. India has never signed the international conventions on
protection of refugees.]

Source: KHRG