SPDC Orders - The Canal Project in

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: SPDC Orders  - The Canal Project in Kyaik Mayaw Township


              The Canal Project in Kyaik Mayaw Township

   The two orders below relate to a large-scale forced labour project which
the SPDC announced and began in April 1999
   in Kyaik Mayaw township, just southeast of Moulmein in Mon State. The
project involves the digging of 14 irrigation
   canals. Though money is being collected from all villagers in the region
to "hire machines", in projects of this nature
   the authorities usually keep all of this money and then force the
villagers to work by hand. If this occurs, this project
   could go on for several years, and the villagers will also be forced to
maintain the canals once they are established.



                                                      Order #1*

    Minutes of the meeting concerning the canal which will be dug to get
water for the fields in Kyaik Mayaw township,
       held at the Township Peace & Development Council office, Shwe Hin Tha
Hall, on April 6th 1999 at 1000 hours.


   Meeting attendance

   1) U Aye Thein                        District Land Officer, Mawlamyine
[Moulmein] District
   2) U Khin Maung Win                Chairperson, Township Peace &
Development Council
   2*) U Kyaw Myint                     Secretary,                       -
ditto -
   4) U Tin Khine                         Member (1),                     -
ditto -
   5) U Tin Kyeh                          Member (2),                     -
ditto -
   6) All heads of departments
   7) All members of Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils

   [*Note: the third item above is mistakenly numbered ?2)? in the original,
so we have left it that way.]

   Discussion

   District Land Officer U Aye Thein gave a speech. Although the Secretary
of the District Peace & Development Council
   had to attend this meeting, he had another important matter [to attend
to] so I have come here on behalf of the
   District Supervisor of Agriculture. Kyaik Mayaw township has many water
resources, so to increase the agricultural
   acreage we are digging canals. The people of the villages must dig the
canals yourselves. After the Water Festival [in
   mid-April] we must dig the canals. Concerning the digging of the canals,
to systematically manage the public labour
   all department heads must be involved. For the development of the
agricultural sector, the departments concerned
   have to perform duties in the field. That was the content of his speech.

   The Chairperson of the Township Peace & Development Council stated that
we intend to dig 14 canals in the year
   1999-2000, and that after digging the canals we will cultivate 50,000
acres of paddy field in the coming year. [Page 2
   of the document begins here.] We will cultivate more than last year, and
it will also provide suitable protection
   against flooding for the fields in Kyaik Mayaw township. For the digging
of the canals, we have already assigned the
   duties for each village to the department heads. [Each department head
will be sent to supervise the work of one
   or more villages.]

   The Chairperson of the Township Peace & Development Council then read out
the list of department heads who
   would supervise each village and the length of canal which must be dug by
each village.

   The members of the Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils then
discussed this again, and said that after the
   Water Festival they are occupied with the dry season paddy harvest time
and with preparing to cultivate the rainy
   season paddy, so that it is difficult to get public labour to dig the
canals. If possible, we should collect money to hire
   heavy machinery for digging.


   The decisions were made as follows.

   Decision 1

   If they cannot get public labour for the digging then the Ward / Village
Peace & Development Councils concerned
   must collect money and contribute.

   Decision 2

   The money to be collected is 500 Kyat from each family. If they have
fields add 350 Kyat per acre. At Let Pan, Kayan,
   Kyone Sein, and Babu Gone collect 500 Kyat from each family and add 1,050
Kyat per acre, because the canals will
   directly affect those villages.

   Decision 3

   Concerning the digging of the canals, the department heads must explain
the situation and collect the money at the
   wards / villages under their responsibility, and make a speech concerning
this. Report back on 10-4-99 about field
   work.

   Decision 4

   When you collect the money do not misuse it. The Township Peace &
Development Council ? [the remainder of this
   page of the document was lost.]

   Decision 5

   The deadline date for collecting the money is 11-4-99.

   Decision 6

   When digging the canals with labour / machines, the members of Ward /
Village Peace & Development Councils must
   supervise carefully the digging which is under their responsibility.

   Decision 7

   The digging of the canals is the responsibility of the public who live in
the township. They must do it successfully and
   compulsorily. The members of the Ward / Village Peace & Development
Councils responsible must understand that
   action will be taken to stop their duty [if they are undutiful; the
wording is unclear but appears to mean that they
   will be removed from their duties if they fail].

   Decision 8

   The digging of canals must start on 18-4-99.

   The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 in the morning.



   Reference:    500 / 5-18 / Ma Ya Ka
[Sd.]
   Date:           1999 April 9th
Recorder

(U Kyaw Myint ­ Secretary)

   Distribution:
             - meeting attendees
   Copies:
             Chairperson, District Peace & Development Council, Mawlamyine
[Moulmein]
             Office Copy

   [This order is fairly typical of the administration of major SPDC
projects. Orders come from higher levels, then
   responsibility is handed down to the Townships to allocate forced labour
and forced payment to the villages. The
   demands are then dictated to the village leaders, referred to here as
"Ward / Village Tract Peace and
   Development Councils" at meetings like this one. Note that under
"Discussion", these village leaders tried to
   protest that their villagers are too busy with farm work to do heavy
forced labour digging canals, but their
   concerns appear to have been brushed aside. Not only will the villagers
have to do forced labour, but they will
   also have to pay huge sums of money which are supposedly for the digging
of the canals; some of the demands for
   money resulting from this meeting can be seen in Order #2.]

Order #2*


Township Peace & Development Council

Kyaik Mayaw township ­ Kyaik Mayaw town

Reference: 500 / 5-18 / Ma Ya Ka

Date: 1999 April 23rd
   To:     Chairpersons
             All Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils
             Kyaik Mayaw Township [handwritten:] xxxx [village]

   Subject: To contribute money on time for digging canals in 1999-2000

   For the digging of canals in Kyaik Mayaw Township in 1999-2000, to hire
machines for digging, the ward / village must
   collect money according to their allotment and send it to the Township
Peace & Development Council by the deadline
   of 27-4-99. If you cannot contribute the money, all wards / villages will
start to dig on 30-4-99 the length for which
   you are responsible, you are hereby informed.


[Sd.]

Chairperson
   Copies:
             Chairperson, District Peace & Development Council, Mawlamyine
[Moulmein]
             Departmental Heads ­ assigned to field work in the villages
under their responsibility, you are informed
             File Copy
             Office Copy

   [For background to this order, see Order #1. ?The length for which you
are responsible? refers to the length of
   canal which has been assigned to each village based on village size. This
order was typed and sent to all villages in
   the township, with the village name written in afterwards by hand.]