KAO WAO NEWS No. 31

 

An electronic newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma


No. 31,
November 13-27, 2002

 

READER’S FRONT

IMPRISONED MON LEADER’S HEALTH WORSENS

PORTERS USED IN OFFENSIVE AGAINST MON

STUDENT CARD HOLDER EXTORTED BY POLICE

MUL LAUNCH LAND CONFISCATION CAMPAIGN

SNIPPERS ATTACK BREAKAWAY LEADER

FORCED TO SELL BETEL NUT

FARMERS ORDERED TO SELL RICE WITH LOW PRICE

MON MONKS RESTRICTED FROM BUDDHIST EXAM

FIFTH CONGRESS OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT HELD

MON STUDENTS IN SAFE AREA

 

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READER’S FRONT

 

Dear Readers,

We invite comments and suggestions on improvements to Kao-Wao newsletter. With your help, we hope that Kao-Wao News will continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in Burma and Thailand. And we hope that it will become an important forum for discussion and debate and help readers to keep abreast of issues and news. Above all, we hope the newsletter will be used as a vehicle for those who want to share their views and experiences.

 

We reserve the right to edit and reject articles without prior notification. You can use a pseudonym but we encourage you to include your full name and address.

 

Regards,

Editor

kaowao@hotmail.com



Dear Kao-Wao,

Congratulations on the first anniversary of KaoWao News. It has done a great job of getting out Mon news in a timely and lively fashion. It has also made us aware of how hard life is for so many people, especially those who live in rural areas of Mon state. Hope the flame of your passion for justice for the Mon people will continue to burn strongly in the years to come. Keep up the fine work.

 

Eric Snider

Vancouver, Canada



Dear editor,

Thank you for re-posting the informative interviews by various ethnic nationalities leaders. I hope to read more.

 

Sincerely yours,

Sai Awn

 


Dear Kao Wao,

Congratulation on the first anniversary, and in many many more years to come, many happy returns!

May your days be full of momentum, qualities and values all the way...

This is also my very very best wishes sent to you today.

Kao Wao, please keep flying high and singing your songs for the peace and justice, for the Mon and for all.

 

Best Wishes,

Hongsa (Rah Mon Nya)

 


Congratulation Kao Wao!

Let the Kao Wao Fly High and cry loud for freedom of Monland!

Let the Kao Wao pursue a long trip along with the Mon Community until reaching  the Mon's National goal!  Let’s build the solidarity of the Mon and mutual understanding through the media.

 

Sincerely

Talaporn Mon

Helsinki, Finland

 

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Political prisoners

 

IMPRISONED MON LEADER’S HEALTH WORSENS

(Kao-Wao, November 19, 2002)

 

The health of Nai Ngwe Thein, the senior leader and vice president of the Mon National Democratic Front, held in Moulmein prison, worsens and is denied treatment by prison authorities.

 

Spokesperson for MNDF, reported that Nai Ngwe Thein was having dental and urinary tract problems. The prison doctor suggested he be taken to a proper clinic outside the prison, the doctor said the prison has insufficient laboratory instruments to treat his condition inside the jail.  But prison authorities turned the request down.

 

According to MNDF spoke person from Mawlamyine, his family can visit every two weeks. “During the family visit in prison, they must speak in Burmese only in the present of MI No. 5 (Mon State based Military Intelligence),” the source close to the leader’s family said.

 

The Mon National Democratic Front leaders Nai Tun Thein, Nai Ngwe Thein, Dr. Min Kyi Win, and Dr. Min Soe Lin were arrested in 1998 for urging the armed New Mon State Party (NMSP) to reconsider its position on its cease-fire agreement with the SPDC military junta and for supporting the Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP).  Nai Tun Thein, the Chairman of MNDF was later released from the prison and put under house arrest due to his age and poor health.  The remaining three leaders were sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labour, serving their term at the Moulmein Prison, Mon State.

 

Mon leaders are serving long prison terms, though some political prisoners have been released as a result of international pressure and the UN special envoy.

 

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Life in Mon State

 

PORTERS USED IN OFFENSIVE AGAINST MON

(Kao-wao, November 22, 2002)

 

The Burmese army has taken civilians for porters in the offensive against the Mon splinter armed group in southern Ye township, Mon State.

 

Five villagers were taken by force and used by the local Battalion No. 343 led by Captain Linn Oo to carry ammunitions and other supplies while they were ordered to spread out in front of the column to clear land mines set up by rebel armed group led by Nai Hloin who separated from the New Mon State Party.

 

“They (the local military of State Peace and Development Council) took us as porters,” said an escaped villager from Harm Garm.  “Last month, we were taken as porters and beaten by the troops if we were unable to carry the heavy load,” said Nai Blai, a 50 year old villager from Harm Garm who was taken by the army for over a week as a porter. “The Burmese soldiers also abducted people they saw along the way and used them as human shields,” he added.

 

The Mon guerrillas in this area have their hair long and carry long swords. Therefore, the local young men cannot have long hair and if the villagers do not obey the order, they will be shot on sight, he said.

 

The local source reported that in that operation in southern Ye township, the Burmese Army ordered people not to leave their villages after 4:00 PM. During the army’s offensive, about 30 SPDC soldiers were ambushed by the Mon armed group led by Nai Hloin.

 

Local Mon people whose lands were confiscated last September and October joined the Mon guerillas after losing their lands, said a young Kalaw villager.  “Some of my friends joined the armed group after the SPDC seized their land”, he added.  Another Khaw Zar villager who fled to neighboring Thailand said villagers are suffering more from both the SPDC and the Mon soldiers being caught in the middle of fighting. He complained villagers are accused of being informants and are tortured and killed if caught by the SPDC.

 

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STUDENT CARD HOLDER EXTORTED BY POLICE

(By Ms. Khamom Htaw, Kao-Wao, November 20, 2002)

 

A high school student with student card was forced to pay bribe at a checkpoint to the police, reported a witness in Ye, Mon State.

 

Ms Phu Phu Winn, a grade 9 schoolgirl from Ye town, was forced to pay a bribe to the police at Ye checkpoint on her way home to Tavoy, southern Burma town on October 30, 2002. The girl showed her student identity card and explained to the police about her trip to see her family during the holiday.

 

“I have a student card, but I still must pay the bribe. I don’t’ mind doing this when I come from Thailand (as migrant worker).  But now I have just come back from my family”, said Winn.  She paid 200 Kyats to the police at the checkpoint with her friend, Ms Candar, who carried only a recommendation letter. The witness said this is the first time she heard that a schoolgirl was being bribed in Mon State.

 

Several checkpoints are set up in many different locations on the motor roads in Mon State that force passengers to pay various taxes including purchasing drinking water and calendars set at a high price.

 

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MUL LAUNCHES LAND CONFISCATION CAMPAIGN

(Kao-Wao, November 15, 2002)

 

Mon Unity League has launched a petition letter campaign calling on the international community to pressure the Myanmar government to stop organized land confiscation by the Burmese military regime.

 

In the statement, issued on November 15, 2002, the MUL urged the international community to take action against the practice of land confiscation and demand that the Myanmar government guarantee human rights and the fundamental freedoms of its people in accordance with international human rights standards.

 

The MUL spokesperson said the Government of Myanmar continues to confiscate thousand acres of land that is becoming a serious threat to civilians who are facing increasing hardship.  The Myanmar government has already confiscated more than 1,000 acres of farmland in southern Ye and 2,050 acres in northern Ye in 2000 and 2001 and still continues at the present for military purposes.

 

The statement said villagers have used this land for generations to sustain a livelihood based on farming vegetables, fruits, rubber and rice and will be thrown into abject poverty that will only deepen the problems of conflict and the future of economic development in the country. Farmers receive no compensation and do not have recourse to any complaint mechanism or other means of redress. Villagers are forced to leave their farms with nothing but the clothes on their back and, with no other means of survival, no food or shelter, leave to Thailand and Malaysia as migrant labourers.

 

The Mon Unity League urges the concerned institutions, activists, civil and political circles to extend their solidarity and not to leave the civilians in Mon State alone facing hardship amid this unjustified action from the Burmese authorities.

 

Amnesty International (AI) has urged the Myanmar government regarding land confiscation calling for the minimum of respect to the basic freedoms of the Myanmar citizens.

 

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Mon internal conflict

 

SNIPPERS ATTACK BREAKAWAY LEADER

(Kao-Wao, November 13, 2002)

 

Snipers at the Thai-Burma border town attacked the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party leader Colonel Pan Nyunt two weeks after the murder of New Mon State Party leader Nai Min Htut.

 

Unknown men opened fire on a house at Sangkhlaburi owned by the younger brother of the breakaway leader on November 11, 2002 at 19:05 local time while Nai Pan Nyunt, Nai Soe Win, Nai Aung Myint and HRP members were holding a meeting at Nai Ong Than’s house, Sangkhalaburi, Kancharnaburi Province, Thailand.

 

The HRP officer named the snipers as Nai Ong Hmein, its former General Secretary who later joined the NMSP and Nai Htoo, the son of NMSP leader Nai Min Htut who was killed on October 27, 2002.  The HRP reported snipers approached the house and shot Colonel Pan Nyunt with a .11 mm arm, but he was intact. One HRP member Nai Mon Han was injured in the thigh.  After the shooting, the snipers ran into the compound of the Mon relief office and disappeared.  The HRP source said the NMSP is responsible for the incident against the HRP leader.

 

But the NMSP denies the charge.  Nai Aye Mon, the spokesperson for the NMSP external affairs, said the attack was not done by the NMSP, since the incident took place on Thai soil, the NMSP would not get involved in any conflict on Thai soil.

 

On October 27, 2002, the New Mon State Party leader Nai Min Htut was ambushed by an armed group and assassinated with other three members and two civilians near Nyi Sar (Bee Ree) refugee camp inside Mon State.  Nai Min Htut (63 years), Nai Tun Tun (70 years), Nai Myan Ong (42 years) and Nai Ron Ong (21 years) were shot dead on their way to their headquarters from a preparation meeting held at Tavoy District for the upcoming party’s conference.

 

Following the sniper attack, many Mons and their peers including the overseas community have been concerned about continued armed conflict between the two Mon group.  Nai Zehan, a former member of the NMSP and leader of the Calgary, Canadian based Mon Cultural Society, said the Mon community worldwide must support the Mediation Team to get the Mon groups to put down their arms and negotiate with each other.

 

The MUL held a meeting at the Thai-Burma border in mid November, but members from Mon State including the Vice-Chairman Nai Khun Lael and Nai Lawoh Mon were unable to join due to security reasons.  Only a senior monk from Mon State could join the meeting and MUL leaders inside Mon State worry about the consequences and the spreading of fighting of the armed groups into the Mon communities.

 

Nai Damrong Pong Bangkadee, Chairman of the Mon Unity League, said over the phone that MUL needs strong negotiators to pressure the two parties into peace talks and urges the Mons overseas and inside Mon State to empower the mediation team.

 

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FORCED TO SELL BETEL NUT

(Kao-Wao, November 17, 2002)

 

Villagers in Yebyu Township are forced to sell betel-nut at low prices to the Burmese troops in the first week of November 2002.

 

Kywe Talin (Rot Tamah) village with (80) houses sold betel-nut (10000) to battalion No (282). According to a local source, battalion (282) is taking active duties for the security of Gas pipeline between Ale Sakhan and Klein Aung village, buying betel-nut with 2.5 kyat per seeds while the current price is 4.0 kyats.

 

Law sine, Alel Sakhan, Kywe Talin, Kyauck Kadin, Yabu, Kwan Tamoi, Marai, Kawt Hlaing, Mi Kyaung Laung, Krone Karn and Po Kaing villagers are also forced to sell their betel-nut without receiving any cash and being told they will get paid later on.

 

“We are surely cheated by the Burmese soldiers buying betel-nut from us. We had an example like this in 2000 of people getting cheated, not getting any money for the betel nut costs”, complained Mi Mya, a women from Kywe Talin villager.

 

The Burmese troops issued an order in the third week of last month about their intention of buying betel-nut from the villagers near the gas pipeline. It’s unusual for the villagers that paddy and rubber are being paid to the authorities for the set up quota paddy and rubber with low prices. Villagers are angry that they have to sell their betel-nut at low prices, but even more so at not even receiving any money for their products.

 

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FARMERS ORDERED TO SELL RICE AT LOW PRICE

(Kao-Wao November 16, 2002)

 

The Burmese authorities issued orders to farmers living along the Gyine river in Karen State to sell their rice within the government’s forced quota.

 

The District President of Pa-An, Karen State, Colonel Aung Shein ordered villages along the Gyine river on 26/9/ 2002 to the rice quota set up by the local authority before the harvest season.  The letter stated farmers must pay (4) baskets paddy per acre for land which has produced no rice, (8) baskets paddy for the land, which was recently destroyed by heavy rains and (12) baskets for undestroyed rice fields.

 

Eighty percent of rice field in Sam Hlel, Khayah and Kok Yekha Mon villages of Southern Pa-An township were destroyed by flood in the during rainy season. Six hundreds acres of paddy fields in Sam Hlel and five hundreds acres in Khayah village were destroyed by flooding, according to the local administration source.

 

“Our village headman was warned by the township authority that farmers must fully comply with the rice quota or he will be dismissed from his position,” said a village committee member of Sam Hlel village.

 

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MON MONKS RESTRICTED FROM BUDDHIST EXAM

(Based on IMNA, November 24, 2002)

 

The Myanmar government recently issued an order to Mon Buddhist monks allowing the religious examination only to be taken inside Mon State and Rangoon.

 

The Supreme Buddhist Monk Association issued the order for the Mon monks’ community to sit in the State Pha ­Tha-Ma ­Pyan examination of Mon language only in Mon State and Rangoon, the capital of Burma.  According to IMNA report, a Mon monk from Three Pagodas Pass of Thai-Burma border town said: 'It is a discrimination against our right to take the examination in our own location”. The new order seriously disappointed monks who reside in Karen and Tenasserim divisions. Now they must seek travelling and accommodation expenses because they have to go to other locations without government arrangement.

 

The BSPP government banned the Pha-Tha.Ma.Pyan State examination in the Mon language in the 1980s and replaced it with the Burmese language. Mon monks must take it in the Burmese language subjects in order to pass the government-recognized exam. This policy created friction and split the Buddhist monks into two-three groups and broke the unity of the monk community. After the cease-fire in 1995, the President of the New Mon State Party Nai Shwe Kyin requested the military junta for the admission of Mon monks to sit in the Pha-Tha-Ma-Pyan exam in Mon language but it was disallowed.

 

This prompted the Mon Buddhist monk community to hold a meeting in Mu Don Township this week to discuss the current situation of Mon national affairs and the new order, local source reported.

 

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FIFTH CONGRESS OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT HELD

(Kao-Wao, November 19, 2002)

 

Delegates from member organizations and observers from Karenni and Shan States successfully held the Fifth Congress of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the stronghold area of the Karen from November 11 to 16, 2002.

 

The NDF congress elected Saw Ba Thin Sein (Karen National Union) as Chairman, Khaing Soe Naing Aung (Arakan Liberation Party) as Vice-Chairman, Zin Cun (Chin National Front) as General Secretary and Khun Okker (Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization) as Joint General Secretary to lead the armed ethnic organizations which has fought the central government in Burma for over fifty years.

 

The gathering issued a strongly worded statement condemning the ongoing civil war and human rights violations carried out by the Burmese military junta in the ethnic nationalities’ area.  The NDF urges the SPDC to expand the dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to include the ethnic nationality forces and to welcome the UN Special Envoy, Razali Ismail to facilitate national reconciliation and to request the UN to carry out more effective measures to get things moving.  Over forty delegates attended the Congress near the Thailand-Burma border to review principles and policies on the domestic and international situations.  The Congress resolved to strengthen cooperation among the ethnic nationalities for restoration of democracy and ethnic nationality rights in Burma.

 

The NDF is comprised of eight ethnic groups; the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Lahu Democratic Front (LDF), Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization (PPLO), Chin National Front (CNF), Wa National Organization (WNO) and the Karen National Union (KNU). Eleven ethnic armed groups founded it on May 10, 1976 but it became weaker after the New Mon State Party (NMDP) and the Kachin Independent Organization reached a cease-fire with the junta because of their withdrawal from membership.

 

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MON STUDENTS IN SAFE AREA

(OMNSO/ Thailand, November 12, 2002)

 

Mon Students in the safe area of Tham Hin camp have elected new Executive Committe members.

 

The Overseas Mon National Students Organization (OMNSO) issued an announcement of the 18th Central Executive Committee on October 29, 2002

The OMNSO elected their Chairman Mehm Nyan Mon; Secretary Min Aung Win, Organizer Nai Chan Na Non and 7 other members to lead the OMNSO based at the Thailand-Burma border.

 

After the 1988 nation wide uprising in Burma, many Mon students and monks fled to the Thailand-Burma border and, OMYMU and OMNSO were founded by refugee students and monks at Wat Prok, Bangkok in 1990.  Many OMNSO members resettled in the third countries along with the Mon communities founded in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe.

 

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KAO WAO NEWS GROUP

Email: kaowao@hotmail.com, Phone: 66-1 561-0860

 

ABOUT US

Kao-Wao Newsgroup is committed to social justice, peace, and democracy in Burma. We hope to be able to provide more of an in-depth analysis that will help to promote lasting peace and change within Burma. Editors, reporters, writers, and overseas volunteers are dedicated members of the Mon activist community based in Thailand. Our motto is working together for lasting peace and change.

 

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