KAO WAO NEWS GROUP

 

An electronic newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma

No. 41, March 27 - April 10, 2003

 

READER’S FRONT

NEW MON STATE PARTY REFORMED

REFUGEES TORTURE BY BURMESE ARMY

OLD MAN BEATEN FOR NOT SELLING RICE

MOULMEIN STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE

LAND CONFISCATION FOR POLICE STATION

MON MUSIC THRIVES DESPITE ASSIMILATION

ARAKAN YOUTHS COORDINATE

LOST IN THE WESTERN BORDER

CANADIAN MON WOMEN ORGANIZAION

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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

http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1215&lo=d&sl=0

 

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On Kanbawza Win

 

Dear Kao-Wao,

 

Like no doubt many of your readers, I was appalled to learn of the ICG’s attempt to gag Professor Kanbawza Win in your December edition. I was delighted therefore to read in your last edition that he is still telling it as he sees it. The reality of the situation in Burma is so awful that to pretend otherwise and to maintain that the truth must automatically lie equidistant between two poles in the name of objectivity is to do violence to the truth.

 

Professor Win has an engaged, passionate style free of any pretence of false neutrality, which is refreshingly different from the staid academic norm. Yet, his assertions are always supported by evidence. Hardly the sign of irrationality. As a teacher I found Professor Win’s comparative study of the coups in Thailand and Burma to be an invaluable resource. Similarly, as a reader I have always enjoyed his writings as a refreshing dose of plain common sense.

 

I suspect that what the Professor has fallen victim to is what I would describe as the ideology of “aid-ism”. That is the assumption that the maximisation of aid in and of itself must necessarily equate with the greatest good. At its’ core is faith in the idea that aid (even of the most tokenistic band-aid variety) is the superior moral course par excellence and thus has a mandate to override all other considerations. For it’s proponents this is a taken for granted self-evident fact. An assumption that they cannot even imagine not being universally shared except by the criminally insane. Professor Win’s “crime” was to strike at the neutralist assumptions propping up this holy cow.

 

Behind this stands the old nemesis of pacifism. I hold pacifism to be morally bankrupt because it writes a blank check for oppression. More than that it reduces complex issues to simple relativist absurdities that hold all antagonists in a conflict to be moral equivalents. Because it automatically assumes the moral high ground it is self-righteous and intolerant of dissent. “Aid-ism” if you will, takes this one step further to an abhorrence of politics. This is expressed in bland assertions that the politics of any particular region, such as Burma, are intractable and incomprehensible.

 

Recent history however, does not support this contention. Everywhere from Bosnia and Rwanda to East Timor and Afghanistan has demonstrated that the humanitarian crisis is endless until the political situation is improved. This ideology however, is now as entrenched as any other rigid obsolete orthodoxy ever has been throughout history.

 

That free speech and open debate should be sacrificed on the alter of humanitarian aid is not only ironic but as striking a proof of a weak ideology as could ever be found. Strong ideas do not require the defence of censorship.

 

Yours sincerely,

D.J. O’Hanlon.

 

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Dear Kao-Wao

Articles like the MI and prostitutes in Moulmein (Spies Sneak Sex from Child Prostitutes, Kao-Wao 40) is a good one. Can such articles be written about the local big-shots in Rangoon -- not high officials, but those who are in contact with and control the population? We need to know more about local officials, their corrupt ways, and how they operate, esp. within Rangoon.

 

Uncle Eugene

(Vancouver, Canada)

 

Dear Editor,

Thank you very much for sending these important news. I appreciate all your hard working. I hope you will send more accurate information.

 

Yours sincerely,

Lawi Weng

 

Hi Kao-Wao,

Your news piece (“USDA Train Villagers to Lie International Institutions” Kao-Wao 39) is interesting.  It's very important to know more details... as you know SPDC is using sophisticated techniques these days... engaging and abusing, methods.. we need to expose their tricks to the world.

 

TT

 

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Mon National Affairs

 

NEW MON STATE PARTY REFORMED

(Kao-Wao, April 7, 2003)

 

After the funeral of its long time President, New Mon State Party elected new leaders for both political and military wings according to the source from the Party.

 

The former Vice-President Nai Htin was chosen as the President replacing Nai Shwe Kyin who died last month at the capital of Mon State, southern Burma.

 

Nai Htin, a long time freedom fighter from LeTark near Mudon, joined the Party soon after it was founded and he is well-respected by majority population and grass roots for his down to earth attitude and loyalty to the protracted national revolution.  Despite his old age and the offer of a place to live in the city, this humble leader continues to live with his comrades at the jungle headquarters of the NMSP at BeeRee in southern Mon State.

 

Nai Hongsar was promoted to the position of Secretary General.  He is close to the armed ethnic groups that the NMSP is allied with and has been branded as a hard-liner by the regime for his strong opposition to the cease-fire deal.  A moderate, young leader, Nai Chan Toi was elected as the Joint Secretary General replacing Nai Hongsar’s former position.

 

Nai Rot Sa was selected as Vice President together with General Htow Mon during the five-day meeting at the party’s headquarters near Ye in southern Mon State.

 

Nai Shwe Thein, an Executive Central Committee member, said the new President is not taking the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Mon Army. 

Traditionally, the President is automatically chosen as Commander-in-Chief but the meeting nominated Vice President (1) General Htow Mon instead. 

Vice-President (2) Nai Rot Sa is obliged for Political and Administrative Affairs.

 

“The change is a normal process within a democratic system and a good change to name two Vice-Presidents to share the responsibility of assisting the 82 year-old President.  The party is now structured with nine members of Central Executive Committee, twenty-seven members of Central Committee and seven members of Military Command”, he added.

 

The Military Command of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of the Party, has also been reformed with old and new leaders.

 

A spokesperson from the MNLA said the seven Command members comprised General Htow Mon, General Aung Naing, Col. Joel-Yeh, Col. Kao Rot, Nai Lawee Ong, Nai Layeh GaKao and Nai Saik Htow.

 

Surprisingly, Colonel Joel Yeh was elected as a new member of Central Executive Committee and Joint-Secretary of Military Command.

 

He reported by phone that the situation after the cease-fire agreement with regime has no political solution and that the overall (situation) is not improving.  The party is now coordinating with all forces including overseas Mons to work for national cause and democracy in Burma.

 

According to a spokesperson of the NMSP, the Party will not change its cease-fire policy with the Burmese military regime any time soon, despite doubt expressed about it after the death of President Nai Shwe Kyin.

 

About 50,000 Mon supporters and 200 Buddhist monks and over a thousand vehicles crowded the funeral of the Mon national leader held in Moulmein on March 11, 2003.

 

A retired NMSP leader said the changes in leadership at this time were positive, that there were representatives from moderate, compromised and hard-line factions.  Even though the party is not satisfied with the current political situation, it may not be in a position to oppose the (cease-fire) deal since the regime has systematically weakened the movement by expanding military bases close to the area controlled by the NMSP.

 

Nai Shwe Kyin founded the NMSP in July 1958 when the Mon Peoples Front (MPF) surrendered to the U Nu’s parliamentary government declaring to Mon supporters that it was an exchange of arms for democracy.  The 91-year leader retained the position of party President right up until his death in Moulmein.

 

The party reached a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese military in June 1995 and controls areas in Moulmein, Tavoy and ThaThom districts in Mon State and Tenasserim Division.

 

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Crimes Against Humanity

 

REFUGEES TORTURED BY BURMESE ARMY

(Kao-Wao, March 21 2003)

 

A source from the Halockhanee refugee camp reports that two men were arrested and tortured by the Burmese Army near Thailand-Burma border.

 

Nai Prik and Nai Dit, refugees, from the Mon camp were arrested by the Burmese army on March 17 and severely wounded as a result of being tortured all night.

 

The men were arrested by the Light Infantry Battalion No. 583 led by Colonel Nyo Hmaing and Captain Min Naung near the Halockhanee camp while cutting weeds to make brooms outside the camp. The two were taken by the troops and accused of having contact with a Mon insurgent group led by Colonel Pan Nyunt.

 

The two reported to the camp refugee committee that the Burmese soldiers had covered their faces, burned their bodies with cigarette butts and beaten them with rifles and rolled bamboo over their knees all night.

 

Nai Lone Htow, the chairman of the refugee camp, said the two villagers knew nothing about the accusations and that they had been severely tortured. 

They were released only after an officer from the New Mon State Party made a formal request.

 

The victims have suffered internal pain and vomited blood, a Mon health worker said.

 

Even though the area close to the Halockhanee camp is controlled by the Mon cease-fire group, the Burmese army sometimes intrudes in the area to repair the dry season motor road from Ye to Three Pagodas Pass, Thai-Burma border.

 

Last month, three Mon refugees were beaten and later released by the SPDC soldiers. At the moment, refugees dare not even go outside the camp to collect vegetables, out of fear at what could happen to them.

 

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Life in Mon State

 

OLD MAN BEATEN FOR NOT SELLING RICE

(Based on IMNA, April 1, 2003)

 

A 71- year old man was arrested and tortured in a lock-up by local police for failing to sell his paddy quota to the government in Mon State.

 

Nai Lar was detained at Nyaung Pin Seik Police Station, near the capital city of Mon State, and tortured by the head of the local police force, according to an eyewitness.

 

Police officer Maung Toe beat Nai Lar for failing to provide the 12 baskets per acre set by the government.   The old man farms14 acres of land but was only able to provide 20 baskets of paddy because of flooding in last year’s rainy season.

 

According to a local source, other farmers, Mi Myaing (age 60), Nai So (age 60) and Nai Lar’s wife, Mi Koo were also detained on April 2 at Tararnar Police station for not providing the full amount of paddy.  After being in detention for three nights, the three Mon farmers were transferred to Nyaung Pin Seik.  The police then released Mi Koo but detained her husband Nai Lar on the same day. Nai So was released after he signed an agreement to make the paddy quota payment.

 

Police Officer Maung Toe handcuffed farmers and beat the old man at about 1:00 p.m. on March 7 in front of the other detainees.

 

The two farmers were not given meals or drinking water for several days. After his mistreatment and torture at the police station, Nai Lar was sent to Kyaik Ma Yaw hospital from where he was transferred to Moulmein on March 10, a local farmer said.

 

“What a nightmare to our life, to have my father beaten by the Burmese police on the same day as our Mon leader Nai Shwe Kyin died,” said Nai Pok Pha, the victim’s son.

 

The military government insists that farmers are obliged to sell the full amount of paddy set out by law.  Otherwise, they must return their land or farm to the state.

 

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MOULMEIN STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE

 

Moulmein, March 10 -- Students from Moulmein University in Mon State angrily removed signboards from a police station after a dispute over a motorcycle accident, a local source reported to DVB radio.

 

The radio station reported that an argument started when Ko Moe Moe Aye, a 17-year old student, was stopped and fined by traffic police for not wearing a helmet while she was riding a motorcycle with her friend.

 

Students from the campus said that the traffic officer dragged the girl from the motorcycle along with her friend near the headquarters of the Mon State Police on March 6.  Moe Moe Aye was pushed to the ground and her head was injured.  When she lost consciousness, she was sent to Moulmein hospital. 

Later she was fined by the police.

 

A Moulmein resident said about twenty students went on the rampage and destroyed signboards in front of police station and traffic rules instructions.

 

The students presented a complaint about the case to Col Aung Maw Maw of the Township Peace and Development Council demanding that the traffic officer be charged and legal action taken against him.

 

After they returned to the campus, acting on orders from local authorities, the university administration forced the students to sign a statement promising not to take further action against the State.

 

A businessman from Kyaik-Maraw said many motorcycle accidents had occurred in Mon State this year.  Many people who own and ride motorcycles neither wear helmets nor hold valid licenses. They bribe officials of the local Military Intelligence (MI) and other military personnel.  Most motorcycles are brought in from Thailand through arrangements made with cease-fire groups and the Burmese Army.

 

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Human rights in the Palaung area

 

LAND CONFISCATED FOR POLICE STATION

(Based on a PYNG report, April 2, 2003)

 

As in other parts of Burma, the army is confiscating land from local people in the Palaung area of northern Shan State, according to a report from a local source.

 

Acting on orders of the Commander of the North-Eastern Command, the State Peace and Development Council is planning to build a modern town in Mang Tong township, the second capital of Palaung cease-fire group’s Special Region No 7.

 

The Palaung source said fifteen houses in Talet village, along the Kalar Kon - Mang Tong road had been relocated by the army since November 25, 2002 in order to make way for the construction of a police station.  The citizens received no compensation for their houses and they were forced to move from the village on short notice. The villagers reported they are still waiting for new sites to made available by the authorities.

 

The army also confiscated 10 acres of land belonging to four local farmers to construct a new village.

 

The local source reported, on March 26, 2003, Land Department of Mang Tong sold the civilian with 150,000 Kyat per 200 square feet for a house hold from the occupied land to build a new town project set up by the Burmese junta.  Farmers who lands are occupied by the military also have to pay for the piece of land and money were shared among the local Commander of Infantry Battalion No. 130, Land Department and USDA members.

 

The victims sent a petition to local authorities, but were later warned that those who did not obey the rules and laws of the State would face legal action.  Since their lands were taken by force, the farmers who depend on them for their living have lost their jobs and are facing hardship, reported a villager who fled to the border.

 

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MON MUSIC THRIVES DESPITE ASSIMILATION

(Reported by Gong Mon)

 

Geeta Mon, the popular Mon band from Mon State made its first debut at the Sangkhlaburi Mon community on Thai soil from March 7-9.

 

The leading Mon singers, Zahan Mon, Hong Chan, ParMaukha Chan and Banya Htow attracted a lively crowd of fans; the popular Mon band upstaged the more flashy Thai entertainers at the festival.

 

The event was a birthday festival for a well-known and respected Mon Buddhist monk, Venerable Uttama, who lives in the Thailand-Burma border town. Local and visitors, including monks, joined in the birthday celebration. Thai movies, the Mon band and Mon Htow Kyaing, dance troupes from Monland, provided colorful and lively entertainment during the festival.

 

Mon bands occasionally play in Thailand, Malaysia and overseas on Mon national days. A successful concert was held in 2001 in one of the largest Mon migrant communities, in Maharchai, just west of Bangkok.  The performance at Wat Kumphar; was a 3-day festival that attracted thousands of Mon fans.

 

At the birthday ceremony for the Abbot in Sangkhlaburi, the Mon musicians attracted people of all age groups, but especially the young people who were eager to socialize and make friends.  The social atmosphere at the concert was carefree, with people laughing and smiling at one another.  The younger generation, wearing their colourful sarongs, sang along to the words played by Geeta Mon.  Others smoked homemade cigars and chewed betel nut while socializing and joyfully greeting each other in the Mon country manner. They outnumbered Thai security forces and people from the local Thai community. 

Originally, the band was to play for only two nights but this was extended to another night at the request of the audience of supporters, reported by DVB Radio, Mon language program.

 

While the Mon face discrimination and restrictions in Thailand, it was just like any Mon community back home faced with restrictions imposed by the Burmese dictatorship.

 

Back home in Burma, several Mon VCD Karaoke videos and tapes have been released despite strict control by the military regime’s scrutiny board. According to an IMNA report, the Scrutiny Board does not allow the Mons to produce their music unless songs are translated into Burmese and handed over to the authorities. Before any production, they need to obtain permission from the military junta.

 

“I was delighted to hear Mon spoken everywhere even in downtown Moulmein, which was, linguistically speaking, almost purely Burmese six years ago. Mon books are readily available at the market, whereas six years ago a request for literature in Mon produced only shy or even scared negative answers. Popular and classical Mon music is recorded, and some ten Karaoke VCDs have been produced so far, giving further motivation to young people to read in their own language”, said Nai Yen Ni, a founder of the Mon Culture and Literature Survival Project (MCL) in an interview with Kao-Wao last October.

 

During the last two years, Mon VCD Karaoke has produced seven CDs. At the beginning of this year we have already produced one", said Nai Rong Dain, a music storeowner from Moulmein. The first VCD (Chan Mon Chan Nai), has been very well received by the Mon community and demand continues to be high. 

During the next year, we hope to produce six VCDs, our community is thrilled to have them all and we don't need to sing along in other languages because we have our own Karaoke," he said.

 

"We are also hoping to produce more of the Mon VCD Karaoke, as soon as we possibly can," another producer said enthusiastically.

 

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ARAKAN YOUTHS COORDINATE

(Kao-Wao, March 31, 2003)

 

Arakan youth recently who met at the Thai-Burma border formed a coordinating committee to establish unity among Arakan youths and coordinate with others.

 

The Arakan Youth Coordinating Committee (AYCC) was formed as a result of the gathering by members of various organizations and individuals.

 

The Arakan Sangha Union (ASU), the All Arakan Students and Youth Congress (AASYC), the Arakan League for Democracy Youth (ALD-Youth), the Arakan Youth Network Group (AYNG), the Labour Union of Arakan (LUA), the Rakhaing Patriotic Literature Club (RPLC) and other individuals joined in the Arakan Youth Seminar from 29-31 March 2003, near the Thai-Burma Border to plan for a future networking.

 

According to Oo Thein Maung, a member of the Working Group, the aims of the Committee include working for Liberty, Justice and Peace, capacity training for Arakan youths, preserving culture and literature and co-operating with other alliance organizations.

 

The meeting elected seven members to a Facilitating Team and four members to a Working Group.

 

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Migrant Watch

 

LOST AT THE WESTERN BORDER

(By a special reporter, April 2, 2003)

 

Many prisoners from Burma who remain in various prisons in Bangladesh are facing an uncertain future and some of them died in the prisons, according to a report from social workers at the Bangladesh-Burma border,

 

“The word ‘R/P’ means Released Prisoners of Myanmar. They have already been 

released by law since their prison terms have finished. But they are still detained in various Bangladesh prisons because the Burmese government refuses to accept them,” reported Nai Aung Shwe, a Mon from Mudon who served time in a Bangladesh prison for over six years.

 

Most of the fishermen in these prisons belong to the Mon and Arakan nationalities of Burma.  They originally went to Thailand as migrant labourers hoping for a better life and found work in the Thai fishing industry.  But they ended up with an uncertain future and many of them died without news reaching to their relatives and family back home.

 

Even though their prison terms had finished, only a handful of prisoners have been released through the advocacy of the UNHCR and human rights groups in Bangladesh, according to the source from the isolated western border.

 

A total of 585 Burmese prisoners (R/P) are stuck in the Bangladesh jails at Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Comilla, Nowakhali, Sylet, Chittagong and Dhaka despite the fact that they long ago completed their sentences.  238 of these prisoners are from Arakan State, 208 from Mon State, others 67 from Tenasserim, 20 from Irrawddy, 19 from Rangoon, 8 from Karen, 9 from Magwe and 4 from Mandalay Divisions.

 

The vast majority, the 334 prisoners, who are under detention due to illegal fishing in Thai boats are from Mon State and Arakan States, while 41 are from Rangoon, Pegu and Mandalay Divisions and Karen State.

 

The document said these inmates are transferred among jails in Bangladesh once or twice a year.  They live in overcrowded, hot and poor conditions and many suffer from mental disorders, TB, skin disease, heart disease, etc. 

They live in congested spaces with limited water and poor sanitary services, and many suffer from chronic malnutrition, which exposes them to disease and hampers their physical and mental development.

 

Over the past few years about 40 of these prisoners have died in various jails.  They include 7 from Cox's Bazar, 4 from Rangamati, 6 from Comilla, 5 from Sylet, 2 from Dhaka and one each from Nowakkhali and Bandaban, reported a social worker from Cox'sBazar, the Bangladesh Burma border.  Many more prisoners are believed to have died since information from the different prisons is not complete.

 

According to a report by Nai Aung Shwe, 14 of the prisoners who have passed away are from Mon state, 5 from Rakhaing state, 2 from Rangoon division, 3 from Tenasserim division and one from Irrawaddy division.

 

The report shows that many of the inmates are HIV positive and that 7 have died of HIV/AIDS over the last few years because of lack of treatment. 

Fishermen Tin Oo, Nai Ong, from Mon State and Than Naing from Rangoon died at Cox'sBazar jail with this virus in 1996.  Htay Aung, from Rangoon , Ko Lay from Irrawaddy died in 1997.  Aung Hla and Atia, from Ye, Mon state died at Dhaka in 2001.

 

Hoping for help from the Burmese Embassy, inmates in Bangladesh have gone on hunger strikes many times but nothing has come of their efforts.  When fifty of these prisoners (R/Ps) held a hunger strike at Norwakhali jail, about 300 prison police beat them.   Five of their leaders were selected for particular and brutally beaten by forty guards.  Afterwards, officials from the Burmese Embassy came and met with the prisoners, promising that all would be taken back to Burma within three months but nothing happened.

 

On March 28, 2002, over 500 went on a hunger strike in Bangladesh jail. The strike was again crushed by the authorities, using a thousand prison guards who beat them severely.  Many suffered severe head, leg and hand wounds. 

According to witnesses, the prison floor was red with blood from their injuries.  Fifty were so badly wounded that they had to be taken to outside hospitals for treatment.

 

On April 4, 2002, about 200 were transferred to Comilla and 100 were sent to Norwakhali.  Three Mon youths who were among the group succumbed to their wounds.

 

It is estimated that there are over 600 inmates from Burma remaining in prison years after their sentences were completed.  Between 1996 and 2003 Bangladesh Government freed 389 Burmese prisoners at the border areas on 12 different occasions.  Between 1997 and 2003, under Burmese government's obligation, 182 were released on seven different occasions.

 

The UNHCR in Bangladesh managed to get freedom for 24 prisoners on four occasions between 1997 and 2001. On February 19, 2002, the Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) helped to secure the release of five Burmese prisoners.

 

At present, there are 198 Burmese's prisoners (R/Ps) at Bandaban in Cox's Bazar, 245 in Comilla, 152 in Rangamati, Sylet, Norwakhali in total 585.

 

All the prisoners complain about the indifference of the military government to their condition: “We who are under detention at Bangladesh prisons suffer due to the negligence of the Burmese government which is only interested in clinging to power and never takes responsibility for its citizens.  As long as the military government is in power, our suffering will be lengthy and unthinkable.”

 

On behalf of the inmates, Nai Aung Shwe requests that all for their uncertain fate in the Bangladesh prisons.

 

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International activism

 

CANADIAN MON WOMEN ORGANIZAION

(Kao-Wao, April 6, 2003)

 

The first Mon women organization in North America was formed after a meeting on Sunday in Calgary, Canada.

 

Women group in Calgary formally met at the “First Meeting of Mon Women Organization” and, as a result, elected five Working Committee members to lead the women team.  The gathering selected Ms. Ong MonChan as Chairwoman, Ms. Yin Aye as Vice-Chairwoman and Ms. SaJeng Htow as General Secretary to coordinate with other Mon women back home and overseas.

 

Mon women were encouraged by speeches from leaders of Mon Cultural Society and Dr. Simon Bryant from the Medical Mercy Canada. The history of famous Mon queens, Mi Jao-Bu (Shin Saw Pu) and Chamma Thewi were read in Mon and English languages during the occasion.  The participants who joined a meaningful afternoon in their traditional dress were entertained by food and cultural performance of Mon children and women.

 

The opening ceremony of a Mon Language Class, organized by the Mon Cultural Society (MCS), was also held at the same place followed by the women’s meeting.  The Calgary based Mon Cultural Society is also planning for Songran New Year on April 13, in Calgary.

 

The aims of the MCS are to promote and preserve the culture, literature, and social life of the Mon and to assist the Mon in the homeland and in exile.

 

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KAO WAO NEWS GROUP

 

Email: kaowao@hotmail.com

Phone + 66 -1 561- 0860, + 1- 403 - 248 2027

On line archive at http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1215&lo=d&sl=0

Online Burma Library -- http://www.burmalibrary.org

 

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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