KAO WAO NEWS No. 57
An electronic newsletter for social justice and freedom in
November 15-
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READER’S FRONT
MON URGED TO JOIN National
Convention
FARMERS REFUSE TO SIGN OVER LAND
YOUNG WOMEN PROP UP THE REGIME
FARMERS’ PROFITS UNDERMINED AGAIN
ABSDF GAINS SUPPORT FROM FORMER MEMBERS
MON NATIONAL DAY COMMITTEE FORMED
BURMESE APARTHEID AND MULTINATIONALS
EFFECT OF
SANCTIONS AGAINST
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READERS' 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
Regards,
Editor
kaowao@hotmail.com, kaowao@shaw.ca
*********************************************
Dear Editor,
Are we expecting the U.S to help
us for a regime change in
Bo Bo
(
____________________________________
Hi Kao Wao,
Happy 2nd Anniversary! You have
done a great job of getting out Mon news and debate on
Hammer
(OR,
________________________________
Dear Editors,
I am very pleased to read the
article of Mon Renaissance.
Mahn Kyaw Swe
_________________________________
Dear Kao Wao,
Congratulations on your 2nd
anniversary. Thank you for updating me
about
Jenice
Lee
(
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MON URGED TO JOIN National
Convention
(Kao Wao:
The ruling military junta has
urged New Mon State Party to attend its new national convention.
According to sources, the
cease-fire party is facing a tough decision whether to attend the State
sponsored national convention. If the
NMSP is not taking the chance, the regime will bring other Mon groups who
surrendered to the Burmese Army and those who have been fired from the Party
for corruption after the cease-fire deal.
A senior leader said the NMSP
has no interest in attending unless other cease-fire groups and ethnic forces
are allowed freely to express their opinions.
However, the Party will debate its role at the Central Committee's
emergency meeting which will start on
Since General Khin Nyunt of the State Peace and
Development Council was appointed Prime Minister in
In exile, a Mon MP Nai Thaung Shein
says that the Mon should join only after certain conditions are met by the
regime: the release of imprisoned Mon
National Democratic leaders and other political prisoners; and to allow all
ethnic forces including non cease-fire groups to debate freely in the
convention
The Mon National Democratic
Front played a major role among the Mon population and won five seats in the
1990 General Election. However the MNDF
was dissolved and its leaders were arrested while Nai
Thaung Shein fled to
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Life in
FARMERS REFUSE TO SIGN OVER LAND
(IMNA:
Farmers in southern
Although the Burmese Army
promises local farmers compensation for confiscated rubber and fruit trees, the
army pays only Kyat 4,000.00 (4 US Dollar) per acre of land.
Last month, before the UN Human
Rights Special Rapporteur went to
The source reported the BA
would pay 250 Kyat per one tree, but now have changed their decision declaring
they would pay only Kyat 4,000 per acre of land.
One acre of land normally has
about 500 rubber trees and landowners would get about Kyat 125,000 (125
The LIB No. 588 confiscated
lands from 28 farmers to build residential lines for army families.
3 farmers have consistently
refused to sign the agreement while others are forced to sign that they are
voluntarily offering their lands. Some
landowners are forced by the army to sign promising that they are offering
their lands permanently to the army without future consideration.
Land confiscation in the
southern part of
About 8,000 acres of land in
the Mon areas have been confiscated during 1998 to 2002 period.
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News Report
YOUNG WOMEN PROP UP THE REGIME
(By Banya
Hongsar/ KaoWao)
Under the title of “Economic
Sanction, Clothing Factory and Prostitution” a detailed article written by Warazein covered in depth the life of street sex workers in
Rangoon who are exploited by ‘Sex Bosses’, a term in Burmese referred to as ‘pha-gaung’.
According to Warazein, almost all female sex workers do not use condoms
because they wish to avoid legal hassles in court, the secret police force
watch out for people buying condoms to exploit the vulnerable. There is a
higher-class of sex workers who are set up in city apartments with a telephone;
their bosses arrange the meeting over the phone with rich customers including
senior members of the military who can afford it, the report said.
There are three categories of
sex workers in the city: The first works out on the street; the second in the
nightclubs; and the last group in private apartments. Currently, the most
popular nightclub is JJ Club at Mingalazay in Kyauk Myaung. During special
events, thousands of sex workers are seen hanging around the clubs, the report
added.
Local police officers sometimes
threaten the girls for arrest confesses one worker, complaining they must pay
not only cash but provide sex as well in La Tha area.
Some have formed their own working group and occupy a location at the central
main streets of Pan-soe-tan, Sulay,
the City Hall, Anow-ra-tha and the corners of major
cinema theatres.
Those who ply their trade in
the nightclubs are protected by the Military Intelligence Officers and their
business partners including the so called “peace groups or cease-fire groups”
in the city. Well-known nightclubs
including Theinkyizay D and
The report affirmed that female
sex workers were involved in the sex industry well before economic sanctions
were imposed on
According to Warazein, after major hotels suffered a loss in business
from the decline of visits from foreign guests and customers, many decided to
turn to opening private nightclubs selling sex as a quick fix to their economic
problems. It’s a condition in which women are always used when times get tough,
now so commonplace, sex workers don’t have to produce their ID card to rent a
room, “just go on ahead” the manager says, casual as going in for a cup of tea,
a meeting that will destroy society as it is doing in many countries in Africa
and around the world.
The State Peace and Development
Council, the current ruling military regime implemented “Four Social
Objectives” as a core agenda. Its first
social objective boldly states, “Pride highly the spirit and moral principles
of the nationality.” Absurdly, the real picture is that hundreds of thousands
of young girls, many of whom are from ethnic groups have turned themselves into
hookers for survival to prop up the regime from economic ruin.
Female sex workers in
HIV prevalence among commercial
sex workers tested in
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FARMERS’ PROFITS UNDERMINED AGAIN
(IMNA:
Even though the State Peace and
Development Council do not have a deliberate policy to buy rice, farmers are
ordered to sell their rice at a low price.
Recently, the local authorities
forced the traders who buy the paddy from farmers to form a Traders Association
from township to the village levels.
According to sources, the
Association also has to enforce the old regulation of buying paddy and the
farmers have to sell the set amount of paddy depending upon how many acres of
lands they farm.
Farmers thought the regime has
reneged to implement the new plan to benefit them, but instead will confiscate
paddy as it has done in the past.
The source reported the Myanmar
Agriculture Products Trading (MAPT) avoids buying paddy from farmers as
previous years and use Traders Association.
The Traders Associations were formed at the
instruction of the MAPT and the authorities trained them how to collect paddy
from the farmers. The authorities order
the Associations how many tons to impose, farmers are restricted in
transporting and husking of their crops, they are also required to meet a set
quota.
The Association pays about Kyat
170,000 (
The normal price of paddy in
the market is about Kyat 300,000 for 100 baskets. Members of the Associations have full rights
to buy crops from farmers and they have to pay a Kyat 10, 000 for membership
fee to the authorities.
In southern Ye Township, where
the regime is unable to administer the area due to ambush attack by the
guerrillas, military battalion forces farmers to give 4 baskets of paddy as a
tax.
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ABSDF GAINS SUPPORT FROM FORMER MEMBERS
(Kao Wao:
The Burmese community in
According to a source from a
former member, over 100 ABSDF members joined a meeting on November 16 to
welcome Chairman Ko Than Khe and, as a result, it
founded a support group. The former
ABSDF members handed the funds they have collected to the current Chairman.
Ko Than Khe said that
The former first Chairman Htun Aung Gyaw
delivered a speech and urged the former freedom fighters not to forget the
struggle for democracy and their comrades who are still fighting in the jungle.
According to Gyaw, the past ABSDF have more members but the leaders
lacked unity while the present central committee who has fifteen years of
experience is more united.
The ABSDF (All Burma Students
Democratic Front), known as a
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MON NATIONAL DAY COMMITTEE FORMED
(Kao Wao:
The Mon community in
According to the event
organizer Chit (Simon), the Mon National Day will reach out across to all Mon
communities around the world that will generate a great outpouring of hope and
motivation for the
Two meetings were held on
November 5 and 16 to prepare for the upcoming 57th Mon National Day in
The gatherings formed a Main
Committee and Sub Committees for Reception and Decoration, Cultural
Performance, Food and Beverage and, Service and Inspection. Among those elected were, Ms. Ong Mon Chan as Chairperson, Nai
Sao Meh Neh as
Vice-Chairman, Nai Simon (Chit) as Secretary General,
and Nai Khaing Weang, Nai Cham
Toik and Nai Chan Tha as Patrons.
The worldwide Mon communities
from around
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JUNTA TROOPS RUN GAMBLING OUTFITS
(IMNA:
Government
troops in Mudon and Thanphyuzayat
townships run gambling outfits during drama shows in the villages.
In
cooperation with the local authorities, senior officers of the Burma Army
troops hire San Metta, Chit Yazar
and Nan Thapye drama groups to perform in local Mon
villages. Even though the drama groups
are unpopular in the Mon community, the military officials force local people
to go the shows while the Army runs a gambling business to collect illegal tax,
says a local source.
While
the Mon villagers have no desire to watch the show in Burmese, Burman
entertainers are forced to perform their singing in Mon native songs with very
little pronunciation, a local source added.
The
military officials charged one Nee-Doung (typical
gambling game) for Kyat 25,000, one An-Galone table
was charged for Kyat 5,000 and Card Player is charged for Kyat 1,000 per
night.
The
senior officials of the government troops have conducted over 30 shows in Mon
villages and plan other shows in southern Ye township.
The
drama shows are performed in public gathering grounds where villagers do not
have to pay any admission fee while the troops charge to gambling business
owners.
The
local Police Force in Thanphyuzayat also runs similar
gambling (cock fighting) events in the town to collect illegal cash from
gamblers in the community.
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Feature
BURMESE APARTHEID AND MULTINATIONALS
(By Banya
Hongsar)
Development projects, under the
direction of the Rangoon military officials, places local people at risk,
especially farmers, who receive nothing from the Kanbauk-Myaaingkalay
Gas Construction project between Mon and Karen States, while gas flows to a
cement factory, money is funneled to corrupt businessmen and opportunistic
investors.
Over the last seven years,
farmers are forced to hand over their historical farmlands without compensation
to the State. Human Rights Foundation of Monland
released its exclusive report on "No Land to Farm" condemning the
officials of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the current ruling
Rangoon regime, which has confiscated over 7,000 acres of farmland in southern
Burma. Over three hundred farmers will face constant hardship, which not only
threatens their immediate survival, but their natural resources vital for the
future of the Mon community who have managed their natural resources for
countless generations. With no option for survival, many flee to the Thai-Burma
southern borders for sanctuary at one of the Refugee’s camps.
Independent Mon News Agency
reported on October 17 that a part of Kanbauk-Myaingkalay
gas pipeline, which transports gas from Yatana
on-shore gas station to a new cement factory in Myaingkalay
village in
The Ministry of Construction
manages the construction of the gas pipeline project while Southeast Command
base in
During 2003, four gas
explosions occurred in
There is no clear information
whether TotalFinaElf and Unocal were involved in Kunbauk-Myainkalay Gas project, but the two investors are
major shareholders of the Yatana Gas production to
According to a report of the
Collaborative for Development Action (CDA) in January 2003, three CDA members,
including Mary Anderson, traveled to
Since 2002, human rights
workers based in
Local people including
anti-government armed forces based on southern Thai-Burma border know nothing
about the gas line production in the earlier 1990s. Consequently, the Mon
National Liberation Army, armed wing of New Mon State Party was forced to agree
to a cease-fire deal to
However, TotalFinaElf
proudly announced in its recent statement to the Burmese people that today, 23
villages, and the local population of 34,000 people benefit directly from the
program, which was implemented in late 1995. Doctors, agriculturists,
communication officers and veterinarians employed by the project live full-time
in the villages. The program often extolled by the regime as a model for
development, most recently stated by General Khin Nyunt, which encompasses medical and health care,
educational initiatives, support for business initiatives, and the construction
of infrastructure, such as bridges, roads and drinking water supply and sports
fields.
A recently released report of
"No Land to Farm" said, since the military came to power, the regime
has adopted a policy that every military command be involved in local business
activities to raise funds for the welfare of their battalions. In practicing
that policy, the southeast command ordered its Infantry Battalions to raise
funds for their budgets, which in turn props up the regime.
The people who are the prime
owners and caretakers of the natural resources are excluded from business
dealings between foreign investors and the
Mon National Relief and
Development Committee based on Thai-Burma border has no official communication
access to foreign investors in
Shareholders of the gas
production including TotalFinaElf and Unocal have
blatantly ignored the impact of Burmese domestic politics while over 300,000
illegal Burmese migrant have fled to
Committee for National
Development on Border Areas led by the State Peace and Development Council
meanwhile fails to use transparency or to acknowledge the impact of the
domestic political crisis, which only boasts the positions of members of
cease-fire groups and local high ranking Burmese officials.
The AFP reported in August of
this year, that the US Oil Giant Unocal must stand trial in
In 2002, there are over thirty
non-government organizations in
For the
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise
(MOGE), a government business body serving the military, operates the Kanbauk-Myaingkalay gas production. According to a source
from the Mon political community, the cease-fire leaders are unaware of the
impact of the environmental outcome which could be destroying their natural
resources and who lack interest or understanding for further community debate
despite explosions going off in all directions.
Development projects in a
country such as
***************************************
Political View:
(By Mehm
Pandit,
The Thai-Burma border and
Under “Democracy and Human
Rights on
Mon political forces has grown
weak after leaders were systematically jailed and muted in the 1990s, official
political parties were banned, like the Mon National Democratic Front in 1992.
From this, the front-runner, a Mon nationalist organization, the New Mon State
Party and its armed wing, Mon National Liberation Army adopted a new political
stance in 1995 signing a cease-fire agreement with the ruling military
authority.
Both have a common interest in
establishing self-determination for the Mon but lack a political mandate in
The Mon, in fact are the prime
stakeholders of Burmese Independence in 1948 but the Burman nationalist led political
faction has rejected their political, cultural and human rights.
Successive Mon leaders both
from the urban and rural elite have fought for sovereignty of the Mon until the
present day. Weaknesses of Mon politics
took place in a pre-Burma independence struggle, while a pro-AFPFL
(Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League) faction and the Mon nationalist
political forces split over popular support in the 1940s.
Urban-based Mon national
leaders formed a united Mon Front but were not granted equal status with the
Burman under the constitution in 1947.
The newly formed BSPP (Burmese Socialist Programme
Party) government banned the existing rights of the Mon community who were not
allowed to learn their mother language in public schools.
In 1977, after the formation of
During 1980-1990,
Military appointed native Mon
speakers were to be the ears and eyes of the government troops, who rule in
every single Mon village today.
Current military deployments in
Government troops proliferate
in Infantries, Regiments, and Battalions throughout every town and major
village in
In November, Independent Mon
News Agency reported that the military government is planning to develop a
nuclear reactor in
The second major issue is
whether political transition in
Up to the present day, there is
no clear agenda where the NMSP is heading to with the exception of releasing
only a few occasional statements. The
Party is formed with over thirty senior members who hold Executive and Central
Committees positions with a back up support of District and Township
Committees. The Party aims to administer
five districts. The Mon community mostly
resides in Thadhom,
Mon National Democratic Front
is the only nationalist party contested in General Election in 1990 and
maintains its legitimate role as an official party despite the ruling military
abolishing it in 1992. Veteran leader Nai Tun Thein, a key member of CRPP,
conducts frequent political lectures and workshops for members and key
supporters in the community despite the ruling authority banning it to operate.
The party’s office is sealed off but the President opens up his home by
inviting many from around the Mon community.
Whatever happens in the
political transition in
As long as
*****************************************
EFFECT OF
SANCTIONS AGAINST
(
Six months after the violent attack on Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi and her group, a range of different strategies on
The
This month, under pressure from activists and the British
government, British American Tobacco withdrew its subsidiary, Rothmans of Pall
Mall Myanmar Pte Ltd in
U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
who visited
Still, life - and business - continues as usual in
On Nov. 12, the leaders of
The issue of "hard" and "soft"
sanctions is among the issues most debated in relation to pushing democracy in
The EU itself has taken a firm position against
Even
the U.N. joint efforts with the U.S. government and the EU to pressure the
Burmese government to release Suu Kyi
faces challenges from Thailand, China, as well as other South-east Asian
countries that offer them constant military and economic support. Such
support has "undermined attempts to send a clear message to Burma's
military rulers that it is time to make way for an elected civilian
government," Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia
division said, even though months earlier members of the Association of
South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) had also called on Rangoon to free Suu Kyi.
The grants and loans that
Thaksin, whose government is hosting a
forum of the much-touted 'road map' this year to let western nations
"better understand"
Choombhon Lertrathakarn,
a senior specialist in the Thai National Security Council's international
security department, says that
Analysts say the picture in
Harn Yawnghwe adds that the future is also likely to bring more
pressure from the EU as it expands in membership from 15 to 25 next year.
This is because eight out of these ten countries, including the Czech Republic
and Poland, were once communist or totalitarian nations, which have experienced
transitions to democracy and are "very strong on human rights and
democracy", he said.
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