Army starts taking areca nut tax from villagers

 

Independent Mon News Agency

December 28, 2004

 

For the first time a Burmese military battalion based

in Yebyu Township has collected a areca nut tax from

the people, 1,000 areca nuts from each areca palm

plantation owner. "The military Infantry battalion

No.282 ordered the village headmen in Yebyu Township

by letter to collect the tax," a village headman said.

 

"I took to the village headman's home 2,000 areca nuts

by myself with my motorbike for the tax. My village

headman took from our family 2,000 because we have

6,000 areca palms in our plantation," Myit Htwe

explained.

 

Village headmen have to manage, more or less, which

areca palms owner they have to collect for the tax.

"In the order, they collect the areca for planting,

but I do not believe it. I think they collect it for

their funds because the areca nut has a good price,"

the village headman added.

 

In that area, areca nut is the job most people rely on

for survival, 7 Kyat an areca nut. An owner of 1,000

areca palms has an income of more than one million

Kyat for a year.

 

"That's why the military authorities collected the

areca nut from each village. They got more than 50

thousand areca nuts per village and they will get

about 100 million Kyats in the whole township," the

village headman explained how the army got the money.

 

In some areas, the Burmese soldiers stole villagers'

areca nuts drying at their village homes and resold

them for their income.

 

"Sometimes, they took them in front of us. But they do

not ask us. We are also afraid to make a complaint to

the higher ranking officer because at the moment the

military has launched a military operation against the

Mon splinter groups in our area and the military is

very cruel to people," said Mi Kon Chan, a women from

southern Ye township who reached the camp the day

before yesterday (Dec. 25).

 

"They also killed some people, beating villagers for

stealing who tried to go to the areca palm plantation

to pick arecas," she claimed.

 

In southern Mon State, the Burmese military has been

launching military operations against the

Houngsarwatoi Restoration Party(HRP), a Mon splinter

group, and some villages were banned from going to the

orchard plantation.



For further information, please contact to Independent

Mon News Agency

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