Newsletter for social justice and
freedom in
NMSP
debate matters of political division
Villagers
flee USDA course by local authorities
KNU
forced villagers to join guerrilla unit
Mon
monks disrobed by Thai authorities
Border town on alert
Mon
refugees released from detention in
A
senior leader of Karen ceasefire group under suspicion for drug dealing
Focus
on ceasefire and war in Monland
Readers'
Front
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NMSP
debate matters of political division
(Kaowao:
Senior
leaders of the NMSP called a Central Committee meeting at the party's General
Headquarters today with the Mon public eagerly awaiting news on the outcome.
The
main discussion would be whether the NMSP should attend the government
sponsored National Convention, according to the source. This will mark
future relationships between the NMSP and SPDC.
Lately,
the New Mon State Party has sought out public opinion on whether it should
attend the National Convention in Nyaunghnapin.
"We
sincerely want the public to understand our status quo and give feedback to
better work together for the future. It is crucial for the party to
analyze what are the advantages and disadvantages if the NMSP is to join the NC
in October," said Nai Ong
Mangae before he left for
The
leadership of the NMSP has faced challenges since the death of its founders Nai Shwe Kyin and Nai Htin, as well; its
relationship with the SPDC has not improved since the purge of Khin Nyunt with limited communication between the two.
A
retired NMSP leader said, "The majority of Central Executive Committee
(CEC) members favour a more forceful approach
including armed struggle. However, the CEC may face a tough debate with
18 members of Central Committee (CC) who play a key role in the party's
operation. Without consensus of its second leaders, the party's operation
will not be active. There is an ideology division among 27
leaders."
After
the ceasefire agreement, NMSP benefited some business opportunities and
received Kyat 4.1 million per month from the junta. But the junta stopped
supporting the monthly allowance in November 2005 after NMSP refused to send
representatives to the NC and only attended as observers.
The
SPDC recently announced that the government would reopen the convention to
draft the country's new constitution on October 10. Delegates to the
National Convention have to be at the meeting site at Nyaunghnapin,
about 45 kilometers north of
The
convention was adjourned on January 31, with the government saying delegates
needed to return to work and would resume before the end of the year after
farmers finished their cultivation and harvest.
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Villagers
flee USDA Course by local authorities
(Kaowao:
A
group of villagers have fled to Mon refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border to
avoid recruitment by the Union Solidarity and Development Association.
The
villagers who arrived at the Halockhanee camp, a
source reported, said the USDA had forced them to sign up to an Advanced
Management Course last month and their village headmen was ordered to fill up
the quotas from 30 to 90 trainees depending on the village size.
Nai Dut, on the condition of anonymity, who hails from Tong Pulut of Thanbyu Zayat, said, "The training was for fire fighting and
basic militia training to prepare for a foreign invasion." He,
added, however, that he believed the selected trainees were to become a reserve
force for the junta in the future with full benefits. They would be
deployed as militia or civil servants by January of next year.
The
USDA claims that the rural people constitute over 70 per cent of
Other
sources reported only some selected villages were targeted this time and other
villages were not being called on for recruitment.
**************************************
KNU
forces villagers to join guerrilla unit
(Kaowao:
Local
villagers from Kawkareik reported that the Karen
National Union has been recruiting them to join their guerrilla army units.
Ongkong
village of about three hundred households were ordered to provide one person
per household.
The
village is comprised of multiethnic groups, including the Mon, Karen, Lao-Shan
and Burmese, located near Kanee of Kawkareik in
A
villager who arrived to the border said Commander Kyi Lin of KNU's No. 6 Brigade gave the order saying that households
who could not provide the soldiers would be fined. New recruits were
working on the farms belong to the KNU officers.
The Karen National Union (KNU) is an armed group
operating in the border area between Burma and Thailand.
The Karen has been fighting the Burmese government since 1948 through its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).
*******************************************
Mon
monks disrobed by Thai authorities
(Kaowao:
The
Thai authorities disrobed eight monks in a Mon temple for illegal entry into
the kingdom today.
The
local source reported the Thai police raid at the Buddhist monastery at Bangkadee, a large Thai-Mon community near
"Even
though the monks had their identity cards from the religious society, they were
arrested due to illegal entry. They asked for Thai ID cards or a
Household Registration List and the monks including four novices did not have
the Thai nationality ID cards," said a monk from the temple.
The
majority of Mon Buddhist monks were ordained by one of the most revered monks,
Rev. Uttama, Abbot of Wat Viwekaram in Sangkhlaburi.
The
source explained that the monks were sent to a detention centre and will be
deported to
According
to Buddhist principles, monks are obligated to stay only in their temples
during the three months of the rainy season and are not allowed to move or
travel to other places during their stay in
In
2003, the Thai authorities raided 189 monasteries in 9 districts for illegal
entry to the kingdom.
********************************************
Border town on alert
(Kaowao:
Authorities at the
"The city is on alert and
they order 5 to 6 persons from each Quarter (Bloc) to patrol at night.
They told us to watch any strangers and suspicious activities," said a
trader from the Thai Burma border town. However, the SPDC authority did
not clarify the reason for tighten security but town residents were warned for
possible bomb attack or explosion.
Other business community
source commented the sudden security measure is to counter retaliation by the
Karen ceasefire group since the arrest of their leader,
The Karen Peace Force (KPF)
leader,
Even though, the SPDC did not
confirm the arrest of
The remaining KPF troop under his command in the
*****************************************
Mon
refugees released from detention in Malaysia
(Kaowao:
Four Mon refugees were
released from detention after the UNHCR office heard their cases last week.
A Mon Refugee Organization reported that Nai Thein Soe, a 17-year-old from Kaw Kareik Township, and Nai San Chan, a 17-year-old from Pha
An township of Karen State, have been released after being held for six months
in Semenyih detention camp in Selangor.
Also released were Nai Tun Shein, a 50-year-old from
The four Mon asylum seekers will be permitted to register for Refugee Status
Determination (RSD) in October 2006 by the UNHCR office. The Mon Refugee
Organization in Kula Lumpur also provided temporary shelter and some
humanitarian assistance.
In August, Nai Myo Zaw, of Kaw Gom village near
Recently, the Malaysian immigration authorities launched a crackdown on undocumented
migrant workers and asylum seekers in the country. According to
migrant community sources, many arrested migrant workers were forcibly deported
to the Thai-Malay border.
Several thousand villagers, mostly from southern
******************************************************
A
senior leader of Karen ceasefire group under
suspicion for drug dealing
(Kaowao:
A
senior leader of a Karen ceasefire group is a suspected drug dealer after his
daughter and her husband were arrested last month.
"The
senior leader of the Karen ceasefire group had disappeared and may be arrested
on his way to Mon state from
The
source continued that he has not been seen in the public; however, it cannot
confirm if he has been arrested.
His
daughter Miss Mu La Phong
and her husband were arrested for drug possession in central
The
Karen troop movements under his command in
The
KPF is not well known like the DKBA who are high-level drug traffickers in Yaba (crazy medicine in Thai) in Mon and Karen states,
sources from southern Karen state said. The DKBA are allies of the State Peace
and Development Council and are the kingpins in organizing Yaba
drug trafficking in these areas, whereas the KPF group is low level drug
traffickers, the source said.
************************************************
Opinion
Focus
on ceasefire and war in Monland
By
Taing Taw
The
critical time has come for the New Mon State Party to decide if it is to attend
the upcoming National Convention in October as an observer or participant.
The New Mon State Party is finding it harder to maintain its ceasefire
agreement with the SPDC and party leaders now debate on its relationship with
the regime.
The
NMSP's' President General Htow
Mon has pointed out the many shortcomings of the ceasefire and the government's
reluctance to implement the peace process or renegotiate any part of it over
the last few months, meanwhile, the Secretary General Nai
Hongsar is seen as aligned with pro-exile groups and
rarely travels inside Burma even though his party had reached a ceasefire with
the SPDC.
The
party sees the NC as bearing no fruit for national reconciliation that has
prompted senior leaders from inside and outside of the country to meet in the
heartland of
Neither
maintaining the peace resistance nor fighting for independence is seen as
bringing a solution to the political deadlock in
After
the ceasefire in 1995 both the education and health departments run by the
NMSP, with the help of some NGOs, became more efficient in development in Monland. The educational department has now over 1,000
teachers serving some 50,000 students with the majority in primary schools in
remote areas under partial control of the NMSP.
With
scarce resources and personnel, medics from the NMSP trained in malarial
treatment are the only source of health care for villages in the rural areas
and some urban areas. These services would be cut off if hostilities resume.
Prior to the 1995 ceasefire, the health department accepted high school
graduates with one-year medical school, after serving two years as volunteer.
Now many party medics have opened clinics with four years of medical training.
MSF was the main organization working with the health department and had contributed
significantly in the health sector, but have pulled out now.
If
war ignites the situation will further deteriorate; firstly, the burden of
fighting will fall upon young people and spark an exodus of refugees across the
border and refugee camps along the border will again be burnt down. Civilians
will be caught in the crossfire and the SPDC, notorious for using rape as a
weapon of war, will step up their repression. As well, students studying at the
party schools will have to stop their education and hide in the jungle or flee
from human rights violations. According to the ceasefire agreement, the Mon
Education Department joined with SPDC's universities and nurse colleges and the
education of many young Mon people improved significantly. According to a Mon
now studying for his PhD in the
Yet
for most people in the black areas, the lack of security, lawlessness, human
rights abuses and the steady increase of land confiscations by the SPDC are
daily occurrences. Discontent is becoming more widespread with Mon
villagers and farmers fleeing to
It
seems that the government incited their commanders to take more land after the
ceasefire so they would have a stronger hand in future negotiations, says an
observer. Meanwhile people from these affected areas are frustrated with the
party and the ceasefire. They complain that the ceasefire excluded them from
the negotiations and did not address their concerns while pointing out that
thousands of acres of land were confiscated after 1996 without compensation.
They want NMSP to protect their land from the presence of SPDC troops who
target them indiscriminately. Most land confiscations occur in Ye township
which is still considered by SPDC as a black area or conflict zones due to the
presence of Mon splinter groups who sometimes launch ambushes against SPDC
troops.
The
Bangkok Process called for a gradual transition in
People
are anxious for a change after the insincerity of the SPDC and its forced
national reconciliation process. When the NMSP snubbed the NC invitation by
sending observers instead of representatives, it further drove a wedge between
the two groups. Furthermore, the SPDC's relations with all the ethnic groups
have soured ever since the purge of former Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt who had forged a truce between them in 1994.
The
NMSP and others are divided on these issues, but most say given that there are
plenty of obstacles there is no choice but to continue on with the struggle.
The hope now is that the international community will exert more pressure on
the Burmese government as they have done recently by bringing the
(The views
expressed here are solely the opinion of the author. Kao-Wao Editor)
************************************************
Readers' front
Dear readers,
We invite comments and
suggestions on improvements to Kaowao newsletter.
With your help, we hope that Kaowao News will
continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in
Regards,
Editor
Kaowao News
kaowao@hotmail.com,
www.kaowao.org
_______________________________
Dear
Editor,
As
an OMCC representative, I would like to point out in your news on September 5
about NMSP and the SPDC's NC (in Mon version). In that news, you express that
overseas Mon organizations have been giving a pressure to the NMSP to return
arm struggle again. Regarding to that point, I would like to say this is
not correct regarding our position on the SPDC's NC. As our statement on
December 2005 regarding on the SPDC'NC, we, overseas orgs fully support the
NMSP position for withdrawing from the NC as we see the NC would not give the
benefit to our people. Up to now, our position on the NC is the
same. Please do not imply that withdrawing from the NC mean return fighting
again. We are not urging the NMSP to return into arm struggle again. But we
will support any NMSP's decision if there is a
benefit of Mon people.
Sincerely
Banya Mon
______________________________________
Need A Burmese Surgeon By Kanbawza
Win
Vicky
Bowman is no longer British Ambassador to
I
see you want "swift Security Council action". Well, honestly,
don't we all? But even the fiery Ambassador John Bolton said on 1 September
2006 that all he is at present aiming for is another discussion on Burma,
this time formally in the Security Council Chamber, with another briefing by
whoever (Mr Gambari again,
I wonder?), but alas no Council Resolution. He'll probably get the 9 votes
he needs - for a discussion only. Then
John
Bolton, tough as he is, is realistic. He knows the Chinese and Russians will
veto anything but the mildest of Resolutions. He has been trying ever since the
last Gambari briefing on
But
don't expect any serious action. We can perhaps open a can of Heineken,
Budweiser or Fosters, depending on where we all are, but I would keep the
champagne on ice. The fact remains that 14 out of 15 members of the Security
Council and 191 out of 192 members of the UN are not convinced that Burma is a
"threat to the peace", however much you and the US may be.
At the end of the day, "threat to the peace" is a purely subjective,
political judgment by individual countries. The
Vicky
has now done
With
warmest regards,
Derek
Tonkin
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