KAOWAO NEWS NO. 119
Newsletter for social justice and freedom in
October 23-
Readers' Front
Burmese fishery workers
rounded up in Thai raid
SPDC handpicks ward
headmen
Villagers
flee forced Burmese militia training
Another migrant worker
dies in a car accident
Burma Army eyes
motorcycles for New Capital
Unrepresented Peoples
Organization gathers in Taipei
NMSP: Cease-fire policy
will be maintained
Indigenous
People See Harm from
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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
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Migrant Watch
Burmese fishery workers
rounded up in Thai raid
(Kaowao:
Local Thai police arrested
51 Burmese migrant workers as illegal immigrants at a Thai fish-processing
factory on Tuesday, November 7.
According to a local source
from the fishing community, near
A local witness told a Kaowao reporter that the owner of the fish-processing
factory, Mr. Bonsaring, 36 years old, was in charge
of a small fish processing factory on
The arrests have kindled
fears that more arrests are imminent, said Nai Yeup, a social worker from the Mon Labour Organization,
especially after the Thai and Burmese authorities have agreed to work together
to issue work permits for migrant workers.
However, social workers say
that the Thai migrant worker policy having changed so often is inefficient and
liable to corruption. In particular it needs to be less confusing, offer
clear-cut guidelines, be affordable and less
restrictive. Meanwhile, on the Burmese side, other observers say the
migrants will be victimized by the Burmese system that is too corrupt and too
undemocratic to ensure a smooth registration process.
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SPDC handpicks ward
headmen
(Kaowao:
The SPDC authorities at the
The sources from the Thai
Burma border town reported that the election was attended by a handful of
voters under the observation by Township Peace and Development Council
Chairman, U Tin Win, authorities from the Burma Army, Police Force, and the
Intelligence Service.
The election for the ward
headmen was held on
“There was some argument
about the method of voting but civilians had no choice to choose their
headmen. The 7 candidates proposed by the public were rejected and they
(SPDC authorities) listed 5 of their own candidates,” said a town resident who
attended the meeting.
“The public knew they
couldn’t express their opinions and only about 30 people attended the voting
even though every household was ordered to come,” added other voters who spoke
under the condition of anonymity.
“The SPDC appointed headmen
will make it difficult to organize social and cultural activities for the
ethnic people,” said Chan Lun, a member of the Mon
Culture and Literature Committee.
According to a source close
to the VPDC in the border area, the military government would have to send the
headmen’s list in about once week.
The SPDC appointed all local
administrators and village headmen in October drawn from army veterans and
influential people with a minimum of high school education. The village
headmen will serve for three years in the local administration.
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Villagers flee forced Burmese
militia training
(Kaowao:
The Burma Army has given orders
to village headmen in southern Ye,
The Burma Army's Battalion No. 31
is gathering a list for recruits in which 10 per cent of the local population
be chosen for the militia training. However, many villagers are reluctant to
take part and were absent in the last meeting.
"The villages are like open
prisons. Many villagers are afraid to work in the militia force and some of
them have already fled from the village to other places," said Banya Mon, a youth leader from Hamgam
village.
The Burma Army is planning to
form militia groups made up of the new trainees from Hamgam,
Kalot, Kaw Hlaing and Khawzar sub-town villages.
The militia groups' main role
under military command is to act as a kind of buffer for the BA and the
SPDC. The militia also guides the BA in their military operations. Most
militiamen are retired soldiers from the BA or local poor men who are unemployed
and unable to feed their families.
The militiamen and counter
insurgency forces are given powers to extort and punish villagers with impunity
who oppose them. The villagers are forced to pay for all expenses in the
training, including food, the militia's salaries, and other services. If they
cannot they face indiscriminate arrest, torture, and harassment, worse they
will be seen as suspects and beaten. Thousands of families in southern
****************************************************
Another migrant
worker dies in a car accident
(Kaowao:
A car accident killed a migrant
worker and left others arrested for illegal entry, according to a source from Karnchanaubri town, western
A six-wheeled vehicle
carrying 22 migrant workers from the Three Pagodas Pass Thai-Burma border
overturned after it tried to overtake another truck at the intersection near Karnchanaburi town.
“The speeding accident
occurred on October 26 around 8:30 pm local time and a male passenger died at
the scene. Two suffered injuries and 18 were arrested by the Thai police
for illegal entry, one escaped at the scene,” said Mr. Lay Lak,
a Karnchanaburi town resident.
The vehicle driver collected
the migrants from human traffickers with each migrant paying up to 8000 Baht
each to deliver them to a work place destination.
In June, a Mon woman died
when her vehicle carrying another 52 migrant workers, mostly Mon nationals from
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Burma Army eyes
motorcycles for New Capital
(Kaowao:
State Peace and Development
Council officers at Three Pagodas Pass Thai Burma border town are on the prowl
for 80 motorcycles to meet the government’s quota for a new gate at the capital
in central
A local businessman with
close relations to police officers said the Burma Army has given the go ahead
for the local police to check motorcycles and confiscate those without
licenses, headlights, or side mirrors. The operation started on October
20 and an average of 20 motorcycles have been confiscated a night.
“The old bikes are usually
returned to their owners after paying a hefty fine of between (500-1000) Baht.
To date they have collected some 300,000 Baht in extortion money. Those
from civil servants, cease-fire groups and organizations are able to afford
paying fines compared to ordinary citizens who are hard pressed to find the
extra money,” said a businessman who spoke under condition of anonymity.
A BA officer came to the
local police office and earmarked the new bikes for their boss. Those
(being marked) are impossible to get back even though the owners have offered
bribes. The officer, according to the businessman, said the BA have marked about 45 motorcycles for the new government
control-points (gate) at Pyinmana and Naypyidaw area.
Meanwhile, other sources
reported the Burma Army Southeast Command in
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Unrepresented Peoples
Organization gathers in Taipei
(Kaowao:
The Unrepresented Nations
and Peoples Organization’s (UNPO) 8th General Assembly was held in
The ceremony opened with a
performance of the indigenous
In 1991, indigenous peoples,
occupied nations, minorities and independent states founded the UNPO at
The UNPO provides an
established international forum for members and assists them in effective
participation at the international level such as at the UN. Six UNPO
members;
The Mon people as an
indigenous population from Southern Burma became a member in 1996 and is headed
by Mon Unity League leaders, namely, Phisan Platsingh, Sunthorn Sripanngern, Cham Toik and Rev. Wongsa Parla who took part in the GA in Estonia in 1997.
The Karenni, Mon, Shan and
Chin from the Union of Burma are also UNPO members and actively participate in
international lobbying and awareness building though different channels. They
also have issued a joint resolution on
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NMSP: Cease-fire policy
will be maintained
(Kaowao:
The New Mon State Party will
maintain its cease-fire policy and solve the political crisis through a
dialogue, according to a CEC statement yesterday.
The Central Executive Committee, the leading body of the NMSP issued a
statement to the general public regarding the party's stance on the government
sponsored National Convention.
The CEC statement, in response to the pubic suggestion said, the NMSP has firmly
followed its policy since 1992 seeking a dialogue to solve the political crisis
by cooperating with other political parties and nationalities.
The NMSP conducted a survey among the public and, according to a senior leader,
it shows public opinion is divided on whether to join the National Convention
or to walk out.
From full participation at the NC earlier, The NMSP only sent a low profile
team to attend the National Convention as observers. Some overseas Mon
communities from
However, the
The NMSP, in the statement,
said it will endeavour to achieve benefits for the
people by holding on to the cease-fire and urged the Mon public to work
together.
Established by late
President Nai Shwe Kyin in
1958, the NMSP is the only major political party with a military wing, the Mon
National Liberation Army (MNLA), which had fought against the regime for almost
five decades. It reached a cease-fire deal with the ruling junta in 1995.
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(AP:
The Myanmar Foreign Ministry statement said authorities received a distress
call Saturday from the vessel and allowed it to enter one of
"
The ship left
The statement did not say where the ship was headed or where it had been. Nor
did it detail the nature of the distress call, saying only that
The U.N. Security Council adopted a sanctions resolution to punish
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Environment
Indigenous
People See Harm from
Story by Alister
Doyle and Gerard Wynn
(REUTERS NEWS SERVICE,
They said hydropower
projects or plantations of fast-growing trees, prompted by a billion-dollar
scheme under the UN's Kyoto Protocol for limiting the planet's dependence on
fossil fuels, were damaging nature.
"We are not only
victims of climate change, we are now victims of the carbon market,"
Jocelyn Therese, a spokesman for indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin, told a
news conference on the fringes of UN talks on global warming.
"Efforts that are
supposed to...retard climate change are having an equally disastrous
effect," said Ana Pinto, representing indigenous peoples in
She said that 162 small
hydro dams were planned in northern India alone, flooding lands, under a Kyoto
project allowing rich countries to invest in Third World clean energy schemes
and claim credits back home for shifting from coal, oil and gas.
"All development
projects in indigenous territories must respect our fundamental rights to our
lands, territories, waters and self-determination," the International
Indigenous Forum said in a statement.
Some experts say the
"The negative effects
are not intended by the CDM," Artur Runge-Metzger, the European Commission's chief climate
official, said of the indigenous people's objections. He said the Commission
wanted to hear all views to improve the CDM.
ICE, PACIFIC
Kyoto obliges 35 industrial
states to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels,
by 2012 in a first step to slow a warming that most scientists say could
trigger more floods, erosion, disease and rising seas.
The indigenous peoples said
that they needed a voice in the UN climate talks, grouping 189 governments,
saying that people from Inuit hunters in the
Climate change "is here
now, people are being left without fresh water, without homes, and sometimes
they will be left without countries," said Sandy Gauntlett,
a Maori representing Pacific nations.
"Your children will
grow up with friends who come from countries that no longer exist," he
said. The highest point on the Pacific island state of
Hussein Abilan,
of northeastern
"I never required
meteorology to tell when rains would come -- the frogs would tell me something,
there were signs in the stars and the sky...We had the birds who told us of
rains," he said.
"All those are now
gone," he said.
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