------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 21 APRIL 1995 Issue #153 -------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUEST 002 RESOURCE LIST INFORMATION REQUEST: TEXACO, ENVIRONMENT, BURMA INFORMATION REQUEST: NON-BURMANS NON-BUDDHISTS IN SLORC ARMY AUSTRALIA BURMA COUNCIL: NO SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SLORC KHRG: PORTERS IN SLORC'S SALWEEN OFFENSIVE TRIP REPORT TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH -------------------------------------------------------------- o-------------------------------o The BurmaNet News is an | | electronic newspaper | Iti | covering Burma. Articles | snotpo | from newspapers, magazines, | werthatcor | newsletters, the wire | ruptsbutfea | services and the Internet as | r.Fearoflos | well as original material | ingpowercor | are published. | ruptsthosewhoare | The BurmaNet News is | subjecttoit...Theef | e-mailed directly to | fortnecessarytoremain | subscribers and is | uncorruptedinanenvironm | also distributed via | entwherefearisanintegralpar | the soc.culture.burma | tofeverydayexistenceisnoti | and seasia-l mailing | mmediatelyapparentto | lists and is also | thosefortunate | available via the | enoughtolivein | reg.burma conference on | statesgovern | the APC networks. For a | edbytherule | free subscription to | oflaw...fear | the BurmaNet News, send | is ahab it. | an e-mail message to: | Iam | | no | majordomo@igc.apc.org | taf | | ra | In the body of the message, | id. | type "subscribe burmanet-l" | Aun | (without quotation marks) | gSa | | nS | Letters to the editor, | uu | comments or contributions | Ky | of articles should be | i. | sent to the editor at: o-------------------------------o strider@igc.apc.org In Washington: Attention to BurmaNet c/o National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) Information Office 815 15th Street NW, Suite 609 Washington D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 393-7342, Fax: (202) 393-7343 In Bangkok: Attention to BurmaNet c/o Burma Issues PO Box 1076, Silom Post Office Bangkok 10500 Thailand Tel: (066) (02) 234-6674, Fax: (066) (02) 631 0133 The NCGUB is a government-in-exile, formed by representatives of the people that won the election in 1990. Burma Issues is a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization that documents human rights conditions in Burma and maintains an archive of Burma-related documents. Views expressed in The BurmaNet News do not necessarily reflect those of either NCGUB or Burma Issues. -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUEST 002 Dear sir, May I ask you to help me find a friend who was like my brother many years ago. The last time I know of his place was at the University of Hidelberg, West Germany. He was doing research on Burmese Literature at that time. His name is U Tin Htway. -------------------------------------------------------------- RESOURCE LIST For questions on these subjects, please direct email to the following coordinators: Campus activism: tlandon@u.washington.edu Boycott campaigns: tlandon@u.washington.edu Fonts: [volunteer needed] Volunteering: "Volunteer coordinator", c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org -------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION REQUEST: TEXACO, ENVIRONMENT, BURMA Reply to: tlandon@u.washington.edu Does anyone have info on the direct environmental impact of Texaco's drilling in Burma? Or, does anyone know where I could get that info? -------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION REQUEST: NON-BURMANS NON-BUDDHISTS IN SLORC ARMY Can anyone tell me how many non-Burmans (identify ethnicity) and how many non-Buddhists (identify religious tradition) are among SLORC's general officer corps? Can anyone confirm whether Kyaw Ba is a Christian and a Baptist to boot? [Reply to U=Win%Counseling%OCC@banyan.cccd.edu] Professor U Kyaw Win Orange Coast College Costa Mesa, CA 92626 USA -------------------------------------------------------------- AUSTRALIA BURMA COUNCIL: NO SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SLORC 6 April 1995. FORMER FIRST SECRETARY OF THE SLORC EMBASSY IN CANBERRA RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA AS A PERMANENT RESIDENT UNDER THE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE CATEGORY. U Tin Aung Cho, former First Secretary of the SLORC embassy in Canberra has arrived back in Australia as a permanent resident under the Special Assistance Category for Burmese in Burma. This category of migration was introduced for the purpose of allowing those suffering "substantial discrimination" at the hands of the military dictatorship of Burma, SLORC, to leave the country. The Australia Burma Council has been attempting to lobby the Australian Government to have places under the category "Special Assistance Category for Burmese in Thailand" increased. Burmese in Thailand, being those who led the pro-democracy march in 1988 and who supported and encouraged Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are subjected to incarceration and possible repatriation at the hands of Thai officials. They are not safe in Thailand and should they be returned to Burma they would face a horrific fate. One must question the integrity of the migration officer who gave priority to a SLORC official when there are 40,000,000 desperate people at risk residing in Burma and in neighbouring countries. While acting as a SLORC representative in Canberra Tin Aung Cho was said to have attempted to divide the Burmese community to dilute the effectiveness of the pro-democratic political lobby in Canberra. The Australia Burma Council calls for an inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and further calls on the Australian Government to increase the number of migration places for the Burmese residing in Thailand. END RELEASE. National Co-ordinator, Terrel Oung, 15 Barbara Blvd, Seven Hills, NSW 2147 AUSTRALIA. REGARDS TREVOR EDMOND Trevor Edmond If you have a subject of expertise or experience related to Burma and have a bit of time to field any enquiries on that subject, please contact BurmaNet. KHRG: PORTERS IN SLORC'S SALWEEN OFFENSIVE An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group April 8, 1995 / KHRG #95-12 Since December 1994, SLORC has been conducting an offensive west of the Salween River in northern Karen State, aiming to secure this entire region adjacent to the Thai border. Fighting began here before the final offensive against Manerplaw and is still continuing, at least sporadically, even now. SLORC troops have now occupied virtually the entire region along the Salween River adjacent to Thailand. In the process, thousands of new refugees in the region have fled into Thailand and dozens, possibly more than a hundred, Karen villages have been abandoned or destroyed by advancing SLORC troops. Other villages have been forcibly relocated to SLORC/DKBA territory further inside Burma near Ka Ma Maung, as SLORC is apparently trying to clear the entire border region of civilians and create a military-only free-fire zone to prevent the escape of any further refugees from Burma. [For further details on this offensive see "SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive", KHRG #95-10, 29/3/95.] Some of the witnesses to this offensive have been the thousands of men and women civilians who SLORC has rounded up from places as far away as Rangoon, Irrawaddy Division and Moulmein to carry ammunition and supplies for the offensive. As usual, treatment of these porters has been brutal. Many of their bodies have been sighted floating down the Salween River, their hands still tied behind their backs. The following testimonies were given by 4 men who managed to escape to Thailand. Their names have been changed and some personal details omitted to protect them on their return to Burma. Please feel free to use this information in any way which can help end this form of brutal abuse in Burma. TOPIC SUMMARY: Rounding up porters (Stories #1,2,3,4), "iron cage" trains (#1,2), women porters (#1,2,4), torture (#1,2,3,4), killings (#1,2,3), abandoned villages (#1,4), porters in battle (#3), urban forced relocation (#2), economic conditions (#2), conditions in Dagyon "New Town" (#2), DKBA (#2,3). _____________________________________________________________#1. NAME: "Maung Ko Lay" SEX: M AGE: 28 Burman Buddhist, market seller FAMILY: Married, 2 children but one already died ADDRESS: South Okalappa, Rangoon INTERVIEWED: March 7, 1995 I sell things in the market. Sometimes I work as a bricklayer or dye clothes. I do whatever work I can get. They arrested me in the afternoon, about 1:30 p.m., when I went to watch video. That day my wife went to work, but there was no work for me. I went to look for work at the clothes dyeing place but they already had enough workers, so I had nothing to do in the afternoon. I went to watch a video called "Hong Kong Jetma". It started at 1:30 p.m., and 15 minutes later soldiers closed the doors of the video hall and guarded every door. They surrounded the back, then they came in to the video hall and looked for men my age. They were police together with soldiers. They picked out all the men of my age. They took about 25 or 30, I think - a lot of people. They left the old people and women with children. They sent us to the railway station by truck. I saw a lot of people at the railway station, but I don't know where they were arrested. I think there were 150 or almost 200 people, all sitting on the ground. I didn't see any women or old people. Later I saw some women in the jungle, but I don't know where the soldiers arrested them. We slept at the railway station. In the early morning we had to get up, and the soldiers kept us sitting there but didn't give us any food or water. I wondered if they were waiting for their officer. I think it was 3 a.m. in the morning, but I had no watch. Then the train arrived. They put us on the train and closed the train doors, and no one who passed by could see inside the train. Inside there was an iron grid cage. We had to stay inside the cage while the soldiers stood around outside of it. Then the train left. At another railway station the soldiers made us get off, and I knew it was Thaton. Some trucks were waiting for us at the Thaton football ground. I saw alot of people, about 300, and about 60 military trucks. Some people bribed the soldiers. I don't know how they got the money or how much, I just saw them going back. The soldiers said, "Don't try to escape. You won't get free if you try to escape. If even one of you tries to escape, we've already received an order to kill you. Wait and see what will happen to you!" When they were talking to us, they looked as though they really would shoot us. We were divided into many groups, 5, 7, or 12 in each group plus soldiers on each truck. There were 5 porters along with every 4 or 5 soldiers. In the afternoon at about 1 or 2 o'clock they sent us by truck to a village. We slept there one night. I don't know where because I've never been in that area before. We went to a camp. It was a big camp. I saw many battalions, a lot of warehouses and an airport. At night we had to sleep beside the airport. Early the next morning they came and took us by truck. After 10 minutes drive we got to the edge of the forest and we had to start carrying for Division #33, Light Infantry Battalion #216. I had to carry things including beer, alcohol, Lucky Strike cigarettes and food. These things were in a box 1Omega feet high. The soldiers swore at me: "You won't see the rest of your life if you drop it! We'll kill you!" While they were walking, some soldiers often fired their guns to make noise. I was frightened and looked back because I have a heart disease. Once I almost dropped the box from my shoulders. A soldier saw me and kicked me in the back and the chest like a Kung Fu fighter, and he said rudely, "It is very important. It is not your mother's husband! [a rude Burmese expression] If you do like that again, you'll see what will happen!" I saw a man with us who was in bad health, and he died later. The night before he died we came to a village, had a rest and then continued to another village. He couldn't carry anything so we helped him to carry his load. A soldier asked, "Why can't you follow us, even without your load?" He looked as if he couldn't follow them anymore. He said, "I really can't follow you, sir. You can leave me or kill me." The soldier hit him in the forehead with his rifle butt, and his skin was broken and bleeding. He said "Don't delay our journey!", and another soldier said "Kill him! Don't waste time for only one." But other porters said they would help to carry the man - they said "We have one man who is very strong". While we were saying this, the soldiers were pulling the man by his hands, dragging him cruelly. It was a horrible scene. A strong man came forward and told the soldiers that he would carry the man. The soldiers asked him "Can you carry him?" and he said "Yes". He took the man on his shoulders until we got to the big camp. Just before we got there, there was some fighting and two soldiers were killed. When we got to the camp they gave us some rice, just one canteen-lid full, put in some plastic or spooned into the longyi [sarong] of each porter. That night, we slept on the hill at the camp. The sick man couldn't eat anything, even when we gave him food. He couldn't move his mouth. We found him dead in his place the next morning and we covered him with a blanket. And we left. I don't know where he was from, but he was about 19 years old. We had never climbed mountains like this before. We couldn't follow the soldiers because we were very tired of climbing. One or two out of each group were left behind in some places, so the soldiers swore and drove them along to catch up. We saw about 150 women at the top of a hill. I've never seen so many women in the jungle before. They were Burman, Indian, Karen, various nationalities, maybe Shan too. I saw them among the soldiers but I don't understand why. We stayed apart from them. I think the women didn't have to carry heavy things, but I don't know how much they had to carry. At night before I went to sleep, I saw the sentry and asked him, "Where do we have to go, and when are we going to be released?" He seemed to be good- tempered. He said "The deeper the forest, the worse things are going to be. It would be a good idea for you to escape from here". But then he said, "Don't run away because the Karen soldiers will cut your head off when they see you, and there are many landmines." So we didn't dare escape. We had to keep following them into the deeper jungle. Getting food and water was difficult. There were alot of troops and all of them had water. I asked them for a bit of water but they refused it and said "We don't have enough water to give you any." As for us, even though we had to carry their things we would have carried water as well if we'd had any containers, but we didn't. We had to throw away our own things, like our slippers and other things, because we couldn't carry anything extra. When we walked downhill in our slippers sometimes we slipped and fell down, and then the soldiers hit us. That's why we threw our slippers away. The soldiers gave us rice once a day for 2 meals at a time, but we ate it all at once and couldn't keep any food for the next meal. It wasn't enough and we ate it all, so at night we had no food and no water. We were very hungry. When we were sick, we went to ask for some tablets but they said, "We have no medicine for you, only for us." I only saw fighting once. We just had to walk and walk, and carry their supplies. One morning I was talking to the soldier I mentioned before, and he said "You will get the worst later on". Then I saw a 50 year old man who was left like the other man who died before. I don't know if he is still alive. His name was U Tun San. The next morning when we were carrying the rice, we were looking for the opportunity to escape all the time. We were all waiting for the one who would escape first, but I didn't see anyone escaping. Then we saw a fork in the path, and one of the men in front of us started to run down the hill. We followed him, throwing away our rice. There were 8 of us, and we ran down the hill and were silent for about 1Omega hours. While we were hiding, the soldiers were swearing at us and then they left. They didn't shoot any bullets because they didn't know where we were. We climbed any mountain we saw, and we searched for food and water. We were losing our strength and becoming weak. We didn't have any food for a whole day, but our priority was water and to continue our journey mountain after mountain. Along the way we met 4 Indian people who said "You are very lucky". They told us that as SLORC was advancing we were following behind them. Then we saw the river from the top of the highest mountain. Now we know it was the Salween River, but at the time we didn't know. We noticed that the SLORC troops had cooked and eaten on top of that mountain. Some food was left over on the leaves, and I saw a lump of rice and I was so glad. I shared it with my comrades because we had escaped from hell together, although I could have eaten it all myself. We can really say that we were lucky. It took us 3 days to that mountain, then 2 more days to the river. We had to use burning sticks to see our way at night. We passed through some villages, but we didn't see anyone in those villages. Everything inside the houses was in chaos and overturned. We slept in a village after the SLORC troops had left it. In that village I could see that the SLORC troops had shot the pigs and chickens and taken whatever they saw. I had never seen this situation before. We found some paddy in a village, so we husked it and cooked it in a big tin that we found. We'd been 3 days without food until we found the paddy in the village. The next morning we set out straight for the river. We imagined that once we got to the river we'd build a raft to cross and escape from them. We couldn't think of anything else but escaping from them. When we reached the river, we saw "Myo Thant" [see his story in this report]. We first saw him from a distance, and we knew he wasn't a soldier because he was wearing a longyi [sarong]. We went towards him. He was moving a little bit, so we turned him over and found he was still alive. We gave him some boiled rice we'd saved from the village, and we carried him. We decided we would look for a village for help, and explain to them our tragedy as porters. When we came along the river, we saw a floating house on the river. We were surprised and happy, because we thought we could use it to cross the river. But we worried that someone would see it because it was so big, so we planned the crossing. We cut some bamboo at 4 or 5 p.m. to carry with us, so that if the house broke apart we could use the bamboo. We carried "Myo Thant" and we put the bamboo in the house. Then we saw the students [the All-Burma Students' Democratic Front, calling from the Thai side of the river]. They shouted out "Who are you?" in Burmese. We thought they were Burmese soldiers because they spoke Burmese, so we didn't answer anything and we got ready to hide. Then they shouted again, "Are you porters?" with a different tone, so we came out and answered "Yes, we are porters, and we are going to cross the river." They called, "Come quickly. You will die on that side." We tried to push the floating house but it was too heavy and it didn't work, so we crossed the river on small bamboo rafts. Each raft had 5 bamboos and 2 or 3 people could use it. There were 10 of us, 4 Muslims and 6 Burmans. On the other side of the river, the students gave us some rice and we made a fire freely and cooked it. They gave "Myo Thant" some medicine and noodles, and after that he got better. Then we came here. On the way, we could never make a fire because we were afraid the SLORC soldiers would see the smoke [even though they were in Thailand]. Now I still have this injury on my foot from tripping over something when I was carrying. I couldn't heal it, because I knew I would feel their fists if I asked for medicine for my foot. _____________________________________________________________ #2. NAME: "Nyunt Swe" SEX: M AGE: 23 Burman Buddhist, clothing dyer FAMILY: Single ADDRESS: Dagyon New Town, near Rangoon INTERVIEWED: March 7, 1995 [Dagyon and other "New Towns" or "Satellite Towns" have been set up by SLORC as part of their forced relocation campaigns in urban areas. Some of these forced relocations aim to eliminate parts of cities which are traditional starting points for civil unrest, but more recent forced relocations have usually been to make way for modern foreign-owned hotels (90 of these are currently slated for Rangoon alone) and various tourism and other "development" projects.] I have lived in Dagyon New Town for about 9 months. Before I stayed in Sin Ma Leit [a district of Rangoon], but the SLORC authorities relocated the people from Sin Ma Leit. The whole quarter had to move, about 300 households. Some people were sent to Hlaing Tha Ya New Town and some to Dagyon. At Dagyon they gave us a plot and we received 300 Kyats [less than US$3 at market rate], but we had to pay for the new house ourselves. There was no electricity and no water supply. We had to dig a well ourselves. It was very hard. Some people have to buy water. The ground used to be a paddy field. There were alot of people moving there from different places. It is very far from my work. I have to take a truck to Thin Gan Kyone for 1 hour, then to the centre of Rangoon at Sule Pagoda, then another bus to work [in South Okalappa]. In our old place at Sin Ma Leit, they built a plywood factory. It belongs to the government. My father died. Now we are 5 people, my 3 younger siblings, my mother and I. My mother sells things. The younger ones are still very young, they are going to school. The situation is not good. We have to live day by day. I work today, buy the food for today and eat it all, then the next day I have to work again. Sometimes we have to pawn our things to borrow money to buy food. And the price of rice is increasing. Today maybe 60 Kyats, tomorrow maybe 70 Kyats. The more the government increases the pay of the civil servants, the higher goes the price of rice. I earn about 50 or 60 Kyats a day. Combined with my mother's earnings, we can buy the food. Right now the price of rice is between 60 and 70 Kyats [per pyi, about equivalent to 2 kg.] Sometimes I have no work. The bus to Thin Gan Kyone costs 2 Kyats, but after 4 or 5 p.m. the government bus stops running and we can only take a private bus for 10-15 Kyats. From the centre of Rangoon to Dagyon, it costs at least 30 to 40 Kyats at night time. The government provides rice for the civil servants monthly at their work place, but I don't know how much they have to pay for it. Moreover, the civil servants can live in government houses. There are lots of civil servants in Dagyon, in government houses with water and electricity. They sent all the people who are not civil servants to Southern Dagyon, and in Northern Dagyon there are only civil servants [Note: from all other accounts, civil servants are also struggling to buy enough rice to survive. However, they are somewhat better off than "Nyunt Swe", so by his standards they are rich.] In Dagyon each plot is 20 by 60 feet. There is no clinic, but we can go to a private clinic. There is one school, up to 9th Standard. The school is right in front of the Battalion Army Camp. It is Battalion 303. Some of the schoolteachers are Captain's or Major's wives. There are only a few civilian teachers. Some children go to that school, but most are sent to the monastery. The monks teach the children. We have to give them 25 Kyats a month. We can send children to the government school but they have a strict quota. This year they didn't accept my younger sisters so we sent them to the monastery. The same for my neighbour's children. I cannot pay fees for high school. I myself had to leave school after 3rd Standard [grade 3]. Now my younger sister is in 3rd Standard. She is 10 years old. I was arrested on the way back from work. An ordinary bus appeared in front of us and someone called us, "Get on! Get on!" We thought it might be a cheap fare bus and we got on. It took us to Thin Gan Kyone jail. There were about 15 of us - the others didn't get on the bus. They sent back the old men and the children, and then there were 10 of us left at the jail including me. It was in January or February, I think in February. I slept one night in the jail, then the next morning we were sent to the railway station. I saw about 80 people there. Some were sleeping and some were sitting on the floor. I was crying, bending my head down on my knees. They ordered, "Don't look up! Keep your heads down!" They put us inside iron cages inside 2 carriages of the train and took us to Thaton. Then they sent us to Thaton football ground. I saw alot of porters there, 400 or 500, mostly men of my age. Some were between 30 and 40. There were no women. I saw about 80 army trucks, including 10 civilian trucks. After cooking, they ordered us to get into the trucks. Then they whistled for the convoy to get moving toward the jungle. The soldiers were talking to each other on radios. When they put us on the trucks I realized we would be porters. I saw alot of sentries along the way. We got to Pain Ne Gone village and slept there. They gave us some rice, one canteen lid of rice. A soldier said "Don't go anywhere! I'll shoot you if you go out!" Pain Ne Gone is in Papun Township. The next morning we were sent to Papun by trucks, and when we got there they collected us in a warehouse. Then 3 trucks sent us to the foot of the mountain. It took about 1 hour. From there the soldiers forced us to carry things, like jerrycans full of alcohol, dried fish, and cheroots. There were about 150 porters. At night we had to carry the rice sacks. They were very heavy. We were forced to carry them to the top of the hill by kicking and beatings. We had to come down the hill the same night. They stopped and put us in one place on the ground and then they said "You can have dinner now!" But we had no food, because we only got 2 canteen lids of rice per day without any curry, fishpaste or salt and it wasn't enough [so they'd already eaten it all for the day]. We asked the soldiers "Are we near our destination?" He said, "No. There's been some fighting in front of us." Later we saw an overturned military truck, 2 dead bodies covered in blankets and blood all around. When we were walking we saw many trucks coming back. I asked a soldier and he said "There was fighting with the convoy we saw." At Pa Hai camp I saw alot of soldiers and about 100 women. They were Indian women and some Karen women. Some women were from the cities. The next morning, the soldiers were swearing at the women because they couldn't carry, but the women kept smiling. But it wasn't easy for us. At night, the soldiers gave us the rice sacks to carry the next day. Every morning we had to carry the rice sacks [from Pa Hai camp up the mountain] and the soldiers said "Don't run away. You will be beheaded by Karen soldiers". We couldn't bear this any longer. We were put between groups of soldiers when we were walking. They were Battalion #4 under #33 Division. They had many officers. At 7 a.m., we started to carry. We had a rest at 1 p.m. and we received 1 canteen lid of rice and continued. We weren't allowed to drink water after we ate [usually in Burma people don't drink anything with a meal, but drink a glass of water as soon as they finish]. After 5 or 6 hours we had a rest. I was carrying for about 6 days. We had to carry all day from place to place, and even at night time. They threatened us "There are lots of landmines around. Don't run away!" Sometimes soldiers were very drunk, and they talked to us stupidly so we couldn't sleep well. Then the soldiers said "We'll kill you when you pass in front of us." The soldiers chose a leader from among the porters for each group of 50 porters. Sometimes that leader punched us too. He just had to carry one soldier's bag on his back, and he got more food than us. He got 2 canteen lids of rice when we got only one. I saw one porter beaten with a rifle butt, but I don't remember his name. Afterwards, the soldiers were talking to each other and said "It will be better to abandon him here." Another one said "We could get in trouble if we leave him here, so it would be better to kill him now." But they didn't kill him, and we carried him to Pa Hai camp. In the morning, I think he had died because he didn't move any more. When we left the camp, they left him lying on the ground covered with rice sacks. After we left the camp we escaped. 8 of us escaped, but along the way we saw one porter on the riverbank and another at the students' place. On the 19th [of February] at night, we built a raft 7 feet long. We saw something moving across the river and we stayed quiet on the raft. We thought it might be SLORC soldiers. They asked "Who are you?" from the Thai side, the first in Burmese and the second in Burmese but with a Karen accent. So we answered "We are porters". We went to them, and we saw one dead body in the river near the Thai side. They asked us "Did you put the dead body here?", and we said we didn't [the body was most likely a porter killed by SLORC troops further up the river - such bodies are a common sight in the Salween]. They said "We have rice for you". That night we got two pots of rice. We ate it and slept. The next morning they said "The situation is not good here", and K--- sent us to this place by car. I saw DKBA, but they weren't with our group. K--- told me about them. We saw them wearing yellow headbands and shouting at the Burmese side [of the Salween River] from the Thai side. They were shouting at the boats in the river to come to them. They shot 2 or 3 bullets, then they burned down one house and went back uphill. The next morning they came back to the riverside wearing red scarves around their necks. We were hiding in a house on the Thai side. They drove upriver in a boat, arrested one man and asked for a ransom of about 10,000 Baht. There were about 20 of them in 2 boats. _____________________________________________________________ #3. NAME: "Myo Thant" SEX: M AGE: 29 Burman Buddhist, market seller FAMILY: Married, 3 children ADDRESS: Htaut Khant, near Rangoon INTERVIEWED: March 7, 1995 They arrested me at the Htaut Khant market, in the evening at about 6 p.m. They sent us right away on an army truck to Rangoon railway station. We slept one night there, then the next morning we left for Thaton. They made us sleep one night at Thaton football ground. There were 400, 500, or 600 of us, only men. They made us sleep on the football ground, with no roof or anything. They gave us just rice and fishpaste, each an equal amount of rice. I think they said, "Tomorrow, you have to go as porters". They never offered to pay us. I don't think we could have bribed them. Some men were sick. The next day they took us to Papun in an army truck. Finally we reached the end of the road. We couldn't go any further, and we had to start walking. They forced us to carry shells. We had to go to the top of the mountain. I had to carry 6 shells, longer than one plah [about 18 inches] each. There were 200 people just carrying their heavy weapons. There were old men between 50 and 60 years old. Sometimes I had to carry 3 big tins of rice. We started early in the morning. We got to eat between 12 and 1 p.m., but it depends on the situation. They gave us some food, then we had to continue until 5 or 6 p.m. and then we could take dinner. At about 12 or 1 p.m. they fed us one canteen-lid of rice with fishpaste. If there was no fishpaste we got a bit of salt. We couldn't ask the soldiers for water. When we were walking and we saw a stream we could drink some water, but we had no container. Everything depended on the situation. Sometimes we could rest, sometimes we couldn't. When they lost their way, we could rest while they were looking for the way. When they were shooting heavily, I laid down on the ground and hid behind the paddy field dyke. I was struggling for my life. I didn't see anybody who they were fighting, because I had to stay on their side. I only heard about the fighting at Manerplaw. I met the DKBA. They were guides for SLORC, to show them the way through the jungle. There were about 30 of them, carrying guns. They tied yellow pieces of monks' clothing around their heads. I saw them talking to SLORC on walkie-talkies. The Burmese soldiers' badges said 3 on one side [probably 33, for #33 Division] and 116 on the other [for #116 Battalion]. We had to walk one group of porters behind each group of soldiers. There were 10 porters in a group, then 5 or 6 soldiers. When a porter was too weak and was staggering, the soldiers lost their patience and kicked them down the hillside. I saw this about 6 times. I saw it in front of my own eyes. When the soldiers had finished attacking Manerplaw, I had no more energy and I didn't get any food. On the way to their camp I couldn't walk anymore. I told the soldiers that I couldn't follow them anymore, but the soldiers thought I was lying. They swore at me and hit me with rifle butts. They hit my knees three times, and my back and chest several times. Then they left me alone in the forest. I stayed in that place in the jungle for about a week without food. Then I was very hot and thirsty so I went to look for water. I found water and took a bath and a drink. I was very weak so I couldn't sit up at all. I didn't have any food for one week. I wanted to go back to a hut but I fell down on the sand. Then I fell asleep, and some other porters found me and carried me. [Other porters said they found him unconscious along the riverbank - see their testimonies in this report.] I couldn't walk, so they had to carry me all the way to the students [the ABSDF]. We crossed the Salween River. Now I still have scars [he showed scars on his chest, back and legs]. I want to go home. I don't know how to survive here at all. _____________________________________________________________ #4. NAME: "Khin Myint" SEX: M AGE: 25 Burman Buddhist FAMILY: Married, 1 child aged 19 months Hawker / day labourer ADDRESS: Hinthada, Irrawaddy Division INTERVIEWED: March 7, 1995 I was arrested on February 10th at 8 p.m. I was watching a video in another quarter of town. The army arrested 17 of us. They didn't say anything to us. They just took us to Light Infantry Battalion 17 on the other side of the river. Then they took us across the river to Thara Wo, and then to Rangoon. We stayed one night in Rangoon but didn't sleep. They sent us by train from Rangoon to Thaton, to Thaton football ground. We arrived at about 11 a.m. There were 80 trucks there and they put about 12 porters and 4 or 5 soldiers in each truck. They sent us to Papun. We slept 2 nights on the way to Papun. We started walking from Papun. I had to carry salt, canned meat, dried fish, alcohol and other supplies. The dried fish bags were light but the salt was very heavy. The other bags were even heavier, but I don't know what was inside. We had to carry those between 2 of us. They gave us one canteen lid of rice and salt. If they were in a good mood, sometimes they gave us dried fish and some oil. When they didn't give us any food, they said they would give us curry tomorrow. We started walking at 5 a.m. and we reached the military post called Pa Hai camp at 5 p.m. Some porters couldn't carry on the way and they were beaten with gun butts. One of them, Hla Tin, pleaded "Just leave me. I can't carry anymore." But they didn't leave anyone, they just dragged him. I didn't see them kill anyone, because I was in the front group. Before we reached Pa Hai camp, each soldier had 10 porters. After Pa Hai camp they didn't follow us like that. They only had 10 or 15 soldiers leading the way. Altogether there were about 80 soldiers. There was a man who was not a soldier. The soldiers told him to be leader for 50 porters. He had nothing to carry. He beat and kicked all the porters who couldn't carry, who refused to carry or who tried to rest. The soldiers kicked the porters who were close to them. There were about 500 porters altogether. The youngest were about 18 years old, and the oldest were about 50 or 60. Our group had 100 or 150 porters. Over 10 soldiers went in front of us, and about 100 women porters were behind. Then some more soldiers were behind the women. They usually kicked us on the back 2 or 3 times. When they were beating us, we tried to avoid it and just go faster. One of those times, a porter who was wearing yellow shorts dropped his load and tried to escape. I also dropped mine and tried to follow him to escape. I only carried for 2 days. We also had to carry water sometimes. We had to walk very far to get it. We couldn't sleep very well because as soon as we got back to their camp they always forced some porters to go and get water. They also forced 50 of us to go to a place where their truck went off the road and pull it back onto the road. So we only had a short time to sleep. The women had to carry the same as we did, but their load was not as heavy as ours. When the porters were getting ready to leave Pa Hai camp, I saw them yelling at an old woman who was laying down: "Wake up and start carrying!" But she didn't get up. She and the other women were about 60 or 70 years old, and the soldiers yelled and shouted at them. Some of them were Karen, some Indian and some Burmese, but they could all speak Burmese. Among the old women, I saw a child aged about 14. He was staying with the women. I think they were sick. We also saw 5 or 6 women who had fair complexion and didn't look like porters. They looked at us smiling and laughing. I'm sure that they were not porters. After escaping we passed some villages. We slept 3 nights on the way, and we had no food to eat for 3 days. There were 8 of us. We saw houses but there was nobody in them. We reached the highest mountain and saw that the soldiers had just left there, and then we saw a small stream and continued. We saw a small village, but no one was there. I went in a house and saw empty boxes and things spread all over, and we found some paddy. We cooked it and slept there one night. The next morning we left. We saw a big stream and found a field hut, and we slept there one night. We found some more paddy, we pounded it and cooked it and then we continued. We saw a village - there were many houses, even some big houses, but there was nobody there. We found a man lying on the riverbank ["Myo Thant"]. We gave him some boiled rice and some banana and asked him about the SLORC troops and he said "They left in that direction. They left me on the way 10 days ago. I had no water, so I came to the river to get water and I couldn't make it back." We planned to make a bamboo raft, but then we saw a floating house. We put our rice soup pot on it and we tried to cross the river, but we were drifting. After a few minutes, a group called to us "Who are you? Where are you going?" We jumped into the river and went to them. They were students. We reached them on the 19th [of February]. It was 5 days after we escaped. Now we don't know which direction to go or how far it is, but we will try to go home. TRIP REPORT TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH by Vum Son 5809 Burgundy Street Capital Heights, MD 20743 Tel: 301 499 0499 Fax: 301 808 0872 My Trip to India & Bangladesh In January 1995, I went to India and visited the State of Mizoram, Northeastern India. Then I went to the tri-border of Bangladesh, Burma, and India. From there I went to Chittagong and Dahka. From Dahka I went to Calcutta, from there I traveled to Bangkok. It was a few days after the fall of Karen stronghold Kawmoora, so I proceeded to Maesot and visited the KNU temporary camp in the state of the Karen. From Bangkok I stopped at Tokyo, to see some relatives and friends who came to Japan to earn some money. Mizoram Mizoram is a state in India. The people of Mizoram, the Mizo or the Zo people, are the brothers/sisters of the Chin of Chin State, Burma, who call themselves Zo or Lai. The Zo People were thus divided by the colonial policy of the British. When I wrote "Zo History" I called the Chin Hills and the areas inhabited by Zo people in Burma as East Zoram and Mizoram and Manipur as West Zoram. When I was in Aizawl the Zo Reunification Organization (ZORO) suggested that the land occupied by Zo people in Bangladesh and Tripura, India should be West Zoram, the state of Mizoram, the Central Zoram, Zo inhabited areas in Manipur, North Zoram, and the Chin State and other areas inhabited by the Zo people in Burma, the East Zoram. I believe this to be a good idea. Because of my book "Zo History" many people know my name. Therefore I met many interesting people in Mizoram. One of the high lights of my trip was the visit to Mimbung, a village of 200 houses at the Chin State and Mizoram border. When I visited Pu Chawngkunga Chawngthu, minister for Arts and Culture in the Mizoram state government, Pu Chawngkunga immediately invited me to come to the Art and culture meeting. They called it "Cultural Meet" which was to be held in Mimbung. I willingly accepted the invitation because Mimbung and surrounding areas are inhabited by the people call Paite, to which I also belong. Paite is a sub tribe of the Zo main group. Paite has its own culture and dialect. Also people of villages from the border areas in the Chin State were also invited Minister Pu Chawngkunga could not come to the "Cultural Meet" but Pi Bawichhingpuii, the Director of the Art and Culture Department, took me in her jeep, which took 18 hours to travel some 220 kilometers of zigzag and sometimes unpaved, muddy, and bumpy road. The "Cultural Meet" itself was a program of singing and dancing in the traditional way. There were over 30 groups participating, some were in competition with each other and some groups were just dancing away. The meeting was such an important occasion that the Chief Minister of Mizoram State took part. The culture of the Zo people are disappearing fast because the Zo people are converting en mass to Christianity so that Christian songs and Christian cultures replaced many traditional and cultural practices. Traditional celebrations and festivals are replaced by new religious and political festivals therefore traditional dances and songs are becoming sadly obsolete. The Mizoram government and Art and Culture department is to be complimented for holding such an important meeting for the Zo people so as to preserve and develop the Zo cultural heritage. The Chief Minister of Mizoram State, Pu Lalthanhawla has one of the most difficult jobs in India and perhaps in the world. While villages like Mimbung beg for paved roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, and telephone, the villagers themselves contribute little to the state coffer. They live like their forefathers concerning mainly to cultivate rice with the slash and burn method destroying their environment. Mizoram State has a budget deficit of 89 % or 55 crores rupees. Thus the Chief Minister is on the one hand very concerned that the villagers should get what the modern industry offer but on the other hand his hands are tied because the Indian central government demands that he contributes something back. He is balancing on a tight rope. He is very concerned with the environmental destruction and the too little incentive shown by the people for progress. I also had a chance to tell the people about life in America. I emphasize that progress in America is the result of individual incentives. Therefore I encouraged them to take initiatives. Without their incentives there will be no progress I told them. They should not depend too much on the government for their development. It is time for them to change their method of cultivation and most importantly their way of thinking. After three days of watching and participating in the singing and dancing, the time has again come for a bumpy ride back to Aizawl. In the mean time, however most of muddy roads had been repaired most obviously because the Chief Minister was traveling and what a shame for the Public Works Department to have the roads in such a condition. Meeting the leaders of the Chin National Front It took me 5 days on foot from the last possible jeep ride in Mizoram State to reach the headquarters of the Chin National Front, in Paletwa district, Chin state, Burma. I stayed there two days, the 11 and 12th of February, 1995. I met the central committee of the Chin National Front (CNF). The leaders of the CNF are: President Roger Biak Hlei Thang Chief of Staff T.K. Thomas Vice Chief of Staff Jing Cung Foreign secretary Dr. Sui Khar General secretary Benjamin Turing. The CNF was founded in mid 1980 by Pu Tial Khar, a former member of the Mizo National Front. No Than Kap alias John Khaw Kim Thang was the foreign spokesman until 1988. With the people's uprising in 1988 several hundred students, Chin and Burman combined fled from Burma and the Chin State to Mizoram. Some students joined the CNF. No Than Kap, who declared himself president of the CNF, when he visited Manarplaw, was well liked by the students thus he became the president of the CNF after 1988. In 1993 Roger Biak Hlei Thang took over the presidency of the CNF. In meeting with the central committee of the CNF I gain the following impressions. ( President Roger Biak Hlei Thang was not at the camp at the time of my visit.) 1. The leaders of the CNF were students in Burma during the 1980s and they experienced the brutality and stupidity of the Burma Socialist Program Party regime with ever declining living standard in Burma. They were driven by the wish of making Burma a democratic country. Thus their primary objective is the democratization of Burma. 2. The CNF also realize that the administrative system existed in Burma serve only the interest of the majority Burman. U Nu and the AFPFL government adopted the colonial administration, the central government was the colonial power with the states as its subjects. The democracy that existed under the AFPFL was not a genuine democracy and the quasi-federalism that the Burman created was far from genuine federalism. The government under U Nu groomed General Ne Win to become a dictator. The Burma Army was always independent in carrying their brutality against the Karen, Mon, Karenni, Shan and other ethnic groups. The so called democratic government did not find political solutions to the ethnic problem, similar to the SLORC today. Burma was balkanized. Then the military dictatorships put the country under central control with no right for Chins to rule themselves. Thus the CNF is fighting for equality and self-determination and should this be not possible they opt for a separate sovereign state for the CHIN, an independent CHINLAND. 3. During the 47 years that the Chin joined Burma there had been little improvements in the living condition of the Chins. The schools and the hospitals sanctioned by the Burman were of low quality. The schools lack facilities and qualified teachers and the students from the schools in the Chin Hills can not compete with the students of urban Burmese schools. The result is the denial of Chins by the educational system of the BSPP and SLORC from becoming doctors, engineers, and other prestigious professions. 4. The Burman are incapable of running the country by themselves without the cooperation of the ethnic minorities. Ne Win and the BSPP were jealous of the rich Europeans, Indians, and Chinese, who were successful businesspeople. But it is not the Burmese way to compete. They SLORC and BSPP simply kick these hardworking people out of the country and try to dominate the ethnic minorities. Now the generals of the Burma Army are rich but not because they work hard but because they know how to steal from the state. Sadly, under Burmese leadership Burma is not going to progress like its neighboring countries. The people of Burma can expect any kind of economic progress only if the Burman share the political leadership in Burma. The activities of the CNF are: 1. The members of the CNF see as their duty to educate the Chin people on the true condition of Chin. They want the Chin villagers to know that they should stop expecting help from Burma because the rulers of Burma do not know how to help themselves how they help the Chins? They know only how to destroy. In 47 years they have destroyed what the British had built. They have shown no ability to run the country and therefore the Chin should not expect any help from Burma. 2. The CNF's message is to tell the Chin that development of the Chin is left to themselves. The Chin have to drive for self-reliance and for their own self-sufficiency. 3. The CNF encourages the Chin to change their way of cultivation. Emphasize should be on cash crops, and the conservation of fruits and vegetables. Systematic cultivation using agricultural expertise. 4. The CNF is very concerned with the environment. Cutting wood indiscriminately in the Chin Hills has caused so much soil erosion. Today in some areas of the Chin Hills even firewood is difficult to obtain. The problem can be solved only by regulations. Replanting of trees and restricting cutting of woods or making new forest reserves. 5. The Chin people should feel responsible for the improvement of roads, education, and health care. For example instead of complaining that the Burmese government is not allowing them to teach their own Chin language in the schools, the Chin villagers should teach the youngsters by themselves by opening evening schools. 6. The CNF also teaches the villagers the evil of Burma's military dictatorship. They speak about democracy, federalism, and the current condition in Burma. 7. Since Burma's independence Burma has not produced a single credible and honest politician. The only one that comes close is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but she was illegally detained before she could be tested of her honesty, ability, and credibility. 8. All-in-all the main occupation of the CNF is a non-violence activity. They are teaching political, social, and economical realities of the Chin. They stress their goal of making the Chin a self-reliance and self-sufficient society. 9. As CNF visits remote villages they come face to face with realities of life in the under- developed Chin State. They saw with their own eyes the lives, the difficulties, and hardship faced by Chin families in remote villages. They experience the poverty and the despair. There are many parents who have more dead children than live ones. They learn the diseases and the shortage of medicine. One of the activities of the CNF is therefore to bring basic medicine to the villagers. against diarrhea, malaria, headache, or wound dressing. Conclusion: The Chin National Front is a political defiance organization. Their aim is not a military victory but rather a victory through political, social, and economic education. They are armed but it is to protect themselves from the brutality of the Tatmadaw. General condition in the Chin State The SLORC followed the footsteps of the AFPFL government and the Burma Socialist Programme Party and put the Chin state under the direct rule of the SLORC. Thus the Chin state is under direct Burmese central control without any Chin participation to decide matters concerning the Chin. The living condition of the Chin has gone from poor during the early years of independence to extremely poor under the SLORC. The authorities from Burma had built a 15 mile long paved road for the Chin in 47 years. Recently the SLORC signed an agreement with India in order to improve the border trade. The Indian government agreed to build roads connecting Champhai and Falam, Kalemyo and Champhai, and Mohree and Kalemyo because the Burmese government is too bankrupt to take such an undertaking. The Chin have desperately tried to change their way of life. They built roads connecting villages but oil dried out in Burma. They produced silkworms but soon they produced too much and there was no market for it. They produced apples in good quantities but transportation eat up the earning. Orange rot in the fields because there is no buyer. Conservation of fruits was not known in the Chin Hills. The Chin need guidance for improvement. SLORC and Foreign Exchange Inflation eats up the value of the Burmese kyat. The hardest hit are public servants whose salary is fixed by the SLORC. The monthly salary of government servants are so low that a gazette officers salary just barely buy rice for him and his wife. A clerk can not buy rice to feed him and his wife. There is absolutely nothing to do for the people. The new rich in Burma are those seamen, who are lucky enough to land a job as a laborer in the ocean going vessels. Many people invest all their belongings and money to go out of the country and look for work. There are thousands and thousands of Burmese in Thailand, some say over 250,000. Using Thailand as a stepping stone they try to go to Japan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia to look for work. Faked passports are available at the Thai black market. Visa to enter the United States or Europe exchanges hands at several thousand dollars a piece. Japan seems to be the most prestigious place, and visas to Japan are sold at premium price of some ten thousand dollars. Many Chin left their hills, sold everything and anything they own so that they could go to Singapore, Malaysia, Korea or Japan. From the small village of Limkhai, which has about 300 population, 35 of them or over 10 percent of the village population, landed in Malaysia and work illegally. There are over 1000 Chins (close to 100,000 from the whole of Burma) working in Malaysia. Whether in Thailand or Malaysia people from Burma are hunted by the police. In Malaysia the police sent these illegal workers from Burma to the airport to be deported. Some escaped deportation by bribing but many Malay police did not accept bribe. Thai police can easily recognized a Burman including Chin from the way he walks or look, and the Thai police love to get some bribe from him. Some Chin worked in Thailand for several years but every time they were arrested money or bribe was paid. This cycle consumed any money they earned. Thus the Burman including the Chin are the most looked down people in Thailand and Malaysia. The people from Burma (there are about 100 Chin) who are lucky enough to land in Japan. Those who landed in Japan usually earn more money than other countries. There are high school headmasters or dentist, who gave up their jobs in Burma to work in Japan as laborers. Their salary in Burma did not buy them even rice for the family. Many more laborers would have gone to Japan but the Japanese could no more be fooled. They just refused Burmese citizens to enter Japan unless properly documented. It is shameful to hold a Burmese passport. No land welcome them with dignity. But these laborers are one of the most important source of foreign exchange for the SLORC. They have to pay the SLORC ten percent of their monthly income. The Burmese Embassy simply refuse to renew their passport and the reentry into Burma barred if they do not pay their income tax to the regime. The laborers from Burma share apartments, living together ten or twenty people in one apartment to save money. And these undocumented laborers in Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand send their hard earned money home bringing the much needed foreign exchange to the SLORC. That was why the regime allowed so many people to go out of the country. They profited from it. SLORC's Religious Persecution When the SLORC studied the ethnic landscape of the Union of Burma, Chin State is the only state or division, where the people are of one ethnicity. While most of the people in the states and divisions profess Buddhism, Chin Hills is the exception. Even in Kachinland a substantial percent of the population are Buddhists. But not in the Chin State. Christianity and animists are the dominant religions with Buddhists counting to less than 0.01 percent. The SLORC, therefore, is attacking this condition by religious persecution. The SLORC is increasing the number of soldiers stationed in the Chin State from about 100 soldiers in 1988 to some 7000 today. There is a battalion in every major town. The main purpose of the SLORC army seem to be the burmanizing of the Chins. Some believes that massive militarization of the Chin State is to guard the heroin refineries in the Chin State. In the last two years Christian Crosses, which were placed in Chin landmarks were torn down and were replaced with Buddhist shrines. Christians from the northern Chin State were sending missionaries to the southern part, where most of the people profess animism, under the project of Chin Christianity in One Century (CCOC), The CCOC were successful in converting the animists to Christianity until two years ago, when the SLORC stopped the project. The SLORC Army then launched its religious persecution. They prohibit Christian missionaries and evangelists including the CCOC from the northern Chin State to go to the south. The SLORC then sent Buddhist monks to the southern Chin state. The SLORC soldiers on seeing the CCOC workers stripped them of their white uniforms. Some women missionaries had to walk to the next village wearing only their underwear as the Burman soldiers confiscated all their other clothing. SLORC soldiers, who are posted in the Chin State, are promised promotions if they marry Chin women, and if they convert the women to Buddhism. The soldiers who are sent to the Chin Hills are young and single. Though these soldiers do not understand the Chin language, Churches in the Chin Hills are full of soldiers during services. The soldiers attend the Churches in order to come in contact with the girls. The same method of burmanization was practiced in the Shan State during the early 1950s, which was one of the reasons of the Shan armed uprising. The SLORC hope that with this kind of racial and religious manipulation, they could make the Chin angry enough to rise up against them. The Chin people have not rebelled against the central government and the Burma Army had no chance to destroy Chin Hills. The SLORC having cease-fire arrangement with many resistance groups intend to show their might and cruelty to the Chins. They have to instigate and provoke the Chin to get angry. The instant the Chin showed some resistant movement the SLORC is planning to strike. Their mission is to destroy the Chin. If the trend continues a religious conflict is unavoidable. Higher Education for Chin Youth For the last three years the SLORC authorities collected several hundred youngsters by deceiving their poor Christian parents by promising to give higher education to the children. These children were taken to proper Burma where they kept in detention and not allowing the parents, relatives, and friends to see them. These innocent children were forced to convert to Buddhism by making them Buddhist novices without the consent of the parents. The SLORC is practicing spiritual robbery to the Chin children. On May 30, 1994 the chairman of the SLORC in Thlanthlang demanded from the chairmen of village peace associations youths under the age of 14 years to be sent to Rangoon or Thlantlang for purpose of giving them higher education. Emphasis was made on the non-religious discrimination irrelevance of their religion. Thus six children:See Photo 1. Biak Tha Fam 2. Bawi Thawng 3. Par Tin Rem 4. Dawt Tin Sung 5. Ni Ro Pui 6. Ceng Bik Thang from Thlantlang area were sent to the SLORC office at Thlantlang. The SLORC sent the six children to Rangoon where they were placed in a monastery and were forced to become Buddhist novices. However, the girls refused their heads to be shaved. When the parents learned the fate of the children they went to Rangoon to reclaim their children. The SLORC refused to return the children. Because the parents of three children brought letters of recommendations for the children to be returned to them, they were allowed to see their parents, although they were refused to return home. The other three, whose parents were without the recommendations from SLORC in Thlantlang, were not allowed to see the parents. They were held captive. All the parents pleaded with the SLORC authorities to spend Christmas together with their children. It was in vain. SLORC's offer of brotherhood to the Chin The Burma Army today consist almost purely of ethnic Burman as the Chin and other ethnic groups kept away from the Burma Army as they are discriminated in promotions and duty assignments. There is not a single officer from the non-Burman who reach the rank of a Brigadier. The SLORC army units in the Chin state roamed the country side. They accused young people in the villages of belonging to anti- government forces such as the CNF. They beat up the young people. They went into peoples homes and took anything they want: rice, beans, clothing, pots and pans. They told the villagers that they are "beggar soldiers" to justify their looting. They shot villagers' pigs and they catch chicken. They did not pay for anything. If somebody protested the SLORC soldiers beat up the person. For example: The headman of Haicin village Pu Suan Khan Thang fled to Hiangtui village in Mizoram, India after he was badly beaten by the SLORC soldiers. The SLORC Army also demanded porters and laborers from villages. Forced porterage and forced labor is the trade mark of the SLORC. Their demands become more inhuman as they go farther away from the towns. For example: A SLORC Army unit went to the village of Laungadu in the Paletwa district and demanded three girls. When the village headman refused to supply the girls the headman was executed. The villagers then ran across the border to Bangladesh. The Laungadu village was ethnically mixed between Chin and Arakanese. When the villagers fled to Bangladesh the Chin village in Bangladesh welcomed the Chin group so they were given land for cultivation. The Arakanese were however, were not allowed to settle among the Chins, so the Arakanese moved to south of Mizoram where they settled for the time being. SLORC and CNF Clashes The CNF people stationed themselves at border of India and Burma (Mizoram and Chin State) at Tio Sakhan. On February 2, 1995 the CNF members saw the Burmese immigration officer beating up a man from the Chin State. So the CNF in turn beat up the immigration officer. The soldiers of the SLORC Army Battalion 89, who were stationed nearby saw the beating of the immigration officer by the CNF soldiers. There was an exchange of gun fire. Bawi Kham a CNF soldier was hit. Bawi Kham rolled under a jeep and killed himself by exploding a hand grenade.( He rolled himself under the jeep so as not to hurt other people with his suicide.) Some members of the CNF had been taken into custody by the SLORC army and they have endured the torture methods of the Military Intelligence Service. They decided that they would be better off to take their own lives than be captured and tortured by the MIS. Burmese Courage In June 1994, a unit of the CNF and a unit of SLORC Army Battalion 50 from Gangaw met accidentally at the village of Daljaling in the Matupi district. There was an exchange of gunfire. A SLORC soldier was wounded, by which time the SLORC army retreated to the top of the village mountain. The CNF retired not far from the village. The SLORC army unit bombarded the village with mortar. The leader of the SLORC Army, a Captain said while bombarding the village, "If somebody dies it will be Chins." Four villagers were wounded in the attack. Burmese courage! In May 1994, the CNF was collecting border tax on the road between Tedim and Tonzang. As there were several pony's carrying the goods from India to the Chin Hills, the CNF closed the road and a sentry was posted. While they were negotiating how much the tax should be, a jeep approached from Tedim side. The sentry knew that it was a civilian jeep. But when the jeep came close to the sentry, the realized that the passengers of the jeep were members of the SLORC Army. He shot at the jeep. The driver, who was the owner of the jeep and the commanding officer of the SLORC Army battalion in Tedim were hit. The jeep was taken by force by the SLORC Army unit. The driver died. The CNF fled from the scene because another vehicle was approaching with more soldiers. The SLORC Army unit accused the traders of helping the students (CNF) and confiscated all the goods including the ponies. Rape Cases There were two rape cases since the start of the year 1995. In Haka a young girl of 12 years of age was cutting firewood with her mother at the outskirts of the Haka town. A group of SLORC soldiers raped both of them. The young girl died at the hospital from internal bleeding. The mother could not identify the rapists because she was blindfolded. The SLORC authorities did not pursue the case because the mother could not identify the rapists. In Matupi a girl porter was raped by SLORC soldiers. When the girl reported to the SLORC authorities she was given 5000 kyats and was asked to keep quiet. SLORC's Forced Labor Under the SLORC's border area development program the Pakokku-Kalemyo railway line construction was started four years ago. From the start the villagers of the area had been forced to provide their labor. Each household has to contribute a laborer for a certain period mostly one to two weeks. The demand was sometimes continuous. Within a period of six months some families have to provide four or five times which leave them no time to cultivate their own fields. The fine of 1300 kyats payable if a family cannot provide the laborer. However, the fine is not affordable to most families. It is already difficult for most of them to take their own rations for the duration of their assignment and pay the cost of transportation. At the construction site soldiers of the SLORC Army guard the laborers with bamboo sticks or canes to control the progress of the work. The soldiers often beat the workers. How much the soldiers could use their power against the laborers might be exemplified by one incident which happened in December of 1994. Because her husband was away when the SLORC authorities demanded their labor. The young Chin woman had to go to the construction because she had no body to look after her baby and because she was breast feeding the baby. She kept her baby close to work site as there was nobody to look after the baby. At break times she breast fed her baby. One day the baby was so hungry that it was still sucking the breast when the soldiers called the workers to begin their work. As the baby was still sucking, the mother did not join the others. A soldier came and kicked the woman and demanded she joined the others immediately. So she put down the baby and joined the others. However the baby was crying so badly that she went back to the baby and breast fed some more. This time the soldier came with a knife and cut off her breasts. She later died of her wounds. Over 1000 people have been killed by the brutality of the SLORC soldiers and through the lack of food and medicine since the start of the railway line between Pakokku and Kalemyo. Chin Political Prisoners Religious persecution seem to be one of the main targets of the SLORC. As mentioned earlier the propagation of Buddhism is the main objective of stationing the SLORC Army in the Chin State. They look for clues to protect the interest of Buddhism thereby incriminating the Christian worshippers. Promotions in the SLORC Army or civilian departments were conditioned on conversion to Buddhism. Chin high ranking officers had converted to Buddhism before they were given promotion. Prominent among them were Colonel Van Kulh, Brigadier General Tuang Za Khai, and Colonel Pau Khan Thang. Where as they officially kneel and bow before the Buddhist statues these high ranking army officers pray in the name of Jesus at home. The SLORC clearly prefers the religion, started by an Indian, Buddhism, than the religion started by a Jew, Christianity. In January 1995 an Assembly of God evangelist Pu Pum Khan Thang was arrested in Tedim. The reason: the MIS confiscated a book at the Tedim bazaar. They traced the source of the book to the children of Pu Pum Khan Nang. The children had brought the book for sale at the bazaar. The pages of the could be used as wrapping paper. On the title page of the book was a picture of Jesus on top of a Hindu clergy man in wrestling match. The book was most likely printed in India. Pu Pum Khan Thang was arrested in Tedim and bail was refused. He was transferred to Monywa jail, the MIS torture chamber, where he sits now. Pastor Pauno Pastor Pauno was an evangelist with no affiliation. He was free- lancing in the Naga- Hkamti areas. He was very successful in converting the Nagas that it alarmed the SLORC authorities in the area. Thus the MIS sent its agents and Buddhist monks in order to study how to counter his teaching. However in a short period of time Pastor Pauno converted the MIS agents and the Buddhist monks to Christianity. The SLORC authorities therefore arrested him in Hkamti and transferred him to Monywa jail. Why Monywa jail? Because it has the MIS facilities of torture. This is the reason why these religious and political prisoners are sent to Monywa. Pauno was in contact with jail mates U San Thein and U San Kyi Lwin, who were Christian evangelists from Arakan, and who were arrested in the Chin Hills (Falam) and jailed also in lined with SLORC's religious persecution. U San Thein and U San Kyi Lwin were released at the beginning of this year after they served over three years in Monywa jail. Pastor Pauno was severely tortured that he has lost the will to live. He therefore requested U San Thein and U San Kyi Lwin to pray for him to die soon. Political Prisoner: Za Renh Lian Za Renh Lian, who was born in 1978, was arrested in Haka on November 3, 1993 for sticking posters in the town of Haka. The poster were written by himself. It said: " Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy will become the Government and YOU will be beheaded". He was sentenced to a three years jail term and sent to Monywa jail. That means he had to go through the serial MIS torture procedures.(He was 15 years old when he was arrested.) General observations 1. I met the student refugees in Aizawl, Burmese as well as Chin. They were in Mizoram since 1988. Because they were given quarters in Champai village, they were not expected to go anywhere else in Mizoram. Some of them had been arrested for being in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. They have no difficulties communicating with the Chins, and there are also plenty of girls according to some of them. Some students open a tea shop in Aizawl and make their living. One wish they expressed was that they would very much like to attend classes and take some courses. So I went to Mizoram government ministries. I met Pu Zosiama, the minister for education, but he told me to go to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister in turn told me that I would have to go to Dr. Silva, the Minister in the central government. Because I did not go to New Delhi, I could not see Dr. Silva. I requested Ni Ni Lian of the Chin Over Seas Organization to see Dr. Silver. I hope something can be done for the student refugees. I believe that we have a chance because those students who applied for political asylum in New Delhi with the UNHCR were granted the permission to attend schools or universities. 2. There are probably around 50,000 refugees from the Chin State in Mizoram State. These are not necessarily political refugees. Most of them came to Mizoram because there is nothing to do in Burma and the Chin State. Some came because they can not survive on the salary they earn in Burma. Many of science teachers in Mizoram came from the Chin State. In Aizawl many people work as weavers. Even the Member of Parliament from Monywa is working as a weaver in Aizawl. Definitely it is better for him to work than spending time jail in Burma. 1 in 20 are political refugees. These refugees expressed their wish to be active in politics to bring down the SLORC and to do something for the people. But they seem to have no clue to what they could do. They would like to be in an organization that fights for democracy and federalism in Burma. They believe that by forming an organization their main job is done. Here there is definitely something that need attention. 3. Many people are aiming at many unrealistic aims, for example the students in Manipur have the wish to unite their area with the Paite speaking areas bordering them and the Tedim district of the Chin State, where the Paite dialect of Zo language is spoken. They want this state to be a sovereign state by itself. Overall, the situation for the Chin people is getting worse. Economically the situation remains terrible. The Tatmadaw terror of the villagers is so bad that some villagers begged me to ask CNF to stop fighting...and other villagers had the opposite request to fight along side of CNF as soon as possible. Politically, the Chin have no say in their own affairs. Persecution of Christians is increasing. Many Chins are losing their culture from Burmanification and Christianification. -------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET: ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT AMNESTY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE AW: ASIAWEEK Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. 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