KAOWAO NEWS NO. 95

KAOWAO NEWS NO. 95



Newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma

September 1-14, 2005



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READERS' FRONT

VILLAGERS BEATEN AND FINED FOR NOT SPEAKING BURMESE

SPDC'S LAND CONFISCATION FOR ARMY VILLAGE

MON POLITICAL PRISONER AT RISK OF LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

PADDY FARMS DESTROYED DUE TO FLOODING

MON AND THAI LANGUAGES CLASS OPEN AT THE BORDER

CATTLE FROM BURMA BANNED

20 PERSONS CONTRACT GOAT DISEASE

BURMESE JUNTA CUTS SUPPORT FOR NMSP

CHINS IN THE USA CELEBRATE 'CHIN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL'

DOWN THE RAT HOLE: ADVENTURES UNDERGROUND ON BURMA'S FRONTIERS



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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
Burma. And we hope that it will become an important forum for
discussion and debate and help readers to keep abreast of issues and
news. We reserve the right to edit and reject articles without prior
notification. You can use a pseudonym but we encourage you to include
your full name and address.



Regards,

Editor

kaowao@xxxxxxxxxxx, www.kaowao.org

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On "Global Warming Hits New Orleans": By Jeremy Rifkin



Great article. Burma's military leaders are also not concerned with
our natural resource and environment. I wonder the reason why the U.S
is not interested to help Burma. It may be a good reason that we
don't have enough oil and gas like Iraq.



Zaw Zaw (Malaysia)

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Thank you for posting a great essay. It is about time we look beyond
our borders and start seeing ourselves as part of the planet.



Zarni

____________________________________________



Hmm! I wonder what would happen to the Canada's Alberta economy if
America turned off the oil spigot.



ES (Canada)



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Human Rights



VILLAGERS BEATEN AND FINED FOR NOT SPEAKING BURMESE

(Kaowao: September 14, 2005)



Villagers who cannot speak Burmese were beaten and fined, a source from
Ye township, Mon state said.



"Three villagers from Bop Htaw village were beaten and fined 3 Viss
(about 5 kilograms) of chicken each," a Mon community worker who
recently fled to Thai-Burma border said. The newly arrived refugee
explained that his villagers were beaten by Burma Army after being
demanded to speak Burmese to them.



Mon villagers Nai Chit Tin 43, Nai Oung Tin 41, and Nai Hline 29 were
beaten and kicked several times and then fined three Vises of chicken
last July.



The SPDC Light Infantry Battalion No. 299 is in charge of the southern
Ye area where majority of the local population cannot speak Burmese.



A village headman of Pauk Pin Kwin from Ye Byu Township, told Kao Wao
that most of the villagers in southern Ye area cannot speak Burmese and
assimilation policy is used by the SPDC soldiers while staying in the
villages.



Civilian in this area rarely has any citizenship cards or ID cards
since the immigration officers cannot go into this area. Many villages
in southern Ye and Ye Byu area is defined by the SPDC as a Black Area
(free-fire zone) and they also lost the chance to vote in Burma's
general election in 1990.



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SPDC'S LAND CONFISCATION FOR ARMY VILLAGE

(Kaowao: September 12, 2005)



Ye -- Burma Army confiscated thousands of plantations and ordered the
local people to build a new village for BA's family members.



The local sources reported they were ordered to cut down trees and
clear the area to build the houses for the construction of army village
near Khao Jear sub-town, southern Mon State.



The plantations around the area were seized for the military families,
forcing the Mon owners out of their homes and off their land, thereby
displacing them.



Over 30 tons of timber in southern Ye was also collected from local
villages to build SPDC schools, a Mon political activist from the area
said.



"Over ten villages, namely Bop Htaw, Krone Kanyear, Weng Ta Moh, Mi
Htaw Hlar Dut, Mi Htaw Hlar Janoh, Ma Herh, Wear Kwao, Mang Glon and
Khao Jear, provided timber to build government controlled schools in
KhawZar (sub town)," said the activist under condition of anonymity.



"Villagers were ordered to work as unpaid laborers on a daily basis
to build the schools for the elementary, secondary and high schools.
Each village was ordered by the Burma Army to send four laborers on
daily basis. All villages including Kao Jear sub-town were forced to
pay 1000 Kyat per month for the project run by the army, there are
about 20 villages," he further explained.



Last year, over three hundred acres of plantations in the eastern part
of the sub-town, where the new military village is located, were
seized.



"The whole part of the eastern sub-town is owned by the SPDC. The
local Mon people owned the plantations for generations but they
(Burmese government) now owns the land," he quoted the soldiers as
saying to the villagers. "No one can go to the new military village,
once they are built," he added.



According to a Mon human rights activist from the Nationalities Youth
Forum Program, the local SPDC battalions work with the logging
companies from the northern Ye township, both are cutting down rubber
and other species of trees from land the Burmese Army confiscated over
five years ago.



Forced off from their land, the Mon farmers and their families have
split up and migrated to Thailand and Mon IDP camps controlled by NMSP
along the Thai-Burma border.



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MON POLITICAL PRISONER AT RISK OF LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

(Kaowao: September 6, 2005)



The health of NMSP member Nai Yekkha (Ne Win), who was charged with
attempting a state assassination plot against the SPDC, worsens,
reported his family.



"He is suffering from low blood pressure and he is collapsing all the
time, he's too weak and cannot eat well," his family said.



"His health condition is getting worse day by day," a source from
his party said. "He may die from low blood pressure and he is not
coping well from the poor diet they give him," his family said.



"His family is not able to provide the extra food for him, who
themselves are unable to make ends meet being a poor family," the
party said.



The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) arrested 12 suspects
including two NMSP members Nai Yekkha and Nai Chem Gakow and Mon
National Democratic Front leader Nai Min Kyi on July 17, 2003. They
were charged with being involved in a number of explosions in Moulmein
and other cities. Some of them were released. The SPDC's Military
Intelligence used poor information to accuse Nai Yekkha with being
involved in a state assassination.



Nai Yekkha was a popular student leader from Moulmein University who
joined the NMSP before it reached a ceasefire agreement with the
military junta.



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PADDY FARMS DESTROYED DUE TO FLOODING

(Kaowao: September 2, 2005)



Paddy plantations in southern part of Pa-an township of Karen state
along the Gyaing river have been destroyed due to a month-long flood in
the area.



About 5,000 acres already planted with paddy at Zar Ta Pyin field were
lost in the flood. It lasted for a month and all of the rice fields
were under water for 21 days, according Nai Ting, a local farmer. There
are six Mon villages in the area, namely; Zar Ta Pyin, Kyone Peh,
Khayar Atwin, Khayar Apyin, Kaw La Muu, Than Hleh, Kaw Tin, he added.



A Mon widow farmer said that she had lost about 100,000 kyats in
growing paddy on her five-acre farm and she is concerned how she will
be able to pay back the money that she borrowed.



Many paddy fields along the rivers in Kawkareik township in Karen state
and Kyaikmayaw township in Mon state are also affected by flood,
according to local sources. But they were unable t confirm how many
acres had been destroyed during the flood.



Most of the motor roads and trails in the townships were under water
for a long time and local Mon and Karen people had to use small boats
to get around. The primary and middle schools in southern Pa-an
township were closed because of concern for the safety of the students.



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Culture and literature



MON AND THAI LANGUAGES CLASS OPEN AT THE BORDER

(Kaowao: September 1, 2005)



Three Pagodas Pass - The opening ceremony for Mon and Thai language
evening classes were held here for the first time yesterday evening, a
Mon language teacher told a Kaowao reporter today.



"We will teach Mon and Thai languages voluntarily starting between
6:30 and 8:30 daily (Burmese local time)." Over 200 students are
registered to attend the classes, said the teacher.



The classes, which are arranged by the township Mon Culture and
Literature Committee and the youth organization, are separated into
four sections. 'We received permission from the township authority
and the local commander to open them,' the teacher said.



Most of the students are teenagers who are interested in learning both
their own language and Thai. The classes are sponsored with the aim of
preserving the Mon language and of encouraging people to attend, the
teacher said.



The organizers are also planning to include English language classes,
as well, the teachers said. The New Mon State Party liaison officer
also attended the opening class and delivered a speech.



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Business



CATTLE FROM BURMA BANNED

(Kaowao: September 2, 2005)



Three Pagodas Pass - Thailand has closed its border to cattle
crossing from Burma due to a cattle disease discovered by a Thai
doctor, according to a source at Three Pagodas Pass.



There are over 200 cows and buffalos on the Burmese side waiting for
transport to Thailand, a Mon cattle trader, Nai Win told Kawao from the
border crossing point two days ago. It is the first time in many years
that cattle from Burma have been barred from entering Thailand, he
said.



The cattle business in the area is slow due to high taxation by SPDC
and government control organizations, another source said.



"The cattle business at the border town is going downhill because the
various check points under the control of the SPDC and ceasefire groups
are charging too much," said a Three Pagodas Pass resident. "Cattle
businessmen are limiting their travel to the area under the control of
the New Mon State Party (NMSP) to avoid the high taxes collected by the
SPDC's organizations and cease-fire groups."



The cows and buffalos are brought from Mon state and Tenasserim
Division by a long trek through mountainous terrain that is heavily
forested. It takes about a week to reach to Three Pagodas Pass. Some
cattle die during the journey water is scarce at the high highest
elevation from which it almost a half day's journey into the valley.
As a result, owners have to sell the cattle at a much lower price
amounting to about 30 bahts per kilo, Nai Darm from a Mon village in
the area said.



The cattle traders usually bring only fat cows and buffalos, since the
ones cannot make the trip through the dense forest, the source said.

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Related story



20 persons contract 'goat disease'; smuggled animals slaughtered in
brucellosis outbreak


(Bangkok: TNA: 06-09-05)



Nearly 1,400 goats smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar have been culled
and slaughtered in Thailand's western province of Kanchanaburi
following the first major outbreak of brucellosis in 30 years,
according to Agriculture and Cooperatives and Public Health Ministries
officials. Nineteen workers from a goat milk dairy and meat farm in
Kanchanaburi have been infected, along with one government animal
husbandry worker.



Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Khun Ying Sudarat Keyaraphan said
on Tuesday that the Maboonkrong Dairy Goat Farm had been declared an
outbreak area and 1,363 goats smuggled from "a neighbouring country"
were culled after being infected with the bacteria. In an attempt to
allay fears about a re-emerging infectious disease, brucellosis, which
two years ago returned for the first time in 30 years, the Public
Health Ministry assured the public that the disease could not be
transmitted from human to human, nor cause miscarriages.



Dr. Kumnuan Ungchusak, Bureau of Epidemiology Director, said there had
been 20 people reported infected so far, with all but one are workers
in the farm, who had direct contact with the infected goats and other
products from the animals, such as meat and raw milk. The other
infected persons was an extension official from the provincial animal
husbandry center, according to Dr. Kumnuan. He said the disease had
previously been a problem until the mid-1970s, but was not indicated in
medical records from then until 2003 when the disease re-emerged in
four patients found in the central province of Ratchaburi and three
patients in the southern province of Satun were reported last year.



However, Dr. Kumnuan assured the public that there had been no case of
human-to-human transmission. "There is also no evidence that it can
cause miscarriage," Dr. Kumnuan said. "Those who are at high risk are
persons who have direct contact with the animal or animal products that
are contaminated with the bacteria." The epidemiology director said
that the bacteria could be destroyed at temperatures of 60 degrees
Celsius; therefore, eating cooked goat meat or drinking pasturised milk
is safe.



Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria of the
genus Brucella. These bacteria are primarily passed among animals, and
they cause disease in domesticated animals such as sheep, goats,
cattle, swine, and dogs. Wild animals, too, can be infected and can be
carriers. In humans brucellosis can cause a range of symptoms similar
to influenza and may include fever, sweats, headaches, back pains, and
physical weakness. Severe infections of the central nervous systems or
lining of the heart may occur. Khun Ying Sudarat vowed to punish any
officials who allowed illegal smuggling of the animals.



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BURMESE JUNTA CUTS SUPPORT FOR NMSP

(Louis Reh, Irrawaddy: September 09, 2005)



The New Mon State Party's economic support from Burma's State Peace
and Development Council-a condition of the 1995 ceasefire agreement
between the two parties-has been cut off for the last two months,
along with support for local business interests, said a spokesperson
for the NMSP.



The SPDC has traditionally supplied the NMSP with four million kyat
(nearly US $3,500) in economic aid each month for the political body to
function in Mon State, Burma.



"There is no clear reason why they (SPDC) have cut the support,"
said NMSP spokesperson Kwe Hong Mon, adding that "the SPDC has also
placed restrictions on the party's business interests."



Kwe Hong Mon suggested that the party's participation in the National
Convention-set to resume in December-may have something to do with
the suspension of funding.



"I think the reason for the cuts is that the NMSP has been
blacklisted because of its participation in the National Convention and
the party's insistence on a free referendum and a genuine federal
democracy in Burma," said Kwe Hong Mon.



The SPDC has also tightened restrictions on the party's business
interests, particularly the logging industry. The NMSP had previously
been allowed limited logging rights and permission to export to
Thailand. "The party's permission to log in Mon State, Burma, has
been revoked. We cannot log where we are not specifically permitted by
the SPDC," said Kwe Hong Mon.



The NMSP has never before experienced delays in payments received from
SPDC's Southeast Command or restrictions on business activities.



Other ethnic ceasefire groups claim to be facing similar difficulties
with the SPDC. The Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front
reached a ceasefire agreement with the SPDC in 1994.



"The KNPLF now has to provide for itself because the SPDC no longer
gives us any assistance," said a member of KNPLF. He added that the
group must rely on profits from limited logging rights and control of
the Maw Chin mine in Karenni State to fund the group's security
forces and administrative offices.



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CHINS IN THE USA CELEBRATE 'CHIN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL'

(Reported by Hre Mang)



Coming together from across the United States, more than 500 Chins
gathered together, celebrating the waited Chin National Festival with
dances, shows, sports, etc. nourishing their young generation with
their traditional values and social images. The celebration lasted for
two days from September 3rd to 4th, 2005 at Battle Creek, Michigan,
USA.



The Chin Community of Burma, USA, Inc. organized the celebration
successfully. The Chin New Year Festival has been celebrated in the
United States since 2002and its scope and influence is increasing among
the Chin community in the USA. The Chin community board, with the
warmed welcome from National Area Chin community leaders, decided that
the 2006 Chin New Year Festival celebration to be hosted by the
National Capital Area Chin Community.



The celebration has tremendous impact on the lives of the Chin
immigrants, refugees, visitors, and political asylees in the United,
drawing old/new friends, relative's together from across the nation.
The celebration not only generated enormous social capital toward
promoting and preserving the Chin traditional and social cultural
values in their exiled lives, but it also promotes the social and
psychological health, relieving their stress and loneliness in a
strange land.



It is expected more Chins and friends will gather together during the
next Chin New Year Festival in 2006 which will take place in
Maryland/Washington D.C.



At the end part of the celebration, Pu William Ngun Lian sang his
farewell cultural folk song, "Stay with me one moment darling, one
moment darling, because I may ever see you again, again again, never
never see you, one moment darling, 'cause I may never see you
again."



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Book Review



The story of Edith Mirante travels among the indigenous peoples of
Burma's remote war zones, bordering China, India, Laos and Bangladesh.



DOWN THE RAT HOLE: ADVENTURES UNDERGROUND ON BURMA'S FRONTIERS

ASIAN NON-FICTION

Teri Fitsell


Edith Mirante has been aptly described by her publisher as "a dedicated
writer with the soul of a poet and the passion of a revolutionary". She
describes herself simply as a gatherer of information on Myanmar. It's
a task to which this American artist has dedicated nearly 20 years of
her life. Her commentaries are regularly broadcast on the BBC World
Service, she's lectured for Amnesty International and Greenpeace, and
she's given evidence about Myanmar before the US Congress.


Mirante's first book, Burmese Looking Glass, was about her clandestine
journeys into Myanmar from Thailand in the mid-1980s. It was subtitled
A Human Rights Adventure and a Jungle Revolution and described how her
eyes were opened to oppression in Myanmar. In 1986, she founded Project
Maje (www.projectmaje.org) to disseminate information around the world
about the plight of the Myanmese people. Her efforts in Thailand
resulted in her being jailed twice and then deported in 1988.

Mirante's new book is as interesting as the first. Starting in 1991, it
describes her journeys through China, Laos, India and Bangladesh to
talk secretly to indigenous people struggling to gain their freedom.
She visits the rebel Chin National Front, active on the
Bangladesh/Myanmar border; she crosses treacherous hills on the China
border with members of the Kachin IO's 3rd brigade to visit the Kachin
State; and she hides out in Chittagong, Bangladesh, awaiting her chance
to reach the Hill Tracts of Bandarban.


The book is so named after the words of an Arakan ruler who described
"the futility of an army pursuing hill tribe raiders as an elephant
trying to 'enter the hole of a rat'". However, Mirante says that, "in
modern Burma, the elephantine Tatmadaw tramples everything in its path,
rat holes, nests of insurgents, peaceful villages, alike".


The book details not only human rights abuses but also the destruction
of the Burmese environment under SLORC (the State Law and Order
Restoration Committee, now known as the SPDC), "the junta ruling Burma
following its suppression of the 1988 democracy uprising". She
describes unregulated logging, strategic deforestation, gas and oil
exploration and gold mining, the use of dangerous pesticides such as
paraquat and increases in pollution.


The list of environmental crimes is almost as long as the list of
different factions of rebels struggling in these remote areas. There
are the Chins, the Was, Kachins, Karens, Rakhines, Mons and many
others. The succinct glossary helps sort any confusion.


It's the author's no-frills passion for her subject, as well as her wit
and humour that make the book so readable. Her journeys comprise
arduous days of hiking over hills, wading through streams and hiding
from the authorities. Her aim is to reach the people who live in the
midst of the struggle and destruction and tell their stories to the
world. She rarely focuses on herself or how (or why) she endures the
dangers, rigours and hardships that go with her task. Nor does she
indulge in polemic or cries of outrage. She tells it as she sees it -
quietly, without fuss, simply gathering information with which to
confront the authorities later.

In Burmese Looking Glass, Mirante traveled among opium drug lords and
troops of women soldiers. In Rat Hole, she enters the worlds of
guerilla warfare and heroin and jade trading, and realizes the full
extent of the AIDs pandemic in the region.


The book covers one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century
- the typhoon and tsunami that engulfed Bangladesh in April 1991,
killing 139,000. As she relates seeing bodies washed ashore and caught
in trees, the passage has deep resonance, given the events of December
26, 2004.


Among the hardship and tragedy, there's humour and irony. At one stage
Mirante narrowly avoids being caught at a dangerous checkpoint because
a truck in front of hers nearly swerves off the road, and by the time
it's salvaged the guard agrees there's no time for security. She spends
much time in cockroach-infested hotel bathrooms repeatedly dying her
blonde hair black so as to blend in.


In the end though, Mirante's message is a simple one, just the two
words that close the book: "Free Burma."



South China Morning Post (Hong Kong). 29 May 2005.

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"DOWN THE RAT HOLE: Adventures Underground on Burma's Frontiers" is the
new book by Edith Mirante (author of "Burmese Looking Glass") published
by Orchid Press:

<http://d30021575.purehost.com/indiv_titles.html#rathole>
In Asia, order online from:

<http:www.asiabooks.co.thbrowsebookinfo.asp?ProdID=9789745240506>
"Down the Rat Hole" is available at Powells.com:

<http://www.powells.com/s?kw=down+the+rat+hole>
It can also be requested from your local bookshop or ordered at:

<www.amazon.com>



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KAOWAO NEWS GROUP



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Online Burma Library -- http://www.burmalibrary.org



ABOUT US

Kaowao Newsgroup is committed to social justice, peace, and democracy
in Burma. We hope to be able to provide more of an in-depth analysis
that will help to promote lasting peace and change within Burma.

Editors, reporters, writers, and overseas volunteers are dedicated
members of the Mon activist community based in Thailand.



Our motto is working together for lasting peace and change.

.