Commander subjects his subjects to fast

Human Rights

Commander subjects his subjects to fast

More than 600 townspeople of Kengtung went through an ordeal of forced diet when they were ordered by its military commander to attend the inauguration of the city's hydroelectric power plant on 16 September, reports Pegasus from Maesai:

The people had, by order, arrived at the city hall by 06:30 although the ceremony started at 10:00 and went on until 14:00, when they were allowed to go home and break their fast.

The hydroelectric power plant in Mongkhawn, 10 miles southwest of Kengtung, was reported by the Lahu National Development Organization, an NGO that had produced reports on the Wa forced resettlement program (1999-2001) and the reef blastings on the Mekong (2002-2003), was completed in 1990 through a 50 million kyat international assistance program. It soon broke down forcing the residents to rely on the daily three-hour power supply by the local government electricity board.

Early this year, Shwe Lin Star Company, the firm owned by Sai Leun a.k.a Lin Mingxian, leader of the Mongla-based Special Region #4, a ceasefire group, was contracted to build and renovate power plants in eastern Shan State which includes Kengtung, Monghpyak, Mongyawng and Tachilek at the total price of 300 million yuan ($ 37.5 million).

Power produced by Mongkhawn would be free for the military and government personnel while the rest would be required to pay K 250 ($ 0.25) per unit.

"This is not the first time (Maj-Gen) Khin Zaw (Commander, Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command) has done to us," complained a resident, "and it will certainly not be the last,"

They recounted recent events:

• From 5 August-19 September, the annual students sports and games were held in Kengtung, and each student was required to pay for the expenses: 500 kyat ($ 0.50) for a primary school student, 600 kyat ($0.60) for a middle school student and 700 kyat ($ 0.70) for a high school student. There are 8 primary , 7 middle and 6 high schools in Kengtung.

• On 9 September, 400 villagers in Loilong and Kenghpawng village tracts, backed by 400 soldiers, were ordered to build a dike across the Namkheun, 3 miles west of Kengtung, after a flashflood that inundated more than a hundred acres of ricefields. The work began at 08:30 until 19:00. When lunch packets ordered from the townspeople arrived in midday, all but a few were taken away by the soldiers, leaving the villagers to buy their own lunches. "To make it worse," a resident complained, "the officers were blasting interminably through the public address system, 'It's not forced labor. It's your own affair. We are only here to give a hand.' Some of us nearly went crazy."

Maj-Gen Khin Zaw is the third commander of the Triangle Region (Eastern Shan State) that was established in 1996. Lt-Gen Thein Sein, concurrently holding the offices of Secretary-2, Adjutant General and Chairman of the National Convention Convening Commission at present, was the first commander. Khin Zaw replaced the second commander, Chit Than, in 2002, when the latter was implicated in the alleged coup attempt led by the late Gen Ne Win's grandsons.