Burma Army, as barbaric as in the last millennium

The Hti (topmost part of a pagoda) of Ho Mong (former Khun Hsa’s stronghold) was successfully hoisted to the top on 29th April 2001. General Maung Bo, the then Commander of the Eastern Command, was said to the main contributor and host of the ceremony. General Maung Bo and his entourage were there during the ceremony. Local people were ordered to attend, threaten with harsh punishment for those who failed to comply.

To construct this pagoda, the Burmese general had buried 9 people alive, to sacrifice as guardian of the building. Among the 9 male and female sacrifices, 7 were convicts withdrawn from Burmese prisons and 2 were children who had been kidnapped by SPDC troops. The sacrifices was secretly made under the cover of darkness and heavily guarded, very few people could witness the horror. Even though rumors of children, been kidnapped had spread before the sacrifices was made.

In early May 2005, some new IDPs have arrived to Loi Tai Leng IDP camp. Among them was a sad and traumatized Shan woman from the village of Khang Par. On 1st June 2005, an interview made with her to disclose the tragedy. Further inquiries also revealed the eyewitnesses.

One of the sacrifices in the Ho Mong Pagoda in 2001 was Nong Hsep, age 6, daughter of Loong Kham and Nang Kyi (age 30) and her elder brother was Sai Mai Ngern. This family of four resided in the village of Khang Par, their house was not far from the village monastery, but close to thick woods and was built on the bank of the stream which flows near the village. They worked their career as farmers, in prime years they had enough food to eat, but in lean years, they had to work as hired laborers in neighboring villages. Burmese soldiers from SPDC’s 99th infantry battalion made the monastery grounds their base.

26th April 2001, was the day of doom for Nong Hsep. On that day her father Loong Kham and Nang Kyi, went to carry rice from Wan Mai Larn (on the Thai side of the border). As they had to spend whole day, they left Loong Ta (their neighbors) to take care of the children. The couple left before daybreak. Loong Ta was roasting tea leaves inside their home and bob haired Nong Hsep was playing outside, dressed in white smock and green knickers with pink side lines.  Her brother was old enough and went to play with his friends in the headman’s house. Around 8:30 hr, Loong Ta went to call Nong Hsep for her breakfast, but she was nowhere to be found. Loong Ta call for help and made a good searched with the villagers. Only adult footprints in jungle boots were found running from their house to the jungle. When her parents came back they continue to search for a week, but Nong Hsep had vanished through thin air.

27th April 2001. Witness X and his wife Xx found a15 men Burmese soldiers, marching fast, on the way from Nam Kart to Ho Mong. These witnesses are villagers resided in a village suburb of Ho Mong. X and his wife Xx were stripping red kaw barks (a specie of thorny chestnut tree). (These reddish filaments extracted from the under bark could fetch a good price in the border market.) On learning the approaching of Burmese soldiers, the couple tried to run. But when they found, the soldiers were going on their own way, the couple hide under the canopy of thick bushes. Curious X found, the Burmese soldiers marching fast, carrying a little girl in white smock on the back of one soldiers.

28th April 2001. In early morning witness Y, a street peddler selling her snacks around Ho Mong heard the sound of a child’s crying from the weavers’ mill. (This building was built during Khun Hsa’s heydays to accommodate weavers and their looms. It was since name the Weavers’ Mill.) Y went to take a look and found a little girl in white smock and bobbed hair, crying and heavily guarded by Burmese soldiers. Y was chased away at gunpoint. In the evening, the couple of Y went back to peep into the mill. Darkness was falling fast and they found the soldiers putting the little girl into a white sack. She was still alive, but in a moribund state. As darkness fell, the soldiers carry the white sack to the construction site. At midnight the white sack was entombed under the foot of the pagoda. Although unaware at that time the Y couple became the eyewitnesses of the horror.

29th April 2001. At 9:00am Burma Standard Time, General Maung Bo, and his entourage celebrated the success of the construction.

This Pagoda was first constructed in 1996 by the SPDC, soon after Khun Hsa’s surrender. The locals believed that the authorities constructed this pagoda as a magic charm to subdue resistance groups. Rumors said they added filthy old sarongs and other obscene materials were among the core ingredients. Soon after the construction completed, a thunder stuck, causing the topmost part to fall down. Later this pagoda was repaired by the most respected, Rev.Khuwa Boon Soom of Mong Phong. The military authorities were not satisfied and built a larger one swallowing the whole pagoda. This is the one, which they sacrificed with 9 human beings, including Nong Hsep. 
(Names and villages of the witness were withheld for their own security).

Note:
The article and photograph are contributed by a member of the Shan State’s former noble house_Editor

Nong Hsep before her mysterious disappearance in April 2001