SHRF MONTHLY REPORT -- DECEMBER 2006

COMMENTARY
        Cultural persecution has always been one of the many oppressive practices often practised by the Burmese juntas’ troops against the indigenous peoples, especially the Shan people, of Shan State since the military seized power over 4 decades ago and began sending troops to occupy one territory after another in the whole Shan State.

        Although learning and promotion of one’s own language and culture was sometimes permitted to some extent by some incumbent Burmese regional military commanders for one ethnic group or another, in practice indigenous peoples have been mostly prevented by he junta’s troops from promoting their language, or continually harassed when doing so.

        The present SPDC military junta’s troops are no exception. During the last 9-10 years of their rule, they have often hindered or even banned the learning and practising of Shan language and culture.

        For example, they sometimes permitted Shan communities to celebrate their cultural new year but later arrested the organizers, and sometimes even completely banned such celebrations. Likewise, they sometimes permitted the teaching and learning of Shan language and sometimes banned it.

        In this issue, in addition to disappearance and rape cases, there are reports about the ban on the teaching of Shan language in central Shan State and some other culture-related issues, together with many other abuses, mostly various types of theft and extortion, practised mainly to get easy money from the people.

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ARREST, ROBBERY AND DISAPPEARANCE IN MURNG-PAN
        In June 2006, a Buddhist novice monk disappeared after being arrested by SPDC troops from LIB332 in Murng-Pan township.

        On 28 June 2006, a car carrying 18 passengers travelling towards Murng-Ton township was stopped by a patrol of SPDC troops at a petrol pump on the way in Murng-Pan township. The troops asked to see the ID cards of all the passengers.

        Among the passengers there was a novice monk, aged about 19, who did not carry any form of ID card and the SPDC troops searched his bag and found 1,000,000 kyat of money. But the troops said that they found a shotgun pistol and an insignia badge of a Shan soldier in his bag.

        They then accused him of being a deserting Shan soldier and arrested him, forced him out of the car and took him away along the way that led from Murng-Pan to Kaeng Tawng area in Murng-Nai township. Since then, the novice monk has disappeared.

        According to the fellow passengers who knew the novice monk, he was a genuine monk from Wan Naa village in Kaad Phui village tract in Murng-Kerng township. Although they did not know what the monk was carrying the money for, they did not think he was also carrying a pistol and a Shan soldier’s insignia.

        Some of the passengers saw when the SPDC troops searched the monk. When they found the money in his bag, the troops took the bag out of the car for a moment and then said they found the pistol and the badge.

        They said the troops must have framed the monk to get his money, taking advantage of his not having an ID card. There were 5 SPDC soldiers of LIB332 in the said patrol, with the leader, a Sergeant, being called ‘Sein Lin’ by his subordinates.

RAPE AND FORCED LABOUR IN KAENG-TUNG
        In October 2006, 2 women, aged 15 and 16, were forced to serve as unpaid porters and raped for 2 nights by the SPDC troops from LIB327, in Kaeng-Tung township.

        On 4 October 2006, a patrol of about 50 SPDC troops from LIB327 and about 15 Lahu people’s militiamen from Murng Sen village in Tong Ta village tract, Kaeng-Tung township, came to patrol the areas along the eastern side of the Nam Sim river, with the militiamen being forced to lead the way.

        When they got near Murng Ong village in Murng Phur village tract, the SPDC troops saw 2 women in a rice farm and brought them to their commander. The commander then asked the women whether they had seen any Shan soldiers in the area.

        Naang Aam, aged 15, and Naang Seng Aam, aged 16, (not their real names) had come to the farm to gather some produce, e.g., pumpkin, cucumber, etc., to make donations to the monastery because it was only 2 days before the end of the Buddhist Lent.

        The women were so mindful of their work that they noticed the SPDC soldiers only when they called out to them, and they were very frightened. Trembling with fear, they told the commander that they had not seen any Shan soldier and that they needed to return home with the farm produce soon, otherwise their parents would be worried.

        But the commander said he did not believe them and he suspected that they were wives of Shan soldiers, and forced them to go with the patrol, at the same time putting a heavy backpack on each of the women to carry along.

        The patrol crossed over to the western side of Nam Sim river and searched the area for 2 days and 2 nights, during which the 2 women were forced to carry backpacks by day and raped by night. On both nights, Naang Aam was raped by the patrol commander himself and Naang Seng Aam was raped by an officer with one star on each of his shoulders.

        After raping the women for 2 whole nights, the SPDC troops said that they now believed what the women had told them and did not suspect them to be Shan soldiers’ wives anymore, and brought them back to the farm where they had been taken away and released them.

        On releasing the women, the commander told them to forget what had happened and not to tell anyone about it, but to say that during the time they were taken away by the SPDC troops they were only made to carry small backpacks and were kindly treated by the patrol commander.

        However, the women did tell their parents what had happened to them simply because their sufferings were just too great for such young women to keep to themselves. But there was no one that was able to do anything about it.

SHAN COMMUNITIES IN CEASEFIRE AREA BANNED FROM LEARNING SHAN, IN KUN-HING AND MURNG-PAENG
        Since August 2006, some 80 community schools in a ceasefire area, known as special region (3), in Kun-Hing and Murng-Paeng townships have been banned from teaching Shan to the local communities by the SPDC military authorities of LIB360 based in Murng-Paeng township.

        Special region (3) is a ceasefire area under the 7th Brigade of Shan State Army - North (SSA-N) and includes parts of Kun-Hing and Murng-Paeng townships. Led by members of the SSA-N, Shan communities in the area have since 7-8 years ago organized many community schools to encourage the learning of Shan literacy and culture.

        On 8 August 2006, a patrol of 30 SPDC troops from LIB360, led by Capt. Win Maung, came into the area of Pet Kank village tract in Murng-Paeng township, which was in the area of special region (3), and saw one of the said community schools which children from Loi To and Mai Saw villages were attending.

        When Capt. Win Maung learned, on inspection, that the school was teaching Shan to the local children, he ordered them to stop and called all the teachers to come to him. He then said to the teachers, “From today onwards, you must stop teaching Shan, but must teach Burmese instead. Because Burmese is the official language, everyone must learn it”.

        The SPDC commander not only ordered the teachers to stop teaching Shan, but ordered his troops to search the school and took away all the books in Shan language. After that all the schools in the area were ordered to stop teaching Shan.

        There were about 80 such schools in the ceasefire region (3) when they were banned from teaching Shan. Many of them had been teaching Shan for 7-8 years and the others were established not less than 3-4 years ago.

        Local people said they thought it was just an act of discrimination by the SPDC authorities against the ethnic Shan. There could be no other reasons because these were only community schools established to learn their own language and culture and, besides, many children were already learning Burmese elsewhere.

        Meanwhile, news about similar incidents has been coming out from other ceasefire areas in Shan State, and also from other ethnic States such as Chin, Kachin, Karen and Mon, etc.

SHOPS BANNED FROM INCLUDING THAI LANGUAGE ON THEIR SIGNBOARDS, IN TA-KHI-LAEK
        Since July 2006, restaurants and food stalls in Ta-khi-laek township have been banned by the SPDC authorities from including Thai language on signboards showing the names of the shops and the lists of food dishes.

        The order came out just after 9 July 2006 with no reasons given. Only Burmese and English languages were to be on every signboard, it said. Several shops that were slow to rub out the Thai language on their signboards were said to have been fined not less than 10,000 baht in Thai money.

        For instance, Naang Zan (not her real name), aged 36, of Murng Phong village tract, who had been selling food for 4-5 years with her signboard containing Thai language all along, was fined 10,000 baht for not erasing it immediately after the issuance of the order.

        Ta-Khi-Laek, or Tachilek as it is pronounced by the Burmans, is a twin border town with the Thai town of Mae Sai. People from both sides cross the border on a daily basis to either engage in cross-border trade or simply visit the other town as tourists.

        Food sellers in Ta-Khi-Laek could not understand the behaviour of the SPDC authorities because Thai language was used simply to attract visiting Thai customers to their shops, because Thai usually did not read Burmese and many did not read English.

        Since the omission of the Thai language, they lost many Thai customers and their food sales had declined, said the traders. Not like the other side where Burmese language, and many other languages for that matter, was freely used to attract non-Thai-speaking Burmese customers, they complained.

        Some people said it was strange that, although the SPDC authorities had given no reasons for the ban, it took place just after people in Thailand celebrated the 60th anniversary of their King’s accession to the throne.

PEOPLE FORCED TO HIRE REPRESENTATIVES TO ATTEND BASIC BURMESE LITERACY TRAINING IN KAENG-TUNG
        In mid 2006, SPDC authorities launched a one-month basic Burmese literacy campaign in Kaeng-Tung town, requiring 8 persons from each of the 5 town quarters to attend a one-hour session every night, from 20:00 to 21:00 hrs.
        Community leaders were required to select 8 persons in their respective quarters to attend the training course. However, most illiterate people needed to work to earn their living on a daily basis and could not attend the sessions every night for one whole month.

        The authorities told the community leaders that the number of attenders must not be less than 8 every night and if anyone could not attend, someone needed to be forced or hired to fill up their places so that it could be recorded as full attendance.

        Not wanting to force their fellow townspeople, the community leaders collected money and hired people when necessary to make sure that exactly 8 persons from their quarters attended the literacy session each night, at the rate of 300 kyat per person per night.

        At the end, as it turned out, virtually not a single person had completed the whole one-month course since people hired to attend were not the same every night, and many seemed to have learned nothing much.

        However, for the organizers, i.e. the SPDC authorities, the campaign was a success since full attendance could be recorded for the whole one-month course. That would also help the authorities in boasting that their country had a high literacy rate, and it did not matter whether people had really learned to read and write.

MASS EXTORTION OF LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY IN NORTHERN SHAN STATE
        In July and August 2006, large amounts of money were extorted from several townships in northern Shan State by the SPDC authorities to contribute to the building of the new capital, “Naypyitaw”, under construction near Pyinmana in central Burma.

        The order was said to have come from the highest military authority from Naypyitaw to the commander of Northeastern Regional Military Command based in La-Sio (or Lashio), and the extortion was carried out by the township-based military battalions under his command on his order.

        Around the end of July 2006, money had been extorted from Mu-Se and Nam-Kham townships in northern Shan State, and Man-Maw township in southern Kachin State. The amounts of money extorted from those townships were as follows:
1. Mu-Se township = 550 millions kyat
2. Nam-Kham township = 275 millions kyat
3. Man-Maw township (Kachin State) = 500 millions kyat
        The money was said to have been collected from every household in the townships; even government civil servants were not spared. But the amounts of money which each household had to provide were not available at the time of this report.

        Although it was learned that several other townships, including Kot-Khai, in northern Shan State had also been forced to contribute money in the same way, the amounts extorted were not yet known at the time this report was received in early September.

GAMBLING PERMITTED, MONEY EXTORTED, IN MURNG-TON
        Since early 2006, several types of gambling were permitted at Naa Kawng Mu village by the SPDC troops in Murng-Ton township, provided the organizers paid certain taxes to the concerned authorities.

        In early February 2006, the commander of the SPDC Tactical Command based in Murng-Ton, Myo Myint Win, ordered a community leader to call professional gamblers who wanted to practise their trade to a meeting at the leader’s house at Naa Kawng Mu village in Naa Kawng Mu village tract, Murng-Ton township.

        At the meeting, the SPDC commander told the gamblers that they would be allowed to engage in 3 types of gambling if they agreed to pay certain amounts of taxes to the authorities on a monthly basis. Those who failed to pay the taxes regularly would be banned, or even arrested, he said.

        Since then the following 3 types of gambling were permitted and taxes collected in Naa Kawng Mu:
1. 36-creatures lottery (based on choice of one of 36 creatures), paid 100,000 kyat in tax per month.
2. 3-digit lottery (according to the last 3 digits of the first prize winning number of the government lottery in Thailand), 2 times per month, paid 100,000 kyat in tax per month.
3. Card games and dominoes, including Chinese and western types, paid 150,000 kyat per month.

        Other types of gambling like 4-creatures top (game played with a top with 4 animals on 4 sides), tumbling blocks and different types of roulette, etc., were not allowed because, it was said, they made so much noise and were very difficult to keep under secrecy, and the news could spread far and near very quickly and create unwelcome problems.

        Out of the total tax money collected each month, 200,000 kyat went to the SPDC commander who had 2 battalions under his command, IB65 and LIB360. The rest, 150,000 kyat, was shared among the Lahu people’s militia led by Zapikoi; the people’s militia force of Naa Kawng Mu; and also the SPDC police force stationed at Naa Kawng Mu.

FORCIBLE USE OF RICE PADDY BEFORE HARVEST WAS COMPLETE, IN KAENG-TUNG
        In October 2006, 4 acres of a villager’s rice paddy, which was not yet finished harvesting, was forcibly taken by the SPDC police to grow their own dry season rice, at Wan Huay village in Kaad Pha village tract, Kaeng-Tung township.

        On 6 October 2006, members of the police force in Kaeng-Tung township came to Wan Huay village and chose a 4-acre plot of rice field for growing their own rice crop. The rice paddy belonged to a farmer who had just reaped his rice plants, which were piled up in heaps in the field and had not yet been threshed.

        The police informed the farmer of their intention and on the same day brought in 2 ploughing machines, let water into the field and started to till the land. As the water begin to ruin the lower parts of his piles of rice plants, the farmer pleaded with the police to stop and wait until he finished threshing his crop.

        The police, however, did not stop, but said the land did not belong to the farmer but the government and they, as government officials, could choose anywhere they like. They then brought in a threshing machine and threshed the rice, saying they could not wait for the farmer to did it himself, which would be by hand and take much longer.

        After threshing the rice, the police charged the farmers 300 kyat of threshing fees for each sack of rice grain. The farmer had no choice, but to pay the fees and be grateful that he did not lose all his rice.

        The farmer said that previously each year he used to get about 40 piles of rice plants which usually produced about 15 sacks of grain each after threshing, which was enough for him to make a decent living. This year, he said, he was in trouble, as he got much less and also had to pay high fees for the threshing.

FARMERS STILL FORCED TO SELL THEIR RICE BELOW MARKET PRICE IN KAENG-TUNG
        In mid 2006, during the usual rice buying season, a team of traders was permitted by the SPDC authorities of the Triangle Regional Command to force farmers to sell rice to them at low prices on condition that they shared some profits with the authorities, in Kaeng-Tung township.

        The traders forced the farmers to sell them at the rate of 100 kyat per kilogram of rice while the market price was 160 kyat. The rice was then transported to Murng Laa near the Chinese border where a kilo could fetch 3 yuan of Chinese money, and 1 yuan could be changed into 150 kyat.

        That meant the traders made 350 kyat of profits on each kilogram of rice traded, of which 100 kyat was to be given to the SPDC authorities. The traders transported rice to Murng Laa several times a month and several 10-wheeler truckloads of rice each time.

        However, being traders as they were, when they transported 9-10 truckloads of rice, they would inform the authorities that it was only 1-2 truckloads, and thus made 2-way profits for themselves.

        The farmers were victimized by both the SPDC authorities and the traders. But the farmers dared not refuse to sell their rice because they were afraid of further abuses, as the traders used the name of the military command as a threat.

EXTORTION AND RESTRICTIONS ON TOURISTS AND PRIVATE HOTELS IN SHAN STATE
        Since around mid 2006, news has been coming out that tourists have been pressured to stay at government-run hotels, or those jointly run by government and private companies. It was said that the government had a plan to lure as many tourists as possible to their hotels in order to earn foreign currency.

        Tourists who had been lured to such hotels and did not want to stay were pressured to pay for at least one night’s stay, which was usually between 10 and 30 US dollars, before they could leave for some private hotels.

        Furthermore, every guest staying at private hotels was required to be registered with the SPDC authorities in their respective areas and pay 200 kyat as registration fees. That had to be done every night even if the guests were the same persons staying many nights.

        This requirement was seen as a plot by the authorities to discourage guests from staying at private hotels and go to government-run hotels where it was not necessary to do so. Owners of private hotels usually paid for the registration in order to lessen their guests’ troubles.

EXTORTION IN KUN-HING
        In June 2006, SPDC commander of IB296, Maj. Aung Nayya, extorted 60 viss of pork from the villagers of Naa Ke and Nam Wawt villages, in Kun-Hing township. (1 viss is roughly equal to 1.6 kg)

        On 24 June 2006, commander Aung Nayya summoned the leaders of Naa Ke and Nam Wawt villages to the camp of IB296 and ordered them to provide 60 viss of pork for the military, and the village leaders returned to tell their villagers.

        On learning that it would cost the villagers about 240,000 kyat to get the required amount of pork, which the villagers could hardly afford, the leaders went back to the military camp and pleaded with the authorities to reduce the amount to lessen the unbearable burden of the villagers.

        The SPDC authorities, however, said that they could not reduce the amount of the pork required, but gave the villagers 40,000 kyat of money and ordered them to get and bring the pork to the military camp, adding that it was their final order.

        The villagers could say no more, but had to return to their villages and collect 200,000 kyat more money among themselves to make up the amount needed to buy the pork, and send it to the military camp as soon as possible.