SHRF MONTHLY REPORT - JULY 2007

SHRF  MONTHLY REPORT - JULY 2007

COMMENTARY
        To make sure that the constitution, currently in the process of being drafted in the on-and-off National Convention organized by the SPDC junta, wins enough votes of support in a referendum to be held sometime in the future, the junta has been making various kinds of preparations, including the replacing of community leaders and forcing them to join the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a group formed under the supervision of the SPDC.
        Since the beginning of this year, SHRF has been receiving news about replacement of community leaders, including town quarter, village tract and village headmen, by the SPDC authorities from several townships in Shan State. Many community leaders have been replaced by new ones, chosen and appointed by the SPDC authorities to meet their own needs rather than those of the communities the leaders were supposed to represent.
        In some places, in Kaeng-Tung township for instance, the new community leaders were even forcibly registered as members of the USDA soon after their appointment without being first asked for their consent. Being members of the USDA means that they are automatically obliged to follow orders from the USDA authorities and by extension from the SPDC, because USDA takes its orders from SPDC. (see following  third story)
        This is just one among many attempts by the SPDC authorities to ensure victory not only in the coming referendum but also in the following general election after the constitution has been approved by a majority vote, which is to be gained by coercing people through the community leaders to vote in favour of it.
        This month’s issue also contains many gross human rights violations such as killing, rape, etc..

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WOMAN RAPED AND KILLED, VILLAGERS TAKEN PORTERS, MONEY EXTORTED, IN LAI-KHA
        In early 2007, villagers of Wan Saang village in Wan Saang village tract, Lai-Kha township, were taken as porters and money was extorted for their release, and a woman was raped and killed, by SPDC troops from IB99.
        On 5 February 2007, a patrol of about 75 SPDC troops from Larng-Khur-based IB99, led by commander Sein Aung, came to patrol the area of Wan Saang village tract in Lai-Kha township and arrested 20 villagers they found working at farms along the way.
        The SPDC troops said that it was farmers like them that were providing Shan soldiers with rice and other food stuff, and forced the villagers to serve as porters and go with the patrol. On the same day, at one point, the SPDC troops found a woman on the way and also took her with them.
        Naang Zing, aged 37, was from Wan Saang village and she was returning from buying 3 viss of pork at a neighbouring village, Wo Long, when she ran into the said patrol of SPDC troops on the way outside her village. The troops accused her of being the wife of a Shan soldier and forced her to go with them.
        For 2 days and 2 nights, the villagers were forced to go with the SPDC patrol as they searched the area of Wan Saang village tract. The villagers were forced to carry all sorts of things during the day and stopped for rest during the night.
        Naang Zing, however, could not rest because she was raped all night every night by several SPDC troops taking turns one after another. The troops who raped her were mostly low ranking officers like lieutenants and sergeants, etc..
        After 2 days and 2 nights, the SPDC troops prepared to release the villagers and extorted money from them, sending some of them back to their village to get the money. Since all the villagers were from the same village, Wan Saang, it did not take very long for them to bring back the money. After receiving 500,000 kyat of money from them the troops released only the 20 villagers, but not Naang Zing.
        As they continued their patrol towards Kho Lam village tract in Nam-Zarng township, the SPDC troops took Naang Zing along with them. When they got near Paang Nim village in Kho Lam village tract, Nam-Zarng township, the troops shot dead Naang Zing at a deserted farm in a ravine and continued to Kho Lam.

ARREST, DETENTION AND FORCED DISROBING OF THAI MONK, IN KAENG-TUNG
        In early 2007, a visiting Thai Buddhist monk and his host, at whose house he was staying, were arrested at Yaang Mon village in Murng Lang village tract, Kaeng-Tung township, and detained by the SPDC authorities, and the monk was also forced to disrobe.
        On the evening of 25 January 2007, a combined force of SPDC police, immigration, drugs enforcement and SP.2 (No. 2 Special Police) came to Yaang Mon village by 3 cars and searched the houses for illegal possessions and unregistered guests.
        At one point, the SPDC authorities found a monk who was staying overnight at a house and arrested him together with the owner of the house, Zaai Bi. The monk was arrested on accusation of overstaying his visa, and his host for receiving a foreign guest at his house.
        The monk, aged about 23 (name unknown), who was from Chiang Mai city in Thailand, was visiting his disciples in Kaeng-Tung township, who he had in the past visited several times, and was spending a night at the house of one of them when he was arrested.
        Every time he visited Kaeng-Tung, the monk first checked in at one of the hotels run by members of the SPDC or their cohorts before going to visit his disciples because foreigners were expected to spend their money at such hotels, and they could be harassed in many ways if they did not. He had also done that this time.
        The monk was first taken to an ethnic Burman monk at Kung Sa monastery where he was forced to disrobe before he was taken to be locked up in jail. The house owner was not only accused of receiving a foreigner but also of using his young daughter to lure a foreigner to his house, and put in jail.
        Although hundreds of thousands of kyat of money has already been extorted from the house owner for his release several times, he is still in jail up to the time of this report. The monk is also still being detained, despite the fact that his followers, both in Kaeng-Tung and Thailand, have been trying to secure his release.

MORE RESTRICTIONS AND DUTIES FOR NEW COMMUNITY LEADERS, IN KAENG-TUNG
        Since the beginning of 2007, community leaders in Kaeng-Tung township have been replaced by newly appointed ones in all the town quarters, rural villages and village tracts, under the supervision of township SPDC authorities.
        New rules on requisites for becoming community leaders were set and new leaders were chosen and appointed to replace the old ones who did not meet the requisites earlier this year. Eighth standard minimum education was needed and the age had to be between 25 and 50 years for anyone who would become a headman.
        After being appointed headmen, their names were registered by the authorities, without being asked for their consent, and they automatically became members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a group formed and sponsored by the SPDC to do their work.
        The new community leaders were also admonished that as headmen they had now become government servants and needed to do as required by the government (the military junta). They should not defy orders and should not engage in any traitorous activities, they were told.
        Since then headmen of village tracts and town quarters have been required to report to the SPDC township office in Kaeng-Tung town every Monday of each week and stay at the office the whole day to take orders from the SPDC authorities as to what needed to be done during the week.
        For the rest of the week, apart from having to do as had been instructed on Monday, the headmen have been required to send their subordinates, such as village headmen and sub-quarter headmen, etc., to join members of police, military and people’s militia in searching houses for unregistered guests every night.
        The headmen also need to call meetings of their subordinates every Sunday at their respective offices to discuss matters that have transpired over the week and prepare reports to be submitted to the authorities at the SPDC township office on the coming Monday.
        This is still going on up to the present and to ensure that headmen do as required by the SPDC authorities, many former Burmese junta’s soldiers have been placed as clerks and secretaries at most of the village tract offices.

BULLYING AND EXTORTION IN MURNG-YARNG
        During the early months of 2007, an SPDC police officer from Murng-Yarng police station bullied and extorted money from several townspeople, including a respected monk, in Murng-Yarng town, Murng-Yarng township.
        The said police officer, known as Soe Than to the locals, was notoriously fond of drinking and gambling, and when he lost at gambling he used to extort money from the townspeople using threats and intimidation.
        The following were just 3 instances that took place in a single town quarter, known as Market Quarter, which the victims dared to relate, among numerous incidents of extortion by the said police officer Soe Than over the years:
        On 28 February 2007, after losing in gambling somewhere in the town, Soe Than came to the house of a community leader, Zaai Si-Ha, and accused him of letting people in his quarter gamble in cockfighting without permission from the authorities, and forced him to pay a fine of 40,000 kyat.
        Although Zaai Si-Ha denied the accusation and told him that there has not been a single cockfight in his quarter for quite some time, Soe Than was not satisfied and kept demanding the fine and threatening Zaai Si-Ha with one thing after another.
        As Soe Than refused to leave his house without the money and kept harassing him, Zaai Si-Ha finally gave the money because he could not bear the harassment any longer and did not want to have any problem with a police officer which could mean further abuses in the future.
        On 3 March 2007, Soe Than went to a Buddhist monastery, Wat Mawn Ke, in the same quarter after losing in gambling somewhere and forcibly borrowed money from a monk. Soe Than told the monk he wanted to borrow 40,000 kyat of money, saying it was very urgent and he would repay it as soon as possible.
        Knowing very well that few Burmese military and police officials ever paid their debts, the monk said he did not have any money to lend him. But Soe Than kept asking for it and refused to leave the monastery without the money, insisting that he would repay it as soon as possible.
        Finally, unable to bear the harassment, the monk had to call the caretakers of the monastery and ask for their help, and they let Soe Than borrow the money from the monastery’s funds in order to avoid having problems with a police officer, although they did not think he would repay it.
        On 21 March 2007, Soe Than stopped a man, Zaai Kham, who was riding a motorcycle without wearing a safety helmet, in the centre of Murng-Yaang town and slapped him 3 times in the face, and forced him to pay a fine of 25,000 kyat for not wearing a helmet.
        Although Zaai Kham knew that the fine was too heavy for his offence and tried to persuade Soe Than to reduce the fine to a reasonable amount, the police officer said he might even have to pay more if he kept arguing and wasting his time.
        As Soe Than showed signs of becoming brutal again, Zaai Kham agreed to pay the fine as demanded to avoid further abuses, as he had already been slapped 3 times and did not want any more.

VILLAGERS FORCED TO EXPAND PHYSIC NUT PLANTATIONS, IN KAENG-TUNG
        During February-March 2007, villagers in Murng Zaem village tract in Kaeng-Tung township were scolded and money extorted from them by the SPDC authorities for not properly taking care of physic nut plantations, and they were forced to grow more physic nut plants as additional punishment.
        In February 2007, the SPDC commander of the Golden Triangle Special Regional Command, Myint Aung Hlaing, came to Murng Zaem village tract to inspect the physic nut plantations which the villagers were required to cultivate in the area.
        Murng Zaem village tract was about 7 miles south of Kaeng-Tung town, and there were about 12-13 villages situated along the Kaeng-Tung - Ta-Khi-Laek main road where commander Myint Aung Hlaing inspected and found many plantations in a poor state.
        The commander was angry with what he saw and issued an order requiring all the village leaders of the said villages to go to the base of the Special Regional Command the next day to attend a meeting, and immediately returned to Kaeng-Tung.
        At the meeting, the village leaders were scolded by the commander. They were accused of being unwilling to work for the development of the country by neglecting their duties to properly look after the physic nut plantations which were government projects, and ordered to pay a fine of 450,000 kyat altogether.
        Besides having to pay a fine and to improve the condition of the existing physic nut plantations, the villagers were required to grow physic nut plants in all the remaining plains and mountain slopes in the area as additional punishment.

MONEY EXTORTED FROM NEW HOUSE OWNERS IN LARNG-KHUR
        In February 2007, money was extorted from people who had built new houses in Larng-Khur town during the period of 4-5 years since 2002, by the SPDC authorities of LIB525 in Larng-Khur township.
        At the meeting of community leaders and the SPDC authorities, which was called by the latter at the SPDC township office, the community leaders were told that people who had built new houses, known as Japanese-style houses because they were built after a Japanese model, were required to pay a tax of 150,000 kyat each.
        All the houses built since 2002 up to the present were required to pay the tax. Those houses were mostly built by displaced villagers who had come to Larng-Khur town from surrounding rural areas after the mass forced relocations carried out by the Burmese troops in 1997-98.
        There were about 130 such houses in the following 5 town quarters: Paang Sanawng, Paang Wawng, Paang Hung, Ho Kho and Wan Long. Some displaced villagers had managed to resettle themselves in these town quarters and a lucky few were able to build small decent houses for themselves.
        It had been long difficult years before these displaced villagers were able to resettle themselves and save up enough to build such houses, all alone with no help from the authorities whatsoever except for all sorts of burdens imposed on them by the authorities.
        The villagers, however, had no choice but to find the money somehow and pay the tax as soon as possible, or risk facing even harsher abuses, explained one of the new settlers who had not yet been able to build a house for himself.

VILLAGERS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, FORCED TO PAY TAXES, IN NAM-ZARNG
        Since the beginning of 2007, Shan and Pa-O villagers of Loi Yai village tract, Nam-Zarng township, have been forced to pay taxes every month while ethnic Burman and Indian (Burmese citizens of India descent) are spared by SPDC-appointed community leaders.
        There are roughly 4 ethnically different communities in Loi Yai village tract: Burman, Indian, Shan and Pa-O. The Burman community are relatively new settlers and mainly consist of former Burmese soldiers and their families.
        Since the end of last year, every month someone among the former Burmese soldiers has been chosen and appointed by the SPDC authorities to serve as the headman of Loi Yai village tract. Each new headman would then collect taxes from the Shan and Pa-O communities while sparing the Burman and Indian communities.
        The reasons for collecting taxes differed from one headman to another but usually was one of the following reasons: fire-watch fees, fire-fighter fees and road-sentry fees, etc.. The total amounts of the taxes were not less than 50,000 kyat each of the last 5-6 months.
        What has been most unsatisfactory for those who have to pay the taxes is the discrimination practised against them by the Burman headmen. While they had to pay taxes that were meant to be used for the whole village tract, the Burman community that comprised more than half of the village tract’s population did not have to contribute anything, they said.

MONEY EXTORTED FROM VILLAGERS FOR CATCHING THIEVES, IN KAENG-TUNG
        In January 2007, money was extorted from villagers of Loi Zaet Murng village for catching and beating 2 SPDC soldiers from LIB529 who had stolen chickens in their village, in Kaeng-Tung township.
        One evening in January 2007, 2 SPDC soldiers from LIB529 came into Loi Zaet Murng village and stole 12 chickens from a house and as they were leaving were seen by some villagers. The villagers alerted the other villagers and chased after the thieves and caught up with them.
        As they seized the 2 thieves, some of the villagers kicked and punched them before they knew that they were SPDC soldiers. But as soon as they knew the thieves were SPDC soldiers from LIB529, the villagers stopped hitting them and took them to LIB529’s base and handed them to the authorities there.
        As soon as they saw the 2 soldiers, the officials in charge told the villagers to take them to the hospital immediately and said that as the 2 soldiers had to be hospitalized because of them, the villagers would have to pay for the costs of their medical treatment.
        The villagers were told to provide 30,000 kyat of money, 15,000 kyat for each patient, and were to hand it to the military authorities on the next day. The villagers had no choice but to do as they were told for fear of further abuses.
        The villagers later learned that the medical treatments for the 2 soldiers cost only 7,000 kyat altogether and they were released from the hospital after a few days because they had not suffered serious injuries, and were locked up for 7 days at the military base as punishment for their offence.

MONEY EXTORTED FOR THE JUNTA-ORGANIZED WOMEN’S GROUP IN KAENG-TUNG
        In early February 2007, people in Kaeng-Tung township were forced to buy food coupons that entitled them to free food at the celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the Union Day that was held on 12 February 2007.
        The selling of the coupons was to raised funds for the Myanmar Women Affairs’ Federation, a group organized under the supervision of the SPDC, who would provide free food for those who had bought the coupons at the Union Day celebration.
        However, the coupons were not just sold to those who wanted to buy them, but were given to the community leaders with the instruction to sell them to the people in their respective areas. The community leaders were required to sell all of the coupons allotted to them without fail although they were supposed to be just helping the women’s group.
        Each of the 5 town quarters was required to buy at least 15 coupons and each of the 10 village tracts in the township was to buy not less than 70. The coupons had 2 prices: 1,000 kyat and 500 kyat each. The community leaders had to in turn forcibly sell them to the people in their areas.
        What had made many people angry and complain about it most was that when they went to the Union Day celebration, those with the 1,000-kyat coupons were served only one dish of Burmese noodles each and those with the 500-kyat coupons only got 3 pieces of Burmese cookies, and that was just for the few who arrived early.
        Those who arrived at the celebration relatively late found their coupons completely useless. It was not difficult to notice the feelings of those people who had expected to enjoy a full meal at the celebration, to which they had also been forced to come, and had to attend it with empty stomachs, explained a villager who had had the same experience.

A VILLAGE TRADER ROBBED OF HIS MONEY IN MURNG-KERNG
        In February 2007, a trader from Wan Phui in Wan Phui village tract, Murng-Kerng township, was robbed of his money by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB99 on his way to buy goods in the town.
        On 23 February 2007, Yan-Na, male, aged 40, who had a shop-house selling consumer goods in Wan Phui village, went to Murng-Kerng town market on a motorcycle to buy some goods for his shop. On the way he ran into a patrol of SPDC troops from Larng-Khur-based IB99 who were patrolling the area.
        Yan-Na was stopped by the SPDC troops and searched, and when 500,000 kyat of money was found, questions about who he was, where he was going and for what, etc., were asked. Yan-Na explained that he was a trader and was going to buy goods in the town to sell at his shop in his village.
        But the SPDC troops said that they suspected Yan-Na was going to buy goods for the Shan soldiers that were active in the area and took all his money, saying that it might as well be Shan soldiers’ money, and told him to continue his journey to the town.
        Yan-Na then drove his motorcycle away from the SPDC soldiers as soon as possible before they changed their mind and further abused him. Although he lost 500,000 kyat of his hard earned money to the SPDC soldiers, Yan-Na could do nothing about it. He did not believe complaining about it would bring back his money, but only more abuses.