SHRF MONTHLY REPORT - NOVEMBER 2007

COMMENTARY
Self-Reliance On Extortion
        Since the initiation of a self-reliance policy over a decade ago by the Burmese military junta that requires army battalions in Shan State to generate their own income to help support their troops with basic necessities, extortion from the local people by the junta’s troops has become increasingly rampant to the extent that it is now one of the main factors that have been putting people under the poverty line.
        Even before that, the junta’s troops had already been stealing and extorting from the local people since their first arrival in Shan State in the late 1950s. As the numbers of the Burmese troops increased in the later years, so did the amount and frequency of the stealing and extortion, even though at the time the army was fully supported by the successive military regimes, and  troops were not supposed to engage in any type of income generating activities .
        But after the introduction of the policy,  the junta’s troops have been free to engage in businesses to make extra income for their battalions, and themselves, and it has been like letting loose a hungry herd of cattle into a field where there are some other grass and green rice paddies.
        The cattle, naturally, feed on the green rice plants before anything else, because they are the most delicious and easiest to lay their mouths on. Likewise, the junta’s troops, who have not been trained in anything else except to beat, shoot and kill, simply turn to the people who are like green rice paddies, the easiest source of income for those who have no conscience and enjoy impunity in whatever they do.

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RANDOM KILLINGS IN TA-KHI-LAEK
        In early 2007, SPDC troops from LIB526 shot at a group of 4 villagers, killing 2 of them, without any apparent reason at the bank of Mae Sai stream that forms a section of the Shan-Thai border in Ta-Khi-Laek township.
        The 4 villagers were from different townships who had come to work in Ta-Khi-Laek and got to know each other while trying to find work. As they could not earn enough in Ta-Khi-Laek, they decided to go to work in Thailand where wages were said to be higher.
        The 4 villagers were:
1. Nan-Ti-Ya (m), aged 35, from Kun-Hing township
2. Naan In Keo (m), aged 27, from Kaeng-Tung township
3. Num Seng (m) (not his real name), from Murng-Nai
4. Seng Keo (m) (not his real name), from Kaeng-Tung township
        In the afternoon of 9 April 2007, the villagers together went to one of the crossing points called Huay Lin Lam on Mae Sai stream to cross over to the Thai town of Mae Sai. But as they were preparing to cross the stream, a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB526 came along and shot at them, without saying anything.
        The villagers ran for their lives, and 2 of them fortunately managed to cross the stream and escape to the Thai side of the border. The other 2 villagers, however, were hit by the SPDC troops’ bullets and died on the bank of Mae Sai stream on the Shan side of the border.
        The 2 villagers that were shot dead were Nan-Ti-Ya from Kun-Hing and Naan In Keo from Kaeng-Tung. Although the 2 surviving villagers were able to relate about the plight of their friends and the brutality of the SPDC troops, they said they could do nothing about it and were too frightened to return.

GANG-RAPE IN MURNG-PAENG
        In June 2007, a Lahu woman was gang-raped by more than 10 SPDC troops from LIB360 in the forest between Wan Zaan village and Ho Naa village in Hawng Kaang Za village tract, Murng-Paeng township.
        Sometime in mid-June 2007, Na Mi Zo (not her real name), aged 18, and her brother, A Si, aged 11, were returning from gathering bamboo shoots when they ran into a patrol of more than 10 SPDC troops from LIB360 on the way between Wan Zaan village and their village, Ho Naa.
        The SPDC troops ordered the villagers to stop and, after asking a few questions, at the wink of an eye from their commander, 2 of the soldiers seized Na Mi Zo by her arms and forced her to bend forward standing, while 2 other soldiers sized and held A Si.
        As Na Mi Zo was held standing by 2 soldiers, another soldier came in and pulled off her clothes and forced her to bend forward and, pulling his own trousers down to his knees, raped her from behind. The SPDC troops took turns to hold her and raped her one after another in that standing position for a long time.
        During her long ordeal, Na Mi Zo fainted several times and lost count of her rapists, but she believed that she had been raped by all the SPDC soldiers, more than 10, in the patrol. Her brother, A Si, was crying most of the time as he saw soldiers replacing one another behind his sister and did not count how many.
        However, the villagers knew the unit of the troops and clearly heard one of them, the commander, being called ‘Kyi Aung’ by the other soldiers several times. Before they left, the SPDC troops warned the villagers not to tell anyone about the incident, threatening to come back and kill them if they did.
        Although it was quite painful, Na Mi Zo managed to walk slowly back to her village with her brother. But they could not carry home the bamboo shoots they had dug and collected and had to abandon them in the forest.
        When their father learned from A Si what had happened to Na Mi Zo, he went to the village headman and complained about it. But the headman said they could do nothing about it, because filing a complaint with the military authorities would only bring more harm to them.

BEATING, FORCED PORTERING AND EXTORTION IN KAE-SEE
        In April 2007, a patrol of SPDC troops from IB131 beat up the headman and conscripted porters at Paang Khaai Long village, and extorted a large amount of money from Khok Saang village, in Khok Saang village tract, Kae-See township.
        On 5 April 2007, a patrol of about 45 Kae-See-based SPDC troops came to Paang Khaai Long village and asked to see the village headman. But the headman was not in the village at the time as he had gone to tend his farm outside the village.
        After a while the headman returned, but before he reached his house he was stopped by the SPDC troops and taken to their commander. The commander suspected the headman had gone to see the Shan soldiers in the area and interrogated him.
        When the headman kept saying that he had only gone to tend his farm, the SPDC troops tortured him, beating him with a stick several times on his back and thighs and kicking him in the chest. The SPDC troops then conscripted 4 more villagers to serve as guides and porters, together with the headman, and continued their patrol.
        The SPDC patrol stopped when they got to Khok Saang village and spent one night in the village, during which 300,000 kyat of money was extorted from the villagers as a fine for secretly growing opium at remote places in the area.
        As for the villagers of Paang Khaai Long that had been taken as guides and porters, they were released only after 2 days of patrolling when the SPDC troops got back to their base near Kae-See town.

SEVERE BEATING IN NAM-ZARNG
        In April 2007, a villager of Naa Aw village in Loi Yai village tract was severely beaten up by SPDC troops from IB12, causing him to lose consciousness, while he was grazing his cattle outside his village, in Nam-Zarng township.
        On 26 April 2007, a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops from IB12, based in Loi-Lem township, came to Naa Aw village in Loi Yai village tract in Nam-Zarng township, spent the night in the village and left at about 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
        As they left the village, the SPDC troops saw a man who was herding his cattle and they asked him where he was going. The man said he was going to graze his cattle in the meadow outside the village, but the troops did not believe him and stopped to interrogate him.
        But they could only partially understand each other because the man could speak very little Burmese and the troops knew no Shan. Finally the SPDC troops accused the man of taking his cattle with the intention to give them to the Shan soldiers.
        One of the troops then dashed in and kicked the man in the stomach harshly 2 times and severely struck the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground and instantly lose consciousness. When he regained consciousness, the SPDC troops had already left the place.
        The victim, Zaai Awng, male, aged 23, was a villager of Naa Aw village and he was severely beaten up while grazing his cattle. Although he could not speak Burmese well, he could understand what the SPDC troops were accusing him of when they beat him.
        Zaai Awng and his parents later went to report the incident to the village tract headman and ask for help and advice. The headman, however, said that there was nothing they could do about it except consoling themselves that the SPDC troops were only teaching them to be good.

REPEATED FORCED RELOCATIONS IN MURNG-KERNG
        During the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, several villages in Yaang Loi village tract, in Murng-Kerng township, have been forced to move again for a second time by SPDC troops of LIB514.
        The said villages had once been forcibly relocated in 1998 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops and a few years later some of them were permitted to return, and some 40% of them had since then resettled in their original villages, that was, until they were forced out again this time.
        The order for the relocation came out on 8 December 2006, which said the movements had to be completed within that same month and the whole village would be burned down if any village failed to comply with the order in time.
        Many villagers had not been able to finish harvesting their crops and had to abandon them in order to be able to move out in time, taking what they could with them. The known villages affected by the forced relocations were as follows:
1. Kun Pan, a Shan village, more than 50 households;
2. Nam Neb, a Shan village, more than 40 households;
3. Yaang Loi, a Shan village, more than 60 households;
4. Loi Saai, a Palawng village, more than 30 households;
5. Loi Mi, a Palawng village, about 25 households;
6. Haai Ngern, a Palawng village, about 17 households.
        The villagers have since earlier this year scattered to different places. While some of them have gone to live with their relatives in Murng-Kerng town, many of them have been trying to eke out a living at other villages in the township, and many have gone to the Shan-Thai border areas and to Thailand.

STEALING OF LIVESTOCK AND EXTORTION IN KAE-SEE
        In July 2007, a water buffalo, used in ploughing rice fields, belonging to a farmer of Naa Kawng village in Murng Nawng village tract, Kae-See township, was stolen by SPDC troops from IB287 who threatened to harm the owner when he came and saw them cutting the meat.
        On the day of the incident, Lung Ti (m), aged 46, of Naa Kawng village let his buffalo graze in a ravine near his rice field during the midday break after using it to plough the field. As a rule, farmers used their buffalos to plough their fields only in the morning and in the late afternoon, because midday sun was usually too hot for water buffalos.
        But when it was time to start working again in the afternoon, Lung Ti could not find his buffalo where he had let it graze and he went in search of it in the surrounding areas, and suddenly ran into a group of 3 SPDC soldiers who were busy cutting up a carcass of a buffalo.
        After a few moments, the soldiers saw Lung Ti and one of them dashed to pick up his rifle which he had left leaning against a tree a few yards away, and Lung Ti turned and ran away as fast as he could without stopping, or even turning to look back, until he reached his rice field.
        Lung Ti then told another farmer who was working at a rice field nearby about it and in the evening together they went to secretly look at the place where he found the soldiers again. This time, there was no sign of the soldiers but only bits and pieces of the buffalo that were scattered around at the place.
        The SPDC soldiers had not taken the head of the buffalo away and Lung Ti recognized that it was his buffalo’s. To make it more certain, he carefully looked at one of the horns and found the marks he made on it, a cross sign.
        Apart from occasionally stealing villagers’ cattle, the SPDC troops of IB287 also often seized buffalos that were grazing in the forests and meadows in the area and forced the owners to pay fines for letting them loose if they wanted their buffalos back.
        Baby buffalos that were younger than 2 years were fined 5,000 kyat each, and a fine of up to 20,000 kyat was demanded by the SPDC troops for each adult buffalo. Buffalos whose owners could not afford to pay for were simply confiscated.
        For the SPDC troops, although this was just another way to procure meat and some extra money to help support themselves, for the local farmers it could mean great losses, including the loss of the means of livelihood, explained a farmer who has lost just that.

LAND CONFISCATION, EXTORTION CONCERNING CATTLE, IN KAENG-TUNG
        In June 2007, a rubber plantation owner, who was a crony of the SPDC troops, with the help of the police extorted money from several villagers, accusing them of letting their cattle destroy his rubber plants, in Kaad Pha village tract, Kaeng-Tung township.
        The rubber plantation’s owner was an ethnic Chinese named A-Sing who has been enjoying good relations with the SPDC authorities since the time Gen. Khin Nyunt was the head of the military intelligence. During that time, with the help of members of the military intelligence in Kaeng-Tung, he had managed to establish a rubber plantation in Kaad Pha village tract.
        A-Sing was able to set up the plantation by persuading the SPDC authorities to confiscate lands from the local people and sell them to him at very cheap prices. In this way, he managed to get 1,500 acres of land, which he turned into a rubber plantation, that had been confiscated partially from the villagers of not less than 5-6 villages in Kaad Pha village tract.
        Since the rubber plantation had no fence and no one staying to look after it, villagers’ cattle sometimes got into it and caused some damage to young rubber trees, and arguments broke out between the plantation owner and the local villagers.
        Although Gen. Khin Nyunt and his other cronies lost their jobs and status, no such things happened to A-Sing. He immediately became a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and continued to enjoy good relations with the successive SPDC authorities.
        In June this year, A-Sing accused several villagers of the villages surrounding his rubber plantation of deliberately letting their cattle into it and destroying his newly-planted rubber trees and demanded compensation from the villagers, using the police to enforce his demand.
        Forced by the police, the villagers had to comply. There were at least known 15 villagers of Nawng Hawng and Pa Khem villages that had to pay A-Sing 33,315 kyat each, altogether 499,725 kyat. Some villagers of other villages also had to pay, but the details about them were not known.

MONEY REGULARLY EXTORTED FROM HOTELIERS IN KAENG-TUNG
        For quite some time now, there has been news about money being regularly extorted by the authorities from hotels that are not run by members of the SPDC and/or their cronies, in Kaeng-Tung town, although hoteliers dare not reveal about it for fear of reprisal.
        At least one hotel in the centre of Kaeng-Tung town has to give certain amounts of money to the authorities based on the numbers of guests checked-in at the hotel on a daily basis. When this report was received, it was 50 baht for each guest who was not resident of Kaeng-Tung, while the hotel fee was 200 baht per person per night.
        From this hotel alone, the authorities were getting not less than 5,000 baht per night. This was just one of the many instances of extortion imposed on them by the authorities, said the hotelier. It was not easy to make a decent living even for a well-to-do hotelier like him, not to mention the majority of the people who were poor, he said.

ELECTRICITY METER BOXES USED AS BAIT FOR EXTORTION IN MURNG-TON
        During June and July 2007, the SPDC authorities in Murng-Ton township announced that they would distribute electricity meter boxes to people who wanted to use electricity from power plants that were to be built in Murng-Ton town area and Naa Kawng Mu village area.
        Murng-Ton townspeople would receive 400 meter boxes and Naa Kawng Mu villagers would get 200 boxes, said the authorities. To set up power plants in those 2 places, dams would also have to be built on the streams in their respective areas, they said.
        Because money was needed to build the dams and set up the power plants, those who wanted the meter boxes would have to pay for them in advance at the rate of 150,000 kyat per metre box, and the money would have to be handed over to the commander of LIB519, Lt. Col. Than Naing, no later than 10 June 2007, they said.
        Although people were doubtful about the plan as to whether it would really materialize, in their eagerness to get electricity, they collected money among those who could afford it and gave to the authorities money for all the 600 boxes within the given time frame.
        However, in July 2007, stating the need to build a place to house an electricity generator at Naa Kawng Mu village, the authorities demanded more money from the 200 households, who had already paid for the meter boxes, at the rate of 4,000 kyat per household.
        The villagers had no choice but to give the money or they could lose a chance to get electricity, and even if they decided not to take it any more, the money they had paid for the meter boxes would not be able to be withdrawn, explained a villager.

“INDIRECT” FORCED LABOUR AND EXTORTION IN KAENG-TUNG
        Apart from directly forcing people to work without pay and extorting money and things from the people, there are many actions committed by the SPDC authorities which do not seem to be forced labour and extortion, but actually are.
        The following are some examples:

        Since early 2007 up to the present, SPDC authorities in Kaeng-Tung township have been using unpaid forced labour of the village tract and town quarter headmen to serve the military as if they were their full-time servants.
        Although the authorities promised monthly salaries for the headmen when they appointed them in early 2007, they have not yet made good their promise up until the present. But the headmen have been forced to work immediately after their appointment almost full time, with very little time left for them to care for their own needs.
        The headmen not only have not received their salaries but have to use their own money to buy food and petrol for their motorcycles when they have to travel around working for the SPDC authorities. Because of this, many headmen are facing a lot of domestic problems, not being able to support their wives and children.
        Although some of them have tried to leave their jobs as headmen, the authorities have not allowed them to retire, but have continued to require them to provide their free labour as if they were receiving wages, saying it was the duty of headmen to serve higher authorities.
        Furthermore, whenever SPDC officials made inspection trips to the countryside, which were quite often, they usually sat at one of the food shops and talked to the headmen and community leaders in the respective area, while ordering and enjoying food and liquor from the shop.
        After such meetings, the SPDC officials would just leave without ever paying for the food and liquor, leaving it to be the sole responsibility of the headmen and community leaders, who in turn have to collect money from the villagers because they alone could not afford to pay. This type of extortion has long been known among the villagers as “official entertainment fees.”
        (This, coupled with many other types of extortion and forced labour, is a clear indicator of how most people in Shan State could not get much higher over the poverty line.)

        In July 2007, SPDC authorities in Kaeng-Tung township issued an order requiring owners of mini-trucks to install a certain type of roofing and seats in their cars if they wanted to transport passengers between Kaeng-Tung - Ta-Khi-Laek, Kaeng-Tung - Murng Laa and Kaeng-Tung - Tawng-Gi (Taunggyi).
        After all the unlicensed cars had been confiscated by the SPDC authorities, there were about 150 such trucks that had survived after obtaining licences by paying huge amounts of money to the authorities in the form of various types of taxes and bribes.
        Many of the owners could hardly afford to install the said roofing and seats because they were left virtually broke after paying the authorities just to retain their vehicles. The order further said that cars without such seats and roofing would not be allowed to take passengers, and if found doing so would be arrested and fined.
        Many such car owners had expected to be able to make a somewhat decent living by using their cars, which they had paid a lot to retain, to transport goods and people between Kaeng-Tung and other towns, but it was almost impossible under such circumstances, explained one of the owners.

        In July 2007, SPDC authorities in Kaeng-Tung township issued an order increasing the monthly fees for the public water supply in Kaeng-Tung town twofold.
        The fees were previously 3,000 kyat per month. But they would be 6,000 kyat per month during the period from July 2007 to July 2008, said the order.
        Many townspeople regarded this action by the authorities as being very unfair to the public, because very little water was actually supplied to the public on a monthly basis. “They give it to us only about 3 times a month, about every 9-10 days, and only about 30 minutes at a time,” they said.