EFFECTS ON ORIGINAL INHABITANTS IN THE SOUTH

Local people in the villages near which the Wa were resettled soon began to suffer from the presence of their new neighbours.

“The Wa came and took all the fruit and vegetables planted by the local people without asking any permission. If the owners politely asked them not to, they answered back rudely, and gestured that they would cut off their heads. The villagers’ wives and children became scared even going out to work in their fields and gardens. Their pigs, chickens and dogs were stolen by the Wa. Cattle and buffalo also disappeared. No one could complain about these thefts since the Wa were armed.” (LNDO Interview #4)

Not only crops and animals were seized by the Wa, but also people’s farming lands and houses. In Mong Hsat, even Burmese army veterans’ quarters, about 230 houses, were confiscated.

“Northern Wa leader Wei Hsiao Kang, bought over 5,000 acres of the best land around Mong Hsat from the SPDC. This was land which Shan, Lahu, Akha and Palaung had been cultivating for generations, growing rice, oranges, tea, garlic, chillies, sugar cane. The forests, wildlife area, spirit houses, nothing was spared. Whatever the Wa from the north wanted, they were given.” (LNDO Interview #3)

The local people were not able to protest to anyone about their losses.

“Not the tiniest bit of compensation was received by anyone. It was useless to complain to the SPDC authorities. And if anyone complained to the Wa authorities, they just said that they had bought everything from (SPDC Secretary-1, Lt. Gen.) Khin Nyunt. People had nowhere to turn to.” (LNDO Interview #3)

Some were even punished by the Wa for complaining about the loss of the lands:

“Anyone who complained was arrested (by the Wa) and put in “jail” (an underground pit). They were tied up with chains around their legs and then made to work in the fields for the Wa, with only one meal a day.” (LNDO Interview #5)

Another problem which local villagers described was the imposition of taxes by the Wa authorities, which they had to bear on top of taxes paid to the SPDC.

“The Wa took everything they wanted from us. They demanded taxes. Each family member had to give 250 baht (Thai money) to the Wa Army per year. If we couldn’t give this, we had to give one person to the Wa Army instead. They accepted children from the age of 7 upwards. Luckily I had enough chickens and other animals which I could sell off to give enought money. We also had to give a tax of 10 tins of rice per field to the Wa Army. This was as well as the rice we had to give to the Burmese Army.” (LNDO Interview #5)

As a result, in several areas the local villagers had no choice but to leave their homelands. Interviewees from various locations mentioned that most of the original villagers had abandoned their homes in the areas to which the Wa had been resettled.

“In this area (Murng Hsat), the indigenous Lahu, Shan and Akha are now being victimized by the Wa Army and the SPDC military. Money is extorted from them, and they have to bear other abuses. Most of them cannot bear the ill treatment by the Wa newcomers, and have been leaving. Few have remained behind.” (LNDO Interview #3)

“As a result (of the Wa resettlement), within a year, most of the original villagers had simply abandoned their farms and crops and moved elsewhere.” (LNDO Interview #6)

Villagers leaving their old homes were forbidden from carrying away most of their possessions by the Wa authorities:

“When I left the village I couldn’t take anything with me, except for a few blankets. I left behind one mother pig and 7 piglets, and 70 chickens. The Wa wouldn’t let me take anything else. By the time I left there were no Lahu left in our village at all. Everyone else had run away, and the Wa had moved into their old houses. Everyone scattered in different directions.” (LNDO Interview #5)

Although the reports of ill-treatment by the Wa of the local villagers are consistent in most of the areas to which they were resettled, different conditions in each area, relating mainly to the area’s strategic importance, local population density and distance from the border, appear to have affected the extent to which local populations ended up fleeing elsewhere, and also where they moved to.

The following sections analyze briefly the different conditions in each of the areas to which the Wa were resettled in southern Shan State, and the specific effects on the local populations in each area.