On October 2nd, 2008, LIB No. 407 ordered every household in Thabyay Chaung village, Yebyu Township, to make a new set of monthly payments of 800 to 1,000 kyat. “The money is to support army families while soldiers are away on military operations,” said a thirty-year-old villager from the area.

Betel nut farmers about to enter the November harvest season will also be taxed by LIB No. 407, says Ko Soe, 45, a cattle trader from Thabyay Chaung. “I saw a group of soldiers from LIB No.407 come to the village to collect the names of betel nut plantation owners. They plan to tax betel nut harvest next month.” Ko Soe did not know how high the betel nut tax would be, but he said that farmers have had to pay the tax before: “During the harvest season last year, my uncle, who has a ten acre betel nut plantation, had to pay 50 kyat per viss.” Viss are a unit of measurement used in Burma, approximately equivalent to 1.5 kilograms.

Daw Thit, 50, a betel nut owner who lives near Thabyay Chaung, added that LIB No. 406 will also be taxing betel nut. “According to village Peace and Development Council officials, next month LIB No. 406 is going to tax betel nut more than last year, but I don’t know how much more. I am worried because I could barely make enough after the taxes last year.”

Officers say the betel nut taxes are to pay for repairs to the road connecting Thabyay Chaung to Thit-Toe-Dauk village. Residents, however, are skeptical about the actual use of the funds. “The village headmen said the money will pay for work on the Thabyay Chaung to Thit-Toe-Dauk road,” says Daw Thit. “They already made us pay for construction on that road in June and July. Every household had to pay 300 kyat. But we haven’t seen any improvements.”

“Both LIBs No. 406 and 407 have farms as part of the army’s ‘Self-Reliance Program,’ but it is never enough. They always make people provide them with cash, food and other goods,” added another source. On September 28th, the source added, each household in the village was also ordered to pay 500 kyat for the maintenance of LIB No. 407’s jatropha “physic nut” plantations.

The new taxes add onto existing taxation levied by the army, compounding difficulties villagers in Yebyu face. The worst is a paddy quota enforced in Yebyu by LIBs No. 406, 407 and 408. For the last seven years, every household in villages around the battalions’ headquarters has had to provide the army with three baskets of paddy rice. The paddy requirements strain villagers struggling to subsist, especially in years when rice crops are not bountiful. Even families that do not farm rice must supply the paddy, forcing them to purchase baskets, which each typically cost 5,000 kyat.

Burma’s junta maintains the second largest standing army in Southeast Asia. According to Sean Turnell, a Burma expert from Australia’s Macquarie University, the junta spends close to 40% of its annual budget on the military. This does not mean, however, battalions are outfitted sufficiently or soldiers given adequate salaries. Instead, the government encourages the military to be “self-reliant,” directing the armed forces to augment government funding as necessary. This often leads to human rights violations as an army that operates with virtually no oversight or culpability seeks food.

A variety of sources report that the rank and file of the Burmese army is increasingly unhappy with this situation. The Irrawaddy, for instance, recently published an article detailing rising numbers of desertions. In a recent extreme case, a soldier in LIB No. 707, in Taikgyi Township, Rangoon Division, assassinated an officer.

In 2006, a HURFOM reporter interviewed a soldier who had deserted from LIB No. 409, also based in Yebyu Township. The soldier complained of mistreatment by officers and a general lack of food and medical care. “A lot of commanders do not care about the soldiers. They just think about their own benefit and are not concerned about the lower ranks. There are many problems both in the families’ barracks and battalions.’ Mainly, the problems were related to soldiers’ income and lack of rations,” said the soldier, adding, “I was displeased and wanted to change my life. I knew there was no way to quit legitimately. The only way was to run away from the battalion.”

Timber stands in the Makate and Kyunchaung forests, respectively nine and thirty kilometers from the Thai-Burma border, have been opened for free-access logging, say loggers, sources in ethnic political parties and local villagers. Both forests are in Thupalaryar District, currently under the control of KNU Brigade 6.

Logging in both areas marks significant changes in KNU forestry policy. In years past, logging operations in both forests were permitted only from January until May, with exceptions made for continuing operations or community timber harvesting for projects like schools, monasteries, churches and bridges.

Previously, only large timber companies like Thailand based Sia Hook could purchase logging contracts. In an interview in mid September, Nai Maut, a logger working in Makate, reported that the KNU typically charged 100,000 baht for permission to log fifty tons.

This year, the price of logging access has been drastically reduced. According to a logger interview in Three Pagoda Pass three weeks ago, the KNU had reduced charges to just 50,000 to 80,000 baht for rights to harvest stands in Makate and Kyunchaung.

According to sources interviewed more recently, last week the KNU appears to have cut fees altogether. Captain Htat Nay, of Bridge 6, told IMNA that loggers are now harvesting timber from Kyunchaung Forest without having to purchase advance permission from the KNU. Makate is open as well, says the owner of a logging company based in Three Pagoda Pass. A former official in the KNU Forestry Department confirmed both sources. Logging trucks still have to pay at KNU checkpoints, but loggers report that the fees have been reduced.

Importantly, not only are loggers free to operate without having to purchase permission, but they are being allowed to log virtually without limits. Restrictions on the minimum size of harvestable trees have been loosened. In the past, loggers were prohibited from cutting trees less than ten centimeters across. Trunks with a diameter of just over seven centimeters, barely larger than a can of soda, are now eligible for harvest. Tree species other than teak and ironwood, once off limits to loggers in an attempt to maintain at least a modicum of forestland, can now also be cut.

The KNU is permitting a wider array of actors to participate in the logging operations. In Magate, where contracts were once granted to only large companies, now anyone can log, including villagers, says Captain Htat Nay. In Kyunchaung, large companies are currently not allowed to log, the captain says, but villagers and smaller companies are being granted unlimited access.

The difference between the types of companies allowed to lob in the two forests appears to be nominal and will likely have little affect on the rate at which timber is harvested, for the small businesses often work for larger operations.

According to the captain, the KNU Forestry Department estimated the Magate Forest to be 50,000 acres and home to 150,000 tons of unharvested hardwoods, including teak and ironwood. Kyunchaung is thought to be 20,000 acres and contain 500 tons.

It is unclear why KNU forestry policy has changed. Some sources speculated that the changes are related to an expected offensive by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which split from the KNU in 1994 and is now unofficially allied with Burma’s military government.

The DKBA has been preparing for an offensive into KNU areas since at least August, reported the Irrawaddy last week. According to a source in Payatung village, near Kyunchaung, the KNU has explained that it will soon leave the Kyunchaung area rather than fight a Karen-on-Karen conflict with the DKBA.

“I think the KNU is about to leave this area and wants to earn as much as it can before it goes,” says a source in Kyunchaung village. “They’ll earn a lot of money if they let logging continue like this, but the trees will be gone in a few months.” The source said he spoke with a highly placed KNU official, who told him that the new rules are an attempt to extract all possible revenue from the territory before it is occupied by the DKBA. The source, however, speculated that the new policy is as much an attempt to prevent the DKBA from profiting from remaining timber as it is an attempt to earn revenue for the KNU.

The source in Kyunchaung village seemed unimpressed with the actions of armed groups in general, and accused the KNU, DKBA and Burmese army of caring more about exploiting natural resources than the people.

This sentiment was echoed by a villager in Kyo Hablu, near Makate, who said, “If the KNU continues to allow logging like this, we will face disaster. We will have floods and the weather will be even hotter in the coming hot season. When the trees are gone nothing can live in the forest. How can we survive?”

“The Myanmar Teleport’s rules say we are allowed to stay open until 11pm,” says the owner of an Internet café in Moulmein. “But last week they demanded we close at 8pm.” 

The café owner also said that shops are required to record information on every user, including their National Identity card numbers, addresses and web browser activity. “These rules are not new. I opened this shop one and half year ago, and have been ordered to abide by Myanmar Teleport’s detailed rules since I applied for my license,” says the owner.

Many Internet cafes fail to follow these rules, the owner added. “Most owners are not in full compliance. For example, we are supposed to take a screen-shot or what each user is doing every five minutes, store the photos and back to officials in a weekly meeting.”

The failure to abide by the military government’s regulation of Internet access is not, however, necessarily motivated by politics or dissent. According to the shop owner, “Proprietors do not want to take the screen shots. If we do, no users will come and use our services.” The decision, then, appears to be economic. “Full compliance creates problems for customers, which creates problems for owners,” the source said. “If users feel insecure or inconvenienced, they won’t come to our cafes. Following the strict rules could drive us out of business.”

Political or not, the lack of compliance could soon land the Internet café owners in hot water. Proprietors are required to attend semi-weekly meetings with Myanmar Info-Tech officials. In the recent meeting in which the shortened operating hours were announced, shopkeepers were warned that their failure to provide complete information on the activities of their customers was not going unnoticed. Whether this warning is to be followed with consequences remains to be seen.

Moulmein is home to six cyber cafes, which all receive their Internet access from Myanmar Info-Tech, one of four official Internet Service Providers inside Burma. Myanmar Info-Tech was founded in 2001, according to the government controlled newspaper the New Light of Myanmar, and began offering licenses to Internet cafes in 2005. All internet cafes in Burma are regulated by the Myanmar Teleport, the government ministry responsible for issuing internet regulations.

The battalion’s commander claims the seizures are justified because farmers were not cultivating the land. July and August, farmers contend, saw unusually large amounts of rainfall, which caused flooding and mudslides that made farming impossible until water levels decreased.

“We were delayed by floods and couldn’t start working. The rains caused us a lot of problems. Then the Burmese Army officer came and ordered farmers whose lands were flooded not to plant rice this season. When we complained, he told us our lands had been seized due to failure to work. We told him that we only stopped farming because of the weather and it was not our fault, but he ignored this and gave the land to the soldiers,” said U Myint, 40, who left Thit-Toe-Dauk village for the Thai-Burma border after losing his land.

A second source from Thit-Toe-Dauk village told HURFOM that many farmers whose land had been seized were being forced to work for LIB No. 406 as unpaid laborers. “The land confiscation and forced labor began at the end of August and beginning of September,” said the source. “Troops from LIB No. 406 called about twenty-five to thirty villagers, mostly owners of paddy fields and their family members. An army captain instructed this group of people to work. He told them to repair the boundaries of paddy fields, fertilize the crops, develop young rice plants and cultivate the paddies.” According to the source, the captain also ordered Thit-Toe-Dauk’s headman, U San Myint, 50, to organize the work.

U Myint estimates that ninety acres of rice paddies belonging to fifteen families were seized in his village. The loss of land is creating obvious problems for villagers, many of whom have no other means of economic support. “The people here have no other jobs except cultivation of rice,” said U Myint during an interview in the Halockhanee refugee camp, near the Thai-Burma border. “I decided to come here to find work for my family. I will go to Thailand if I have a chance.”

How long the land will be held by the battalion is unclear. According to U Myint, LIB No. 406 will farm the land for at least the rest of the year. It is rare for the Burmese army to seize and hold paddy, but long-term seizures of more lucrative and less labor-intensive crops is common. According to a HURFOM estimate, from 2007 until the present the army has seized and held at least 1,500 acres of rubber plantations in Mon State.

According to a retired Myanmar Agriculture Service worker from Ye Township, these actions are authorized by the 1953 Land Nationalization Act, which gives the state final ownership of “all lands and resources arising from above and below ground, water, air space within the country.”

“On October 2nd, after I finished my work, I logged into my email and clicked on an email titled ‘I need help.’ After that my computer froze, including the screen, cursor and keyboard. After waiting a few minutes, nothing changed so I shut the computer down. When I restarted, I could only get a black screen,” says Maung Shwe, 40, a Burmese pro-democracy activist in Mae Sot.

A computer expert assisting exile groups with technology needs told HURFOM that he has received at least three calls from people whose computers are infected by the virus. He said that the email installs a Trojan, and that it can be fixed by removing host files acting to spread the infection. “Email attacks are becoming more and more of a threat,” he said, adding, “The exile community needs to increase their technological security measures.”

The “I need help” emails mirror the so-called “Happy Birthday” virus, which infected hundreds computers in March 2008. Though the sources of viruses are unknown, they come at a time when Burmese exile and dissident groups are under increasing cyber attack. On October 2nd, Mizzima News, based in New Delhi, was briefly shut down. Instead of its usual content, the news site displayed a crude message from a group calling themselves “Independence Hackers from Burma.”

In September, the news sites of exile news groups The Irrawaddy, Democratic Voice of Burma and New Era Journal were disabled by Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which overloaded the website’s servers. Mizzima and the Democratic Voice of Burma were also disrupted by DDoS attacks in July.
In August, popular Burmese community forums Mystery Zillion and Planet Myanmar were shut down by similar DDoS attacks. The sites, though explicitly non-political, provide information on circumventing filters and other restrictions placed on internet access inside Burma.

Many of the attacks came on the anniversary of last year’s Saffron Protests, in which country-wide peaceful protests received global attention after bloggers and exile media were able to circumvent regime restrictions and publicize the events.
The attacks have been widely attributed to the Burmese military regime, whose Military Affairs Security officers have been receiving extensive computer training and supplies from Singapore, reported the Asia Times on October 1st.

The electronic warfare being waged on exile groups has been relatively simple, Professor Desmond Bell, a communications security expert at Australian National University, told the Asia Times. The real risk, Bell says, is if the regime is able to infiltrate a computer or network and access information or disrupt systems without avoiding detection. It is not clear whether the regime has these capabilities, but that is, after all, the point. If the regime has the capabilities, in other words, exile groups could be victims and not know it.

The new round of “taxation” began after significant numbers of the Township People’s Militia Force resigned and replacements had to be found and paid for. The militia is headed by U Maung Gyi, 49, who demanded payments from residents of Wagaru and Taung Phalu villages.

“Most militia members resigned in the last few months. At the moment, there are about twelve militia members in this village. Every household is ordered to give 1,500 kyat for their general expenses including food, uniform and salary. This payment does not include the 500 kyat monthly village security fee, which we already had to pay,” reported Nai Wee, 25, a resident of Taung Phalu village.

According to another villager, the new troops are currently being trained by Infantry Battalion No. 62, based nearby. “They had to go and join the basic military training last month. I haven’t seen any of them with ranks, arms or uniforms yet. I think they will be assigned everything after finishing basic training.”

New recruits have also been added to the People’s Militia Force in nearby Wargaru, also under the direction of U Maung Gyi. Wagaru is home to an estimated seven hundred households, and each has to make a monthly payment of 1,000 kyat. Unlike Taung Phalu, this does not represent a change to the status quo; villagers have had to make such payments for years. “This type of payment has been required for the last five years. People always have to provide for all the expenses of the militia troops. It is normally around 800 or 1,000 kyat,” said Nai Kyin, 50, a Mon farmer from the village. “U Maung Gyi made a speech to our village last month and said that People’s Militia is a security force born from people, so people have to assist them.”

At the behest of the army, Township PDC officials have been increasing the number of militia troops in Mon State since 2003. The militia forces are trained by the army so they can fight against “internal and external enemies.” Hundreds have joined the militias voluntarily, because soldiers are conferred authority and special privileges. HUFROM has, however, reported a number of instances of conscription in Ye Township, where men have been forced to join the militia against their will.

HURFOM :Three Pagodas Township authorities are forcing villagers to plant Jatropha “physic nut” trees along the seven kilometer road connecting Chaung Zone to Three Pagodas Pass. Residents have to pay authorities for the cost of the trees, and then plant the trees themselves.

The order was given on September 28th, by U Myo Kyi, 46, chairman of the Three Pagodas Township Peace and Development Council (PDC), and applies to Kyo-Ha-Blu, Jown-Kwee and Chaung Zone villages.

The recent order follows a similar one last year, when residents were also required to plant jatropha. “Last cold season, PDC officials ordered each households to grow ten to fifteen plants and took 50 baht from each household to cover the cost of the saplings,” says Nai Bai, 35, a resident of Chaung Zone village.

“The chairman demanded we replant in places where trees from the project last year have died. He forced our village headmen to collect 100 baht from each household to cover the cost of the trees,” said Nai Thein, 40, from Kyo-Ha-Blu village.

According to residents of Jown-Kwee village, Three Pagodas PDC officers also instructed residents to replant Jatropha, and forced them to purchase expensive saplings from government officials. “The Chairman said we must implement the government’s project and forced us to pay 5 baht per tree to the forest department. The saplings are overpriced, and each person in my village has to buy twenty saplings.”

In Chaung Zone, Township PDC officials collected cash from some residents and made others purchase jatropha from the forest department.

A source closed to the Township PDC office in Three Pagoda said at a recent quarterly meeting, held in September, U Myo Kyi ordered one hundred thousand trees to be planted this year. According to the source, the order applies to an estimated eight hundred households in Kyo-Ha-Blu, Jown-Kwee and Chaung Zone villages.

Villagers elsewhere in Mon State have reported similar requirements. In July, authorities in Ye Township required residents to pay for the replanting of dead or unhealthy saplings. And in Mudon Township, plantation owners have even been ordered to cut down rubber trees and replace them with jatropha.

The project is part of the central government’s country-wide plan to harness physic nuts as an energy source, which can theoretically be processed and used for fuel. Though the plant is poisonous and detrimental to soil fertility, in 2004 the regime began requiring each state or division to plant five hundred thousand jatropha trees. Farming physic nut promises no economic return, however, for there is no market for the nuts and no infrastructure with which they can be processed into fuel.

“This project will never succeed if it continues this way. All levels of government are just implementing the plans for show. They know that as long as this project keeps going, they can earn extra income,” says A Htoo, 35, a rubber plantation owner from Joe-Ha-Blu village. “After we plant the trees, who will take care of them? These saplings will die soon, and we will have to pay and replant again next time. This cycle will never end.”

Light Infantry Battalion No. 299 is forcing villagers in Komile village, southern part of Ye Twon ship, are being forced to work as unpaid laborers clearing brush on the battalion’s rubber plantations, barracks and roads.

About thirty people are being forced to cut brush, each working four days a month sharing four gas-powered grass trimmers. Villagers are not only unpaid, but must provide all their own supplies; neither food nor fuel is provided. One day of work requires three to four litter of fuel, costing around 5,000 kyat.

If villagers do not work, they are forced to pay 12,000 kyat or hire someone to work in their stead.

House holds who own grass trimmers are required to work four days a month. “Before, we had to clear the bush by hand. Now we have to clear the brush with machines but we are like Army salve the world is change but we are not change from the Army salve,” said a man from Komile.

In 1995, LIB 299 confiscated nearly nine hundred acres of land from Komile. “We have to work on our own rubber plantation, except they have been confiscated by the Army,” added the man from Komile. “We don’t get the benefits, but we have to work for the army. It makes us feel like slaves.”

Residents of Mudon Tonwship report that they have been required to pay multiple rounds of exorbitant fees for electricity, but are still without power.

On August 20th, the Mon State Electric Power Corporation (EPC) demanded seven million kyat from villages in Mudon Township for the costs of setting up electricity. Six villages, including Let-Tet, Kyaik-Ywe, Wet-Tae, Nyaung-Gone, Kyone Phaik and Kaw-Kha-Pone, made the initial payment. Barely two weeks later, the electricity supply was cut.

“Our village paid more than six million kyat to the Electric Power Corporation in Moulmein, but they cut the power supply after two week without giving a reason. Later, a member of village Peace and Development Council explained to us that there was a big problem between Nyapyidaw [Burma's capital] and Mon State authorities over who should control the bribes we paid,” said Nai Nyan, 34, a resident of Let-Tet village, Mudon Township said.

In the first week of September, the head of the Mon State EPC, as well as Major That Naing Win, Chairman of Mon State Peace and Development Council, officially gave permission for the villages to receive electricity. The permission was not free, however, and villagers were asked to pay another large sum. Maung Oo, 28, a resident of Nyaung-Gone village, explained that about one hundred families in his village want to purchase electricity. Each was asked to pay fifty thousand kyat, on top of fees paid in August.

Even though many made the second round of payments, villagers still do not have electricity. “I gave my village headman fifty thousand kyat on September 20th, but they cut power off after eight days. I don’t know why. We have been asked to pay twice already and have spent at least one hundred thousand kyat,” said Nai Aung Khin, 50, a villager from Let-Tet.

According to HURFOM reporter, five villages made the second round of payments. Let Tet village has paid seven million kyat, Kaw-Kha-Pone six million, Nyaung-Gone five million and Kyaik-Ywe four million.

“Major That Naing Win and the head of Mon State EPC are the main people who extorted money from us. I think they did not share the profits with higher officers in Naypyidaw. That is why we have been ordered to cut out each times,” said Nai Aung Khin.

In the last week of September, EPC authorities Naypyidaw demanded that eighty households in Kyaik-Ywe pay another fifty thousand kyat to resume electricity. “People said troops from the Naypyidaw EPC made a lot of promises, and asked villagers to pay another time with a lot of promises. But most people do not believe in what they say,” said a the HURFOM reporter.

In August, residents of neighboring Thanbyuzayat Township, said that they also lost electricity because the Mon State EPC minister supplied power to villages without waiting for permission from Naypyidaw. Over twenty villages in Thanbyuzayat have each spent at least one hundred million kyat for electricity. Individual households had to pay between seven hundred thousand and a million kyat.

Editor’s note: the names of some sources in this article have been changed to protect their safety

The order, given in a September 25^th meeting between township authorities and village headmen, applies to Mudon Township’s twelve village tracts, each home to at least twenty-six villages. Farmers will be required to grow rice during the summer hot season, even though the weather is not conducive to rice cultivation. “Last year we had to grow summer paddy like they want us to do again. It did not work because the weather is no good for rice. We also had to buy everything even though it is their idea – the seeds, fertilizer and water,” said a farmer from Mudon Township. “We were not allowed to use our native seeds, the Myanmar Agriculture Service (MAS) only allowed us to use their seeds. But their seeds are not good or suitable for our land, and they are more expensive.”

Another farmer from Mudon echoed these sentiments. “Last year, the government agriculture survive ordered us to grow summer crops like this and we had to buy expensive fertilizer and expensive seeds. The seeds are not suitable for our land, do not produce good yields and need more fertilizer and water. The government agriculture service also does not give use enough water, so we had to buy more from the agriculture services. But even that was not enough. So we grew their summer crop, and we lost money.”

“If the farmers in the village tracts don’t want to grow summer rice, they will be punished,” said Min Aye Maung, the township’s manager of the Myanmar Agriculture Service, during the meeting with village headmen. “If they do not comply, I will give their land to the other people who will grow the rice,” he added, issuing a threat that will have significant impact on farmers who need to grow summer crops like ground nut and soy beans. “If you fail to implement this program, you will also be punished,” U Kyaw Kyaw Maung, Mudon’s township chairman, added in a threat to the headmen.

The order to grow summer rice is a continuation Burma’s decades old “two crops policy,” which begun in 1962. The program, which was started at the behest of then top general Ne Win, was designed to increase Burma’s flagging rice production. In 2002, the policy became mandatory in parts of Mon State, and farmers began being forced to cultivate summer rice. The program has been, by most measures, an utter disaster in Mon State. Rice production has failed to increase, while farmers have become mired in debt cycles; summer crops lose money, which thin rainy season profit margins can not always pay for.

Beyond debt, the two-crop policy has lead to much cynicism among farmers and residents of Mon State. “U Kyaw Kyaw Maung is about to transfer to another province,” said one farmer. “He just wants to build a big image for himself so he is seen as a powerful man from Mudon.” Other farmers suspect political motivations. “The government wants farmers to work all the time, whether the farmers get profits or not,” said another farmer from Mudon, interviewed before last year’s hot season. “They do not care about the farmers. They only want us to work so that we do not have free time. Free time means time to talk and organize. That is what the government fears.”