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Large Sums Extorted from Residents by Local Authorities for the Water Festival in Kawkareik Township

Kyaik Don Sub-township: Local township authorities collected mandatory payments from residents of most villages and village tracks in the Kyaik Don Sub-township, Kawkareik Township to make a financial reserve for Water Festival celebrations. The administrator of the Township General Administration Office ordered a fund collection and sent this written order to village headman of eight villages in Kyaik Don Sub-township. HURFOM found that there were two types of fund collections. The first was a compulsory order made to each household in the eight designated villages to provide the specific funds. The second was a letter of intimidation to prominent rich individuals or businessman.

On the 6th of April 2010, written orders stamped with Kyaik Don Sub-township Office seals were sent to the village headmen demanding a collection of funds, designated “the welfare fund.” Township authorities stated the Buddhist water festival as the reason for collecting such unds. This fund collection came about during a period of unemployment and a hike in commodity and gasoline prices. Many households had to borrow money in order to fulfill the fund donation request. Some vehicle owners, who were in a particularly difficult situation after having to pay increased gas prices, requested the ability to pay as much as they could, but were denied. Increasingly frustrating to locals was the unaccountability and lack of transparency on how the funds were spent by the township authorities during the four days of the Water Festival. The following report will document the efforts made by locals to pay the demanded funds under high financial strain, the intimidation tactics used by authorities against those persons who could not pay the funds, and the misappropriation of funds by the authorities.

Saw Phoe Kyi¹, 55, a Poe-Karen man who makes his living as a tractor-bus owner, and a resident of Lan Phar village, Kyaik Don Sub-township, Kawkareik Township, Karen State recounted his experience about the forceful demand of money during the interview. The interview was taken after the Water Festival:

“I have no strong business. Three years ago, I sold my paddy land of four acres because I could not work on my farm, and I bought a tractor. After that, with my tractor, I have worked as a transporter in this region and [am able to] feed my four children. My wife is unemployed so she has to depend on me. As a transporter, I have to pay a monthly tax of 5,000 kyat. This tax was paid to the former Kyaik Don TPDC [Township Peace and Development Council, part of the former Burmese government]. Then, the village headman came to us, tractor owners, with a written decree to collect money. He said (the collected fund) would be for the welfare of the Water Festival. He came with a written order. The order was signed by U Hla Htay Zaw, Governor of Kyaik Don Sub-township. He is well-known in this region for demanding money. He is one of the authorities who has become rich with the money of the poor in this region. According to this order, not just those of us who make our livings on transportation, but also other businessmen, such as oil mill owners and rice mill owners had to pay. The amount written [in the order] was twenty thousand kyat per head. I don’t know about the oil and rice mill owners, but for me, this amount of money is a burden. In reality, our transporting work is not available everyday. We have to be a member of the Local Land Transport Association and can only transport commodities according to a rotation system. This means you can earn money only when your turn comes. Now, it is really unfair that besides the monthly tax, this fund was collected for just a normal welfare. If we don’t pay the fund, we will face a lot of difficulty in our jobs. It’s possible that our vehicle licenses won’t be extended, we will be sacked from the Land Transport Association, and a temporary seizure of our vehicles might occur often. In the past, we have already faced those people who have opposed [orders] being punished like that. If we didn’t pay the fund and oppose (the authorities), similar events would arise. We had to pay the fund. In order to get twenty thousand [kyat], I had to borrow four thousand [kyat] from my friend. As I thought would happen, around this Kyaik Don region, people celebrated the Water Festival with their own money and only some collaborated donations were found. I didn’t find that the Township Administration Office had supervised pavilion constructions and donations to the public either. Therefore, the collection of funds [for a community welfare fund and water festival celebrations] this process [of fund collections] would result in a question as to where the millions of kyat that were collected for the Water Festival since April 6th have gone. It is difficult and no one dares ask these sort of questions.”

Saw Phoe Kyi further explained that there are between 50 and 70 tractor-buses in Kyaik Don Township and the number of rice and oil mills is between 20 and 35. U Hla Htay Zaw – Sub-township, the General Governor ordered the designated village authorities to collect 5,000 kyat per house without fail. Most of the locals assumed that the Township authorities did not use the collected funds for the Water Festival.

U San Lwin, 48, a Lan-pham resident who is a rice mill owner in Kyaik Don Township expressed his disappointment that the newly elected government acted quite similarly to the former one. He continued by saying that his hopes for a real democratic government had vanished due to this unfair taxation.

“Like the former government, they collect money for a variety of reasons. And then, put [the money] in their pockets. They did nothing [with the collected money]. They did not try to figure out why some couldn’t pay the fund. Bearing a grudge, they made trouble for people who couldn’t pay the sum. They interrupted their work. I experienced all this. Therefore, I say that the new government is the same as the SLORC and SPDC [former Burmese military] governments. Moreover, the persons who have become governors in these remote areas are the trusted persons of the former government; therefore, even though the [governing] system has [officially] changed, the oppressive behavior of those persons remains the same. The current Kyaik Don Township Governor Hla Htay Zaw used to be a solider. He was transferred from the military to the municipality. He ran in the election representing the USDP and has become governor again. It is certain that this region remains unchanged like in the past.”

U San Lwin’s wife explained that besides a twenty-thousand-kyat fine articulated by the Kyaik Don authorities, a five-thousand-kyat fine which every household had to pay was also collected. In Kaw-sai village, which is south of Kyaik Don Sub-township, there was a similar fund collection. The village headmen had been responsible for fund collections and each household had to pay five thousand kyat. Businessmen and car owners had to pay no less than 20,000 kyat. There are about 130 houses in Kaw-sai village and there are 14 households who own cars. There are only two households who own rice and oil mills in Kaw-sai. However, because of a hike in gasoline prices, both rice and oil mill owners had to shut down two months ago.

On the 20th of April, Naw Yee Yee, 33, a Kaw-sai resident explained that U Hla Htay Zaw, who is 56 years old and the general governor of Kyaik Don, submitted a written order to the village headman to do house by house collections of funds for the Kyaik Don Water Festival. Some households who could not afford the designated sum tried to donate beans, corn and rice, but the village headman did not accept anything but money. Naw Ye Ye stressed that the collection of funds was unacceptable during a period in which everyone is struggling for food:

“For the rich persons, five thousand kyat of money is nothing. The persons who have no money can’t say they have nothing. The Water Festival is just for fun [not a serious or important festival]. It’s not essential to celebrate. However, we have realized that by stating the Water Festival as a reason, they want to make money. In Kaw-sai [village], nothing can be done for money. Most of us are poor. On April 7th, when the fund was collected, some households had only about 3000 kyat and couldn’t reach 5000 kyat so they gave beans, corn and rice to reach 5000. However, the village headman did not dare accept [the beans, corn and rice]. We didn’t want to blame him because he himself was suffering from fear. However, I want to point out that during an era of hardship, we do not need to celebrate this festival.”

Arbitrary taxation and extortion was a common practice of the SPDC, former Burmese military government. In the past residents were taxed for a variety of unjustified reasons, such as paying to avoid being forced to provide unpaid labor, paying for village security, paying for the expenses of local military bases, and paying for self-help local development projects. All taxes served to provide funds for the SPDC government and military. Interviews emphasized residents upset that the new government instated on April 1, 2011 has thus far acted quite similarly to the old. The welfare fund for the Water Festival was unsupported by the residents, locals income’s were not taken into account and they had to struggle to pay the alloted amounts, and the fund which was supposed to be for the benefit of the residents vanished after the collection was finished. Intimidation and corruption remains inherent in government dealing with the local citizens.

1All names are fake in order to protect the identity of the interviewees.

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