Residents speak out about rice seizures in Yebyu township

June 27, 2013

HURFOM: New reports have arisen of seizures of rice by the Burmese militia from villagers in northern Tenasserim Region. Whilst this is alleged to have been taking place for decades, the case has thus far gone undocumented. However, residents, who in the past were too afraid to expose the army’s activities to the media, have begun to speak up. Encouraged by recent government reforms, they have sought an end to ongoing abuses of their rights.

A respected community leader from Min Tar village, located in Tenasserim Region’s Yebyu Township, contacted HURFOM to disclose details of rice seizures in his and neighboring villages. According to him, “The villagers have been asked to pay [rice to the Burmese militia] since I was young. Although Myanmar is changing into a democracy, Burmese militia forces still compel the villagers to give them rice, just as they did before.”

He detailed how Nai Hla Aung, Min Tar village’s administrator, is responsible for collecting rice for the Burmese militia from a total of six villages. As well as in Min Tar, residents in Moe Gyi, Lae Gyi, Sin-swe, Kya-Khat-taw and Yay-ngan-gyi villages have been the victims of these demands. If rice is not delivered on time it is reported that the village administrator dispatches the Burmese army to intimidate villagers into obeying orders.

“We would like the senior authorities to know and hear about our situation”, the community leader continued. “We don’t know yet whether they are aware of it. The local people are curious about whether they [the local militia] have been doing this to us because of orders from above or from their own initiative.”

Other residents from the villages concerned corroborated this testimony. They detailed that each year for the past two decades they have been asked to make payments of rice, allegedly to fund a security detail by local Burmese militia forces. Each house is asked to contribute roughly five baskets of unmilled rice annually, equivalent to 110 kilos. Villagers said that every year they wait for an announcement to be made giving the date and size of payments.

It is estimated that Burmese militia forces seize 100 sacks of rice a year from Min Tar, Moe Gyi, Lae Gyi, and Sin-swe villages. This is in addition to 60 sacks from Kya-Khat-taw and 40 from Yay-ngan-gyi.

A 43 years old resident from Min Tar village spoke to HURFOM about his grievances, “Today we have a democracy, but we are still forced to pay them [the Burmese militia]. To produce the rice we had to risk our lives in the rain and sun. We dug the ground and grew the rice with our sweat. We do not want to be forced to give away our property. It is not easy for us to produce the rice. Not only do they not give us money for the rice, but they force us to give it [the rice] to them. So, most of villagers are not happy with them. We do not want to make to share even one grain of rice by force.”

However, he displayed a new spirit of resistance, “Before, we had to pay them because we were afraid of their power. But in this transitional period we are not willing to pay them any more.”

Over the course of governmental reforms HURFOM has been documenting continued human rights abuses at the hands of the Burmese militia, in addition to offences perpetrated by various insurgency groups. These latest reports from Yebyu township give the most recent sign that, despite promising changes in the country, serious problems remain for villagers in Southern Burma.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News