Extortion and Abuse Continues in Three Pagodas Pass Township

January 28, 2014

HURFOM: The Burmese government claims to have adopted a democratic system since 2010, but people living in and around Three Pagodas Pass have expressed concerns of continued corruption, extortion, and human rights abuse at the hands of the government.

In late December, 2013, a village administrator from Ywar Thit Village, Three Pagodas Pass Township (TPP), cooperated with the Township Settlement and Land Records Department (SLRD), to measure all land controlled by the township, which stretches through ten villages.

The Settlement and Land Records Ministry has officially set a standard fee of 500 kyat for each plot of land measured, regardless of the quality or size of the land. However, the TPP village administrator, acting with the SLRD, set their own price for measuring the locals’ lands.

The TPP village administrator and the SLRD have extorted 500 baht from each landowner whose land they measured. Furthermore, they charged another fee of 300 baht per acre, for measuring. In further efforts to extort the local landowners, the village administrator and SLRD added land to particular maps, if a resident’s land did not fill to the next acre, in order to increase the fees the residents must pay. The village administrator and SLRD increased the money in their pockets, while putting the local residents into further financial jeopardy.

Some landowners, who understood the extent of the corruption, argued with their village administrator. As one resident from TPP explains, “there is still conflict between locals and the SLRD, though the landowners have been given back 50 baht per acre, due to [the fact that the village administrator and SLRD] already demanded [an] unfair price from locals”.

Beyond chronic extortion and corruption, the Burmese government also continues to commit human rights abuses. In early January, 2014, human rights abuses were carried out by a former quarter administrator, U Tar Nge, in collaboration with local police.

Earlier this month, a truck carrying stones passed by the house of former quarter administrator, U Tar Nge; U Tar Nge scolded the driver for blowing dust into his house as he drove by. According to local residents, “while the driver was having his dinner, U Tar Nge, [along with] a policeman, intruded the driver’s house and shackled him, then beat him, which caused him to lose his tooth and be hospitalized. The driver suffered from stomach problems, due to the policeman’s beating”. The locals also claim that “the victim presented the issue to the Kyarinnseikyi Township police station, but the culprits were not charged [or] punished by the [higher ranking officers], after they compensated 50,000 baht to the victim”.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News