Is it a crime by ethnics to observe their National Day?

March 6, 2008

By Joi Htaw

The 61^st anniversary National Day has been celebrated around the world where the Mon people are located. The National Day has been observed not only by Mon people in Mon State but also in western countries, UK, Canada, USA, Australia and by Mon migrant workers in Burma’s neighbouring countries.

The Mon National Day in Thailand was observed in four places in migrant communities and in Malaysia, South Korea and other places where Mon people reside. Most of the migrant workers in Samutsakorn, Thailand got the chance to celebrate National Day even though they do not have any security document.

Although Mon people commemorated the National Day and Mon national flag flew world wide, the villagers in Southern part of Ye Township, were prohibited to unfurl the national flag and was forced to play Burmese songs instead of the national song.

A resident said that the MND committee apologized to the State Peace and Development Council soldiers and at last they allowed hoisting the flag but the soldiers ordered them to bring it down when the flag was nearly reaching the top of the pole. Then, the MND committee was asked to play Burmese songs, destroyed the stage and take down the decoration on the stage urgently.

The stage was used to honour the winners of sports competition, competition related to writing of essays and short novels and narrative stories related to the National Day. This took place in Kyone-kanya village, Kaw Zar, sub-township. This was not the end of the events.

On that night, there was a concert on the National Day. Nai Win, aged 30 went to a dark corner because he wanted to urinate. The soldiers had gone to the place he had and saw two pairs of slippers. Then, they alleged that Nai Win, was connected to the splinter armed group and he was arrested. The soldiers had kept their eyes on the people because they had forbidden the villagers to go outside the village.

Nai Win was released on February 25 on a ransom of 1,000,000 kyat. However, he has been suffering from pain in the heels were incisions were made. The soldiers have made incisions on both his heels and he could not walk and was being treated at home. There are about 300 households in Kyone-kanya village.

The villagers claimed that Nai Win is an honest man and he has no contact with the splinter armed group. The villagers were sorry for what the soldiers had done to Nai Win. But, “We are afraid of the soldiers and we cannot do anything. We have just watch what the soldiers do and listen to what they say,” said the villagers.

It is not only that Nai Win, the Kyone-kanya villager who has been abused and tortured horribly. Similar to the Nai Win case, there have been innumerable cases happening in Kaw Zar, sub-township, Southern part of Ye township. The soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 31 bases in town are spreading in every village of Kaw Zar township. There are about seven or eight soldiers living in each village and are oppressing the villagers.

There are eight villages in Kaw Zar sub-township and every village has to give two motorbikes each day for soldiers staying in the village. The villagers must fill the gasoline before transferring the bikes. The villagers bought two motorbikes and gave it to the soldiers to be used as their own because they got frustrated with the soldiers driving the bikes carelessly and damaged their motorbikes very often. But in six months the soldiers sold the motorbikes in the end of 2007 and demanded two motorbikes again from the beginning of 2008.

The villagers were forced to work on the paddy fields every day for about 45 days to finish the process of farming summer paddy. They had to hire someone and paid 5,000 kyat for a day if they could not go. No excuse are tolerated whether the villagers are widows or their husband are not at home, every one from the Kaw Zar sub-township was forced to work on the paddy field for the army.

When growing paddy is nearly finished, the soldiers demand the wood to bake the bricks for their battalion. And they ask the villagers to clean the authorities’ offices in Kaw Zar town by rotating their duty. Moreover, the soldiers often stop them from going out of the villages depending on the splinter groups activity in the area.

The ban on going outside the village makes it difficult for local residents to survive because they rely on their fruit gardens, rubber plantations, farming, and areca palm gardens. It is like a bad dream returning. Such serious human rights abuses used to take place in southern part of Ye township during 2004 and 2005.

The villagers are squeezed between two armed groups. They have to listen and do what both the SPDC soldiers and the splinter armed groups tell them. The Mon splinter armed group called some villagers last month and persuaded them not to cooperate with the SPDC soldiers.

The villagers have to pay the same amount if the LIB No. 31 comes to know that the Mon splinter group took 100,000 kyat from a villager. Mover over, the troops accuse the villagers of communicating with splinter groups and put the villagers in the cell for a few days. This makes some villagers not to dare going to their yard and garden.

Moreover, there are land confiscations, relocation and burning of villages. Last year, the troops destroyed and burned the village and the villagers are not even daring yet to return the village. Some poor villagers wanted to move their belonging and returned to village but the soldiers beat them up including women.

The reason the soldiers are strict on the villagers is that they do not want villagers to support the splinter group and want to clean up the opposition armed group active in southern part of Ye Township. The splinter group had separated from New Mon State Party after the NMSP made a cease fire agreement with SPDC in 1995.

The NMSP reached a cease fired agreement in order to find a political solution and claim rights of self-determination for its people through a tripartite dialogue. But the ceasefire has touched its 13^th anniversary on 29^th June, 2008. The military government has turned a deaf ear to the ethnic army group’s demands and will hold a referendum on the draft constitution in May. The question remains was there any advantage that was derived by the NMSP from the ceasefire agreement.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Feature