Caught in the Middle, Thaton Rubber Farmers’ Trees Destroyed

March 5, 2014

Recent events surrounding the destruction of Thaton rubber plantations prove that there is no protection for Burma’s rubber farmers, who pay annual tax to farm on land confiscated by the military. Local farmers express fears of job insecurity, and worry for their future livelihoods.

For the past 12 years, the Thaton based Artillery Regiment No. 502 has confiscated many acres of land from local tax-paying residents, alleging that the land is owned by the military; creating disputes over confiscated land.

A 64-year-old rubber farmer, who had served in a government department for 30 years, lamented that he has no land, and now must farm a 9.5-acre rubber plantation which is owned by Artillery Regiment 502 under the 85:15 Mutual Benefit Agreement. After three and a half years, more than 2,000 of his rubber plants, which each have a 7-inch circumference and in total worth about 20 million kyat, were chopped down by a local group on February 24, 2014. The farmer was too distraught to respond to any questions, but his friend U Kyaw Lwin indicated that the group that cut down the rubber farmer’s trees were the original plantation owners.

According to U Kyaw Lwin, “The group reportedly consisted of the original [land] owners, whose land [was] confiscated by the military. Reportedly, they were from a labor union, but [I’m not] sure because I never heard that there was an official labor union in Thaton”. U Kyaw Lwin points out that his friend, the above-mentioned 64-year-old farmer, “served in the government department for his life, and now he is doing rubber farming to earn income for the rest of his life. He has no land, so has had to [farm] military land”. U Kyaw Lwin goes on to note that “we can’t say he made a mistake. It seemed that he strongly believed that the land was owned by the military, and did the farming. The problem was that the land is the land that the military confiscated from residents in the past. Now the problem has emerged, but [the military] did not take any responsibility, nor [did they] solve the problem.”

Many local people have lost their land, and now depend on financial investments and physical labor to support themselves and their families. Local villagers are farming on land which has been confiscated by the military under the Mutual Benefit Agreement.

During a meeting with field reporters, the rubber farmers have reported that their rubber trees were chopped down, and their plantations destroyed by and unknown group which, reportedly, consists of the original land owners.

According to the victims, plantations were destroyed because the military had unlawfully confiscated the land from the original local land owners, the military and local authorities did not provide any protection for the original land owners, the confiscations were not enacted under the rule of law, as well as the fact that many individuals from the military and local authorities benefited from the 85:15 Mutual Benefit Agreement.

“Indeed,” says U Kyaw Lwin, “[the military] did not own the land, so they want to avoid the problem. Anyhow, my friend had to lose his [rubber] trees. He has no one to report to or to blame”.

According to eye witnesses, the 64-year-old retired civil servant farmed the 10-acre land owned by the military, as well as his 10-acre land located adjacently to the military land. Land records show that these lands are included in Field No. 516, Htaung Hmuu Village Track, Thaton Township.

“I’m sorry for the rubber farmers”, says a 50-year-old resident of Htaung Hmuu Village, Thaton Township, “The [destruction of rubber trees] took place in the morning of February 24, 2014. [The perpetrators are] a group of local people. According to my son, who witnessed the event, the group who chopped the rubber trees included more than one hundred individuals. They chopped the rubber trees cheering ‘this is the military plantation’.

“I think they (rubber farmers) shouldn’t deal with the military.” the Htaung Hmuu resident says, “I was born here and grew up here, so I know everything [about this region]. In the past, there was no land owned by the military. All land was owned by the locals. [Locals] have been planting cashew nut and betel nut, but when the rubber became popular, the military invaded. The military confiscated and fenced most of the land in the prime location of Thaton, so the locals became unemployed. Some fled to foreign countries for work, and some became brick makers. So the anger at the military always persists”.

The Htaung Hmuu resident explains, “You shouldn’t invest in those unclean lands. When there is an argument, no one will take accountability.

Motor-bike taxi driver U Win Maung states, “The plantation where the [February 24^th] event took place is in our region, but when the township governor, police commander, and the commander of Regiment No. 502 reached the scene and took photos, the event had ended for a long time”. U Win Maung notes that similar events had taken place in Thaton for three consecutive days, from February 22-24, 2014.

U Win Maung continues, “The military commander didn’t show up [during the event]. Indeed, [the military] doesn’t own the land, so they avoided [responsibility] when the original plantation owners confronted the current rubber farmers who pay tax to the military”.

“If there is no fight”, U Win Maung explains, “[The military] are the chief beneficiaries, [but when there are fights] the military can’t provide any protection, and the township governor and township police commander only [arrived] after the [destruction of the plantations] and did the documentation. I now that there is no individual to report to, so I feel so sorry for the victims, the rubber farmers”.

As there has been no judicial ruling regarding the dispute over land confiscated by the Artillery Regiment, many rubber farmers in the Thaton region feel insecure. Most of the rubber farmers are retired government servants, now making their living with physical labor, as they have no land.

According to ten years of data collected by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), from 2001 to 2005 the local Artillery Regiment based in Htaung Hmuu Village, Tha Hton Township, and surrounding government armies, have confiscated more than 180 acres of land from local residents.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News