Wae Kalee Landowners Resubmit Appeal to Reclaim Lands Confiscated by Locally-Based Burmese Troop

June 26, 2014

Authorities have repeatedly failed to act upon villagers’ requests for justice regarding local farmers’ land rights; in response, villagers from Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, have joined together to resubmit second letters of appeal for their land rights in efforts to gain justice and reclaim land confiscated by the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 in Waekalee, Thanbyuzayat Township.

This month, local farmers were informed that upper level authorities had not acted upon their original letters of appeal, nor did the Mon State Land Investigation Commission cooperate with members of parliament to solve the problem of land grabs; thus the villagers planned to resubmit their appeal letters to lower level authorities.

As the Mon State Land Investigation Commission has failed to act effectively and efficiently to solve the issue of land confiscation, U Thura Shwe Mann, Speaker of Myanmar’s Lower House of Parliament, sent a letter on March 3, 2014 to every state parliament chairman in efforts to seek collaborative efforts in addressing this issue. MP Nai Tala Chan, from Thanbyuzayat Township, also submitted a letter concerning this issue to the parliament chairman on June 18th.

According to the list of landowners’ signatures, roughly 2304 acres of land, owned by 164 farmers, has been confiscated Thanbyuzayat Township, not including land confiscated for the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 and its base.

“We, the landowners group, already submitted appeal letters to Nay Pyi Daw in 2013”, said the farmer who leads the landowners group, “but they did not act upon anything for us. Mon senators informed us that there is no need to submit our appeal letters to upper level authorities. We can submit [our grievances] to village administrators and they will contact the township administration crew by themselves. We resubmitted our letters to junior level [authorities] after combining our previous letter and the new one.”

The farmer continued, “It took a long time to get [a] reply from upper level [authorities], that [is] why the upper level asked the lower level to investigate first. We hope our landowners can expect different results from [our second appeals submission].”

On June 20th, Nai Tala Chan stated that if the authorities responsible for solving the land issue and land owners’ rights announce a decision that local farmers are not pleased with, they “won’t accept that and will act against them”

According to an individual who handles the submission of appeal letters, some farmers from Wae Kalee have asked to remain anonymous, and Burmese troops have warned local farmers against submitting appeals concerning land confiscation.

The Military Advanced Training School No. 4 began confiscating land in Wae Kalee in 2005. They increased confiscations in 2008 with the claim that confiscated land was wild and virgin land, which belonged to the government. After confiscating, the military then sold the land to businessmen. The amount of land officially confiscated throughout Thanbyuzayat Township amounts to 2304 acres. Another section of 700 acres was confiscated east and north of the military base; farmers are allowed to work this land if they pay tax on it. The chief of the military told local landowners that their land will be officially confiscated within the next 30 years.

Editor’s note: HURFOM has previously reported a much more conservative estimate of 560 acres of land which has been confiscated throughout Thanbyuzayat Township since 2005 (http://rehmonnya.org/archives/3174). Through interviews corroborated with a more informed individual, the number has been more accurately estimated at 2304 acres of confiscated land.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News