Ye township authority extorted Money from local Mon villager

March 14, 2007

HURFOM

On January 28th, 2007 U Kyaw Thu Hlaing, an officer from the Public Levy Collection department of Ye Township?s Municipal Authorities extorted house levies from Ayu-Taung village residents, Northern Ye Township, Mon State.

It was reported that on the morning of January 28, 2007, that Ye Township?s municipal officer U Kyaw Thu Hlaing and his troops took photograph of the villager?s houses and afterwards demanded money as home levies from the local residents of 70 households.

?They took photographs of 70 houses in the western part of Ayu-Taung village. The troops forcibly collected the house levies of Kyat 80,000 up to maximum rate of Kyat 400,000 from each of the 70 families,? according to an anonymous eyewitness from Ayu-Taung village. He explained to the field reporter that the Township?s Municipal troops only collected money from the western part of the village and many villagers were confused with the strategy of the Township Authorities.

?I think this order was not instructed by the upper level. When he (U Kyaw Thu Hlaing) collected money, he should given an invoice back with the signature of tax receiver to the villagers. The second thing is they did not collect from every household in the village. They only collected from the house owners who live in the western part of the village. It seems to me that this is not fair at all.? Nai Nge (not real name), a resident of Ayu-Taung village explained to a HURFOM reporter.

Some house owners who had to pay house levies to the Ye Township?s municipal troops are Nai Nyunt Maung, Nai Maung and Ma Aye Nu. Nai Nyunt Maung has to pay Kyat 400,000 and Ma Aye Nu?s family had to pay Kyat 90,000 for their house levies. According to one victim, Nai Nyunt Maung, there are a lot of households who cannot afford to pay the set amount of house levies to the municipal troops.

?February 2nd, 2007 is the deadline for those households who were not able to pay at this time. Those households must approach the Ye Town?s municipal office and fulfill their duty,? Nai Nyunt Maung recalled of the demand made by U Kyaw Thu Hlaing, the officer of Public tax and levy department from Ye township municipal office, Mon State.

According to the local residents, this kind of large amount of house levy collection is the first of its kind in Ayu-Taung village and local villagers were facing economic hardships due to the house levy policy imposed by the Ye Township?s Municipal troops.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News