Motorbikes and money taken from Yebyu township residents

August 7, 2009

HURFOM: Beginning in early July, the chairman (headman) of Kyauk Kadin village, Yebyu Township, has begun levying a taxes of work, motorbike usage, and money on the villagers. According to sources, the request for the bike came directly from the army, while the tax of labor and money are for his own benefit.

The Kyauk Kadin village headman, Aung Lone, commanded the villagers to make one bike available each day for soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 273 to use as they see fit. Aung Lone has also ordered that every day a villager be available to work for him, fulfilling administrative chores and his personal work.

“I am very sad when the soldiers were using my bike – I wanted to kill them” recounted a 25 year-old Kyauk Kadin villager. “I didn’t want to give it to them to use. After they use it, I have to pay for repair if they break my bike. Everybody that has a bike has to lend it for 24 hrs, one day and night. Even though we don’t want to give them a bike, we have to give one.”

Both taxes work on a list system. The headman knows who has motorbikes in the village, and then with a list of those bikes, each owner is forced to lend the bike to the military each day, on a rotating system. The forced labor also works this way, with one villager being required every day to report to the village headman to do work.

The people who don’t want to work with chairman have to pay 3,500 kyat to the chairman, essentially skipping their turn, so the next person on the list must then work that day. Regardless of the two other taxes, villagers also forced to give 1,000 kyat per household, every month, for the chairman’s personal expenses. According to the HURFOM field reporter, there are close to 200 households in Kyauk Kadin village.

“Right now we’re not getting much money for our products because the violence, and because the rubber prices have gotten lower and lower,” said a 39 years old Kyauk Kadin villager who was force to work for the village headman. “As for me, I couldn’t afford to give them 3,500 kyat to replace my duty.”

Rubber and betel nut, the cash crops for the region, have suffered a drastic drop in sales prices over the last year as the world wide economic crisis has spread throughout Burma.

“I worked in a chairman house, doing work such as sending letters from one village to another, doing what ever military troops want to be done, communicating with other villages and to calling whichever villagers the chairman wanted to meet with.”

These abuses have not been limited to Kyauk Kadin alone. In Lort Tine village in Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division, the headmen have also demanded money from villagers. There every house had to pay 6,000 kyat, for headman’s travel cost. HURFOM estimates there are about 100 houses in the village. Thus far villagers have paid the tax, though according to sources, those who refuse are intimidated by the headmen, who implies that a failure to pay makes them seem like they sympathize with the rebel group.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News