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35 Days Till Election: how state resources and area restrictions impact ethnic votes in Mon and Karen States

HURFOM: On September 11th, the Burmese State Election Commission[1] evoked section 8 (f) of the Union Election Laws, declaring at least 164 village tracts, as HURFOM can confirm, unsuitable for participation in the November 7^th election due to apparent security concerns. Specifically, 155 of these village-tracts belonged to 7 townships of Karen State and 9 village-tracts belonged to 2 townships of Mon State. Affected are an estimated 400,000 voting age citizens. The sudden decision to exclude these predominately ethnic regions has raised considerable concerns, as the regions concerned are not particularly unstable and possess a fair amount of infrastructure. Rather, the areas targeted have particularly high levels of ethnic constituents that had, until that point, rallied around the campaigns of local ethnic parties.

Moreover communities in more rural ethnic regions of Burma have not benefited from the nominally more transparent setting that campaigning in Rangoon has given some parties. Areas of Mon and Karen state not banned from participation, have experienced frequent and widespread instances of election fraud, manipulation and coercion by regime forces as well as members of the pro-regime parties, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUP).
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Watering the Poison-Tree: The ongoing systemic erosion of democratic process

With two months to go until the November 7th polling date for the 2010 Burmese national election, widespread evidence exists indicating that whatever pretense was made of a democratic process, its actual implementation within the election has fallen incredibly short. State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) forces have remained active in undermining the nascent democratic process with significant multi-faceted attempts to ensure the continuity of the current governments rule post November 7th.

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These efforts have targeted democratic and opposition forces through a variety of approaches designed to effectively overwhelm any opportunity for political engagement before the campaign period even began officially on August 31st. They include re-writing the constitution to bind the junta to the political system; legal entanglement and restriction; censorship; and the formation of government militias and thug groups1; the use of existing government funding, administration, police, military, and civilian action groups to campaign for government parties2; using state money to fund pro-government civilian parties; using coercion through rewards and threats in order to secure votes; While portions of these activities are actually written in to the legal framework for the lection, others violate the election laws written by the current ruling junta, technically requiring that the subsidiary pro-government parties involved be deregistered and disband. Read more

“They think we are not human”: Strategic abuses threaten local economy

Summary

This month the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) documents the perpetuation of human rights violations by the State Peace and Development Councilís (SPDCís) army units that are reminiscent of the previous anti-insurgent ë4-cutsí policy. Despite the supposed discontinuation of these systematized abuses, research clearly indicates that these violations are continually put in use to target ethnic groups located in the southern part of Mon State and northern part of Tenasserin Division.

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We all must suffer: Documentation of continued abuses during Kanbuak to Mayingkalay pipeline ruptures

Introduction

The Kanbauk to Mayingkalaly gas pipeline has been in operation for nearly 10 years, and continues to be the direct motivating factor for human rights abuses committed by Burmese military battalions that inundate the area. In addition, despite the operational status of the pipeline, villages and farms abutting the pipeline continue to be haunted by lasting effects of poor construction, technology, and a lack of interest on the part of the current junta in persevering the environment, or the lives and wellbeing, of local residents.
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Like water poured in the sand: Southeastern Burma in a post-ceasefire world

Introduction:

On April 22^nd, 2010 the New Mon State Party publicly announced its final refusal of the State Peace and Development Council’s (SPDC) Border Guard Force (BGF) proposal.  The refusal was issued despite widespread reports that Southeast Command Major General Ye Myint had informed the party at an April 7^th meeting that such a move would lead to a return of the NMSP’s “pre-ceasefire relationship” with the SPDC[1]. Read more

Women’s Rights Study on Mon Women’s Day

Introduction

On February 24th, 2010, Mon nationals from various areas in Thailand and southern Burma celebrated the 6^th anniversary of Mon Women’s Day (MWD). Celebrations took place in Baleh-Donephai, an Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) resettlement site in southern Burma. During the celebration WCRP conducted a cross-sectional qualitative survey about: domestic violence, economic despair, livelihoods and the role of women in the family. Read more

When Frogs Eat Frogs: Systematic Abuses by DKBA Forces Against Karen Communities

A Karen proverb says, ‘Frogs are extinct because they eat each other.’ Now, like this proverb, the same ethnic groups oppress each other, so they will be extinct and get nothing beneficial.
A village headman in Kawkareik Township

In some cases, they [DKBA troops] are worse than the Burmese military.  As they speak Karen language, they are defined as Karen, but their manner is the same as Burmese Army.
Saw Phoe Thar,  a 63 year old resident of Kook Ka Rate, Karin State. Read more

Cycles of abuse: How extortion of remittances from Burmese workers perpetuates worker migration

Introduction:

Announced in 2008 the Royal Thai Government (RTG) instituted a project of ‘National Verification’, intending to issue temporary passports for Thailand’s estimate 1.8 to 3 million migrant workers1. While migrant workers from Laos and Cambodia were able to registered at offices provided by their home country within Thailand, the vast majority of migrants, of whom nearly 1.5 to 2 million are Burmese, were forced to travel back to Burma to either return home or register at offices in Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthaung.
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Oil and Water: The Impact of Government salary increases on democratic prospects

Introduction:

In early January 2010, the Burmese government State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) announced a nationwide salary increase for all government employees. Under the announcement No. 104/2010, from the SPDC Department of Finance and Customs in Nayphidaw, the pay hike was implemented concurrent with the SPDC’s heavy-handed campaign to secure civilian support during the 2010 election. The pay hike raised the salary of all active members in the government workforce a flat 20,000 kyat per month, regardless of position or rank. Download report as PDF [143 KB] Read more

“We have to try”: Mounting pressure in election preparations and responses from the Mon State community

Introduction

Between December 2009 and early January 2010, South-East Command Major General That Naing Win issued a series of orders to local and regional Burmese government administrators in Mon State, mandating that their offices begin lobbying the residents of the areas under their administrative control for political support, in preparation for the 2010 election. These orders coincided with a rapid increase in human rights abuses targeting the citizens of Mon State. Download report as PDF [176 KB] Read more

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