• Home
• about
• Activities
• Contact
• Programs
• Manual

• Analysis
• Commentary
• Feature
• General Election
• Monthly Report
• News
• PDF Format
• Special Report
• Video Clips

Subscribe

Burmese soldiers burn plantations to punish suspected rebel supporters

Mi Kyae Goe, IMNA,

On February 22nd Burmese Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 31 burned twenty plantations in Ye township, Southern Mon state. The fire was started after soldiers could not capture Mon rebels thought to be in the area.

The rebels are members of the Monland Restoration Party (MRP), formerly the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP), which separated itself from the New Mon State Party (NMSP) after the NMSP signed a ceasefire with the regime in 1995. Read more

Mon National Day is celebrated in Burma

Loa Htaw, IMNA,

Ten birds were released in Mudon Township, Mon state, on the 61st annual Mon National Day (MND). The birds were a symbol of peace for everyone in the world, said Mon people who attended the celebration.

“We want every life in the world to have peace,” said Dr. Soe Lin, the chairman of Central Celebrating Committee of the Mon National Day (CCCMND), which was responsible for releasing the birds. Dr. Soe Lin is also secretary of the Mon National Democratic Front and a former political prisoner. He added that the birds represented an especially important symbol of peace for people in Burma right now, pointing to recent assassinations of opposition leaders in Pakistan and the Karen National Union in Karen state, Burma. “We don’t want others in Burma to see a similar fate,” he said. Read more

New travel restrictions announced in Southern Ye

Kaowao:

Every resident of Southern Ye Township must now carry his or her own travel document, an expensive change to previous policy.

Southern Ye Township military commander Kha Ma Ya, Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 31, declared that everyone in Khaw Zar Sub-township must carry the new travel document for his or her own security. The small and simple document costs villagers 1000 Kyat per person, and people caught traveling without the document risk being detained by soldiers. Read more

Tractor-trailer owners forced to “donate” sand to a government golf course

IMNA,

Every tractor-trailer owner in Thanphyuzayart township, Mon state, is being forced to “donate” a tractor load of sand to the Shwe Phyu Tatana golf course, report locals.

The Thanphyuzayart Township Peace and Development Council notified tractor-trailer owners by letter in the first week of January 2008. Read more

Burmese Army forces villagers to relocate

Mi Kyae Goe, IMNA,
The Burmese regime is forcing villagers in Mon state to relocate to land being sold by the regime at high prices.

Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 31, which operates in Kaw-zar sub-township in Southern Mon state, has ordered residents of the Kyone-kanya village to move into an area near to a new road, claiming it will improve the development of the village. Read more

Members of Mon Literature and Culture Association replaced by junta thugs

LAWI WENG, HURFOM,

Authorities in Mon State have replaced members of the Mon Literature and Culture Association (MLCA) with members of the regime backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), according to local sources.

The move paved the way for a seven-month old ban on the MLCA to be lifted in Mon State, said a former member of the group in Ye Township. The lifting of the ban is cause for concern, not celebration, said the former member of the Mon association. Read more

A two crops policy that barely yields one: the failed Win-pha-non Dam project

Introduction

Heavy-handed, but poorly designed and managed, government policy has kept Burma’s economy in steady decline for decades. This report details one such failed policy, an irrigation project designed to enable farmers to grow crops in the dry season. Unfortunately, the project has not only failed to achieve its goal but has actually reduced the amount of arable land in the area. The failure of the project has, in turn, highlighted the existence, and consequences, of corruption within the military regime. Instead of reporting the failure of the project, local officials file reports of a successful project, making reform and future success impossible.

Background

Fifty years ago, Burma was one of the richest countries in South East Asia. After independence in 1948, and a coup in 1962, Burma quickly lost that status. Following the coup Ne Win, the country’s new leader, ordered farmers to plant rice crops during two seasons instead of one. The policy was an attempt to regain the country’s position as the world’s largest rice exporter, and in 1973 it was implemented and backed with heavy penalties. Read more

International organizations can, and should, help protect the people of Mon state

THE MON FORUM

SPDC authorities and army troops in Southern Mon state and various parts of the Tenasserim Division have openly committed various types of human rights violations since the movement of international organizations began being restricted in conflict areas.

In the past, organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and some UN Agencies were able to protect civilians in Southern Township. The ICRC encouraged the Southeast Military Command in Moulmein, the capital of Mon state to cease some types of human rights violations such as conscription, forced labour, extortion, arbitrary arrests, land confiscation and killing. Read more

Local police ban beer sale in Mon state

Selling of beer has been prohibited by the local Burmese police in Kalawthut village, Mudon Township, Mon state, said residents. The step was taken after two beer shop owners were jailed last November for selling beer to students. Read more

Burmese junta force farmers to cultivate summer paddy

The Burmese military regime is forcing farmers to grow rice this summer while withholding necessary water supplies from the government controlled dam, alleged farmers in Mon state. Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »