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Burmese army, low prices and climate change cause hardship for cashew growers

HURFOM, Yebyu Township:
Cashew trees in Tenasserim Division have been producing fewer nuts this year, which has meant a reduced harvest for growers. This is partly due to the Burmese military who have been preventing Mon villagers from leaving their villages to work on their farms because of increased activity in the area by the armed Mon rebel group, Chan Dein. Another factor is the much thicker frost settling in the winter, a possible effect of climate change.

As the result, most growers have produced less than fifty percent of the harvest compared to last year and face financial hardship, according to locals. Read more

Villagers caught between Burmese Army and Mon rebel group in Yebyu Township

HURFOM, Yebyu Township:
The Burmese military has been preventing Mon villagers in Kalein Aung Sub-Township, Yebyu Township from leaving their villages to work on their farms due to increased activity by the armed Mon rebel group, Chan Dein. This is causing immense difficulties for the villagers as they are effectively being stopped from earning their livelihoods. Read more

High price of limes pleases farmers and sellers alike

HURFOM, Ye Township:
The high price of limes has pleased many growers and wholesalers around Ye Township. Whilst other products such as rubber and betel nuts have dropped in price, limes have risen to between 70 and 120 Kyat per fruit. Read more

Eleven migrant workers at risk in a Kanchanaburi forest

WCRP: On March 23, 2009, eleven Burmese illegal migrant workers entered Thailand, accompanied by an agent, at Three Pagoda Pass. The group, which included an eleven year old girl, eight women and two men, were subsequently at risk in a Kanchanaburi forest where they fled in order to avoid arrest by the Thai police. Read more

Economic predation: taxation, extortion and commandeering in Mon State

I. Introduction

The economic situation on Burma’s southern peninsula is demonstrative of the often spoke truisms about the interconnectedness of the globalized world economy. Though Burma’s foreign trade is limited by government mismanagement and international sanctions, it is still reliant on and impacted by changes in the international financial environment. Today in Mon State, the reduction in the international demand for rubber has lead to a plummet in the value of rubber. Similarly, a bumper paddy croup in Southeast Asia following last year’s international rice shortages has paddy at a fraction of its normal value. The precipitous decline in price of Mon State’s primary agricultural products is being matched by a decline in remittances as migrant workers earn less in now-struggling neighboring countries Thailand and Malaysia.
Download report as PDF [ 1.25 MB] Read more

Considerations on Human Rights and Political Progress

There has been a new process of international community’s involvement for the national reconciliation in Burma.  Recently, an ASEAN Summit, the Thai Foreign Minister and an official from US State Department have attempted to engage with the regime to encourage national reconciliation in the country. Read more

Local residents reluctant to pay for corrupt authorities’ entertainment permits.

HURFOM, Southern Ye Township, March 27, 2009

Local residents in Southern Ye Township, Mon State have decided to spend less money on public entertainment events such as music or traditional dancing performances due to the heavy taxes levied by the Township authorities. Read more

Permission denied to repair Mon National schools in southern Ye township

HURFOM, Khaw-Zar Sub-township, March 25, 2009
An appeal to repair Mon national schools in southern Ye township has been denied by the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) and the local SPDC Battalion based in the area, according to the local Mon Youth Association’s members and activists who have been trying to repair the NMSP-run schools for their young people.

Members of the joint Mon Youth organizations in the villages under the control of Khaw-Zar Sub-township have tried to ask for the permission to repair their national schools from both the Sub-township PDC and the local Infantry Battalion No. 31 since the beginning of January, 2009. However, both Sub-township officials and the local military Commanders postponed the decision for more than two months and eventually gave a negative response, according to Mehm Lyeh, a 28 year old Yin-Ye villager and worker for Mon national schools.

He explained, “at first, we tried to repair the schools without any official permission. But most of the schools in this area needed major maintenance such as replacing the zinc roofs, the wooden frames and the brick fencing. On the other hand, we have been afraid of the possible consequences from the local authorities if we do it ourselves without any permission.”

According to another 27 year old Mon man from Yin-Ye village, “in our village the school building needs major repair to be in a good condition.  If not, it might cause harm to the students. Most of the frames under the roofs are not really strong enough right now.”

In the first week of March some members of the Joint Mon Youth Association under Khaw-Zar Sub-township attempted to meet with the TPDC leader but received a reply from an assistant officer instead of the council chairman U Kyaw Moe, 48, an ethnic Burman, originally from the middle part of Burma.

“We didn’t get a chance to talk with the chairman. But we met with an assistant officer and he told us that the proposal was rejected by the Sub-township’s management board during the last weekly meeting,” a 25 year old villager from Yin-Dein village, who wishes to remain anonymous, told a HURFOM reporter.

In Toe-Tat-Ywa-Thit village, some security troops from Infantry Battalion No. 31 used the Mon national school as a base to organize village security with the local residents. While based in the school the soldiers broke some classrooms’ windows, chairs, tables and blackboards, according to a local resident who used to work as a Mon national school teacher in the village.

“The soldiers have to repair the wrong they have done in the last three weeks in our school,” said a 30 year old Mon man, a member of the local Mon Youth Association in the village. “This is the main reason why we want to fix our school. We have been ready to repair it for three months. We have collected sufficient funding through the support of our friends who are working abroad in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We have even bought 70 bags of cement, sand, iron frames and zinc roofs in order to repair the schools. But now we have been denied permission by the authorities. Of course, most of the officials are ethnic Burman and they might want to maintain the junta’s systematic policy of ethnic cleansing. Language and Literature are very important for every minority ethnic groups and thus they have always harassed our Mon education system.

The schools in this area have been running without a break since 1995 after the cease-fire between the main Mon political armed force, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the current regime, SPDC. Occasionally Mon national schools have been threatened with closure by local authorities in a way similar to other Mon areas in the north. The authorities even took photographs of teachers and students in Mon national schools when the session began, to increase fear among the staff and the learners.  In southern Ye township, some Mon schools were forced to close down by a military order in 2004. Local military authorities forced a Mon National School teacher to resign after they demanded that the teacher sign a paper agreeing to teach Burmese instead of the Mon language.

Colonel accuses villagers of supporting KNU

HURFOM: Villagers in Tenasserim Division have been accused of supporting the armed Karen National Union (KNU) and been denied access to their land by a Burmese military Colonel who also refused to let Christian villagers hold meetings about improving their churches. Read more

Nigh time travel banned in Mudon and Thanbyuzayat

Fri 20 Mar 2009, Kyae Goe, HURFOM/IMNA

Residents of Mudon and Thanbyuzayat Townships in Mon State are not being allowed outside of their houses after 9 pm. The order comes after rumors of insurgent activity in the area.

Earlier this week, army officials notified the New Mon State Party (NMSP) liaison offices in Moulmein and Thanbyuzayat Townships of the restrictions. According to NMSP sources, the party was asked to ensure that its members and, particularly, soldiers in the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), were careful not to travel at night. Read more

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