To:     Chairperson                                                          Date: 12-10-99
          xxxx Village

Right now as soon as [you] receive this letter, the Chairperson yourself must go quickly to report information at Kya In Seik Gyi (Ma Ya Ka [Township PDC]), and come without fail to see the Column Commander at yyyy, you are informed.

                                                                                         [Sd.]
                                                                              Column Commander

[Copies of this exact same order with the same wording were sent to the heads of all villages in the area.]

                Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion                To:
          Date: 20-9-99                                      Chairperson
          Company #x                                        xxxx village

Subject:     To report any unusual information every day

(1) Starting right now when [you] get this letter, every day report any unusual information by messenger.
(2) Even if [you] do not get any unusual information, send at least 1 piece of information every day. One piece of information about the enemy, or the people who come and go in the village, a register of peddlars, number of plantations, hill fields, etc. Write one piece of information. It must tell all that they [the people reported on] are doing.
(3) Send information about health, education, social obligations and occupations in the village with the messenger.
(4) Starting right now when [you] receive this letter, send a messenger every day, you are hereby informed. The Chairperson must not fail to do this, you are informed. If [you] don't do it serious action will be taken, you are hereby informed.

Note:     Send a messenger every day. Even if [you] do not have any unusual information, [you] must send at least one piece of information. The 42 families of xxxx village must each send firewood to the ground beneath the Church on 22-9-99, to arrive by 1000 hours.

Chairperson:

1. On 25-9-99 send 15 viss [24 kg / 52.5 lb] of pork to the camp.
2. Send 2 bottles of honey, as I ordered, and one monkey on 23-9-99.
3. If the Chairperson gets well, come to meet [me] on 24-9-99.
4. Send a messenger every day.

                                                                               [Sd.] 21-9-99
                                                                            Camp Commander
                                                                                 yyyy Camp
                                                                          Company Commander
                                                                                #x Company
                                                                        #xxx Infantry Battalion

[Though this order sounds extremely repetitive, it has been translated exactly as it was written. 'The ground beneath the Church' is the space underneath the building, which is built raised on posts. Note that in the midst of all these demands, in note #3 the Commander acknowledges that the headman is not even well.]

                          Stamp:
Village Tract Peace & Development Council
                yyyy Village Tract

To:     Chairperson, Secretary, Village Mother, Village Father
          xxxx [village]

Subject:   The matter of sending unusual information every day about [Army] camp
               security and regional peace and development

Regarding the above subject, come from the Chairperson's village to the camp to send any unusual information about the region every day on time at 8 o'clock in the morning. Also, Chairperson (or) Village Mother / Village Father, come yourselves to meet with the Camp Commander. If you fail, action will be taken. Note: Each month, send 5,000 Kyat in cash per village for 3 servants, and at the same time 3,000 cheroots for the camp, the Camp Commander has informed [us].

                                                                                    [Sd.]
                                                                               Chairperson
                                                         Village Tract Peace & Development Council

['Unusual information' means intelligence about any opposition movements, visitors to the village and activities of villagers. The money 'for 3 servants' which each village must pay every month is simply extortion which goes under the name of "servants' fees". The villages must also provide 'servants' at the same time.]

                Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion
     Column #x Headquarters

          To:     Chairpersons
                    aaaa, bbbb, cccc, dddd, and eeee village tracts

Subject:   The matter of sending information about the enemy from the area of the
               villages

1.      Schedule for sending information about the enemy, by rotation of villages:

          (a) From dddd [village] to cccc [village], arrive at (0900) hours
          (b) From cccc [village] to bbbb [village], arrive at (1000) hours
          (c) From bbbb [village] to aaaa [village], arrive at (1030) hours
          (d) From aaaa [village] to eeee [village], arrive at (1100) hours

2. If [they] don't arrive at the specified time, no need to wait. Send the information on with the set tha messenger.

3. When they sent the military information about the enemy, cccc [village] wrote that they would take responsibility for their village but would not take responsibility for outside their village. [We] already notified and gave responsibility to the villagers for all villages within 3 miles [of their home village], to report whether there is any unusual information or not.

4. Therefore, to gather any unusual information from the area within 3 miles of your village, ask [the villagers] to do rotation duty. If our troops arrive and a battle occurs, [we] will arrest the sentries who are doing rotation duty, you are informed.

                                                                                       [Sd.]
                                                                            Battalion Commander
                                                                            #xxx Infantry Battalion

[This order is written in a very convoluted way to express something which should be very simple. Item 1 specifies that a 'set tha' messenger should be sent from one village to the next ('dddd' village to 'cccc' village, then from there to 'bbbb' village, etc.), according to the schedule, with the information being passed on from village to village until all the information for the region reaches the Army camp at 11 o'clock. Item 2 means that if the messenger doesn't arrive on time from the preceding village, your village is not to wait but to send your own messenger onward anyway to keep the schedule. Items 3 and 4 order the village heads to use villagers for rotating forced labour gathering this intelligence everywhere within 3 miles of their village, and warn them that if the SPDC column is attacked in their area they will arrest and detain the villagers who were doing this forced labour as 'sentries' as a punishment for not providing sufficient intelligence. This is a typical arrangement forced upon villages by the SPDC.]

                        Stamp:                                                               2-8-99
Village Tract Peace & Development Council
                yyyy Village Tract

To:     Chairperson / Secretary
          xxxx [village]

Subject:   The matter of sending information and sending food for the camp

Regarding the above subject, one person per village [including] from the Chairperson's village must bring information tomorrow on 3-8-99.

Come tomorrow to meet with the Camp Commander, and bring without fail 1 viss [1.6 kg / 3.5 lb] of chicken and vegetables for the camp, by order of the Camp Commander, you are informed.

                                                                         [Sd.] 2-8-99
                                                                         Chairperson
                                                    Village Tract Peace & Development Council
                                                      yyyy Village Tract, Than Daung Township

                Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion               To:
           Company #x                                       Chairperson / Secretary

Right now when [you] receive this letter, come quickly to report information to xxxx camp, you are informed.

                                                                                  [Sd.] xxxx
                                                                           Camp Commander x
                                                                                  xxxx Camp

[The back of this order was marked "Quickly".]

                 Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion
     Column x Headquarters

To:     Village Head
          xxxx Village

Subject:     Invitation for a meeting

Regarding the above subject, for area security matters and to get information about enemy matters, every village head must come to yyyy Army Camp for discussion on 30-6-99. If you fail, it is your responsibility. You are hereby informed.
[Handwritten note:] Must arrive in the morning at (0900) hours.

                                                                          [Sd. / 30/6/99]
Place:     yyyy Camp                                          Intelligence Officer
Date:      27-6-99                                      Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion

[This is a typed order which has been carbon-copied; the date and village name were written in afterwards.]

           Stamp:                             To:                                        23-6-99
#xxx Infantry Battalion                        Chairperson
       #x Company                                xxxx village

Subject:     To send information to yyyy camp

Regarding the above matter, the villagers listed below from xxxx village who were carrying rice didn't come to report and carry at yyyy camp, so 4 sacks of rice were lost. The villagers who didn't come to report information:

               (1)     Saw aaaa
               (2)     Saw bbbb
               (3)     Saw cccc
               (4)     Saw dddd
               (5)     Maw eeee

Therefore, to solve the matter of the 4 lost sacks of rice, the Chairperson of xxxx village together with the 5 villagers mentioned above who didn't report the information, come to yyyy Camp on 24-6-99 at 10 o'clock and do not be late. Report information without fail, you are hereby informed.

                                                                                     [Sd.] 23-6-99
                                                                                 Camp Commander
                                                                                      yyyy Camp

[It is unclear whether the lost sacks of rice belonged to the villagers or the Army. Either way, it appears that the SPDC Commander suspects that the rice has gone to the KNLA. On the back of this order, the village head has written in Sgaw Karen a list of 10 names under the heading 'People who have to carry rations at yyyy tomorrow'.]

                 Stamp:                                                              Date: 4-6-99
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion            To: Chairperson
             Company #x                                  xxxx Village

Subject:     Come to report information at yyyy Army Camp

Regarding the above subject, Chairperson yourself from xxxx village, come to yyyy Camp to report information on 5-6-99 at 0800 hours in the morning. You are informed [to come] without fail.

                                                                            [Sd.] 4/6/99
                                                                        Camp Commander
                                                                              yyyy Camp
Note:
          If the Chairperson is not there, the Secretary or Village Mother / Village Father must come without fail to report information.

To:     Chairperson
          xxxx [village]

Subject:     Attend a meeting

Regarding the above subject, bring information to yyyy village and arrive today (11-4-99) at 11 o'clock, you are informed.

                                                                                     [Sd.]
                                                                            (for) Chairperson

              Stamp:
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion               To:  Chairperson                  10-2-99
           Intelligence                                   xxxx village

Now, on receiving this letter come to bring information quickly to the Column at yyyy, you are informed.

                                                                                     [Sd.]
                                                                           Intelligence Officer
                                                                            Frontline LIB #xxx

To:                                                                      Stamp:
     U aaaa                                         Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion
     xxxx village                                                Date: 5/2/99
                                                              Column #x Headquarters

1.     U aaaa, xxxx village is not included in yyyy group, so no need to send sentries for the road.

2.     zzzz Camp has assigned [your village] the duty as sentries to guard the Bilin River, so reply with a letter that you have a problem providing sentries for the road [as well].

3.     [Your village] Must fulfil this duty, so if [you] can't fulfil it, respond by writing a letter.

                                                                                 [Sd.]
                                                                    Battalion Commander
                                                                    #xxx Infantry Battalion

[This order is from an Army camp which has ordered the village to do forced labour as unarmed sentries along the Bilin River. The village head has apparently protested that another Army camp is already forcing them to stand sentry along the road, so the officer is responding by telling the village head to notify the other Army camp that they can no longer do sentry duty on the road because they now have to guard the river.]

To:     Chairperson                                                         16-1-99
          xxxx village

Subject:     Invitation to a meeting

To discuss operations and security, on 18-1-99 in the morning at 9 o'clock there will be a meeting in yyyy camp. Come to attend, you are invited.

                                                                                  [Sd.]
                                                                               xxx xxxx [Army serial #]
                                                                               Bo xxxx
                                                                    yyyy Camp Commander
                                                                               LIB #xxx

To:     Chairperson                                                               26-3-99
          xxxx [village]

Four soldiers have left. If [you] see [them], send the information quickly.

                                                                                          [Sd.]
                                                                                     Bo [officer]

[This is a request for villagers to report any sightings of 4 deserters from the SPDC Army. Desertions are increasingly frequent, and villages are heavily punished if they are suspected of sheltering or aiding deserters.]

                    Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Light Infantry Battalion           To:  Village Head
         Column #x Headquarters                              xxxx village
                                                                                            Date: 11-1-99      

Today, as soon as you receive this letter, village head yourself bring information to yyyy camp, you are informed.

                                                                                     [Sd.]
                                                                           Intelligence Officer

                Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion             To:    Village Head
      Column #x Headquarters                            xxxx village
                                                                                       Date: [blank]-1-99

Today when you receive this letter, village head yourself, send information to yyyy camp, you are informed.

                                                                                        [Sd.]
                                                                              Intelligence Officer

               Stamp:
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion               To:    Chairperson
             Company #x                                       xxxx Village

Right now, as soon as [you] receive this letter, come quickly to yyyy Army Camp to report information. If [you] do not arrive, I will come myself.

                                                                                    [Sd.] xxxx
                                                                               Camp Commander
                                                                                     yyyy Camp

[The threat to come to the village himself is serious, because if an officer comes to the village with soldiers the village will be looted and the elders may be detained and seriously punished for having failed to comply with this written order.]

                                                                              Stamp:
To:     Village Head                                  Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion
           xxxx village                                        Column #x Headquarters

Subject:     Invitation to a meeting

1)     About security matters, an emergency meeting will be held so the Village Heads yourselves [must come] to yyyy camp on 30-12-98 to arrive at 1200 hours. Do not fail to come, you are informed.

2)     It is an emergency meeting so if you fail to come action will be taken against the village head, letting you know, you are informed.

                                                                        [Sd. / 28/12/98]
Date:      28-12-98                                             Intelligence Officer
Place:     yyyy                                                #xxx Infantry Battalion

                Stamp:                              To:                                Date: 16-10-98
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion                 Chairperson
           Company #x                                  xxxx village

[We] have emergency matters, so the Chairperson must bring along Ma aaaa, who saw 15 Nga Pway ['Ringworms' derogatory slang for KNLA soldiers] on 12-10-98. Come and arrive on 17-10-98 at 6 o'clock in the morning, you are hereby informed.

                                                                                        [Sd.]
                                                                           yyyy Camp Commander

[The purpose of this order is to summon the village woman mentioned for a full interrogation.]