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Notes: Some details of this report have been omitted or replaced by 'xxxx', 'yyyy', 'aaaa' etc. for Internet distribution. To preserve formatting, the order translations have been saved in 'table' format, so this report is best viewed in a window maximized to your full screen width. Otherwise, you may have to scroll left and right to see the full text.
Following are the direct translations of just over 250 order documents and related
letters sent from State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA), and Karen Peace Army (KPA) military units and local authorities to villages
in Pa’an, Dooplaya, Toungoo, Papun, Thaton and Nyaunglebin Districts of Karen State,
southeastern Burma (click here to see a
map of the region). They were issued between mid-1999 and September 2000,
with the vast majority of them dated in the latter half of this period. Villages in Karen
areas receive a constant stream of order documents such as these almost every day, from
all the Army camps near their village as well as the various levels of SPDC authorities,
commanding them to provide people for forced labour, materials and supplies for the Army,
extortion money, food, crop quotas, intelligence and other forms of support for the
military. Many of the orders simply command village elders to rush to Army camps for
‘meetings’ at which military officers dictate lists of demands and threaten them
with punishment for any failure to comply. The orders translated in this report should be
seen as only a small representative sample of the thousands of orders issued to villages
in these areas during this time period. For every order reproduced here, hundreds more are
issued every week. This report does not aim to provide a comprehensive picture of the
human rights situation in these areas, but to provide a reference containing examples of
several kinds of orders received by villages in several different regions. More
information on the human rights situation in each District is available in other existing
KHRG reports.
All of the orders demanding forced labour were issued well after May 14th 1999, which is when the SPDC leadership claims to have issued ‘Order 1/99’ to all of their military and administrative units to halt conscription of forced labour under the Village Act and the Towns Act, colonial-era laws which allow authorities to press-gang labour under certain circumstances. In practice, most of the demands made by the military and SPDC authorities violate the conditions of these Acts (for example, that only able-bodied and unemployed men be conscripted), and when demanding forced labour the authorities almost never even make reference to the Acts. Since May 1999 there has been no abatement in orders issued demanding forced labour, and the fact that those included below were issued by many different SPDC battalions and authorities in 4 different regions shows that such demands are not isolated incidents. In June 2000 the International Labour Organisation gave the SPDC until November to take measures to bring an end to forced labour, but the orders in this report dated right up to the end of September indicate that no such measures have been taken.
The report has been divided into sections according to the types of orders. Some orders span two or more topics, such as those which demand forced labour as well as extortion money; in these cases we have taken into account the main focus of the order in categorising it. For each topic a short summary has been included to explain the context in which the orders were issued. ‘Forced Relocation’ includes orders directly related to the forced relocation of a village in Toungoo District, while ‘Passes and Restrictions’ contains a movement pass of the type required by villagers whenever they leave their village, and demands for family lists and photographs as a means of controlling the movement and activities of villagers. In the section ‘Threats and Propaganda Letters’, the SPDC orders villagers to beat Army deserters to death and threatens to burn their villages if they don’t do it (Order #10), decrees that villages will be directly punished for any opposition activity in their area (Order #11), and vows to annihilate a Karen civilian organisation (Order #13). ‘General Forced Labour’ includes orders which directly demand that villagers do forced labour at Army camps, along roads and at other worksites, while ‘Forced Labour Supplying Materials to the Army’ includes those which indirectly demand forced labour by ordering villagers to cut, prepare and haul logs, planks, bamboo, thatch and other materials to local Army camps. The section ‘Rice/Crop Quotas and Farming Matters’ includes orders relating to the rice which farmers are forced to hand over to the SPDC, and the full text of a ‘paddy buying agreement’ (Order #159) which dictates a 17% interest rate on quota rice which is unpaid due to crop failures - thereby forcing farmers into an inescapable spiral of debt. Other sections contain orders extorting money and food and orders to provide intelligence. Under ‘Foreign Corporate Involvement’, Order #174 directly mentions a Dutch company’s involvement in the Burmese teak trade. Under ‘Education and Health’, we see an Artillery officer running a school Parent-Teacher Association (Order #176), demands that villagers give money and labour for SPDC schools and training courses, a list of political qualifications required for admission to teacher training (Order #181), an order that well-known writers not be allowed to give lectures on literature without prior military approval (Order #175), and an order threatening any villager who does not build and ‘systematically use’ a proper toilet (Order #182). The section ‘Summons to Meetings’ contains orders calling village elders to Army camps to receive all of the above types of demands, and sometimes threatening to label them as ‘hard-core’ or shell their villages if they fail to show up (see Orders #200 and 234). All orders issued by groups other than the SPDC have been separated out and placed in the sections ‘DKBA and KPA Letters’ and ‘Other Topics’.
Originals of most of these orders were obtained by KHRG researchers in each region, and a significant proportion were also gathered by field researchers for the field offices of the Federated Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB). KHRG would like to thank the field researchers of the FTUB for their extensive help in gathering these orders, and for working with KHRG to translate many of them. With the exception of those under ‘DKBA and KPA Letters’ and ‘Other Topics’, they were issued by local SPDC Army commanders and Peace & Development Councils (PDCs), which are local-level SPDC administration at the Township, Village Tract and Village levels. While the Township and often Village Tract PDCs consist of SPDC officials under direct military control, the Village PDC chairperson and members are appointed, often against their will, by the local military. These are the village elders to whom the orders are addressed and sent, who are referred to as ‘Chairperson’ and ‘Secretary’ in the text. They are responsible for providing forced labourers, money, materials, intelligence etc. as demanded by the military and the higher-level PDCs, and they are the first to be arrested and tortured if they fail to do so; this is what is meant by threatening phrases such as "if you fail it will be your responsibility".
Notes on the Text
Within each section below, we have sorted the orders chronologically, beginning with the oldest and proceeding to the most recent, with any undated orders included at the end of the section. The heading for each order includes its region of origin in parentheses: Pa’an, Dooplaya, Toungoo, Papun, Thaton or Nyaunglebin. The map shows the relative location of these districts.
Most of these orders were handwritten, some typed, and carbon-copied or copied on a cyclostyling machine if sent to more than one village. Many of them have been produced as form letters for distribution to many villages, with the village name and any other specific details written in afterwards by hand. The orders were written in Burmese with the exception of some of those included under ‘DKBA and KPA Letters’.
We have attempted to accurately reproduce the visual page layout of each order, and underlining, etc. are as they appear in the order. ‘Stamp:’ gives the translation of the rubber-stamped unit identifier affixed to many of the orders, while ‘[Sd.]’ denotes the usually illegible signature of the issuing official. The language of many of the orders sounds awkward because Burmese grammar is very different from English; for example, the ordering of phrases within a sentence is almost opposite, sentences are often very long and convoluted, and personal subject and object pronouns are often omitted in Burmese. We have translated the words and expressions as directly as possible, though we have sometimes had to make minor changes in the sequence of the words for the wording to make sense and to have the exact same meaning in English. Moreover, many SPDC Army officers and Non-Commissioned Officers are semi-illiterate so they write with terrible grammar and frequent mistakes. Where necessary, we have added notes in italics in square brackets for clarification, but all other text is as it appears in the orders.
In Burmese, numerals are usually written in parentheses; in the translations these have been omitted in most cases where they would not be used in English. As in the originals, all numeric dates are shown in dd/mm/yy or dd/mm format. Some orders use Burmese dates: the year 1362 is the period from April 2000-April 2001, the months begin at each new moon and are divided into the moon’s ‘waxing’ and ‘waning’ phases. We have noted the equivalent Gregorian calendar date where it is not already specified. Village names, people’s names and Army camp names have been replaced with ‘xxxx’, ‘yyyy’, etc. where necessary to protect villages from retaliation.
Most orders are addressed to the ‘Chairperson’, who is the SPDC-appointed Chairperson of the Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC). This council, consisting of a Chairperson, Secretary, and Members, is supposed to administer the village for the SPDC, which mainly consists of arranging whatever the Army demands. Other orders are addressed to the ‘Village Head’, who is head of the village elders, and is often the same as the VPDC Chairperson. Often it is actually a woman because the villagers feel that women, particularly elderly women, will be detained and tortured less often than a male headman would be. Some of the orders address the village headwoman colloquially as ‘Mother’. At the village level, the ‘Chairperson’ is usually victimised by the local military; however, at the village tract and township levels the ‘Chairperson’ is often a corrupt SPDC appointee who works closely with the local military. The local Army often dictates demands to the Township or Village Tract PDC leaders, who then divide the demands among the villages and issue the written orders.
Many orders call for ‘loh ah pay’, a Burmese term referring to a traditional practice of contributing one’s labour for small village or temple projects in order to earn Buddhist merit; however, the labour demanded in these orders is forced under threat and is not actually ‘loh ah pay’ at all. Rather than translate this misuse of the term, we have left it intact where it occurs in the orders. The term ‘wontan’ also appears frequently; we have translated this literally as ‘servant’, and it is used by the SPDC to refer to porters and other forced labourers. ‘Operation servants’ are forced labour porters for frontline operations. Many of the orders demand that the village head ‘bring information’ or ‘report information’ to the Army camp; this is a summons for the village head to report intelligence on opposition movements near the village, any visitors to the village, and all activities of the villagers. Reference is made to ‘servants’ fees’, also known as ‘porter fees’; these are the routine extortion fees which villagers must pay to all Army battalions in their area. The texts of the orders often refer to the recipient of the order (usually the village Chairman) using a polite term which directly translates as ‘Gentleman’, or ‘in Gentleman’s village’. Many orders contain phrases like "if you fail it is your responsibility" or "we will not take any responsibility for your village"; these are threats that village elders will be arrested and detained under torture or houses will be looted and/or burned for failure to comply with the order. Some Battalions in the orders call themselves ‘Frontline’ battalions, indicating that they operate in conflict areas.
SPDC State Peace &
Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
PDC Peace & Development Council,
SPDC local-level administration
VPDC Village Peace & Development
Council (abbreviated ‘Ya Ya Ka’ in Burmese)
TPDC Township Peace & Development
Council (abbreviated ‘Ma Ya Ka’ in Burmese)
DKBA Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karen
group allied with SLORC/SPDC
KPA Karen Peace Army, a
small group under SPDC control in Dooplaya District
IB Infantry
Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
LIB Light Infantry
Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
KNU Karen National Union, main
Karen opposition group
KNLA Karen National Liberation Army, army of
the KNU
Nga Pway ‘Ringworm’, derogatory SPDC slang for KNU/KNLA
Kyat Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat
at official rate, 300+ Kyat at current market rate
Viss Unit of weight measure; one
viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.5 pounds
Pyi Volume of rice equal to 8
small condensed milk tins; about 2 kilograms / 4.4 pounds
Taun Burmese unit of measurement equalling
1.5 feet or ½ metre (elbow to fingertip)
Twa Burmese unit of measurement equalling
8-9 inches or 20-22 cm (one handspan)
You may proceed sequentially through the report, or click on
any of the headings below to go directly to that section of the report.
Preface (top of report)
Terms and Abbreviations
Table of Contents
Map
Forced Relocation
................................................ (Orders
#1-5)
Passes and Restrictions
.......................................... (#6-9)
Threats
and Propaganda Letters
............................... (#10-14)
General Forced Labour
.......................................... (#15-95)
Forced Labour Supplying Materials to the Army ............ (#96-112)
Orders
to Provide Intelligence and Support .................. (#113-124)
Extortion
of Money, Food and Supplies ....................... (#125-158)
Rice/Crop
Quotas and Farming Matters ....................... (#159-173)
Foreign Corporate Involvement
................................ (#174)
Education and Health
............................................. (#175-182)
Summons
to ‘Meetings’
........................................... (#183-239)
DKBA
and KPA Letters
............................................ (#240-254)
Other
Topics
........................................................ (#255-257)
[You may proceed sequentially through the report, or click on any of the headings above to go directly to that section of the report.]
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For the past 2-3 years in Toungoo District, the SPDC has divided villages into those they can directly control with Army camps (‘Peace villages’) and those which are harder to reach in the hills (‘Hiding villages’), and all of the latter have been ordered to move and destroyed, forcing the villagers to flee into hiding in the hills where they still struggle to survive. In addition, even ‘Peace villages’ which are perceived as being uncooperative or where opposition activity has occurred nearby are then ordered to relocate. The sequence of orders below began when one such village in Toungoo District was ordered to relocate in July 2000, most likely for failure to comply with demands for forced labour on the xxxx - yyyy vehicle road and for the continuing KNLA activity in the region. At present, we have been unable to confirm whether this village is still in place or not. For more information on events in the area, see the KHRG report "Peace Villages & Hiding Villages" (KHRG #2000-05, 15/10/00).
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Stamp: To: The higher authorities have ordered that your village be relocated. Important. Bring the family list of the village and report to yyyy [camp] as soon as you receive this letter, you are informed. [Sd.]
21-7-2000 [This relocation order was followed by a sequence of orders as the Army tried to implement the relocation, including Orders #2, 3, 4, and 5. It appears that the villagers may have tried to pay their way out of being relocated, but the officers became increasingly frustrated with the headman until they threatened to shoot him in Order #5.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #2 (Toungoo) Stamp: To: Chairperson and Secretary, come as soon as you receive this letter. If [you] don’t come, it will be the exclusive responsibility of the Chairperson and Secretary. We will continue to do what must be done. Now [I] know what the Chairperson and Secretary are doing. Don’t put the blame on us. [Sd.]
22-7-2000 [This order followed the day after the order to relocate the village (Order #1). It appears that the village leaders have failed to accept the order, and may be trying to avoid it by going over the head of the local officers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #3 (Toungoo)
Stamp: To: Chairperson U xxxx Date: 5-8-2000 Come and report to the Column as soon as you receive this letter to discuss village relocation and buying and selling matters. If [you] do not come, the Column will come [to you]. [Sd.] [This order came approximately 2 weeks after Order #1 ordered the village to relocate. It is normal in such cases for villages to drag their feet, to attempt to ignore the order and then to try to pay their way out of it. At this stage, it appears that the village leaders may have begun negotiating a bribe to be paid to the Battalion in order to avoid being relocated, possibly subject to some restrictions on their ‘buying and selling’ movements.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #4 (Toungoo) To: Chairperson 15th
Aug. ’00 The Major is asking U xxxx, you were told already to meet on Sunday, so why did you fail to meet the Major? Therefore, come quickly to meet as soon as you receive this letter. Yours. [no signature] [This order followed the order to relocate the village (Order #1) and subsequent orders #2 and 3. The village head still didn’t show up, possibly because he knew the Army was intent on forcing them to relocate, so 4 days later Order #5 was sent.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U xxxx 19-8-2000 You failed your promise to meet, so I will come when your village is holding the hill god ceremony. As compensation, a bullet will be received. Meet now. [Sd.] [At this point it is clear that the village head is not planning to comply with the forced relocation order, and it is possible that he and many of the villagers have already fled into hiding. If the village tried to pay their way out of the forced relocation, it apparently has not worked.] |
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The documents translated below illustrate some of the means which the SPDC uses to control the movements and activities of villagers. Further examples of such orders can be seen in "SPDC and DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG #2000-01, 29/2/00). Orders #6 and 7 demand lists and photos of all families in the village, which are later used by SPDC units when they arrest anyone around the village - if the person arrested is not on the list or among the photographs, he or she is automatically accused of being a ‘rebel’ and faces torture and possible summary execution. This often results in the execution of visitors, or villagers who were not around during the registration process. Order #8 relates to one such case, where a displaced person from a relocated village in the hills has been captured in an SPDC-controlled village. After interrogation the SPDC must have realised he is just a simple villager so he is to be released, but probably only after the village head pays a heavy ransom. Order #9 is an example of a movement pass which villagers must always carry when they go anywhere outside their villages. Villagers caught without such documents face summary detention and torture, being taken as porters for indefinite periods, or possibly an accusation of being a ‘rebel’ followed by summary execution. Villagers can do nothing without a pass issued by the military or by a Village or Village Tract Peace & Development Council which has been authorised by the military. If a villager carrying a pass issued by his/her Village Peace & Development Council is subsequently arrested and accused by the military, the village authorities who issued the pass will also be arrested; because of this, the military can feel confident that the village heads are too afraid to issue passes to anyone who may be subject to military suspicion. As an added burden, villagers are often forced to pay for these passes.
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To: Date:
20-6-2000
Respectfully, [Lists such as these are used when villagers are arrested, to see if they are actually from the village they say they are from. As a result, visitors to villages are often suspected and tortured.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Subject: Chairperson - Calling for family photographs Regarding this call for family photographs, the Gentleman’s village is informed to send 5 families each day to xxxx Army Camp to be photographed. Date: xx/2/2000 [Sd.] [These photographs will most likely be used as a reference so that anyone found in the area who has not been photographed will be summarily arrested and accused of being a ‘rebel’. Each family will also probably be forced to pay more than the cost to be photographed.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U xxxx U xxxx! Your Ywa Bone [‘hiding village’] villager is to be released. Come and meet at xxxx [Army camp] as soon as you receive this letter. If not, …… [Sd.] [In Toungoo District, villages are specified as either ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ (‘Peace’) villages or ‘Ywa Bone’ (‘Hiding’) villages. ‘Peace’ villages are those under the direct control of an SPDC Army unit, while more remote villages are declared as ‘Hiding’ and SPDC units are under orders to destroy the houses and crops and capture or shoot their occupants on sight. This order to the headman of a ‘Peace’ village indicates that they captured someone from a ‘Hiding’ village but will be releasing them - most likely after demanding a heavy ransom from the headman. ‘If not, ......’ is exactly as it appears in the order, implying that if the headman doesn’t come they will probably execute the ‘hiding’ villager. For more information on ‘Peace’ and ‘Hiding’ villages in Toungoo District, see the report "Peace Villages & Hiding Villages" (KHRG #2000-05, 15/10/00).] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: aaaa, age xx years, (Father) U bbbb, from xxxx village (xxxx village), is one of the ten-house leaders (village heads) from xxxx village, so help [him] with whatever is needed, we recommend. [Sd.] [This is a movement pass issued to a sub-village head. Such passes are required by anyone going from one village to another.] |
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Threats and Propaganda Letters
The orders in this section use both threats and propaganda to demand that the villagers support the SPDC Army and that they give no political support to any opposition group. They give insights into the SPDC military mentality and the intimidation tactics used by the regime. Order #11 makes clear that villages will be punished whenever SPDC columns are attacked. Order #10 gives a shocking insight into the SPDC’s treatment of its own soldiers by ordering villagers to beat any SPDC Army deserters to death, and threatening that if they fail to do so their village may be burned and forced to move. In Order #13, SPDC authorities announce their intention to annihilate a civilian organisation set up by the KNU, and try to intimidate villagers by pretending to know everything about the organisation (disregarding the fact that if they really knew as much as they claim, there would have been no reason to issue this order). Finally, Order #14 is a propaganda leaflet given by SPDC troops to a young boy they kidnapped from the hills of Nyaunglebin District after shooting at him and his father.
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Stamp: Frontline
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion To: Chairperson Subject: Informing to let you know 1) If one or two of our Army people run away from the Column Company and arrive at the village, reassure them and coax them nicely, then when they aren’t looking beat them until they lose consciousness. Then give their weapons to the nearest Column. When you are doing this, if the soldier dies, we won’t take action and we will even give you a reward. 2) If you do not follow and carry out as specified above, we will designate the village as being in contact with rebels and take serious action under articles of the law. Moreover, we will take action up to and including the destruction and relocation of the village. Letting you know and informing you. [Sd.
‘xxxx’] 13/3 Copies to: #xx Military Operations Control
Headquarters [Whenever SPDC soldiers desert, which is becoming more and more common, elders of all the surrounding villages are interrogated under torture, and if any village is suspected of harbouring the deserters then that village is severely punished; in addition, heavy fines are randomly imposed on all surrounding villages. Deserters who are caught are usually extrajudicially executed, though they are sometimes imprisoned. This order goes quite a bit further by ordering the villagers to beat any deserters to death.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson Subject: Giving a warning Regarding the above subject, if something happens when our Column is travelling it will be the Gentleman’s [your] village’s responsibility. Letting you know and warning you that if this happens again our Column will not be responsible [for the consequences], you are informed. [Sd.] [‘If something happens’ means if the Column is ambushed, encounters landmines or any other opposition. It is normal SPDC procedure to punish villages in the area for any military setbacks suffered by their troops.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #12 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson Stamp: 17-5-2000 The cattle from the Battalion village [the village where the battalion camp is located] trespassed and caused damage. So when you receive this letter, come and meet. Come quickly to look after the cow or we will go to shoot and capture it. We give you our last warning.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Frontline
#xx Light Infantry Battalion To: xxxx village Subject: To abolish the group being
organised by KNU rebel troops in the concerned 1) According to the records captured from Pado Pay Gyi [a KNU official], we know that in Kawkareik township, the "Nabu township PP21, Working Group #5" has formed the groups shown [below] to organise and assign duties to the village tracts and villages. Therefore, you must sign to agree that you have left these groups by 20-3-2000. You must also promise that you won’t do this again later. (a) Village tract (single
female/single male Karen national organisation) (b) Village (single female/single
male Karen national organisation) (c) Village tract justice group (d) Village
tract and village Karen national organisation (e) Township and village tract
sangha [order of monks] group (f) Group to cause dissension
and organise enemy troops (g) Supplies assistance group 2) For the groups shown concerning the village tract/village, we have a register of the names. We also know the names registered which are not shown [those other than the positions mentioned above]. [They] organise and operate as they please, and the village population is forced to carry out duties, and we have also seen people carry these out willingly. We have to operate to abolish this organisation forever (forever). 3) According to this order, we will designate anyone who does not come to give their promise [not to be involved with the above groups] to be one who continues to carry out these duties, and we will take serious (serious) action. You are strongly warned. [Sd.] Copies to: [This is a carbon copied order sent to many villages. Nabu township is in central Pa’an District. ‘PP21’ stands for People Power 21st Century, a small movement started several years ago by some of Burma’s armed opposition groups to organise non-violent resistance among civilians mainly outside urban areas. Despite the claims in this order to ‘know everything’, it is clear from the vague wording of the subgroups named that the SPDC is largely guessing at the operations of the PP21 group.] ______________________________________________________________________________ [On February 23rd 2000, SPDC troops were patrolling in the hills of eastern Nyaunglebin District. They sighted a villager named K--- in the fields and immediately opened fire on him. K--- ran and escaped, but the troops captured his young son and took him with them. Later they gave the boy 500 Kyat and a propaganda leaflet and let him go. The text of the leaflet is translated below. The leaflet consists of 5 short panels, as reflected by the 5 sections below; the first four are in Burmese, and the final panel is in Sgaw Karen. Bold face text and other formatting are shown as they appear in the original.] Words for light A. Ray of light which breaks the
darkness B. Let brothers of the same race
meet and gather again C. Break the darkness and take
the light Agreement If [you] bring information to the Army or Government Authorities, you will be designated as one of the peace [nyein chan yay] representatives and we won’t give you any danger [trouble/abuse], our Army will welcome you warmly and snugly, [we] make this agreement.
[Sd.] Peace Pass Caution When the one holding this pass is travelling, be careful not to confiscate their belongings, abuse them physically, or insult their moral character. If this prohibition is broken, serious action will be taken. Peace Pass All leaders of Kay Eh Nyu [KNU], privates, commanders and soldiers, Right now, Zweh K’Bin land [Zweh K’Bin is a famous mountain near Pa’an] of your brothers, Kayin [Karen] State, in the peaceful red light the whole State is starting to walk on the way to development……. Brothers, for the Karen people’s welfare and Karen State’s welfare, give up the way of violence, join and work urgently with the Tatmadaw [Army] …… Brothers, your parents and relatives and the Karen people can’t escape from the problem of poverty if [you] continue to fight….. Brothers, to work and feed the Karen people whom you love, build up the peace…. Look for the benefit of Karen people, who need the taste of peace, come to join with the Tatmadaw. Brothers… Don’t waver… Don’t think. For the Karen people’s welfare, hold on to this peace pass and come quickly to the nearest Army camp. Tatmadaw [Army] Peace Pass [This final section is a loose Sgaw Karen translation of the preceding section in Burmese] All the Kay Eh Nyu [KNU] leaders and soldiers, Brothers in Kweh K’Baw area, our Karen State - peace and light are appearing. The whole State is developing. All Brothers - for the welfare of Karen people and Karen State, give up the weapons and come to gather, join hands and work with the Tatmadaw. All brothers, for all of your parents and relatives to escape from trouble, don’t continue fighting. All Brothers, for Karen people to stay peacefully, build up the peace. The Karen people need peace and the benefit of work, so look forward, come back to gather and join hands with the Army. All brothers - don’t think or waver. For the Karen people to stay in peace, bring this signature letter and come to the Army camp. Army |
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The most systematic and burdensome abuse inflicted on villagers by SPDC military units and authorities is forced labour, and the orders included below give some impression of the constant stream of demands for all kinds of labour which villages have to face. They include demands for one person per family to go for forced unpaid road labour or to harvest crops for the Army, various numbers of villagers to go as porters carrying munitions and supplies for mobile military columns, forced labour building and maintaining Army camps, carrying Army rations and supplies, acting as unarmed sentries, military messengers and general servants at Army camps, and various other forms of labour. We have also included orders which demand bullock carts or ploughing tractors for use by the Army, because such orders implicitly force the owner to go along and do forced labour driving his/her bullock team or tractor. In addition to all these forms of direct forced labour, villagers are also ordered to provide building materials and other such things to the Army, and producing and transporting these materials is forced labour in itself; these orders have been separated out and included in the next section, "Forced Labour Supplying Materials to the Army". Even orders demanding that village heads run to Army camps to report intelligence or to deliver food, which are included in the other sections of this report, can in their own way be considered forms of forced labour.
Two of the main forms of forced labour are building and repairing roads and working in crop fields for the Army. Roads throughout Karen areas are usually built using forced labour under inept military supervision, so they are washed out every rainy season and have to be rebuilt by more forced labour. Orders #59, 73, and 88 relate to rebuilding roads and clearing the roadsides for the military access road network in central Pa’an District, and Orders #34 and 82 relate to rebuilding damaged roads and bridges in Toungoo District. Over the past few years the Army has also been confiscating plots of farmland everywhere, then forcing villagers to grow crops to feed the Battalions and for the officers to sell for profit; some of this is reflected in Orders #40, 70, and 71. Many of the orders below relate indirectly to these two forms of labour, while the remainder involve forced labour at Army camps and as porters.
SPDC military units demand so much forced labour from the villagers that in many areas there are ‘turf wars’ between different Army camps over the limited number of villagers available for forced labour. One such battle can be seen in Orders #23 and 24 below. In Order #23, SPDC Infantry Battalion #xxx in aaaa [village] demands that villagers cut and haul firewood for brick-baking, claiming it is for the use of Military Operations Command #xx in bbbb [village]. However, when Military Operations Command #xx got wind of this three days later, they sent Order #24 to the Infantry Battalion telling them to lay off the villagers because they were already doing forced labour "to fence the front entrance gate of #xx Military Operations Headquarters with wood, to harvest the fields belonging to the Headquarters Company, and to repair the [soldiers’] family quarters". Order #56 gives a similar example, with one SPDC officer writing to another demanding that his forced labourers be sent back as soon as they’re free so he can put them to work building booby-traps around his camp perimeter. With several different battalions fighting a tug-of-war to use every villager for forced labour, it is difficult to imagine how the villagers are supposed to work for their own survival.
Facing increasing international censure for its systematic use of forced labour, particularly from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the SPDC has repeatedly claimed to have issued ‘secret directives’ and ‘special orders’ barring the use of forced labour. The most recent case occurred when SPDC leaders told the ILO that on May 14th 1999 they had issued Order 1/99, which they claimed instructed officials and military officers to cease conscripting forced labour under the Village Act and the Towns Act, and dictated that violators would be punished. However, as can be seen in the orders below, demands for forced labour never make reference to the Village Act or the Towns Act, and the SPDC admits that until now there has not been a single case of anyone being charged under Order 1/99 for demanding forced labour. Orders for forced labour continue to be issued throughout Burma as steadily as they ever were; this report alone contains over 80 such orders from many different battalions and SPDC authorities in four different regions, all of which were issued 6 to 16 months after May 1999, some as recently as late September 2000. There is no evidence at all that Order 1/99 was ever distributed within Burma, with the possible exception of Order #18 below, wherein Township authorities in Myawaddy town state that "other than calling [people] for military operation servants, matters concerning the whole population, or emergency ‘loh ah pay’ needed to face natural disasters, it has already been ordered not to call for ‘loh ah pay’". However, this order certainly is not calling for an end to forced labour, because calling for "military operation servants" and "matters concerning the whole population" such as infrastructure goes directly against the recommendations of the ILO and the supposed stipulations of Order 1/99. Furthermore, in Order #18 the Myawaddy township officials go on to say that this does not mean that villagers cannot be used for these and other forms of forced labour, but that they must draw up a rotation roster and do the forced labour, and will no longer be allowed to pay money to get out of it. If this is how Order 1/99 is being implemented in the field, it means an increase in actual forced labour, not a decrease.
The orders below usually refer to forced labour as ‘loh ah pay’, a Burmese term meaning voluntary community work such as clearing the path to the next village or repairing the Buddhist temple. By definition, ‘loh ah pay’ cannot be demanded by an Army or a distant central government, it has to be initiated within the local community. As can be seen from the orders below, none of the labour demanded is voluntary and it is demanded under threat; some of the orders threaten village elders with physical punishments if they fail to send the ‘loh ah pay’, or dictate punishments after forced labourers have run away. Rather than attempt to translate ‘loh ah pay’, we have left it as it stands in the orders. Some orders also refer to forced labourers as ‘wontan’ (‘servants’), a term more commonly used to refer to government civil servants; however, none of the labourers demanded in the orders below were paid or compensated in any way. ‘Sit seh nyay wontan’ (‘Military operation servants’) is used to refer specifically to frontline forced labour porters for Army columns, while ‘emergency’ labour usually means ad hoc portering to carry rations and supplies to Army posts. One type of forced labour is called ‘set tha’ (‘messenger’), which essentially means forced labour as military messengers, general servants, errand-runners and occasional sentries at Army camps. Most villages are forced to send one or more people each day on a rotating basis for ‘set tha’ labour at every nearby Army camp. Ironically, it is villagers doing ‘set tha’ forced labour who have to deliver orders such as those in this report from the Army camps to the villages.
Most of the orders are addressed to the village head, who must then decide which villagers must go to fill the quota demanded by the Army. A rotating system between the families of the village is generally used to do this, in order to spread the burden as evenly as possible. However, with so many different forms of forced labour being constantly demanded by every Army unit and SPDC authority in the area, families find that they must send someone for forced labour at least once every week or two. Some of the demands are on an ad hoc basis, such as orders to spend a week building a road or a day fencing an Army camp, while other orders demand ‘servants’ on a ‘rotating’ basis, which means that the village must provide a certain number of forced labourers on a rotation of a few days to a week. The villagers must take along their own food and stay at the Army camp for their rotation, doing labour as messengers, sentries, building and maintaining buildings, bunkers, trenches and fences, clearing scrub, cutting and hauling firewood, hauling water, short-distance portering and any other duties demanded of them. They are usually not released until their replacements arrive. Women often go because the men do not dare face the soldiers, and children often go so that their parents can continue to work in the fields. Some of the orders demand that the village elders or a forced labour ‘leader’ personally accompany the labourers from their village to the worksite (using language such as ‘Gentlemen, come yourselves to bring them’); this is so that the officers can simply give the assignment and then leave the elders to supervise the work, in full knowledge that if the work is not satisfactory the elders will be arrested and punished.
When villages are delinquent in complying with orders for forced labour, the Army or PDC authorities usually respond by sending threatening and angry letters, often written in red ink, until after the third letter the village has little option but to comply or face the possibility of very serious punishment which usually includes the arrest and torture of village elders. Several of the orders below threaten village elders after forced labourers have failed to show up for work. None of the labour mentioned in the orders below is undertaken voluntarily, but always under the direct or implied threat that the village elders or villagers will face serious punishments for any failure to comply. Some of the orders below warn that any failure to comply will be punished, while others mete out specific punishments to villagers who run away or do not perform, demand fines or replacement labourers from the villages, and demand the names of any villagers who have failed to appear or have run away from forced labour. Order #21 even threatens that if the village head fails to arrive at the camp with 3 forced labourers with their own food for 3 days, "we will call with the big gun", meaning that the Army will fire a mortar shell into the village.
It is difficult for villagers to go for all of this forced labour, so they often try to pay bribes to the Army to get out of it, which the orders refer to as ‘paying to hire servants’. For some types of routine forced labour, money is accepted by the local Army officers. However, the Army officers then just pocket the money and demand the labour elsewhere. Eventually, they begin demanding the labour from the same village - so the village has to send the labour while also paying to ‘avoid’ it. Later the villagers may begin paying more in order to avoid the ‘actual’ forced labour as well, first on an ad hoc basis and then on a routine basis, until this too becomes a normal extortion ‘fee’, and the Army takes the money and begins demanding yet more ‘actual’ forced labour on top of it - and so on. In many villages this system has become so formalised that they now pay several types of weekly and monthly ‘servant fees’, ‘porter fees’, and ‘messenger fees’ to various Army camps, while simultaneously doing all forms of forced labour at those camps. Orders such as #134 and #139 in the section ‘Extortion of Money, Food, and Supplies’ below demand regular ‘servant fees’ such as these, while the same Army units also demand actual forced labour. Many Army units demand more forced labour than they really need, then insist that only half of the workers actually be sent and that they be paid money for the remainder. In the case of rotating forced labour such as ‘set tha’ (‘messengers’), on days when the labour is not required the Army does not grant the villagers a day off, but instead demands that money be sent instead of a labourer on that day (see for example Orders #63, 78, and 80).
If the villagers can no longer pay the money, all of these ‘fees’ which have piled up one by one suddenly start being converted back into real forced labour - leaving the villagers with so much forced labour that they are left with little option but to flee the village.
______________________________________________________________________________
Order #15 (Pa’an) Stamp: (1) Gentlemen, now, as soon as you receive this letter, come to report information to the Column with 5 bowls [about 10 kg/22 lb] of rice. (2) It is for the servants. If you fail to come, the gentleman [you] will face the responsibility, you are informed. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] [The ‘servants’ (wontan) are forced labourers being held by the Column; the village is being ordered to bring additional food to feed them. Forced labourers are usually ordered to bring their own food, but the Army keeps them longer than the initially specified number of days so they run out of food.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #16 (Pa’an) Stamp: Gentlemen: Come with 3 loh ah pay servants from Gentleman’s [your] village to the Column on 6-9-99 at 0900 hours. If you fail, it will be the Gentleman’s [your] responsibility, you are informed. Place: yyyy
[Sd.]
xxxx ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #17 (Pa’an) Stamp: To: Chairperson Gentlemen, to coordinate the matter of servants, now, as soon as you receive this letter, come quickly to the Column. If you fail, it will be the Gentleman’s [your] responsibility, you are informed. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] [This is a summons to a meeting to dictate demands for forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Township
Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson Subject: The matter of drawing up a rotation roster for performing duties 1) Regarding the above subject, to provide fire sentries, village sentries, bridge and road security sentries from each group of sections/villages in Myawaddy Township, it is known that the concerned Section/Village Peace and Development Councils operate a system of giving wages monthly to fulfil the duties [collecting money monthly to hire people to go for forced labour, or paying in lieu of going]. 2) In the current situation, other than calling [people] for military operation servants, matters concerning the whole population, or emergency loh ah pay needed to face natural disasters, it has already been ordered not to call for loh ah pay. Therefore, regarding the matter of fire sentries, village sentries, sentries for road and bridge security, and loh ah pay concerning the population, it is not allowed to collect money from the whole populace. The people who live in the Sections/Village Tracts must use and implement a system of drawing up a duty rotation roster to start in October 1999. In order to assign duties by rotation to the sections/village tracts, present the roster drawn up to the Township Peace and Development Council in Myawaddy on 30-10-99, you are informed. 3) Moreover, regarding the calling of military operation servants, present the register of money received / money used concerned with military operation servants [for the period] up to 10/99, and carry out the closing of the record book of military operation servants called, you are informed again. [Sd.] Copies to: [This order is written in convoluted language, but the meaning would be fairly clear to village heads. Paragraph 1 acknowledges that the villagers largely collect money instead of going for forced labour for the authorities. Paragraph 2 starts out by claiming that orders have been given not to use forced labour except for portering (military operation servants), natural disasters, and ‘matters concerning the whole population’ (which could be loosely interpreted to include infrastructure projects and almost anything). However, rather than saying that other types of forced labour won’t be allowed, it just says that villagers will no longer be allowed to avoid other types of forced labour by paying money, but will have to do it themselves by rotation; and it goes on to say that a duty rotation roster must be submitted, so that anyone absent from forced labour can be punished. Paragraph 3 demands that the accounts of money paid in lieu of portering be presented and then that the ‘book’ be ‘closed’. In other words, destroy the records. Overall, it appears that orders may have been received that officials accepting money in lieu of forced labour will be punished, so the officials are telling the village heads that from now on they’ll have to give forced labour all the time, that money won’t be accepted, and that any records of money already paid should be ‘closed’. Note that this order was issued 5 months after the SPDC claims to have issued Order 1/99 (May 14, 1999) banning the recruitment of forced labour under the Village Act and the Towns Act; however, in reality they are issuing orders such as this one, demanding that actual forced labour be increased and that villagers no longer be allowed to pay their way out of it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #19 (Toungoo) To: Chairperson 28-11-99 Subject: Calling for loh ah pay To repair Infantry Battalion #xx’s yyyy camp, yyyy village tract, Chairperson yourself must come and meet the yyyy camp commander to discuss loh ah pay from xxxx village, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #20 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: [Sd.]
xxxxx ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Date:
27-12-99
* List the total of families in the
village
[Sd.] Lieutenant, 27/12/99 [The following is written on the back:] If you do not come, we will call with the big gun. [Sd.] [The Army demands forced labour on a regular basis, but the villagers pay ‘the fees for hiring servants’ instead of going. However, rather than using this money to hire people, the Army then just demands more people, like the ‘3 servants’ mentioned, but still collects the money. The list of families in the village is used to allocate forced labour and extortion demands. The term used for ‘big gun’ implies a mortar which they will fire at the village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #22 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: On 9/1/2000 (Saturday), IB xxx Captain aaaa (Adjutant/Quartermaster) will come to meet with the VPDC members in the villages of the IB xxx area of control, letting you know in advance, you are informed. All must attend without fail, letting you know in advance, you are informed. For loh ah pay, 3 villages have to work in rotation, so bring one person to lead the loh ah pay. This morning there were only 2 paut pya [a type of hoe used like a shovel] from xxxx [village] and the others had only machetes, so the work is not going well. Find this information [Sd.]
xxxx [This order was issued on December 26th 1999.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: #xxx
Infantry Battalion To: Chairperson Subject: Requesting firewood for brick baking For the use of #xx Military Operations Control Headquarters to bake bricks, each village must gather 4 piles of firewood at the nearest point along the Kawkareik-Kyone Doh car road. It has to be finished on 31-12-99. When it is done, come to report the information to #xxx Infantry Battalion on 30-12-99, you are informed. [Sd.] [Many SPDC officers make money for themselves by forcing villagers to provide wood and clay to bake bricks, then using their soldiers as forced labour to bake the bricks and selling them on the market. Most battalion camps have brick-baking kilns for this purpose. These villagers are being ordered to deposit stacks of firewood at the point nearest to them along the road, after which it will presumably be picked up by a military truck and taken to the camp. Though this demand is made in the name of Military Operations Command #xx in aaaa, the IB xxx officer in yyyy probably intended to keep most or all of the wood for himself, because Order #24 below shows that Military Operations Command #xx knew nothing of it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: #xx
Military Operations Control Headquarters To: Number xxx Infantry Battalion Subject: Request to exempt from orders for firewood for bricks Reference: Number xxx Infantry Battalion letter number xxx/yy/zzz, dated 28-12-99 Right now at this moment, responsibility has been given to xxxx village and yyyy village to fence the front entrance gate of #xx Military Operations Control Headquarters with wood, to harvest the fields belonging to the Headquarters Company, and to repair the [soldiers’] family quarters, so with respect to the letter referenced [above], you are informed to exempt them from the request for firewood.
[Sd.] [Note that the ‘reference letter’ is Order #23, wherein IB xxx demanded wood for brick-baking from villagers. However, the villagers apparently protested to Military Operations Command #xx, for whom they were already doing several forms of forced labour, so 3 days later the Military Operations Command sent out this order to IB xxx, telling them to lay off. This pair of orders gives an example of the turf wars presently being fought by different SPDC units for access to the limited supply of forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #25 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson Starting from 9-1-2000, every day send 2 carpenters from xxxx [village] and 2 from yyyy, total 4 people, you are informed. Come along with afternoon rice [lunch]. [Sd.] [‘Come along with afternoon rice’ means that each forced labour carpenter must bring along his own afternoon meal or go hungry.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #26 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: To coordinate and carry out the matter of servants for the mobile column and the matter of village peace and development, the members of the VPDC and the Dee Kay Bee Ay [DKBA] must carry this out together. Come to the yyyy Army Camp commander to arrive on 13/1/2000 at 0800 hours in the morning, you are informed. [Sd.]
xxxxx [‘Servants for the mobile column’ means porters and guides.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #27 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: - To make a firebreak for the Battalion rubber plantation, [send] 25 people for loh ah pay from xxxx [village], 25 people from aaaa [village], 25 people from bbbb, 12 people from cccc, 12 people from dddd, and 12 people from eeee; in total 111 people, and the Camp Commander will lead them in doing it. - Each village must include one leader [one person to supervise the forced labour]. - Two thirds [of the people] must bring paut pya [a type of hoe used like a shovel] and one third must bring machetes. - Send them to arrive at yyyy on 24/1/2000 at 0700 hours in the morning.
[Sd.]
xxxxx [This order was sent on January 20th 2000, 4 days before the forced labour being demanded.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #28 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: Date Time Big Chairperson Sir: Did you receive the letter that I wrote?
Respectfully, [This order was issued on 27/1/00. ‘Nga Pway’ (‘Ringworm’) is a derogatory SPDC name for the KNLA. aaaa is most likely a KNLA officer in the area.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #29 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: - Tomorrow, 29/1/2000, Captain aaaa is coming to meet with the VPDC
elders at xxxx, so attend without fail.
Respectfully, [The type of ‘machine’ the villagers must send is not specified, though in this case it most likely means a power saw.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #30 (Papun)
Stamp: 4/2/2000 Informing [you] that the hired people from the Gentleman’s [your] village are now following [the troops] and carrying things up and down into the mountains, so [you] have to arrange money for 3 days. When you receive this letter, collect exactly 1,500 Kyat in cash and come and bring it. (1) For road sentries, [we] don’t know which village is taking responsibility. As for road sentries, [they] haven’t been removed yet. The cars [Army trucks] haven’t all come yet. [Village] head yourself, come tomorrow.
[Sd.] U yyyy [This is a letter from one village head to another; the Army demanded 3 porters from the recipient’s village, but the writer has already paid 3 people to go as porters in their place, so he is now demanding that the recipient’s village reimburse him for the 1,500 Kyat expense. The second paragraph means that the villagers doing forced labour as roadside sentries are to remain there until all of the trucks of the Army supply convoys have come through.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #31 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson 6-2-2000 From Gentleman’s [your] village, send without fail 2 bullock carts to LIB xxx to arrive tomorrow, 7-2-2000, at 7 o’clock in the morning, you are directed. xxxx
- yyyy Mobile [Column] [This order demands bullock carts for forced labour hauling materials, which means that 2 bullock cart owners must go with their teams and carts and do the labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #32 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson - xxxx
[headman’s name] Subject: To prepare 4 bullock carts in the morning - On 13-2-2000, for loh ah pay at the
Battalion carrying the rations, prepare 4 bullock carts without boxes [without the
wooden floor and sides on top where people usually sit or belongings are placed], you
are hereby directed. [Sd.] [The demand for 4 bullock carts requires 4 bullock cart owners and their teams to go for forced labour. ‘Messenger’ fees are bribes to avoid a routine shift of forced labour as Army camp messengers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #33 (Pa’an) To: Stamp: 13/2/2000 Send 3 [bullock] carts tomorrow (14th) with this messenger, U xxxx. [We] Would like to use them temporarily. Specifically informing the village head to do [this]. Send [them] to yyyy monastery before 0600 hours on the morning of the 14th. Thank
you, ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Subject: Calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, Gentleman’s village must send 4 people to build on Ka Na Soe Bin road construction, come to xxxx Camp on 10/3/2000 at 10 o’clock in the morning with 3 days of supplies and mattocks and machetes. Be informed that if [you] fail, it will be the Gentleman’s responsibility.
[Sd.] [This order is in reference to forced labour on a new vehicle road in Toungoo District; see also the KHRG report "Peace Villages & Hiding Villages" (KHRG #2000-05, 15/10/00). Mattocks are large hoes used for digging. On the back this order is marked "Urgent" and "Send this quickly". The stamp has a blank unit number which the officer has written in by hand. The villagers failed to show up for this forced labour, so this was followed by Order #35 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #35 (Toungoo) Stamp: Subject: To send loh ah pay quickly Regarding the above subject, the Gentleman yourself is required to resolve the problem of 4 loh ah pay people who were called to arrive on 10/3/2000 but still haven’t arrived as of today. You are informed to come to xxxx Camp on 12/3/2000. [Sd.] [This order followed Order #34 for 3 days of forced labour on the xxxx road construction.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #36 (Toungoo) Stamp: 11-3-2000 Subject: To resolve matters of servant fees and carrying supplies Regarding the above subject, Chairperson yourself must come to yyyy village to discuss these matters. The deadline is 12-3-2000. [Sd.] [‘Carrying supplies’ means demands for porters.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #37 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time VPDC Members Sir: - Regarding the matter of arranging and delivering the donation money
ordered by the Battalion;
Respectfully, [‘The donation money’ is regular extortion demanded by the Battalion. To ‘carry everything out’ including ‘to repair and improve the Army Camp’ means that villagers must come along the next day to do forced labour at the camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #38 (Pa’an) U xxxx [elder’s name] 23-3-2000 Tomorrow, send one messenger whom you believe and trust with a letter to xxxx.
[Sd.] [This order has been sent to a village head, with another letter which he is to forward to another village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #39 (Toungoo) Secret
Stamp: Frontline
#xx Infantry Battalion To: U aaaa / U bbbb Subject: Invitation to a meeting 1) To discuss the administration, support and security affairs of Ka Na Soe Bin - Kyi Pyaung road construction, you are invited to attend without fail at the Frontline #xx Infantry Battalion Commander [office] on 30/30/2000 [sic: 30/3/2000] at 1300 hours. 2) You are informed again to attend without fail, because [I] have already informed #xx Local Infantry Battalion at yyyy camp. [Sd.] Secret [This order is in reference to forced labour on the new vehicle road about 50 kilometres long from Bu Sah Kee in southern Toungoo District to Ma La Daw in northern Nyaunglebin District; see also Orders #34-35, and the report "Peace Villages & Hiding Villages" (KHRG #2000-05, 15/10/00) on events in Toungoo District.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: xxxx [village] Date: 4-2000 Chairperson, I am writing this letter. The matter is that tomorrow, send without fail 20 people for loh ah pay from the Chairperson’s village tomorrow. As for me, I have only one day left, tomorrow. Tomorrow [we] will winnow the paddy and gather the straw. That’s
all. Bring 1 viss [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] of cassava root. [This is an order for forced labour farming for the Army on confiscated farmland. The same villagers were most likely forced to plant, tend and harvest the crop, and now they are to be forced to winnow it. He has written ‘tomorrow’ twice in the second sentence as in the translation. ‘Sa Ka Ka’ in the signature is the abbreviation for Military Operations Command.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #41 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: Subject: Calling for servants [wontan] Come to report information, with 5 servants with [their own] rice from Chairperson’s village, to xxxx Army Camp on 24-4-2000 at 11 o’clock in the midday, you are informed. If [you] fail action will be taken, you are informed. [Sd.
/ Captain] 24/4/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #42 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Subject: Calling for servants [wontan] From Chairperson’s village, come to report information to xxxx Army Camp on 24-4-2000 at 11 o’clock in the midday, with 5 servants and rice. If [you] fail, action will be taken, you are informed.
[Sd.] Captain / 24/4/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #43 (Pa’an) Stamp: Subject: Come for loh ah pay From the gentleman’s [your] village in #xxx Light Infantry Battalion’s region of control, one person per house with machete and rice pack, led by the Gentleman [village chairman] yourself, come without fail on 1-5-2000, Dta Gu Hla Sote 13 [the Burmese date: 13th waning day of Dta Gu month], to arrive in the morning at 7 o’clock at #xxx Light Infantry Battalion. When you come, bring along the things which you must give to the Battalion, you are informed. Place: xxxx [Sd.] [‘The things which you must give to the Battalion’ indicates items which the battalion has previously demanded from the village. This letter was duplicated and sent to all villages with the same demand.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #44 (Pa’an)
Stamp: With respect, we are writing a letter to inform [you]. Right now, the higher-ups have sent orders to our village. The whole village has to cover the main road of the village. That is why [we] need stones. Therefore, our village has to gather stones at the Weh Wone River. Maung xxxx [the recipient of this letter] has to help with this, so gather [people] and tell [the villages on] the other side, you are requested. Respectfully, [Sd.] [This is a letter from one village head to another, asking for help from all villages on both sides of the river because the Army has ordered that they provide all the stones and do forced labour gravelling the main road. On the back of this order the recipient had written, "This letter, the … village head sent it to me but the responsibility is not on my hands, so I send it on to you, look and read it".] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: Date Time Chairperson - [regarding] the matter of battalion donation money, the matter of
chickens/ducks, and the matter of the date to cross the river, tomorrow, 11/5/2000, [you]
must go to meet at the Battalion [camp], so call also the heads of xxxx, you
are informed.
Respectfully, [On the back this order is dated 10/5/2000, addressed to xxxx village, and says underlined, "Which day will you send the loh ah pay for the camp? Reply."] The village head has written in "14-5-2000 - 4 months money plus interest, 8375. 17-5-2000, loh ah pay." ‘Battalion donation money’ means extortion money the villagers must give to the Battalion each month. Regarding the ‘river crossing’, it appears that the villagers are responsible for ferrying SPDC vehicles across the river by raft on a regular basis, so whenever SPDC convoys are going to come the local military makes sure the villagers will be ready.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #46 (Dooplaya) Stamp:
Township
Peace and Development Council To: Village
Head Subject: Invitation to a meeting Regarding the matter of fencing the xxxx [camp] bunkers , [we] have to coordinate and discuss with Gentlemen [you] according to the agenda below. Attend the meeting without fail, you are hereby informed. A G E N D A
Date: 14-5-2000,
Sunday Copies
to: [Sd.]
12-5-2000 [The above is a typed form letter with the address, agenda details, and ‘fencing the xxxx bunkers’ written in by hand. At the meeting, the PDC and Army will likely assign forced labour at the xxxx police post to the villagers. Order #65 below is more explicit in demanding forced labour for this purpose.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #47 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: - [You] need to pay the Battalion donation money for 4/2000. Respectfully, [On the back, this order is dated 13/5/2000.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #48 (Dooplaya) To: Chairperson Stamp:
Subject: Calling for loh ah pay For #xxx Infantry Battalion, the gentlemen’s [your] whole village must give loh ah pay, arriving on 17-5-2000 at 0700 hours. Come without fail. If you fail, the gentleman [you] will face the responsibility, you are informed. Place: xxxx
[Sd.] [An order for the ‘whole village’ to give forced labour usually means at least one person per family/household.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #49 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
[Sd.] xxxxx [On the back, this order is dated 27/5/2000. It was followed by Orders #50 and 51 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #50 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: [Sd.]
xxxxx [On the back, this order is dated 28/5/2000, and marked "Quickly". It came after Order #49 above and preceded Order #51 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #51 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
[Sd.]
xxxxx [On the back, this order is dated 28/5/2000. It followed Orders #49 and 50 above. After only 2 of the 20 people demanded for forced labour showed up on May 28th, the Deputy Warrant Officer ordered that the following day the village must send the regular quota of 20 forced labourers per day plus an additional 18 to make up for those who were absent.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #52 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson - On 29/5/2000, [send] 40 people for loh ah pay (with paut
pya [a type of hoe used like a shovel] and machetes). Chairperson yourself, bring them
to the Camp Commander. [Sd.]
xxxxx [On the back, this order is dated 28/5/2000, addressed to xxxx village, and says, "When you receive this letter, reply with the messenger who brings this."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #53 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
Respectfully, [On the back this order is dated 1/6/2000 and marked "Reply that you have received this letter".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #54 (Dooplaya) To: Chairperson 2-6-2000 Right now, as soon as [you] receive this letter, Chairperson yourself come and bring bring [sic: he repeats the word twice] 20 people to be carriers [porters], 5 chickens, 1 basket of rice, and 5 durians to the Column at yyyy. If [you] fail, the person who fails will bear the responsibility, you are informed. [Sd.] [Durian are large and highly-valued seasonal fruit.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #55 (Dooplaya) To: Chairperson 7-6-2000 Subject: Calling for loh ah pay xxxx village, come to the Battalion for loh ah pay on 10-6-2000 with 20 people, with their own machetes and shaved bamboo ties [thin strips of shaved bamboo used in building to tie things together]. Come with one morning meal [to eat during the work], you are informed. Stamp: Battalion
Warrant Officer ______________________________________________________________________________ [This is a letter from one SPDC Army officer to another.] 8th
June ’00 [I have] Sent the xxxx [village] messengers to yyyy. If Ko aaaa has no work [for them], I want them given back to me within this day to be Laun Kya [meaning ‘security’] servants outside the camp, [to be] used to do sharpening/planting work [sharpening bamboo spikes and making booby-traps]. Here [we] have only 3 or 4 people including [those from] xxxx. This must be carried out and finished quickly (outside the camp). The other villages have to be used [for other forced labour] by the Column and bbbb, so [we] didn’t get any messengers. That is why when the work outside the camp is finished, [we] will give them back. Within 2 weeks, the outside and inside [of the camp] will be as desired. Respectfully, [This letter from one SPDC officer to another is written in awkward Burmese. The writer is busy having a new camp built, and is essentially saying that he needs to complete work on his camp quickly, particularly the setting of booby-traps outside the perimeter, but that other units are already using all of the available villagers for forced labour; he therefore asks to take some forced labourers from other units on a temporary basis. Typically, he never even appears to consider that such work should be done by his own soldiers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #57 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson/Village
Head Stamp: Subject: Requesting loh ah pay To do Battalion construction work for #xxx Light Infantry Battalion, Gentlemen’s [your] village must send one person from each family, at least 20 persons, with 3 days’ food and supplies including mattocks and machetes. [They] Must arrive at the Battalion on 13-6-2000 at 0700 hours, you are informed. [Sd.] [This is a typed and copied letter with the village name and ‘tract’ written in afterward by hand. By addressing this copy to an entire village tract, the Battalion Commander is actually demanding 20 people from each of several villages. Mattocks are large hoes used for digging.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #58 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Year
2000, June 15th To: Chairperson 1) Subject: To send bullock carts for an emergency 2) In accordance with the order of Strategic Command and TPDC [Township Peace and Development Council], the Gentleman’s [your] village must send 3 bullock carts quickly. 3) Come and report information first to #5 Section at the Maintenance of Discipline office, then to the People’s Police station. [Sd.] [‘Emergency’ really just means they want the carts right away for ad hoc forced labour. This will require 3 cart owners and their teams to go for an unspecified time for forced labour with no compensation.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Send 50 loh ah pay people at 0700 to clear along the road, left and right [sides]. [Sd.] [Villagers are often ordered to clear the glass, scrub and trees in a wide swath along both sides of military supply roads; this is supposed to decrease the chance of ambush or mining of the road. On this order the month is not given, but June is the only month in 2000 when the 18th falls on a Sunday, and on the back the recipient noted ‘17-6-2000’.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #60 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Subject: Informing you to come to the Battalion From the group of 28 servants who are with #xxx Infantry Battalion, the village chairperson and 2 of them must come to Battalion headquarters without fail at 0200 in the afternoon, you are informed. [Sd.]
[The ‘servants’ are villagers already doing forced labour for the troops under the supervision of the village chairperson; here the chairperson is ordered to bring 2 others for some special forced labour assignment at the Battalion headquarters.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson 20-6-2000 1) On 21-6-2000, the Chairperson yourself must come to meet. 2) Send the materials below to yyyy [Army camp] to arrive on 22-6-2000. (a) Bamboo
(3 handspans x 10 taun) - 500
pieces [Sd.] [‘3 handspans x 10 taun’ means 3 handspans in circumference by 15 feet/5 metres in length. 1 taun is 1.5 feet/0.5 metres, 1 handspan is 8-9 inches/20-22 cm. To make thatch shingles, villagers must gather leaves, split bamboo to make frames about 1 metre long, then tie the leaves onto the frame. Not only do the villagers have to provide all the materials for building this new Army camp, but 30 of them have to go along to do the work. This new camp is also referred to in several other orders in this report, for example Orders #56 and 64.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #62 (Pa’an) To: Date:
22-6-2000 I am writing. Respectfully, [Sd.] [‘If one is hired, let him come to the camp’ means that rather than just sending money (which they often do instead of sending messengers), the villagers must try to hire someone to go for them and send him for forced labour, or go for the labour themselves. We have translated the abbreviation for ‘Company Sergeant’ as ‘Cpy. Sgt.’] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Date:
2-7-2000 I am writing a letter. [Sd.] [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are a common form of forced labour which villages must do on rotation at every Army camp; the messengers are used to do errands for the officers, miscellaneous labour, and deliver orders like these to the surrounding villages. Not only do the villages have to send messengers, but also ‘messenger fees’; if the camp needs a messenger, they will demand two and insist that one person be sent and ‘messenger fees’ be paid for the other.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: 5-7-2000 To: Chairperson 1) [We] informed you to come to yyyy camp on 2/7/2000, but until today you haven’t come yet, so come on 6-7-2000 to arrive at 08:00 o’clock. Warning you again, you are informed. 2) Do not fail. If [you] fail, serious action and punishment will be dealt out. The Chairperson yourself must come. [Sd.] [On the back the village head has written what happened next:] In accordance with the letter, on 7-7-2000 [they] met with 2
village heads. [When village heads are called to ‘meetings’ it is often to demand that they arrange forced labour, and in this instance the village head has confirmed it by writing on the back of the order what happened when they were called to a meeting after this order: 30 people from 2 villages were demanded to do 5 days of forced labour building an Army camp, and people were also demanded from the other 6 villages listed.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
Township Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson / Village Head Subject: The matter of fencing the bunkers for xxxx police outpost 1) Regarding the above subject, to fence the bunkers for the xxxx police outpost, the villages shown below are assigned duties as specified. (a) aaaa
village 100
feet 2) Therefore, those responsible from the Gentleman’s xxxx village must come without fail (without fail) to carry out the fencing by the date of 30-7-2000 at the latest, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The number of feet is the length of fencing for which each village is responsible. The village will also be responsible for providing the fencing materials. This is a typed and copied letter with the village name written in, and was sent to all the villages in the list.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #66 (Toungoo) Stamp: Date:
10-7-2000 yyyy Camp Commander and Column Commander want to meet the Chairperson, so you are informed to come without fail. Please be prepared with the rest of the money for previously cutting down bamboo. Each village had to send 15 people for one week, in money terms it costs 12,500 Kyat, and the Chairperson gave 5,000 Kyat already, so 7,500 is remaining. For pork fees, 600 Kyat per viss for 3 viss, [total] cost 1,800 Kyat. Total: 7,500 Please bring it with you. yyyy
[village] [This is a letter from the village tract chairman to one of the village heads. The Army demanded 15 people from each village for a week’s forced labour but this village didn’t send anyone, so they are forced to pay 12,500 Kyat to the Army instead via the village tract authorities. ‘Pork fees’ are paid because the village cannot send the regular 3 viss (4.8 kg/10.5 lb) of pork demanded from each village by the Army.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #67 (Dooplaya) To: Chairperson Date:
12-7-2000 Subject: Informing [you] to send loh ah pay 1) Regarding the above subject, send 20 people from xxxx village for loh ah pay with 3 days of rations to eat on 14-7-2000 / Hla San 12 [Burmese lunar date: 12th waxing day], to arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning at yyyy Army camp. 2) If [you] fail, serious action will be taken, letting you know, you are informed. [Sd.] [The villagers failed to go as ordered for this forced labour building a new Army camp, so this order was followed by Order #68 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #68 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Subject: Informing [you] to send loh ah pay 1) [We] Have already informed [you] to send loh ah pay to yyyy camp to arrive on 14-7-00, but [we] saw that [you] didn’t send them. 2) The Chairperson/Secretary yourself must go to report the information to yyyy camp about why [you] didn’t send them, and bring with you 20 people for loh ah pay as was specified, to arrive on 17-7-00 at 8 o’clock in the morning. 3) If [you] fail again, serious action will be taken. * 20 people for loh ah pay, with
rations for 3 days
[Sd. / Captain] [This order was sent after the villagers failed to obey Order #67 above.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #69 (Pa’an) To: Ko aaaa 27-7-2000 I am sending a box with this messenger. Send a messenger with this box to the Battalion today (urgent). Chairperson and Secretary are informed to report to the camp today. Note: If Chairperson is not there, the next-ranking responsible persons must send this box to the Battalion.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa Date:
29-7-2000 Subject: Requesting assistance with ta toh set [‘ploughing machines’; small tractors] Gentleman’s village is requested to assist by sending one machine and ploughing equipment with operator to the Battalion now.
[Sd.] [‘Ta toh set’ are small tractors for ricefield ploughing. This is forced labour growing rice for the Army, most likely on land they have confiscated from the villagers. This order was followed by Order #71 when the villagers failed to show up.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa Ko aaaa [the headman listed above] is informed to supervise 3 ta toh set [‘ploughing machines’, small tractors designed to plough wet rice fields] with operators and report to Battalion xxx today at 0700 hours. Dear Ko aaaa, arrange it this time without fail. I was scolded for that first loh ah pay affair. If I am scolded this time, I cannot forgive [you]. Don’t give any excuses. Don’t give any explanations to the Camp on any matter. What I want is that 4 people, including U aaaa, and 3 machines, must arrive at the Battalion. [Sd.] [‘That first loh ah pay affair’ appears to have been the demand in Order #70, which was followed by this order when the villagers failed to comply.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #72 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Subject: The matter of coming to the Battalion Regarding the above subject, bring along 5 people for loh ah pay with a machete each and one long giant bamboo [wah boh] from the Gentleman’s village on 8-8-2000, you are informed. Note: If [you] fail, the Gentleman [you] will bear the responsibility. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
Date: 9-8-2000 Subject: Calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, the Gentlemen’s villages were assigned to irrigation ditches and stone production duties, but until today [you] haven’t been working, so you are informed again to send one loh ah pay person from each family, bringing machetes / mattocks / pickaxes / shovels / baskets and food and supplies for 5 days to the LIB xxx [camp] on 10-8-2000 at 9 o’clock in the morning without fail. Note: If [you] fail, it will be the village leaders’ responsibility. Each village must also bring 50 kyat tha [800 g/1.75 lb] of chicken or fish. [Sd.
‘xxxx’] [This is a typed letter carbon-copied and sent out to several villages. Mattocks are large hoes used for digging. ‘Stone production’ means breaking rocks into gravel, most likely for road construction on the network of roads which are always being built and rebuilt around Nabu in central Pa’an District.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #74 (Pa’an) To: Ko aaaa Date: 12-8-2000 I am writing. Send 2 messengers tomorrow, 13-8-2000, by the deadline of 7:30 to the camp. Don’t fail. There is work to do. If the messengers come, make them bring 2 banana trees each. Friendly, ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #75 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson 12/8/2000 You are informed to prepare 4 messengers from xxxx village tomorrow, 13/8/2000. Note: Be ready at 6 o’clock in the
morning. [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are a common form of forced labour which villages must do on rotation at every Army camp; the messengers are used to do errands for the officers, miscellaneous labour, and deliver orders like these to the surrounding villages.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #76 (Pa’an) To: U aaaa 12/8/2000 Wait at the village with 4 messengers tomorrow. I have important words to tell. (for)
xxxx Camp Commander [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are villagers to go for forced labour running errands and delivering order letters at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #77 (Pa’an) To: U aaaa 13-8-2000 Send the 4 messengers requested yesterday with this group, along with the Gentleman and Secretary, to our camp now, you are informed. [Sd.] [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are a common form of forced labour which villages must do on rotation at every Army camp; the messengers are used to do errands for the officers, miscellaneous labour, and deliver orders like these to the surrounding villages. ‘With this group’ could mean this group of soldiers, or a forced labour group already on their way to the camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Secretary 16-8-2000 [I am] Sending 800 Kyat in money with this messenger. Buy 1 hen. In future, if [you] cannot send a messenger, it is possible to hire at 300 Kyat per day. Reply whether this is possible or not.
xxxx Camp Commander [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are villagers to go for forced labour running errands and delivering order letters at the Army camp. ‘It is possible to hire’ means that they can pay a bribe of 300 Kyat per day instead of sending a messenger each day if they like; this is the officer’s way of saying that on most days he would prefer that they send money rather than a person.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #79 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson 19/8/2000 You are informed to send 2 messengers tomorrow on the 20th, one is a substitute for a messenger who failed [to come] on the 18th. (for)
Camp Commander [‘Messengers’ (‘set tha’) are a common form of forced labour which villages must do on rotation at every Army camp; the messengers are used to do errands for the officers, miscellaneous labour, and deliver orders like these to the surrounding villages.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Ko aaaa [the village head] Date: 26-8-2000 I am writing. If someone is available to hire a messenger, don’t send one now. If nobody hires one, let [a person] come. If possible, stop sending [people] for about 3 days. However, be sure to send on the 30th. Friendly
and respectfully, [This means that for the next 3 days the camp doesn’t really need forced labour messengers, so they’d rather have the money which the village pays not to send a messenger (to ‘hire’ a messenger means to send money instead of going). However, if no one has any money to pay, they say to send a messenger anyway, and that they definitely want a person on the 30th.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: 28-8-2000 U aaaa, why didn’t you come and attend the meeting at yyyy Camp? Shall I come if you fail to come? Try the best to come with a group of loh ah pay people tomorrow. I’ll have to come [to you] if you fail again. [Written in with different handwriting:] Send 5 people for loh ah pay. xxxx Camp-in-charge, [Sd.] [The ‘yyyy Camp’ is located at the Battalion’s confiscated ricefield, and the ‘loh ah pay’ is forced labour which the farmers must do growing rice for the Battalion. See also Order #149, which was issued by the same camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Date:
2-9-2000 To rebuild the bridge along the yyyy - zzzz road, Chairperson (or) Secretary must bring 10 loh ah pay persons and report to yyyy Army Camp on 3-9-2000 (Sunday) at 0600 hours without fail, you are informed. [Sd.]
‘Captain’ [There are SPDC camps at both yyyy and zzzz, and there is a partly-passable but very rough vehicle road that goes between them. Villagers in this area are always forced to rebuild the roads after every rainy season. For more information, see the report "Peace Villages & Hiding Villages" (KHRG #2000-05, 15/10/00) on events in Toungoo District.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #83 (Pa’an) To: 3-9-2000 Why did the loh ah pay [forced labourers] not come this morning? Ma aaaa should bring 6 loh ah pay people per village. Also bring mattocks and machetes, village head.
yyyy camp [This was sent to a woman village head, ‘care of’ another woman who was forced to send it. Mattocks are large hoes used for digging. The villagers failed to show up again, so this was followed by Order #84 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #84 (Pa’an) To: 4-9-2000 Why didn’t [you] come this morning, mother village head? Come without fail this morning. When [you] come, bring mattocks, machetes and shovels. Bring also 3 coconuts, whether ripe or not, and vegetables for the camp. yyyy
Camp Commander Mother village head, call 12 loh ah pay people this morning. Everyone must bring mattocks and machetes. [This order followed Order #83, which was sent the previous day demanding 6 people.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #85 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson 12-9-2000 Maung aaaa, I am writing. The matter is to arrange 2 messengers for tomorrow, the 13th. Keep them at bbbb’s house. [I] Will take the messengers to carry supplies from yyyy [camp]. [Sd.] [Referring to the village head using ‘Maung’, intended for a younger man, is very insulting. In addition, though he demands ‘messengers’, he makes it clear that they are to be used for much heavier labour as porters.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #86 (Pa’an) To: 17-9-2000 All female village heads must come quickly to wwww camp as soon as [you] receive this letter. None of the loh ah pay [forced labourers] requested yesterday have arrived at the camp. This failure to arrive is entirely the responsibility of the female village heads. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: xxxx village
Stamp: Regarding the above subject, be informed that the Gentleman’s [your] village must send loh ah pay [forced labourers] on September 23rd 2000. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Village Elder / Chairperson
Stamp: Subject: To attend a meeting Nabu - Daw Lan road repair affairs will be discussed at #xxx Light Infantry Battalion, so the village elder yourself must attend the meeting without fail on 20-9-2000 at 11 o’clock in the morning. Place: The hill near xxxx
[Sd.] [Villagers have been forced to build and rebuild the Nabu - Daw Lan vehicle road every dry season for years, and with the rainy season coming to an end in late September this meeting is almost certain to result in orders for the villagers to rebuild the road yet again after it has been washed out by the rains. This is a typed form letter, carbon copied and sent to all villages in the area.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #89 (Pa’an) To: Secretary 22-9-2000 Dear Secretary, you are informed to send 40 loh ah pay people to #xxx [LIB] on the 23rd. Sgt.
aaaa ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #90 (Pa’an) To: Secretary 23-9-2000 Dear Secretary, you are informed to send 40 loh ah pay people from the village tomorrow (24th). The Secretary is also informed to come together [with the loh ah pay workers] to #xxx [LIB].
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #91 (Pa’an) To: U aaaa Dear Ko aaaa, send this letter with an emergency messenger to reach [its destination] today. Tomorrow, Ko bbbb, U aaaa and ten-house leader, don’t go out of your houses for any reason. If not at home, call [them] back [i.e. if any of the three mentioned aren’t presently at home, they must be called back home]. Prepare baskets for mortars before 0600 hours tomorrow. [Sd.] [‘Baskets for mortars’ means baskets for carrying mortar shells. This means a patrol will come to the village the next morning and will require porters to carry mortar shells. The village and section leaders are ordered to stay in their houses and prepare baskets for the porters until the column arrives, and their families are ordered to call them back to the village if they are presently away.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #92 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Big Chairperson, Sir: - To coordinate the matter of servants for the mobile column and the matter of village development, Chairperson and one of the [VPDC] members come to meet today or tomorrow at xxxx Army Camp, you are informed. Respectfully, ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #93 (Dooplaya) Chairperson Gentleman, call and bring the loh ah pay [workers], and come yourself, gentleman, to meet with the Camp Commander. You were already informed, but until today you have not come to contact us. Come to explain, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #94 (Dooplaya) xxxx village [Send] 40 people for loh ah pay with one machete each. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #95 (Dooplaya) xxxx [village] Chairperson, Come with 2 villagers.
Column [The 2 villagers will be for forced labour, because otherwise the officer would specify which people he wants or why.] |
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Forced Labour Supplying Materials to the Army
In this section we have included orders which demand forced labour from the villagers not by calling them to worksites or Army camps, but by demanding materials which require intensive labour to produce. Most of them demand building materials such as timber, which must be cut in the forest, sawn into posts or planks, and then hauled to the Army camp by the villagers, or thatch roofing shingles, which require the villagers to gather leaves and cut bamboo, then split the bamboo into sticks, make it into metre-long frames, and tie the leaves onto the frames using bamboo ties. A demand for 500 thatch shingles or 300 wooden fenceposts can take a whole village several days of labour to produce, after which they must haul it to the Army camp on bullock carts, boats, or on their backs. Order #107 demands everything needed to build a new Army camp in Dooplaya District, even the nails; then the villagers were forced to go and do the construction as well, as can be seen in Order #61 from the same camp (included above under ‘General Forced Labour’). While most of these materials are demanded for Army camp construction, some are also demanded simply so that Army officers can sell them for profit; for example, Order #23 (included above under ‘General Forced Labour’) demands firewood for baking bricks, which will probably be baked by the rank and file soldiers at the camp and then sold for the personal profit of their officer. Even when demanding building materials for the camp, the officers often demand two or three times what they require and then sell the surplus. Soldiers who desert the Army often tell of such money-making schemes, particularly brick-baking, which are used by officers throughout Burma to make money.
Villagers are never paid for any of the materials they provide except in rare cases; some orders (for example, Order #98) promise to pay for some of it, but this often proves to be an empty promise when the materials are actually delivered. Even though the deadlines given are often next to impossible to meet, any village which fails to deliver the materials on time and according to specification faces threatening letters and the possibility of severe punishments.
______________________________________________________________________________
Order #96 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Fence
posts: 200
[Unsigned] [This is a routine list of materials and rice demanded from a village. The bamboo indicates entire bamboo trees, while the ‘3-cubit lengths’ are precut lengths each 4.5 feet/1.5 metres long. ‘In peh’ is a type of thatch shingles using the wide leaves of a forest tree, which are gathered from the ground in the hot season and stitched onto split-bamboo frames to make shingles about 1 metre long. The villagers will have to do a lot of labour to fill the demands for wooden fence posts, bamboo and thatch.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #97 (Pa’an) Restricted
Stamp: #x
Strategic Command Group (base) To:
Chairperson Subject: To send bamboo ties for thatch roofing / bamboo / thatch Regarding the above subject, for rebuilding new camp buildings at #x Strategic Command Group (base) we need ties / bamboo / in peh thatch in the amounts specified below. Send them to #x Strategic Command Group (base) in xxxx, to arrive on 7-3-2000, you are informed. (a) bamboo
50
poles [Sd.] Restricted [This typed order was copied and sent to several villages, each of which had to comply with the demands. Bamboo ties are made from slicing bamboo into thin strips and are used to tie thatch roofing shingles onto the bamboo poles which form the shape of the roof. ‘In peh’ is a type of thatch shingles using the wide leaves of a forest tree, which are gathered from the ground in the hot season and stitched onto split-bamboo frames to make shingles about 1 metre long.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson/Secretary 9-3-2000 Chairperson or Secretary, right now when [you] receive this letter, one of you must bring 500 pieces of thatch to the Battalion, the Battalion orders it. [They] said that when it arrives at the battalion, [they] are going to clear [pay] the price. [They] ordered that one of the elders come. Now their small batteries are finished, so if [you] haven’t bought any yet, send xxxx [village]’s messenger to the battalion and ask him to buy some. [They] ordered that the thatch be sent today. If that is a problem, one of the elders must go to the battalion and give the reason. The Captain said to send the above letter [this letter] today. [Sd.] [500 thatch shingles would take several days to make, including gathering the leaves, splitting bamboo to make the frames, and stitching the leaves onto the frames, so this order is impossible to fulfil unless the village has a ready-made stock of thatch. The Battalion also forces the villagers to buy AA-size batteries for their walkie-talkies. Ironically, villagers can be executed for being caught in possession of these batteries, because the KNLA also needs them.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #99 (Pa’an) To: U aaaa [village head’s name] 11-4-2000 Need 150 pieces of thatch. Last night the wind blew and the fireplace shed and two huts were destroyed. If [anyone is coming], ask [them] to bring thatch to Paya Gone [Pagoda Hill].
[Sd.] [This letter from the local Army camp is addressed by name to the village head.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #100 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson - Send 500 thatch [shingles] to arrive on 19/4/2000.
[Sd.]
xxxxx [This order was sent on the morning of April 18th, expecting the villagers to produce 500 thatch shingles by the following day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #101 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
Respectfully, ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #102 (Dooplaya) Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: To send ironwood posts For use in the building work of the Strategic Command Group (base) (xxxx) army unit, send 15 ironwood posts each 15 feet long and twa circumference [no number specified, so possibly one ‘twa’ (handspan)] to the Strategic Command office on 10-5-2000, you are informed. [Sd.] [This is a typed carbon-copied form letter with the date and the number of posts written in by hand.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #103 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: - For 26/5/2000, the village that will send [the bamboo and posts] should please also bring 2 wah boh wah [a very large and thick type of bamboo].
Respectfully, [On the back, this order is dated 25/5/2000. Several villages are being forced to rotate cutting and sending bamboo and wooden posts to the camp every day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #104 (Pa’an) To: xxxx [village] Head 3-6-2000 Come to send quickly one bullock cart full of straw to arrive today, Major aaaa demands it. It is to plant mushrooms at the Battalion [camp]. Friendly
and Respectfully, Starting on 1-6-2000, we will machine-plough our own Battalion field. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #105 (Pa’an) xxxx Chairperson 4/6[/2000] Gather about 1 bullock cart load of straw and send it to the Battalion to help.
[Sd.] [This relates to the same demand given in Order #104, issued the day before.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #106 (Dooplaya)
Township Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson and village
head Subject: To send ironwood posts Regarding the above subject, from the gentlemen’s [your] village, send (xx) ironwood posts to arrive at the Township Peace and Development Council office on 10-6-2000 (without fail), you are informed. Note: 10 taun [length 15 ft/5 m], xx posts Copies to: Office
Copy/file [Sd.]
5-6-2000 [KHRG obtained copies of this order which were sent to several different villages, each of them ordered to cut and supply a number of ironwood posts; to avoid repetition, only this one is reproduced here.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson (U aaaa) Stamp: 18-6-2000 1) Send without fail the materials below for yyyy camp, to arrive on 23-6-2000. (a) Bamboo, 3 handspans
circumference and 12 taun
long: 500 [pieces] 2) On the 23rd, the Chairperson/Secretary yourself must come by motorboat to send them (do not fail). [Sd.] [These materials are for a new SPDC Army camp which was being built. The villagers were ordered to do all the labour as well as preparing and supplying the materials; see for example Orders #56, 61, and 64. 1 taun is 1.5 feet/0.5 metres, 1 handspan is 8-9 inches/20-22 cm, so the bamboo is to be 18 feet/3.5 metres long by 2 feet/60 cm circumference, and the wooden posts 15 feet/5 metres long by 16 inches/40 cm circumference. To make thatch shingles, villagers must gather leaves, split bamboo to make frames about 1 metre long, then tie the leaves onto the frame. The village head will also have to pay for the fuel for the boat, which is expensive.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #108 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: When this letter arrives on 10-7-2000, the Chairperson/Secretary yourself must bring one bullock cart of bamboo/posts to the Camp, come (to xxxx camp) along with it.
[Sd.] 10-7-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #109 (Pa’an) To: xxxx [village] 16-9-2000 One-month village heads and religious leaders must come to the Camp Commander without fail as soon as [you] receive this letter. Send 750 small bamboo today. Leaders, come without fail. Camp Commander, yyyy [Sd.]
WO II [Deputy Warrant Officer] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #110 (Dooplaya)
Stamp: Date Time Secretary Sir:
Respectfully, [Thatch shingles are up to a metre long and require villagers to gather leaves and bamboo, make bamboo frames and then tie leaves onto the frame to make each one. The villagers were late in providing them, so this was followed by Order #111 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #111 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
[Sd.]
xxxxx [This order followed Order #110 above. He demands 3 viss (4.8 kg/10.5 lb) of chicks each weighing 20-25 kyat tha (300-400 grams), meaning a total of 12-15 chicks.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #112 (Dooplaya) Stamp: Date Time Secretary Sir:
Respectfully, |
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Orders to Provide Intelligence and Support
Virtually the entire population of Karen areas fears and despises the SPDC military and authorities, but this does not prevent the Army from trying to force the civilians to provide direct help to their military operations. This takes various forms, including forced labour at Army camps and as sentries and messengers (see above under ‘General Forced Labour’), and orders that village elders report on the activities of everyone in their villages and on any movements of opposition forces. Whenever the Army orders elders to ‘report information’ or to attend meetings to discuss ‘security matters’ or ‘control matters’, this is what they mean. This puts elders in a very difficult situation: if they report nothing they are accused of withholding information and will be severely punished if the opposition later attacks the SPDC forces in the area, but if they report anything the Army often accuses them of having contact with rebels. In most Karen areas, village elders are told that they are responsible for keeping the Army fully informed of all opposition activities, and are seriously punished if the Army is subsequently attacked or hears of opposition troops moving around the village (see for example Order #11 under ‘Threats and Propaganda Letters’). These punishments often include the arrest and torture of village elders, burning of houses, or forced relocation of the village.
The orders in this section specifically call on village elders to provide intelligence and other forms of support to the local military, though the orders in other sections of this report can also be considered demands for military support in various forms.
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Order #113 (Pa’an) Village Head When you receive this letter, come to report information urgently to the Column, you are informed. [Sd.]
10/8/99 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #114 (Pa’an) Village head Tomorrow morning, report information to the Column without fail, you are informed. If you fail, Gentleman [you] will bear the responsibility. [Sd.]
12/8/99 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #115 (Papun)
Stamp: Date:
4-2-2000 [You] have to meet number xxx Battalion with information. Regarding the above subject, come to report information and discuss to the #3 Company Commander at zzzz on 5-2-2000 at 7 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. (1) aaaa [village]
[Sd.] [The 3 villages listed all received this order to report intelligence.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #116 (Toungoo)
Stamp: Subject: Summoning [you] to meet You are required to answer about regional control and security matters in our Operations Area. Therefore you are informed to meet the Column. [Sd.]
11/3/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #117 (Toungoo) To: 18-5-2000 [I] Would like to know the number of families, population, and list of leaders of the village. Send it and meet at yyyy. [Sd.] [This intelligence is mainly used to allocate forced labour and extortion demands to each village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
[Sd.]
xxxxx [On the back, this order is dated 29/5/2000 and marked "Reply today with this messenger confirming receipt". Regarding the ‘river crossing’, the villagers are responsible for ferrying SPDC vehicles across the river by raft on a regular basis, so whenever SPDC convoys are going to come the local military makes sure the villagers will be ready.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir:
Respectfully, [On the back, this order is dated 10/6/2000 and says "Reply that you have received this". The villagers are forced to ferry all passing military vehicles across the river on their raft.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #120 (Dooplaya) To: Chairperson 15-6-2000 As soon as you receive this letter, the Chairperson yourself must come to report information to Tat Gone [literally ‘Army hill’]. Do not fail.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #121 (Pa’an) To: xxxx [village] Chairperson 3-8-2000 Write a situation report on the local situation. Write it once a week.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #122 (Pa’an)
Stamp: To: Chairpersons Subject: To discuss and implement matters of security Regarding the above subject, you are informed to come to Column 2 of #xxx Light Infantry Battalion on 13-9-2000 to discuss and implement matters of security. [Sd.] [To ‘implement matters of security’ normally means that villagers will have to do forced labour as sentries along a road or at an Army camp, and/or that they will have restrictions imposed on their movements and activities.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #123 (Pa’an) To: Ko aaaa Tomorrow, come to see my Battalion cow. The letter I am sending now, send it today without fail with a special messenger. [Sd.] [Presumably his cow is sick. ‘The letter I am sending now’ means he enclosed an order to be sent on to another village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #124 (Dooplaya) Date Time Respectfully,
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Extortion of Money, Food and Supplies
SPDC Army units force villagers to provide them with everything - money, food, condiments, alcohol, cheroots, betelnut, firewood, clothing, building materials, and many other things, as well as logs and commercial goods which they can sell for profit. The villagers are threatened to provide these things or face punishment. They are almost never paid for them, and even when they are it is just a fraction of the price, paid with money stolen from other villages.
In 1998, the SPDC in Rangoon informed its field units that rations would be cut back in quantity and quality and that they should begin producing much of their own food or obtaining it from the villagers. The result has been increased confiscation of farmland by Army units, demands that villagers do forced labour farming this land (see for example Orders #40, 70, and 71 under ‘General Forced Labour’), and an increase in demands for food without payment. Another development, as shown by Orders #137, 138, 144 and others, is that Army units now demand livestock and plant stock for breeding and planting at their camps.
Every Army unit also demands cash in several forms from all of the villages in their area of control. Some of this money is demanded as routine monthly extortion, usually referred to as "servants’ fees" or "Battalion donation money", while other money is demanded in lieu of forced labour. When money is paid to the Army to avoid forced labour it is often called "money to hire servants", but in practice the officers just pocket the money and seize forced labourers elsewhere - meaning other villages which are simultaneously paying to avoid some other demand for forced labour. As a result, villages have to pay fees to ‘hire’ (i.e. avoid) forced labour while also doing forced labour. The fees become so routine that in the end they are simply referred to as ‘servant fees’ but there is no longer any expectation that they are given in lieu of forced labour (see for example Orders #139, 141, and 148). Then the villagers try to pay to get out of the additional forced labour they actually have to do, and eventually that becomes a routine ‘fee’ as well, while the Army continues to make new demands for actual forced labour - and so on, until villages are paying all kinds of ‘servant fees’, ‘porter fees’, and ‘messenger fees’ but still going for forced labour as servants, porters and messengers on a regular basis. All of the money simply goes into the pockets of the Army officers and local officials.
Money is also demanded as ‘taxes’ based on the acreage which farmers have available to plant (see Order #129); such taxes are demanded by both the military and the civil authorities, and exist in addition to the crop quotas which farmers are forced to hand over. Some money is demanded in the name of fees to maintain pagodas and temples, but this money is then either kept by the officers or donated to the temple in the officer’s name, or in the name of the SPDC, with a great deal of public ceremony. Whenever SPDC VIP’s are due to arrive in an area or a temple festival or other ceremony is to be held, villages are also forced to pay for these (see Order #132).
Another form of extortion is shown by Order #125, which decrees a tax of 2 Kyat per durian or other fruit which passes along roads in Toungoo District. Taxes such as these are making it impossible for local farmers to make a profit on their produce or for drivers to make a profit transporting it. Taxes such as these combine with money demanded by every Army checkpoint along the roads to make goods cost up to 50% more in central Toungoo district than they do in Toungoo town, a markup which few villagers can afford. Though this order decreeing the durian tax was issued in mid-1999, it is included here because the tax is still being imposed, and this tax combined with other corruption money is driving local villagers into destitution.
This section also includes demands for many kinds of food and materials. Where such demands require a significant amount of labour by the villagers, particularly for building materials, they have been included in the section ‘Forced Labour Supplying Materials to the Army’. Many demands mention betelnut, a hard nut commonly grown and chewed throughout Burma together with leaf and lime paste; durian, a seasonal fruit highly valued throughout Southeast Asia which can weigh up to several kilograms; and dogfruit, a small puck-shaped fruit which is hard and bitter if raw, but is often cooked and used as a condiment with Karen food. In demands for food and other items, sometimes SPDC officers say they will pay, but when this happens the amount is usually far less than the value of the goods. In perhaps the most cynical order of this section, Order #133, an officer says that since his soldiers missed a wedding in the village, the villagers must send them enough pork for a feast.
As the Army expands, new camps are established in all areas and every new camp means a duplication of all the demands already faced by the villagers. Some Army units send their demands to the village tract or township authorities, who then pass them on to the villages, while other demands go directly to the villages. All demands for cash and materials end up with the village head, who must then distribute the burden by assigning villagers to gather the materials on a rotation basis and dividing the amount of cash to be paid by the number of families in the village. Most families end up having to contribute several thousand Kyat per month toward the cash demands, as well as material contributions. This is in addition to the food and belongings looted by passing patrols and the forced labour they must do. Given all the demands placed on them, it is often difficult or impossible for a village to comply, particularly when the Army demands 50,000 Kyat within 2 hours, 50 durian fruit, 500 wooden posts or 500 thatch shingles within 2 days. In these cases the village either ignores the order or scrambles to comply, but as soon as they are late the Army begins issuing increasingly threatening letters. Order #156 scolds an elder who has been slow to deliver thatch by saying "it is not easy to work with the elder", which carries a subtle but very clear threat. Order #149 is more direct, telling the village head that if the villagers or their livestock damage any of the rice seedlings in the Battalion field, "I will shoot your group" - despite the fact that the villagers were the ones forced to plant those seedlings.
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Stamp: Township
Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson Subject: The matter of collecting a Township Fund 1) The Than Daung Township Peace and Development Council team has to work on township administration duties and there are many expenses, therefore the raising of funds is greatly required. 2) Therefore, seasonal produce such as durians will be taxed at the rate of 2 Kyat apiece from vehicles travelling along the Than Daung - Than Daung Gyi road and the Than Daung - Baw Ga Li road in Than Daung township, so inform the vehicle owners again. Note: The collection will begin from 14-6-99.
[Sd.] [Villagers in Toungoo District complain that all commodities are extremely expensive because drivers have to pay extortion money at every Army checkpoint along the roads from Toungoo eastward into the hills. In addition, they cannot make any money on their produce because these ‘taxes’ wipe out any possibility of profit. As this order shows, this corruption is not isolated to the checkpoints, but also exists at an official level.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #126 (Toungoo) [This document has been removed from the internet version to protect the villagers involved.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #127 (Toungoo) To: Date:
8-12-99 Subject: Calling a meeting (1) You are invited to attend an important meeting about servant matters at xxxx Camp on 10-12-99 at 9 o’clock in the morning. (2) You are informed to bring [the amount of money] for one month which we fixed for villages by population. [Sd.]
‘Lieutenant’ [‘Servant matters’ means matters of forced labour and fees in lieu of forced labour. The money demanded is routine monthly extortion which is demanded in addition to this.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #128 (Toungoo) To: 13-1-2000 The betelnut we requested hasn’t arrived. Arrange and send it to xxxx Camp on 14-1-2000 at 12 o’clock noon, you are informed.
[Sd.] 13-1-2000 * I sent this letter with the yyyy [village] Chairperson. It is said that yyyy [village] sent 30 viss of betelnut. [The note at the end is to tell the village head that other villages have already complied, so they had better comply as well. The quantities of betelnut being demanded are too large for personal or camp use, so the officers will probably sell them for personal profit, even though the villagers need to sell them for their livelihood.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Sir: Regarding [tax] money for paddy, the Captain has specified it as below: aaaa [village] (5,000 K), bbbb (5,000 K), cccc (50,000 K [possibly an error, should be 5,000 K]), and 2,500 K from each small village. The Captain is asking for payment of 22,500 K now for the total field acreage, and U xxxx [a village head] has already paid it.
[Sd.]
xxxxx [The ‘Battalion donation money’ is routine extortion money collected by the Battalion. The ‘money for paddy’ and for acreage are cash extortion taxes demanded on the basis of the number of acres which farmers have available to them to plant.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #130 (Toungoo) To: 2-2-2000 Subject: Fees for rotation servants and 2½ sacks of supplies per village Dear Chairperson, you are requested to send what the Column instructed [meaning money] for the price of 2½ sacks of rice. The Camp Commander would also like to meet the Chairperson. Therefore, you are informed to come tomorrow and meet without fail.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #131 (Toungoo) To: Chairperson (xxxx [village]) Date: 7-2-2000 You are informed to send 16 viss [26 kg/56 lb] of pork with a messenger for our F.L. #xx [Frontline #xx Infantry Battalion] as soon as you receive this letter. * Pork (or)
beef.
[Sd.] 7/2/2000 [The ‘messenger’ means a villager to do forced labour as a messenger and running errands at the Army Camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Township Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson in Myawaddy town 1) Regarding the above subject, the well-attended glorious Shwe Myin Wone Pagoda non-stop chanting worship and Buddhist festival is held every year in Myawaddy town, Myawaddy district. 2) It is full of surprises. The Buddhist festival for the pagoda is the glory of the town, and virtuous workers and civilians in the sections/village tracts of the township come for good luck. When they get a chance, sections/village tracts must give donations for the Shwe Myin Wone Pagoda Buddhist festival, [you] were already informed by letter number 5/4-540/Yay 2 (xxxx) dated 25-1-2000 from this office. 3) At the moment, we will start to celebrate the 18th Pagoda Buddhist festival on Dta Boh Dweh Hla San 8 in the year 1361 [February 12th 2000; see note below]. To hold the non-stop chanting and Buddhist festival successfully and smoothly, a coordinating meeting will be held on 16-2-2000 at 1000 hours at the Township Peace and Development Council Chairperson’s office, and all the Section/Village Tract Peace and Development Council Chairpersons must attend without fail, and bring at the same time the donation money from the section/village tract for the pagoda Buddhist festival, you are invited and informed.
[Sd.] [This is a typed and copied order with the date and village name written in by hand. According to the dates given, the festival had already begun when this order was issued. This is possible because such festivals often go on for up to a week; alternatively, the Burmese date given may have the typographical error ‘Hla San’ (waxing) instead of ‘Hla Sote’ (waning), in which case the correct date of the start of the festival would be February 27. Villages would normally make donations to such an event, but the SPDC authorities and military also force them to make additional donations; these are usually then pooled and presented as ‘government’ or ‘Army’ donations with much fanfare.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: 5-3-2000 Date: 5-3-2000 [Sd.] [SPDC units often show up at village weddings to plunder whatever food is available, but this unit couldn’t make it so they are demanding their share of the feast afterwards.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Date Time Chairperson Money remaining to pay for donation to the Battalion for 2/2000 = 3,300 K [Kyat] and for 3/2000 = 8,325 K, the total is 11,625 K. The month has ended, so arrange it within one week, you are informed. Respectfully, |
