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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 tend 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, tractors or elephants for use by the Army, because such orders implicitly force the owner to go along and do forced labour driving his/her bullock team, tractor or elephant (see Orders #21, 115, 116, 121, 182, and 186, among others; Orders #115 and 116 clearly state that the demand for bullock carts means "people, bullocks, and cart"). Also included are some notes written by village heads on the forced labour they have been forced to send; some of these they have written on the order papers themselves (we have noted where this occurs), but they have also written up some of their own lists (see Orders #168 and 220). In addition to all of 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". 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.
Each of the orders below demands anywhere from one to over 100 villagers at a time for forced labour. Most of the demands specifying one or only a few people are for rotating forced labour as messengers and general servants at an Army camp or as porters with mobile patrols. Demands for larger scale projects, such as transporting a rations shipment or clearing the scrub along roadsides, often demand one person per family (for example, Orders #155 and 181) or specify a total of 20, 30, 80 or 100 people per village (see Order #144). The orders do not usually discriminate by gender, though some orders specify men only (such as #141, 144 and 162) while others specifically demand women, such as Orders #150 and 157, or Orders #55 and 201, which specify that if no men are available then women must come. Facing several demands for forced labour at once, many villagers have no alternative but to send their children so that the parents can work their fields. SPDC officers generally show no reluctance to force children to do hard labour, though they prefer adults because they can do more work. For this reason, Order #201 specifies that if there are no men women can be sent, but not children. Order #1 is more explicit: "When you sent the loh ah pay from the village, they were children, so the work is not going well. Therefore, send adults when loh ah pay is to be done." Though he is not happy with their work, the LIB 308 officer who wrote this order makes no mention of exempting the children from the work until the adults arrive.
Many of the orders are not specific about the nature of the labour, simply calling a group of people to come. In most cases these are for forced labour as servants, messengers and doing sentry duty and general maintenance at the Army camp, or carrying supplies. Some orders specifically demand villagers to carry Army supplies (Orders #130 and 156) or to build Army camps (Orders #59, 75, 145, 146, and 147). Those for larger scale labour are usually more specific; for example, there are several demanding forced labour on road and bridge construction (see Orders #54, 101, 138, 149, 160, and 197). 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. Apart from building and maintaining roads, villagers are also forced to clear wide ‘killing grounds’ along both sides of roads used by the Army. For example, Order #185 orders everyone in 6 villages to work for 6 days clearing all vegetation for 75 yards to either side of an Army road. Other similar orders include #2, 9, 10, 13, 26, 84, and 209. These ‘killing grounds’ are intended to make it more difficult for resistance forces to mount ambushes on Army convoys or landmine the road, and they also make it difficult for anyone, including fleeing villagers, to cross the road. Orders #2 and 140 demand that a village return to do the work again because they didn’t cut the area clearly enough; Order #2 goes on to threaten that if the village fails to do so it will be forcibly relocated. Order #206 demands that villagers build fences along both sides of the road for the same purpose. Once these security measures are taken, the villagers are forced to do rotating 24-hour or 48-hour shifts of forced labour standing as unarmed sentries every few hundred metres along the road (see Order #24, which also orders them to build sentry huts for the purpose, and Order #22); they are supposed to report any movement to the Army camp, and if anything subsequently happens along their stretch of road their village is held responsible and punished. Order #184 warns that "If anything happens along the road, it will be the Chairperson’s responsibility so [you] will have to pay compensation."
SPDC Army units are also confiscating farmland and calling on villagers more and more to grow food for them; see for example Order #317 under "Set to a Village II: Village B, Papun District", which calls villagers to weed the Battalion’s ricefield, and Order #30, in which an officer tells the village headwoman to hand over the chickens he has ordered her to breed for him. Forced labour demands even include the absurd or trivial; for example, the demands of an LIB #xxx officer for a village headwoman to sew his clothes expressed in Orders #218 and 219.
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.
Many military units and lower-level officers send their orders for forced labour directly to the heads of each village in the area, but some higher commanders and military units use the head of the village nearest their camp as a conduit, sending orders to him and leaving it to him to allocate the demands among the villages in the area. This is why some of the orders for forced labour below are addressed from a village head or village tract head to another village head. In the end it is usually the village head receiving the order who must 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 ‘permanent’ or ‘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. Villagers forced to go for ad hoc forced labour are often kept much longer than originally specified, and ‘rotation’ labourers often have to keep working longer than their shift because the village fails to send replacements on time; in these cases, they run out of food and the Army sends orders to their village to send food for them (see for example Orders #76, 88, and 89). Orders for work such as road building or clearing often specify a length of road or a specific assignment and a deadline instead of specifying the number of workers; in these cases, it is up to the village head to decide how many people must go to finish the work in the specified time. 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 ‘Chairperson, 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 second or 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. The threats for failure to comply are often vague, such as "If you fail it will be the Chairperson’s responsibility", but some are more explicit: for example, Order #203 tells the village head that if he/she doesn’t send 8 people for forced labour by 2 p.m., "know that your village will suffer". Order #178 demands 2 villagers and adds, "If you fail, we will send a bomb", meaning they will shell the village. Orders such as #131 threaten "serious action", while Order #74 says that if the village head does not pay a fine for 2 villagers who failed to show up, "[I’m] not going to take any responsibility for xxxx village", meaning the village may be destroyed or relocated as punishment. Order #2 tells several villages that their work clearing the scrub from the roadsides was "not satisfactory", and threatens that if they do not come back to do it again their villages will be forcibly relocated. The anger of the SPDC officers at not being sent their forced labour is clear in orders such as Order #109: "Has your xxxx [village] not arranged the matter of rotation servants? Do you not understand that you are responsible for the village? Do we need to resolve this? Don’t act like you don’t care about us. We have already written letters to you twice. If we arrive at the village it will not be good for our relationship. You must understand that." One of the strongest threats is stated in Order #187: "No one came in accordance with the call for servants when the Strategic Command went back, so the Head yourself must come to clear [the matter]. If [you] don’t come, [we] will call you with the Mobile Column. … Every time [we] call for servants from the Village Head, [you] give many excuses and avoid it. In future, if battles or landmines occur concerned with your village, the village will be destroyed."
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. In addition to threats, villagers are also fined for failing to show up for work; sometimes this is stated as a fine (Order #74), while sometimes it is claimed that people had to be hired in their place and they must reimburse the cost (Orders #8, 15, and 52). Villages supposed to send people on a ‘permanent’ rotating basis for forced labour frequently fail to send a new shift of people on time because no one is available, and this results in orders from the Army to "come and replace the servants" with fresh people, particularly if the workers already at the camp have run out of food. Usually the Army will not release the rotation workers until their replacements arrive; for example, Order #170 states, "Yesterday I didn’t get the messenger that I asked for, so I didn’t release the bullock cart driver yet. In your village there are about 100 houses. I will tell [you] one more thing. One person is always a messenger for me, so send [one messenger] together with the messenger who comes now. When the day is finished come to change [the messengers]. If you don’t send one with the messenger who comes now, we won’t release the bullock cart driver."
SPDC officers get particularly angry when forced labourers flee before their shift or their work assignment is done, and usually fine the village or demand that the people be identified and brought back for punishment. Order #44 demands a fine of rice and pork for villagers who fled, while Order #60 demands a fine of 5,000 Kyat in cash; Order #73 demands that the 2 villagers who fled be brought back, plus an additional 2 people for forced labour. Other similar orders include #29, 61, 64, 189, 210, and 212, the last of which states, "All of the sentries went back. Uncle is angry. As soon as you receive this letter now, send back all the sentries. Send them effectively, Mother." Order #133 is angrier: "The Mother [Village] Head has sent the 5 villagers and [they] arrived yesterday and [we] are asking them to cut bamboo, but [they] didn’t cut the bamboo and fled back [to their village]. I am very angry about this. As soon as you receive this letter, give quickly 10 villagers to me and include those 5 villagers [who fled the day before]. We are treating the villagers from xxxx well, but think that we can’t continue like this. We are the soldiers, if [you] want us to deal [with you] brutally, we can. [We are] Not satisfied at all on this matter. … [We] Asked for thatch and it didn’t arrive. [We] Asked for people, but [they] didn’t do anything and ran back. So, there is no reason to accommodate [you]. If [you] can stay without coming, stay [in your village]. That is all there is to tell."
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. Demands for such ‘fees’ can be seen in the section ‘Extortion of Money, Food, and Materials’ below. 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. Some villages also hire people to go in their place. When the Army channels its forced labour demands to small villages through a village tract head or the head of a garrison village, some village tract heads automatically hire people to go for the labour and then send demands for money out to the smaller villages to cover their share; systems like these can be seen in the sections "Set to a Village I" and "Set to a Village II" below, and in both cases the village tract head tries to force the villages to send people instead of money. 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.
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. 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 Villages 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 Villages 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. In June 2000 the ILO voted to implement Article 33 of its constitution beginning in November if the SPDC failed to show concrete progress in reducing forced labour by that time. Article 33, which had never before been used in the ILO’s 83-year history, stipulates that the ILO will press its member governments, labour and employers’ organisations, and United Nations agencies and others to review their relations with the SPDC to ensure that these do not encourage the use of forced labour.
In response, the SPDC claimed again to be acting against forced labour, and this time there were reports from some SPDC Army deserters and villagers that vague orders had come down that forced labour should not be used for personal profit, but would still be used for everything else. Even these same villagers and deserters stated that nothing was done to reduce forced labour as a result. For example, a 19-year-old Lance Corporal who fled SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #549 in Pa’an District in December 2000 told KHRG, "The SPDC said they won’t call Wontan [‘servants’, meaning porters] after November [2000], but it isn’t true. They call Wontan [porters] and Loh Ah Pay [other forced labour]. They forced the civilians to dig toilets. They forced them to dig the earth, to build the road and forced them to weave baskets for the porters. They force them to do everything. They force them to send firewood for charcoal and firewood for the brick kilns [brick kilns owned by the Army. The bricks made there are sold by the officers for personal profit]. After the villagers cut the wood they have to send it by bullock cart. Later, they don’t want do it anymore. They are tired of it. … I heard that the senior leaders ordered it [a reduction in forced labour]. But they didn’t stop it. They still call people to go." [see Interview #2 in "Abuse Under Orders: The SPDC & DKBA Armies Through the Eyes of their Soldiers" (KHRG #2001-01, 27/3/01)]. In practice there has been no restriction placed on forced labour for the military, which the ILO has repeatedly stressed as its strongest concern, and no mention of punishment for those using forced labour. Orders for forced labour of all kinds continue to be issued throughout Burma as steadily as they ever were; this report alone contains approximately 300 direct orders for forced labour (contained in this section and the three ‘Set to a Village’ sections) and over 50 orders requiring forced labour to supply wood, bamboo, thatch and other materials (contained in the section ‘Forced Labour Supplying Materials’). These orders come from many different battalions and SPDC authorities in six different regions, issued up to and including January 2001. Of all of these orders, the only one making any reference to cutting back on forced labour is Order #151, issued in October 2000, which states, "Except for operations and security affairs which require operations servants, civilian servants/carts are not allowed to be used for administrative affairs." No further explanation or details are included in this order, and it is important to note that the exceptions of ‘operations and security affairs’ include all forced labour for the military. Similarly, Order #18 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-B" (KHRG #2000-04, 12/10/00), issued in October 1999, states, "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’". Again, the stated exceptions of "military operation servants" and "matters concerning the whole population" such as infrastructure go directly against the recommendations of the ILO and the supposed stipulations of Order 1/99. Furthermore, in this order 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. After reviewing the situation once more in November 2000, the ILO decided to implement Article 33 and since that time has been communicating with governments, ILO member organisations, and international bodies regarding their relations with the SPDC.
The SPDC also claims to be using convict labour instead of civilians, but while it is true that they are using convict labour more than ever before, this has not reduced demands for forced labour on civilians; instead, they are simply using much more forced labour in total to support their ever-expanding Army [for more information see "Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners at Burma’s Frontlines" (KHRG #2000-06, 20/12/00)]. The only order obtained for this set which makes reference to convict labour is Order #7, which tells village heads to report and hand over any convict labourers who arrive in their village after fleeing the SPDC.
This section contains most of the direct orders for forced labour, but some such orders have also been included in the sections "Set to a Village I", "Set to a Village II", "Education", and "DKBA Letters". Orders which indirectly require forced labour are included in all sections of this report.
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Stamp: When you sent the loh ah pay from the village, they were children, so the work is not going well. Therefore, send adults when loh ah pay is to be done. Send them early. Send them to arrive at 8 o’clock at the work place.
You are informed. [On the back this order says, "Help with 50 kyat tha [800 g/1.75 lb] of sesame paste." Note that the officer has not refrained from using the children for the work; he is only complaining because they are too small so the work is not going well.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To:
25-9-99 Subject: Informing you to come to 21-Mile [We] Have already given the villages the duty to cut the brush on the left / right sides of the road from 21-Mile to 18-Mile, but the cutting and clearing is not satisfactory, and [we] have already [sent] this letter three times for the [village] heads to come to meet. If [you] don’t come again now, according to the directive of the Strategic Operations Command, [we] will move [your village] to a better place for security reasons, letting you know. If the heads do not come, the xxxx Strategic Operations Command will arrange to move [the villages], we inform you again. Ko aaaa, come without fail.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #3 (Papun) To: xxxx [village]
6-11-99 Mother, letting you know and informing you with this letter. Mother and 6 loh ah pay people must come together with the messenger who has come now. Come quickly to yyyy camp, you are informed. If [you] have green
chillies,
yyyy camp ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #4 (Papun)
Stamp: To:
11-11-99 1) As soon as you receive this letter now,
the Elder yourself must come quickly to meet at yyyy camp. Obey.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
To: As soon as you receive this letter now, send without fail 2 loh ah pay servants to yyyy at the zzzz river bridge, to arrive today at 17:00 hours. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #6 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Date:
20/11/99 From xxxx village send ([blank]) people as rotation servants, Chairperson yourself come to bring them to arrive on 20-11-99 at yyyy camp, you are informed.
[Sd.] [‘Rotation servants’ are villagers who must go for constantly rotating shifts of forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: The servants who are being used in our Columns/Companies are convicts who are being punished. If you see any servants who have fled and escaped from the Column, come quickly to report the information to the nearest Columns.
[Sd.]
21/11/99 [The SPDC uses prison convicts along with villagers to do forced labour, especially as porters and on major infrastructure projects; the convicts are treated brutally and are often forced to work until they die or escape. See "Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on Burma’s Frontlines" (KHRG #2000-06, 20/12/00).] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Date:
24-11-99 1) For fencing duty, xxxx village must come and complete the fencing by 30-11-99. 2) You have already been informed to send 2 rotation servants to arrive on 20-11-99, but they have failed to come up until today. During the failure for 5 days from 20-11-99 through 24-11-99 [we] had to hire 2 servants from yyyy, so come quickly to give the servants’ hiring fees of 800 Kyat for each day. Send 2 rotation servants, you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back is written, "Important. Send quickly." ‘Rotation servants’ are villagers who must go for constantly rotating shifts of forced labour. The camp wouldn’t pay to hire people from yyyy village, they would simply demand more forced labourers; however, they use the failure to send forced labour as an excuse to demand money from the village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To:
Stamp: Subject: To cut the scrub along the right/left of the road Regarding the above subject, the Elder’s village must take the responsibility to cut the scrub along the right/left of the vehicle road. [You] Must come to clear until finished the miles which have been specified on the 27th/28th/29th. When finished cutting and clearing the scrub, the one who takes responsibility for the village must come to report to the Column, you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To
Stamp: Subject: To cut the brush on the right and left sides of the road Regarding the above subject, the Elder’s village must take the duty for cutting the brush on the right / left side of the road at the specified miles. Come to clear it completely on the 27th / 28th / 29th [of November 1999]. When the brush is cleared completely, one responsible person [village head or other village leader] from the village must come to report to the Column, you are informed. Place: yyyy Camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
To: The village head yourself must come and bring 1 person from each house of civilians who are staying in xxxx to yyyy village with 3 days of rations on 27-11-99, you are informed. If they don’t come from your village, it will be the responsibility of the village head.
[Sd.] [The village heads of large villages, particularly if it is the centre of a village tract, are often ordered by SPDC units to issue the orders demanding quotas of forced labour from all the smaller villages in their areas. The SPDC-appointed village head is referred to as the Chairperson of the Village Peace and Development Council.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #12 (Papun)
Stamp:
30-11-99 The subject is that each village has to pay for the cost of boat diesel, [illegible] Kyat. [I] Have sent back the loh ah pay people. It must be carried by boat [it is better to carry the supplies by boat than by forced labourers]. If we use people, they are not free to work their paddy fields. Then send 1 loh ah pay servant from each village to yyyy village on 1-12-99, you are informed. If the people cannot come, you can come and hire people for 500 Kyat per day in yyyy village. You must come to send the price of the diesel and the servants. Therefore, I am insisting that you must send it. That’s all.
[Sd.] [This order followed Order #11, and the ‘loh ah pay people’ mentioned here are those who were demanded in that previous order.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Mother Head, xxxx [village] From xxxx [village], the scrub still has to be cut on the left and right sides of the road between yyyy and zzzz. Come to cut it tomorrow, 1-12-99, you are informed.
[Sd.] 30-11-99 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #14 (Papun)
Stamp: To: As soon as you receive this letter now, the Chairperson yourself must come without fail with 1 servant for loh ah pay to yyyy village, to arrive today, 2-12-99, and meet with the Column Commander. Date: 2/12/99
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
6-12-99 When you receive this letter, from 15-11-99 to 30-11-99 the two rotation servants failed [to come]. [People] Had to be hired from yyyy village in place of these servants, so for the servants’ fees send without fail 4,000 Kyat exactly to arrive on 7-12-99. Send it without fail. If the Chairperson cannot come a representative must bring it, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The servants’ fees are the money supposedly used to hire people to take the place of the villagers who didn’t show up for rotating shifts of forced labour as ordered during the 15 day period specified.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #16 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Date:
10-12-99 1) The rations have to be carried from the bank of the river at yyyy to the camp. Chairperson yourself come and bring 15 men from xxxx village together with 3 days of rice on 12-12-99, you are informed. 2) If [you] fail it will be the responsibility of the Chairperson.
[Sd.] 10-12-99 [Written on the back: "Important, send quickly. Pass on [to other villages]".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #17 (Papun)
Stamp: To: Now, as soon as you receive this letter, the Chairperson yourself must come without fail to yyyy camp to bring replacements for the 3 servants who went back [to their village], you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
[Sd.]
15-12-99 [Three villagers have fled from forced labour, and this order demands replacements for them.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #18 (Papun) To: Chairperson Subject: Sending back the loh ah pay servant Regarding the above subject, the 1 loh ah pay servant from the Elder’s village who we are sending back now did his duty well, so for this 1 servant, give him a chance to be free from the [forced labour] rotation for 3 weeks, you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
Stamp: ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #19 (Papun)
Stamp: Now, when [you] receive this letter, send 3 servants from xxxx [village] with rice for 3 days. Moreover, send 4 bowls [6.4 kg/14 lb] of rice again. Date: 25-12-99
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #20 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: As soon as you receive this letter now, come quickly to yyyy to replace the 2 servants, and bring along the rice for the servants, you are informed. If [you] have any sticky-rice, bring one bowl [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] to give [us]. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] [To ‘replace the 2 servants’ means that the forced labourers from the village have already finished their shift, but they will not be released until the village provides replacements for them.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Subject: Informing you to send bullock carts Regarding the above subject, the Head yourself must come and bring 5 bullock carts to yyyy camp on 28-12-99 to arrive at 0600 hours, you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
Stamp:
[Sd.] 27-12-99 ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Date: 1-1-2000 As soon as you receive this letter now, the Chairperson yourself must bring road sentries and report without fail to the Column at yyyy. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder, you are informed.
[Sd.] [‘Road sentries’ are villagers for forced labour as unarmed sentries along the road. They must watch for any activity along the road and report it to the military column; if anything subsequently happens along the road, their village is held responsible and punished.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #23 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Now, as soon as you receive this letter, replace the servants. Gather them at yyyy camp on 3/1/2000. Bring along ration rice. Place: yyyy
camp
[Sd.] [‘Replace the servants’ means to bring villagers to take over for those already doing forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
8-1-2000 As soon as you receive this letter now, to build the vehicle road sentry huts and to sentry, send quickly 5 villagers from the Elder’s village with full rations. Chairperson, come to send 1 cart to the Company Commander at yyyy on the Kway Thay river. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder, you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed "To Chairperson, xxxx village. Important/Urgent."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #25 (Papun) To:
Chairperson
8-1-2000 The Chairperson yourself must come to bring the sentries from chairperson’s village along with food rations on 8-1-2000 to arrive at 1200 hours, you are informed. If [you] fail, it is the responsibility of the chairperson, you are informed.
[Sd.
8-1-2000] [On the back of this order it is marked ‘Important. Send Urgently’. ‘Sentries’ means villagers to do forced labour as unarmed sentries at the Army Camp or along the road.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: To:
Date:
9-1-2000 To cut the scrub on the left and right sides of the vehicle road, call one person per house from the Elder’s village. The Chairperson/Village Head yourself must come to arrive at the yyyy river tomorrow, 10-1-2000, at 7 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. If [you] do not come, it will be the responsibility of the Elder, you are warned.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #27 (Papun) To: Chairperson (U aaaa) 10/1/00 - The Chairperson yourself must come at once tonight with 5 servants. If [you] don’t arrive before daybreak, it will be the responsibility of the Chairperson.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed "To Chairperson U aaaa, xxxx village".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #28 (Papun) To: U aaaa
10/1/00 - Now, as soon as you receive this letter,
there is an emergency so send 5 servants with the one who
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Date: 17-1-200[0] The 5 servants from xxxx [village] who fled will be fined. It is the responsibility of the village head to arrange and think about this. Stamp:
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Mother + Daw aaaa 21-1-2000 Son is writing a letter.
Respectfully, [Officers and NCO’s often refer to the older village headwomen as ‘Mother’ and to themselves as ‘Son’. This letter means that the officer sent some chicks to the village headwoman and ordered her to raise them and breed them at her own expense. He is now demanding the chickens if they are full-grown; if they are not, she is to send him one of her own full-grown chickens (without payment) and continue raising his for him. The last sentence means if they are scattered around and difficult to catch, she should send them later with her real son. We have included this order under ‘Forced Labour’ because essentially it refers to forced labour raising chickens for the Army at the headwoman’s own expense and sending them to the camp when full-grown.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
Mother 23/1/2000 To make sides around the well, send 5 loh ah pay people today with Saya Gyi [used here to mean Sergeant] aaaa. Stamp:
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #32 (Papun) Stamp: To:
28-1-2000 Subject: Informing [you] to send servants #xxx Light Infantry Battalion needs 2 servants for the Column which is at the Elder’s village on duty in our area of control. As soon as you receive this letter, the Elder yourself must come to send them quickly to the Column, and if you fail it will be the Elder’s own responsibility, you are informed. [Handwritten note:] Bring along 5 dried coconuts.
[Sd.] [This is a carbon copied handwritten order with the village name, signature and the note at the bottom written in with ink.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #33 (Papun) To: Mother Head 31-1-2000 [We] Want 4 men temporarily for one morning tomorrow. After morning rice, send them without fail to arrive at xxxx at 6 o’clock in the morning.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #34 (Papun) Stamp: [I] Am sending this letter now with a letter for yyyy village. Send it on to yyyy. Asking for your help. Place: zzzz
camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #35 (Papun)
Stamp: To:
7/2/2000 Now, as soon as you receive this letter, bring 3 loh ah pay servants with rice for 3 days and machetes, bring them to yyyy.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #36 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: As soon as you receive this letter, come without fail and replace the servants who are staying with the Column. Arrive today, and bring rice for 3 days with these servants and a machete each. Come and change them at yyyy. Bring along the sacks of rice that [I] left in the monastery. Bring also 1 thandurin [long crowbar-like pole with a metal end used for driving holes in the ground]. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] [‘Replace the servants’ means to bring villagers to replace those presently doing a shift of forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #37 (Papun)
Stamp: To: As soon as you receive this letter now, send without fail the one servant who was already requested with 3 days’ rice, and bring along a machete and a du yin [a long crowbar-like pole with a metal end used for driving holes in the ground], to yyyy tomorrow, 10/2/2000, informing you again. Place: yyyy
camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #38 (Papun) Subject: To send one cart Send 1 cart tomorrow morning, 10-2-2000, to arrive at 0900 hours at yyyy camp. Asking for help. Stamp:
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx village". The cart means a bullock cart owner will have to go with his team and cart and haul supplies without payment.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #39 (Papun) Stamp: To:
Date:
11/2/2000 Ko aaaa, I am writing a letter. Of the 5 loh ah pay people who were called, [I am] asking for your help to replace 3 of them. [We are] Taking care of and feeding them well, you can ask the ones who come back now. Ko aaaa, help [us] with green/dry chillies and 1 bottle of cooking oil/sesame oil. Thank you very
much.
[Sd.] Bo bbbb [On the back the village head has written a short list of villagers’ names, probably the names of potential replacements for the 3 forced labourers who have been sent back.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #40 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
18-2-2000 Chairperson, as soon as this letter arrives now, the Chairperson yourself must come to send 5 servants to yyyy village, you are informed. Do not fail, informing you in advance.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #41 (Papun)
Stamp:
To:
Date:
24/2/2000 Now, as soon as you receive this letter, send quickly 3 servants from the Elder’s village with the servants’ rice to yyyy camp, to arrive on 25/2/2000, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #42 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: As soon as you receive this letter now, send quickly 3 servants from the Elder’s village with the servants’ rice to yyyy to arrive on 25-2-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: Subject: The matter of calling loh ah pay to roof the DKBA houses From the Head’s village, send without fail 5 loh ah pay people at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note: If [you] fail, it will be the
responsibility
[Sd.] [This is a carbon-copied order and is marked ‘Urgent’ on the back.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Ko aaaa
Date: 27/2/2000 The 4 servants from xxxx who were staying with me fled on 26/2/2000 in the evening. Replace them with 4 replacement servants and a fine of 5 bowls [8 kg/17.5 lb] of rice and 5 viss [8 kg/17.5 lb] of pork from the Elder’s village. Send it quickly, you are informed. [Sd.] [Most of the signature and what appears below it has been torn off and lost.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #45 (Papun)
Stamp: Want you to send 2 bullock carts from Chairperson’s village to yyyy camp on 28-2-2000 to arrive at 0700 hours, to be used temporarily.
With
friendliness, [The rest of the bottom of this order was torn off. On the back the village head has written a list of bullock cart owners, and the sender has marked "To xxxx village chairperson, from yyyy camp". The demand for 2 carts means the cart owners must drive them to the camp and haul things.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #46 (Papun) To: U aaaa Stamp:
5-3-2000 1) Bring 2 servants from xxxx village to yyyy village quickly as soon as you receive this letter. 2) The Elder yourself should [come to] meet.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #47 (Papun)
yyyy
village Subject: To send back the servants Regarding the above subject, the servants who went back to the Elder’s village must be replaced and sent, you are informed. Bring them together with the Elder tomorrow, 12-3-200[0], Sunday at 10 o’clock, to yyyy. Come to meet with the leader concerned, informing you again. With the Elder bring along 1 bowl [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] of sticky-rice, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #48 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Subject: Changing the set tha [messengers] and loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, from the Elder’s village replace the 1 set tha on duty when the day is finished, and replace the 2 loh ah pay people together with the set tha. Send them to arrive on 13-3-2000 at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. The total number to replace is 3 people. [Sd.] [‘Set tha’ is forced labour as messengers and errand-runners, and ‘loh ah pay’ is most other forms of forced labour except portering. The village head is being ordered to replace those who are already working at the Army camp on a rotation basis; ‘set tha’ labour is often for a 24-hour shift, while the ‘loh ah pay’ labourers have probably been there for several days.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #49 (Papun)
Stamp: To:
Date:
14-3-2000 Subject: Informing [you] to send servants 3 servants from the Elder’s village are needed by the Column. Now, as soon as you receive this letter, the Elder yourself must come quickly to bring them to the Column, you are informed. If [you] fail to come, it will be the responsibility of the Elder.
[Sd.] [This is a carbon-copied handwritten order with the village name and date written in ink on this copy.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #50 (Thaton) To: The servants from Chairperson’s village didn’t arrive, so now as soon as you receive this letter send them together with this messenger, you are informed. 5 servants. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #51 (Thaton) To: Subject: The matter of sending servants. Regarding the above subject, now as soon as you receive this letter send quickly 3 servants from Chairperson’s village to the Column, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
yyyy
village Subject: Sending back the servants Regarding the above subject, one servant which the Head must always send from the Elder’s village has not arrived at yyyy, and failed their duty. Today, [we] need servants, so [we] have to hire one servant for the Elder’s village at yyyy. The cost in money is one thousand, 1,000 Kyat. The Elder yourself must come to meet the Secretary and bring the money, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This is a letter from a village tract to a smaller village. The village tract is responsible for organising the forced labour demanded by the Army from the smaller villages. As the recipient village has failed to send the routine forced labourer for a shift of work, they are demanding the money needed to hire someone in the big village to go instead. An identical letter, also obtained by KHRG, was sent to another village in the village tract as well.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #53 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
21-3-2000 The matter of calling loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to roof the health teacher’s house at yyyy, send 5 loh ah pay people from Head’s village on 23-3-2000 to arrive at 6 o’clock, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This is a carbon-copied order sent to several villages.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Stamp:
Subject: Calling a discussion meeting about completion (first part) of road construction 1) The first part of Nabu / Aut Bo Deh road construction has been completed to the Mi Pa Leh bridge. Therefore, the supporting groups of loh ah pay workers from the 6 village tracts are called for a meeting. 2) The supporting groups from the 6 village tracts, Chairpersons and village elders are informed to come to yyyy monastery on 25-3-2000. Date: 24-3-2000
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: xxxx
village 28/3/2000 One person per house from Mother’s village has to come to yyyy for loh ah pay tomorrow, 29/3/2000, early in the morning. If there are no males, females must come. If [they] fail to come, action will be taken. Cut wah boh bamboo for the Camp, 10 pieces each 9 taun [14 ft/4.5 m] long, and bring it along. Also bring along the nipa palm thatch that remains to be sent.
[Sd.]
28/3/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #56 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Date:
28-3-2000 Subject: Note: Do not fail to comply.
[Sd.] [The back of this order is marked "Urgent".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #57 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Stamp:
Subject: To send emergency carts Regarding the above subject, from the Elder’s village send 1 emergency cart to yyyy camp on 29-3-2000 in the early morning, and the village head must come along to meet, you are informed. When bringing the emergency cart, bring it to stay 3 days and sleep 2 nights [with us], and bring rice for them [the cart owners/drivers]. Place: yyyy camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #58 (Papun)
Stamp: To: Subject: To send carts on rotation 1) Regarding the above subject, from the Elder’s village send 4 carts on rotation on 30-3-2000 to arrive at 6 o’clock. 2) The Chairperson yourself must come with the carts, and if [you] fail it will be the responsibility of the Elder, you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date:
30-3-2000 Subject: Asking for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to build yyyy Army Camp, send 10 loh ah pay people from the Head’s village on 31-3-2000 to arrive at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note:
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: [blank] 30-3-2000 Writing to inform the Elder. The loh ah pay from the Elder’s village went back [fled]. The loh ah pay from the Elder’s village who has arrived now already went back 5 days ago, so we are sending back aaaa who has come now. Send 2 more loh ah pay from the Elder’s village tomorrow at 0900 hours. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder. [We] want you to bring 5,000 Kyat in cash for the people who went back [as a fine for those who fled]. [Unsigned] [The text of this order is difficult to follow because it appears to be written by a soldier who is somewhat mentally deficient. Order #64 appears on the back of this one in a different handwriting, and is related.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
To: Chairperson
Date: 30-3-2000 Subject: The matter of servants Regarding the above subject, of the 2 servants from the Elder’s village, one came for 2 days and then went back by himself without reporting. Now that the 5 days is finished, the next 2 servants must come, and the Elder yourself must come and clear the matter of the person who was absent for 3 days, you are informed. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder and of the Elder’s village, letting you know and informing you. The Elder and 2 servants must
bring
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #62 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Stamp: When you receive this letter now, from the Elder’s village send 7 loh ah pay people to arrive tomorrow at 7 o’clock at yyyy village. If late, it is the responsibility of the Elder.
[Sd.]
30-3-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date: 30-3-2000 Subject: Note: Arrange it without fail.
[Sd.] [The following note is written on the back:] At 8 o’clock in the morning, send 10 loh ah pay people to yyyy Army [an SPDC Army camp] to build the rations godown. ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Saya aaaa 31-3-2000 To let you know and inform you. [Unsigned] [This note appears on the back of Order #60, in a different handwriting; it is a note to a Corporal (commonly referred to as ‘Saya’ in the Army) about the fine to be paid by xxxx village because their forced labourer fled.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #65 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson (Village head)
Date:
4-4 [-2000] Subject: Calling for loh ah pay The Elder’s village must send 5 loh ah pay workers today at 9 o’clock. Be informed that the Elder yourself must bring them. Place: xxxx
village
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #66 (Papun) To: Head
Stamp:
4-4-2000 As soon as you receive this letter, now, 1 servant must come quickly with the village head, you are informed. Come without fail, [I] warn you.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #67 (Papun) To: Chairperson
8-4-2000 Subject: Calling for servants As soon as you receive this letter, you are requested to gather and make ready 20 servants from the Elder’s village. Report the information to aaaa Captain bbbb that IB #xx has ordered you to gather them [the servants].
[Sd.]
8/4/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #68 (Papun)
Stamp:
To:
8-4-2000 The Chairperson yourself must come to bring 5 loh ah pay people from the Elder’s village on 9-4-2000 to arrive at 0700 hours at yyyy village, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #69 (Papun) To:
Stamp: Date:
9-4-2000 Subject: Informing [you] to change the servant Regarding the above subject, The Elder’s village must come and change with a new servant, and be informed that if [you] fail it will be the responsibility of the persons concerned.
[Sd.] [This order means that the village has to send someone for a shift of ‘rotation’ forced labour to replace the person who is already doing forced labour at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #70 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Subject:
[Sd.] [On the back this order is marked "To Head, xxxx [village]. (Urgent)". Bamboo ties are used to tie thatch onto the roof.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #71 (Papun)
Stamp: To: As soon as you receive this letter now, the Chairperson yourself must call 2 servants and come without fail to bring them to yyyy camp on the 13th. If [you] fail it will be the responsibility of the Chairperson, you are informed. Place: yyyy camp
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #72 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Subject: Calling for cart servants As soon as you receive this letter now, send quickly at night 2 bullock carts from the Elder’s village to #xxx Light Infantry Battalion, Company #x, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Date: 14-4-2000 Subject: Calling servants Regarding the above subject, the servants from the Elder’s village haven’t come for their rotation again, and have fled many times. Therefore as soon as you receive this letter, now, the Elder yourself must come with the 2 servants who fled on 12-4-2000, and 2 additional servants, you are informed. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder’s village and the Elder, you are informed again. Note: The Elder yourself must come to meet. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chairperson Subject: To send servants From the Chairperson’s village, the Chairperson yourself must come and bring the 2 absent servants on 17-4-2000, and the Chairperson yourself must come to clear and smooth over the matter of their days absent [to pay a fine], you are informed. If [you] fail, [I’m] not going to take any responsibility for [what happens to] xxxx village, informing you again. Send them to arrive at yyyy
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Stamp:
17/4/2000 Subject: To build the camp To build yyyy camp, come and send the required material according to the quantities below on 19/4/2000. (a) Thatch:
100 [shingles]
With
friendliness, [‘Myaw’ are bamboo roof support poles, which hold up the thatch roofing shingles.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
To: 17-4-2000 Subject: Asking for help with rice Elder, regarding the servants from the Elder’s village who are with our Column, we have a problem with rice for the servants, so help with 4 bowls [6.4 kg/14 lb] of rice from the Elder’s village, you are informed. Send it to arrive on the 18th.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #77 (Papun)
Stamp:
18-4-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for male loh ah pay people Regarding the above subject, for the yyyy Strategic Command Base, come to send 5 male loh ah pay people on 19-4-2000 to arrive at 6:00 in the morning, you are informed. (Note) Do not fail by any means. If [you] fail harsh action will be taken.
[Sd.]
18-4-2000 [On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #78 (Papun) [To:] U aaaa
20-4-2000 * Send now 8 people in a group to cut the scrub, together with the groups to cut scrub from yyyy and zzzz [villages]. Bring along rice for 3 days. * Send 2 rotation servants to wwww now to change. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #79 (Papun) To: Chairperson Subject: To send loh ah pay servants Regarding the above subject, the Chairperson or an assistant must come to send 4 loh ah pay servants from the Elder’s village to the Column now, when you receive this letter, you are informed. Place: yyyy [village]
[Sd.] 20/4/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #80 (Thaton) To:
22-4-2000 The servants from Mother [Village] Head’s village are to come and change with [the servants from] Ko aaaa’s village, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This order means that the village headwoman must send forced labourers to replace those from another village who are already at the Army Camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #81 (Pa’an) Stamp:
To: Chairperson
25-4-2000 As soon as you receive this letter, ask for the name list of LIB #20’s loh ah pay workers, check whether they have returned or not, and report to U aaaa’s house at 12 o’clock without fail, you are informed.
[Sd.] [Though the number of the issuing Battalion in the stamp is not clear, it is not Light Infantry Battalion #20; it appears that this order was issued by another battalion which wants to know when the forced labourers come back to the village so that they can demand them for other work.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #82 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
25-4-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to build the yyyy Army Hill pagoda, the Head yourself must come without fail and bring 10 loh ah pay people from the Head’s village to yyyy gate on the 26th, to arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note: [The back of this order is marked "Urgent".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #83 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: 26-4-2000 Subject: The matter of calling loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, the yyyy Strategic Command base ordered us to inform you to come and bring 10 male loh ah pay people from the Head’s village tomorrow to arrive at 6:00 in the morning. (Note) All [10] of them must not fail [to come]. If they fail, harsh action will be taken.
[Sd.] 26-4-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson Subject: To clear the left/right of the specified portion of road 1) The Elders’ villages have to clear the left/right roadsides, both sides, of trees, scrub, and bamboo, along the vehicle road from Ka Ma Maung to Papun in accordance with the portion assigned to your village. 2) When your village has finished clearing your assigned portion, the Elders yourselves must come to report, you are informed.
[Sd.] 26/4[/2000] [This order is identical to another obtained by KHRG, but to a different village. This is a carbon-copied typed order which was clearly sent out to many villages, with the village name and signature written in afterwards on each copy.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #85 (Papun) To: Chairperson Subject: To send carts Send (one) cart from the Elder’s village to yyyy camp on 28-4-2000, to arrive in the middle of the day, you are informed. Send it together with (one) cart from zzzz [village], total 2 carts.
[Sd.] 26-4 [This demand for a bullock cart means that the cart owner must go with his team and cart to do forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #86 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: 27-4-2000 From the Elder’s village, send 10 loh ah pay people on 28-4-2000 to arrive at 6 o’clock in the morning at the Army camp. (Note) Do not fail by any means. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #87 (Papun)
Stamp: Subject: The matter of calling loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to rebuild the yyyy Army Camp pagoda yin pyin [the surfaced pathway encircling the pagoda], 10 male loh ah pay people from the Head’s village must come tomorrow, 29-4-2000, to arrive at 6:00 in the morning, you are informed. (Note:) Do not fail. [On the back this order is marked "Urgent".] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
To: Send 3 bowls [4.8 kg/10.5 lb] of rice with the servant who has come now [bringing this letter]. The servants didn’t bring enough rice. Some servants didn’t bring any rice. So [I’m] writing this letter and sending it to the Chairperson. Send it for sure.
[Sd.] [Villagers going for forced labour are also expected to bring their own food, and if they fail to do so the officers send out demands such as this one to the village head to send rice for them. The families of the forced labourers will then have to pay back the village head.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
To: Send 5 bowls [8 kg/17.5 lb] of rice with the servant who has come to you now. The rice that the servants brought with them is not enough. Some did not bring any rice. Therefore, sending this to the Chairperson [you] to ask him for rice. The Chairperson must send it without fail.
[Sd.] [The village was forced to send forced labour, but the people didn’t take enough rice to eat for the time they will be detained; therefore, the officer has sent a ‘servant’ (villager doing forced labour as a messenger) to the village with this letter demanding more rice from the village head for his forced labourers to eat.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #90 (Papun)
Stamp:
29-4-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, the Strategic Command Hill [camp] orders [you] to call 10 big men for loh ah pay from the Head’s village, so come tomorrow, 30-4-2000, to arrive at 6:00 in the morning, you are informed. (Note:) Do not fail by any means. If [you] fail, the Camp will take harsh action, informing you again.
[Sd.]
29-4-2000 [On the back this order is marked "Urgent".] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
To: Chairperson, xxxx village 30-4-2000 The servants from xxxx must come to arrive today, and bring along 2 servants to be given to Column 1, you are informed. [Unsigned] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #92 (Papun)
Stamp: Subject: Calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, send without fail one person per house from the Elder’s village to yyyy Army Camp to arrive on 2-5-2000 at 0700 hours, you are informed. With the loh ah pay groups, bring along 2 cane baskets.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #93 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
1-5-2000 Calling for loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to build the pagoda at yyyy Army Camp, send quickly the regular 11 loh ah pay people from the Elder’s village, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #94 (Papun)
Stamp:
2-5-2000 Subject: Calling for loh ah pay to build a yin pyin [see below] for the pagoda Regarding the above subject, yyyy Strategic Command [has ordered that] to build the pagoda yin pyin, 10 loh ah pay men from the Head’s village must come tomorrow, 3-5-2000, to arrive at 6 o’clock in the morning at the Army Camp, you are informed. (Note) Do not fail by any means. If [you] fail, harsh action will be taken, they ordered us to inform you.
[Sd.]
2-5-2000 [‘Yin pyin’ is a Pali term referring to a surfaced pathway which encircles a pagoda.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #95 (Papun) To: Chairperson
4-5-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for loh ah pay xxxx village has to do loh ah pay at yyyy camp on 5-5-2000, so the Chairperson must arrange and send them. [You] Must cut wah boh bamboo 13 taun [20 feet/6.5 m] long, the number is 60 pieces. The people who come for loh ah pay must bring machetes. In order not to fail, the Chairperson must lead and send them.
[Sd.] [‘Wah boh’ is a large species of bamboo.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #96 (Papun) To: Chairperson
8-5-2000 Now, as soon as you receive this letter, send 2 servants to yyyy camp.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: Now, as soon as you receive this letter, the Chairperson or representative must come to send without fail 3 servants to arrive today at yyyy camp. Bring along again the rice fees for the excess used by the servants, and rice. Place: yyyy
Camp
[Sd.] [‘The rice fees for the excess used by the servants’ means that the previous set of forced labourers provided by the village ran out of food, probably because the SPDC held them longer than they’d been called for, so the Army had to give them some rice and is now demanding both money and rice to compensate for this expense.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #98 (Papun) To: Daw aaaa
Date: 10-5-2000 Subject: Calling for servants Regarding the above subject, from Daw aaaa’s village come to arrive today at 0600 in the evening to sleep and wait for 11-5-2000, you are informed. Note [This means for the villagers to come to the garrison village this evening and sleep there in preparation for forced labour the following day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #99 (Papun) To: Mother Head As soon as you receive this letter now, come and bring 6 servants to yyyy camp, you are informed. [Sd.] 11-5-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #100 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
13-5-2000 Subject: Loh ah pay matters Regarding the above subject, to build the yyyy (VPDC) office, 10
male loh ah pay people from the Head’s village must come on 14-5-2000, Note
[Sd.] [With the exception of the ‘Note’, this entire order is written in red ink, which is commonly used by SPDC units to indicate urgency/threats, and is definitely interpreted that way by the villagers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To:
Stamp: Subject: The matter of sending loh ah pay To come and help with building a bridge, send 15 loh ah pay people from xxxx village with 3 days of rations, machetes, saws, ropes, hatchets, and other needed materials, to report to yyyy camp on 18-5-2000, arriving at 0600 hours.
Respectfully, ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #102 (Papun) To: Head
17-5-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for emergency loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, one of the carts that came from the Elder’s village is not needed for use, so instead of the cart, come and send 5 male loh ah pay people for urgent use today, at 4 o’clock in the evening. Come to get the cart. (Note:) This is important. Come to take back the [12-volt] battery.
[Sd.] 17-5-2000 [On the back this order is marked "Urgent". The battery refers to a 12-volt car-type battery, sometimes used in villages to power electric lights and such things; the Army camp has probably borrowed it from the village and used it until the charge is dead.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: Date:
18-5-2000 Mother, writing a letter. Mother, it is not good to break your promise. We are not children. Mother gave her guarantee and we released the carts. Want to know if they will be sent/not sent.
[Sd.] 18-5-2000 [The villagers in this area are forced to supply water-carrying bullock carts to the local Strategic Command Camp on a rotating basis, arranged through the Village Tract PDC (see also Orders #107,#119, and #120). This order apparently indicates that the present set of carts were allowed to go home before this village headwoman had supplied replacements, but she hasn’t supplied them yet. In most cases, the carts would not be released until their replacements arrive. The back this order is marked "Urgent. Important."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #104 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
19-5-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for emergency bullock carts For yyyy Strategic Command, send without fail 1 emergency bullock cart to yyyy Army Camp now, at 6 o’clock, you are informed. Note: Bullock cart with box sides, will be used for 1 day.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent letter."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #105 (Papun) To:
Stamp:
Send 1 boat from yyyy to zzzz. Bring 1 bullock cart to yyyy. The Chairperson yourself must come with the boat and bring it now, you are informed. Carry this out without fail. If the Chairperson is not there, the Secretary must carry it out. The Chairperson must come with the boat, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #106 (Papun) To: Ko aaaa
Stamp:
20-5-2000 Major bbbb writing this letter. Tell the servants from wwww, xxxx, yyyy, and zzzz [villages] to come and change at vvvv [with the forced labourers presently there; vvvv is a village with an SPDC Army camp]. Go yourself to take care of the matter of the boat at yyyy. Bring along the Chairperson from yyyy.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed to "Chairperson, uuuu village".] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date:
24-5-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for water-container carts by rotation Regarding the above subject, for #x Strategic Command, in accordance with the rotation of village responsibilities it is now the turn of the Head’s village, so come to send [the carts] to #x Strategic Command camp tomorrow, 25-5-2000 at 6 o’clock in the morning to the camp, you are informed. (Note) Do not fail by any means.
[Sd.]
23-5-2000 [The villagers in this area are forced to supply water-carrying bullock carts to the local Strategic Command Camp on a rotating basis, arranged through the Village Tract PDC (see also Orders #103, #119, and #120). On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent."] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Stamp:
24-5-2000 xxxx [village] has not changed the servants. [You must] Send 1 servant, but as of today they haven’t arrived yet, so the servant from xxxx must come without fail to change today. Come and change quickly, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The back of this order is marked "Important. Come urgently." The Army Camp is calling the village to replace their ‘rotation servant’ currently with the Battalion; Army units usually hold village ‘rotation servants’ until their replacement arrives, but villages often have difficulty finding anyone to go to take their place. This order was followed by Order #109 the next day.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date:
25-5-2000 Has your xxxx [village] not arranged the matter of rotation servants? Do you not understand that you are responsible for the village? Do we need to resolve this? Don’t act like you don’t care about us. We have already written letters to you twice. If we arrive at the village it will not be good for our relationship. You must understand that. As soon as you receive this letter now, inquire after me and you must come. If the Chairperson/Secretary does not come, send a representative whom you trust.
[Sd.] [This order came to the same village the day after Order #108 above. Threatening language such as this is often followed by the arrest and torture of the village elders concerned.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #110 (Papun) To: xxxx [village] Chairperson 25-5-2000 The Chairperson and 3 servants from xxxx village must bring along 10 coconut seedlings and come today to arrive at yyyy village. This is the last time [I] will warn you and inform you. Do not fail. The Chairperson and Secretary must carry this out thoroughly. [Sd.] [The coconut seedlings are for planting at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #111 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
26-5-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for emergency bullock carts From the Head’s village send without fail 5 emergency bullock carts with this messenger to yyyy Army Camp for #x Strategic Command Group, you are informed. Note: Will be used for 1 day to carry
rations. [This entire order is written in red ink, which usually indicates urgency and a threat to the villagers who receive it. On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent letter. Send urgently."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #112 (Papun)
Stamp: The Head must come with 3 servants along with the messenger who has brought this letter now. Writing a letter for the last time, you are informed. If you do not come along, it will be the responsibility of the village head. Come without fail to yyyy village with the messenger who has come now.
[Sd.] [‘Writing a letter for the last time’ is a threat meaning that if the forced labourers don’t come, the officer will come to the village with troops or take other action. ‘The messenger who has come now’ means the villager who was forced to deliver this order while doing ‘set tha’ forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #113 (Thaton) To:
27-5-00 Mother Daw aaaa, send 3 emergency servants from Mother’s village today to yyyy village.
Thankfully,
[Sd.] [Marked on the back: xxxx [village]. Battalion Commander bbbb, Captain cccc, Captain dddd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #114 (Papun) xxxx village From the Elder’s village, send without fail 5 people as loh ah pay servants together with the person who brings this letter now, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The top part of this order, which probably had additional details of the issuing unit and the addressee, has been torn off and lost.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson Subject: Come to send 1 cart to yyyy camp Regarding the above subject, from the Elder’s village the Chairperson yourself must send without fail 1 cart (people, bullocks, and cart) tomorrow, 1-6-2000, to yyyy camp, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The note "(people, bullocks, and cart)" appears in the original, and demonstrates that demands for bullock carts also involve forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
1-6-2000 Subject: Come to send one cart to yyyy camp Regarding the above subject, the Chairperson yourself must come and send without fail one cart (people, cart, and bullocks) from the Elder’s village to arrive today at yyyy camp.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #117 (Papun) To: Head
2/6/2000 [You] Haven’t sent the everyday set tha [messengers] since a long time ago, so as soon as you receive this letter, send now. If [you] fail, it will be the Head’s responsibility. The Head yourself must come to send [a messenger]. Do not fail.
[Sd.] [The ‘everyday messengers’ means villagers which are supposed to be sent every day for rotating 24-hour shifts of forced labour as messengers and general errand-runners.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date:
5-6-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for emergency loh ah pay To send emergency rations for DKBA #333 Brigade, from the Head’s village send quickly 5 loh ah pay people with this messenger, you are informed. Note: Need to hire [people], so bring the money now at once.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent."] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date:
6-6-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for water carts The yyyy Army Camp Commander [orders that] it is the turn of the Head’s village for [to send] water carts. As soon as you receive this letter now, send the water carts quickly, you are informed. Note: Carry it out quickly, it is to
[Sd.] [The villagers in this area are forced to supply water-carrying bullock carts to the local Strategic Command Camp on a rotating basis, arranged through the Village Tract PDC (see also Orders #103, #107, and #120). On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent." Order #120 followed later the same day.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
To:
Date:
6-6-2000 Subject: The matter of calling for water carts As of now, the water carts from the Head’s village have not yet arrived to get water for the yyyy Strategic Command Group, so as soon as you receive this letter now, send the water carts quickly, you are informed. Note: Second notice.
[Sd.] [The villagers in this area are forced to supply water-carrying bullock carts to the local Strategic Command Camp on a rotating basis, arranged through the Village Tract PDC (see also Orders #103, #107, and #119). On the back this order is addressed "To Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent." This order followed later the same day after the villagers had not yet complied with Order #119.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
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8-6-2000 To: Pa aaaa Come today to bring the elephant here. I am waiting. Will be waiting at Pa bbbb’s house. Come to arrive today. Must come. Come decisively. Urgent. [This order is unsigned. It involves forced labour, because the elephant owner will have to go as well to control his elephant; most likely the work is to be dragging logs for the Army. The village head complied with this order, but not until 3 days later.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #122 (Papun) To: Chairperson (xxxx village) 19-6-2000 Subject: To arrange and send bullock carts Regarding the above subject, for the use of yyyy camp the Chairperson yourself must send without fail 3 bullock carts from the Elder’s village on 21-6-2000 to arrive at yyyy camp, you are informed. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the Elder, you are informed. [Handwritten afterwards:] Tomorrow the 21st, at 12 o’clock midday. The Chairperson yourself must arrive without fail. Will use only for the day of the 21st.
[Sd.] [This is a carbon copy of a typed letter, with the village name, signature and the handwritten note at the bottom written in afterwards.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #123 (Papun) To: Head Send 3 durians from xxxx village with this messenger to arrive today. Needed for an emergency, so asking for help. (You must help.) * If you have orchid plants, send them.
With thanks, (Send this letter on to 2 [additional] villages, vvvv / wwww) [Durians are large and highly valued seasonal fruit.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #124 (Papun) Mother Daw aaaa 8-7-2000 Send 30 villagers from xxxx - yyyy to zzzz to arrive on the 10th at 9 o’clock in the morning. Ask everyone to bring tarpaulins and bamboo hats. When finished working at zzzz, they will be released.
[Unsigned] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #125 (Papun) To: Chairperson, xxxx village 11-7-2000 Change the servants from Big Chairperson’s village in accordance with the number of people who have come before. Send them at once to Sergeant aaaa at yyyy village. [Sd.] [‘Change the servants’ means to replace the forced labourers who are there on rotation.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #126 (Papun) To: Chairperson
13-7-2000 Gather 5 male servants and send them to yyyy village to arrive on 14-7-2000 at 0800 hours.
[Sd.
‘aaaa’] Lt. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #127 (Papun) U aaaa
24-7-2000 Demanding loh ah pay. Demanding loh ah pay from xxxx village. To do loh ah pay, send 10 people to arrive on 25-7-2000. [They] Must do loh ah pay for 2 days. From xxxx [village] it is 2 people, 25-7-2000 until 27-7-2000. It will be 2 days.
[Sd.]
24-7-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #128 (Toungoo) To: Chairperson Subject: Demanding loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, from the Elder’s village the Elder yourself must come without fail and bring 6 loh ah pay people with 5 days of rations to yyyy Army Camp on August 3rd 2000, to arrive at 9 o’clock in the morning, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #129 (Pa’an) Stamp: To: Subject: To send a person who can cut wood The Elder’s village must send 2 people who can cut wood. Bring along one big [2-person] saw to cut the wood to #xxx Light Infantry Battalion on 7-8-2000 to arrive at 7 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Place: yyyy
[Sd.] [The type of saw mentioned is a straight saw about 2 metres long with a handle at each end. Usually a frame is set up sticking out from a hillside, a log is placed on top and one man stands on top of the log while the other stands underneath, sawing the log lengthwise to make planks.] ______________________________________________________________________________ aaaa / Chairperson, xxxx [village] 6-8-2000 So that you can prepare in advance for an urgent matter, letting you know and writing this letter to you. How many people must you get tonight? Reply to me how much money you will get. Have to hire for [village] Section 2. You must reply today. The scale [weight] ration for xxxx [village]: 1) Rice - 10
sacks. People - 30 people It will be gone [if the people come to carry it all]. For this matter you must send your people to arrive on the night of 7-8-2000. Or you arrange how much money will come. [page 2] The rations that I mentioned have to be sent the same day. As you are the Chairperson, arrange and carry it out for the remaining villages until complete. Do it on time and reply to me. As for xxxx village tract, you will carry the rations I told you about, so you must try to carry it out. As you know, about U bbbb. If more are needed, I will explain it to you when you arrive here. Know that you have to come yourself on 7-8-2000. You must come for that.
That’s
all. Yours, [Sd.] [page 3] xxxx [village] rations quota Total people - 34 people and it will be gone. All of these rations must be sent on the same day. You must try to carry this out. [The writer is semi-illiterate and writes using very bad grammar, hence the unclear sentences. Essentially he is demanding villagers for forced labour carrying some supplies, or money which must be paid for any villagers who cannot come. The village receiving this letter is assigned to send 34 people to carry 10 sacks of rice and 2 cases of tinned milk, and the village head is also supposed to arrange similar labour from the other villages in the area.] ______________________________________________________________________________ [Note: this order is written on a piece of stationery torn off from a pad; the references to Army Day and the Armed forces shown in bold at the top are part of the stationery. The rest is handwritten. Army Day is celebrated on March 27th each year by the SPDC.] Year 2000
Date:
7-8-2000 ____________________________ To: U aaaa The 4 servants I already asked for haven’t arrived, so right now I am writing a letter. Right now, [you] must send 4 people at once. If [you] fail, serious action will be taken.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #132 (Papun) To: Chairperson, xxxx village Date: 10-8-2000 Sister - 5 bullock carts and 10 people, [send them] together to yyyy tonight. Give one of Sister’s people. Have to gather tonight at yyyy. (Note) If
[you] don’t send the people, the Elder yourself must come to
[Sd.] [Written in red ink on the back:] 1. Soap
10 long
bars
1,200 Kyat [The language of this order is truncated and abrupt. ‘Sister’ refers to the village headwoman. In ‘Give one of Sister’s people’ he uses a pronoun for people which is normally reserved for inanimate objects. The villagers told KHRG that they complied with this forced labour order one day later, and that the writing in red ink on the back refers to things they had to send to the SPDC Army camp for which the soldiers gave them only half the price.] ______________________________________________________________________________ [Note: this 2-page order is written on 2 pieces of stationery torn off of a pad; the references to Army Day and the Armed forces shown in bold at the top are part of the stationery. The rest is handwritten. Army Day is celebrated on March 27th each year by the SPDC.] Year 2000
Date:
10/8/2000 ____________________________ To: The Mother [Village] Head has sent the 5 villagers and [they] arrived yesterday and [we] are asking them to cut bamboo, but [they] didn’t cut the bamboo and fled back [to their village]. I am very angry about this. As soon as you receive this letter, give quickly 10 villagers to me and include those 5 villagers [who fled the day before]. We are treating the villagers from xxxx well, but think that we can’t continue like this. We are the soldiers, if [you] want us to deal [with you] brutally, we can. [We are] Not satisfied at all on this matter. Then, Mother [Village] Head must come to get the recommendation [letter] for one of the above villagers; male, 18 years old, from Mother’s village. In future, we will consider people who don’t have a pass to be enemies and take action against [them], we have already informed all the columns of LIB #2. If a problem occurs, it is the responsibility of the villagers. [We] don’t know whether Mother’s village is testing us. If [you] dare to stay, stay. Later, do not say we are bad. We are dealing with Mother’s villagers accordingly. [We] Asked for thatch and it didn’t arrive. [We] Asked for people, but [they] didn’t do anything and ran back. So, there is no reason to accommodate [you]. If [you] can stay without coming, stay [in your village]. That is all there is to tell. Stamp:
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #134 (Pa’an) Stamp: To: Subject: To produce ga wone [laterite] and to send wood The Elder’s village must dig ( 10 ) pits of ga wone and [send] ( 5 ) pieces of wood each 10 feet long (5"x2") to be carried out by the deadline of 14-8-2000, you are informed. Date: 11-8-2000
[Sd.] [This is a carbon-copied order sent to several villages, with the village name, the number of pits and pieces of wood, and the signature written in on each copy. The specification for the wood is for 5-inch by 2-inch planks each 10 feet long. Laterite (‘ga wone’) is brick-coloured soft rock rich in iron and aluminium oxides which can be used for some types of building.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #135 (Papun) To: Chairperson (Mother)
11/8/2000 At the former Saya Ma’s [female teacher’s] house there is a face towel left behind to dry. Give it to the messenger who brings this letter now. [It is] At Daw bbbb’s house.
Yours, [The Captain left his face towel to dry in the village and then forgot it, and now sends a forced labour messenger all the way back with this letter to get it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #136 (Papun)
Stamp:
24-8-2000 Subject: Sending loh ah pay For transporting rations, send 14 male loh ah pay people on 26-8-2000 to arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning at the yyyy monastery. [They] Will have to sleep one night on the way, so bring the necessary plastic / tarpaulins, you are informed. [Sd. 24/8] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #137 (Papun) 24-8-2000 To: Pa
aaaa Tomorrow send 5 people. Must come. That is all. [Sd.]
U bbbb Send 6 people on 26-8-2000. Must come. Must come. That is all. [Sd.] [This document has 2 orders to 2 different village elders on the same page, written and signed by the same person. On the back it is addressed "To Pa aaaa, Pa bbbb". The elders told KHRG that at the time there was a group of forced labourers from their village already at the Army camp, and that when they complied with this order 2 days later and sent the new labourers, the previous group of labourers was released.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
To: Subject: Calling loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, the Elder’s village must send 10 carpenters and loh ah pay workers to finish construction of bridges on 29-8-2000 without fail, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #139 (Papun) To:
Stamp: Subject: Sending the loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, the 15 loh ah pay people from xxxx village (must be male) must come and report to yyyy Army Camp on 3-9-2000 at 0800 hours. [They] Will have to sleep one night so bring the necessary tarpaulins and tools, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The grammar in this order document is very bad.] ______________________________________________________________________________ [Note: this order is written on a piece of stationery torn off of a pad; the references to Army Day and the Armed forces shown in bold at the top are part of the stationery. The rest is handwritten. Army Day is celebrated on March 27th each year by the SPDC.]
Year 2000
Date:
4-9-2000 ____________________________ To: Mother Head Daw aaaa Respectfully writing a letter. The subject is to send 15 men, each with a machete, from Mother’s village as soon as you receive this letter. Send them along with the messenger who brings this letter now. The Battalion Commander said that the roadside was not cut clear enough by Mother’s village. Must send [the men] without fail. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of Mother Head.
[Sd.] |