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This section includes orders indirectly calling for forced labour by demanding materials
from villagers which require intensive labour to produce and deliver. For example, demands
for hundreds of thatch roofing shingles, tons of logs, or quantities of firewood or bamboo
force villagers to do hard labour cutting, gathering, preparing and then delivering these
materials to Army camps. In contrast, demands for rice, pigs, money and other goods are
not included in this section because they are not as labour-intensive.
Most of the orders below demand building materials such as timber, which must be cut in the forest, sawn into posts or planks, and then hauled to the Army camp by the villagers, specific types and diameters of bamboo which must be sought out and cut in the forest, or thatch roofing shingles, which require the villagers to gather leaves and cut bamboo, then split the bamboo into sticks, make it into metre-long frames, and tie the leaves onto the frames using bamboo ties. A demand for 500 thatch shingles or 300 wooden fenceposts can take a whole village several days of labour to produce, after which they must haul it to the Army camp on bullock carts, boats, or on their backs. Orders demanding wooden planks (such as #237, 243, and 245) force villagers to incur a cash expense, because they have to pay sawmill owners to mill the wood; by contrast, when the SPDC forces the sawmill owners to do it for them directly, no money is paid them. The worst case of heavy labour inflicted on a village included below is Order #245, in which one village is ordered to produce and send 9 tons of sawn planks. Additional demands for logs can also be seen in the section "Set to a Village III: Demands for Logs in Thaton District" below.
Materials demanded also include shaved bamboo ties which are used for tying things together when building, rattan-like cane (Orders #222, 229, 250, and 251) for use in making furniture, and even cotton-like kapok (Order #263) to stuff the Tactical Commander’s pillow. All of these require the villagers to seek them out in the forest, process them and deliver them to the Army.
Some orders which demand such materials and also include direct demands for forced labour have been included in the ‘General Forced Labour’ section above; see for example Order #216, which orders villagers to carry planks to an Army camp from a sawmill which has been forced to cut them, probably without compensation. Orders #221 and 222 below only specify the materials to build a godown at the Army camp, but KHRG has confirmed that the villagers were also forced to build it. Similarly, many of the demands below that villagers bring bamboo for fencing carry the implicit assumption that when the villagers deliver the bamboo, they will be kept at the camp to build the fence.
While most of these materials are demanded for Army camp construction, some are also demanded simply so that Army officers can sell them for profit; for example, the 9 tons of sawn planks demanded in Order #245 by a Camp Commander are probably not all for use at his camp. Even when demanding building materials for the camp, the officers often demand two or three times what they require and then sell the surplus. Soldiers who desert the Army often tell of such money-making schemes, which are used by officers throughout Burma to make money. One common scheme is for officers to demand large quantities of firewood from villagers, then force their own soldiers to use it to bake bricks entirely for the officers’ personal profit.
Villagers are never paid for any of the materials they provide except in rare cases; some orders promise to pay for some of it, but this often proves to be an empty promise when the materials are actually delivered. Order #232 promises to pay some money for the chicken which is being demanded, but no mention is made of paying anything for the 100 shingles of thatch which are demanded at the same time. Villagers interviewed by KHRG regularly state that they are never paid for such materials. Despite this, and even though the deadlines given are often next to impossible to meet, any village which fails to deliver the materials on time and according to specification faces threatening letters and the possibility of severe punishments.
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To: Chairperson
Date: 28-11-99 1) To build the new godown for yyyy camp, [we] need wood / bamboo / nipa palm thatch. Send it according to the quota on 1-12-99. 2) The 2 quota servants from xxxx are not being used at yyyy camp. [You] Need to know that it is for Tactical Command #3. Regarding these failed servants [who didn’t come], the Chairperson yourself must come to clear the matter, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The thatch shingles are for roofing, and require a great deal of labour to produce. Each village is assigned a ‘quota’ to produce and hand over in such cases. The ‘quota servants’ are forced labourers who must be provided on a similar basis. This order informs the village head that the servants who were demanded were not for the local Army group but the Tactical Command, which is more serious, and therefore the village head must comply to ‘clear the matter’ urgently.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Chairperson
Date: 8-12-99 1) When you receive this letter, to build the godown at yyyy camp send quickly on 9-12-99 the urgently needed materials as listed below. (a) red cane [similar
to rattan] 30 pieces 2) For the servants who failed [to come] from 15-11-99 through 31-11-99, send quickly the servants’ hiring fees, 4,000 Kyat in cash. Informing you for the last time. That money is not for our Army. The money has to be paid to the yyyy villagers [who were hired in place of the forced labourers].
[Sd.] [On the back is written "Important. Send quickly. Pass on [to other villages]." The ‘nipa palm quota’ means the regular quota of thatch roofing shingles. All of the materials in paragraph 1 require considerable labour to produce and transport. Paragraph 2 relates to a common Army practice; knowing that the villagers from most villages will try to avoid forced labour, they conscript or hire people in the garrison villages and then demand money from the other villages for their ‘costs’ in doing so.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #223 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: As soon as you receive this letter now, send without fail 100 nipa palm [thatch shingles] to roof the huts at yyyy camp. Carry this out with special attention, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #224 (Papun) Stamp:
21-2-2000 To build the yyyy Army Camp: (a) Nipa palm
(125 [shingles]) Send it to the Army Camp to arrive on 25-2-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.] [‘Myaw’ are bamboo roof support poles, which hold up the thatch roofing shingles.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #225 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
24-2-2000 Informing the village head that for the use of yyyy Army Camp, the Head yourself must bring wooden posts 2 twa [2 handspans in diameter] and 15 feet long, 20 of them, to yyyy Army Camp on 1-3-2000, you are informed. Note: Do not fail. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #226 (Papun)
Stamp:
28-2-2000
[To:]
Heads Specifications of house posts / struts:
[Sd.] [On the back this order is marked ‘Urgent’.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #227 (Pa’an)
Stamp:
Frontline
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion To: Village head Subject: To send firewood to zzzz monastery 1) zzzz monastery needs firewood for
the rainy season, and there is scrap wood at aaaa’s sawmill which is available
to send to the monastery.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #228 (Papun)
Stamp:
12-3-2000 Subject: Invitation to a meeting Regarding the above subject, the yyyy Strategic Command #x Base has a matter to meet and discuss with the village heads. Come to the VPDC office on 14-3-2000 to arrive at 10 o’clock in the morning, and bring along thatch and bamboo, you are informed. (Note) If [you] fail, the Strategic Command
will take harsh action.
[Sd.] 12-3-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
Date:
18-3-2000 For yyyy Army Camp, come to send 300 pieces of kyet shi cane [rattan-like cane] each 10 taun [15 ft/5 m] long to zzzz to arrive on 19-3-2000. Do not fail. When this letter arrives now, the Chairperson must come to zzzz, informing you in advance.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #230 (Papun) Stamp: Mother Head, as soon as [you] receive this letter, send 1 viss [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] of chicken and 100 thatch [shingles] to the yyyy Chairperson’s house. [We] Will give money for the price of the chicken. You must find it to buy, you are requested. Send the chicken and thatch on 21/3/2000 to Column x at zzzz.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #231 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
20-3-2000 The matter of asking for bamboo ties Regarding the above subject, for the use of yyyy Army Camp, send without fail from the Elder’s village 5 viss [8 kg/17.5 lb] of short bamboo ties / long bamboo ties on 23-3-2000 to arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning, you are informed.
[Sd.] [Bamboo ties are shaved bamboo strips used to tie things together when building.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: To: Subject: To send nipa palm Regarding the above subject, share out the responsibilities to produce 100 nipa palm thatch [shingles] and send them quickly from the Elder’s village when you receive this letter, you are informed. Bring 1 viss [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] of chicken at the same time and [we] will pay its cost in money.
[Sd.] [‘Share out the responsibilities’ means that the village head is to assign a quota of shingles to each family in the village to get the entire 100 shingles. Gathering the materials and producing these shingles is quite labour intensive.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #233 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Subject: To send nipa palm thatch To roof the buildings at yyyy camp, send 500 shingles of nipa palm from xxxx village to arrive on 30-3-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.]
26-3 [On the back of this document the village head has written a long list of names many with checkmarks beside them, possibly a list of those who were assigned to make their portion of the thatch shingle quota.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #234 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Subject: To send nipa palm thatch To roof the buildings at yyyy camp, send 500 shingles of nipa palm from xxxx village to arrive on 30-3-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.]
26-3 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #235 (Papun)
Stamp:
To:
Date:
4-4-2000 Subject: To send nipa palm thatch Regarding the above subject, the Elder’s village must still send the remaining 110 shingles of nipa palm thatch. Come to bring it (without fail) to yyyy Army Camp on 6-4-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is marked "Urgent. Send 1 rotation messenger to arrive today.", meaning to send a villager for forced labour as a messenger.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #236 (Papun) 8/4/2000 Head, I’m writing a letter. The rain will come, so to prepare the huts send 5 viss (five) viss of long bamboo ties on 8/4/2000, to arrive at 5 o’clock in the evening today, you are informed.
[Sd.] [Bamboo ties are shaved bamboo strips used to tie things together in building, in this case probably to put new roofs on the huts (thatch roofing must be replaced every 2-3 years, and bamboo ties are used to tie the thatch shingles onto the roof supports). The amount demanded is by weight, 8 kilograms/17.5 pounds.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
17-4-2000 Ironwood planks are needed by yyyy camp, and xxxx [village] must take the responsibility. Therefore, from xxxx 300 feet of 6" x ½" [planks], [you] must take responsibility to carry this out. The village must arrange the logs needed for the sawmill.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #238 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson
Stamp:
Subject: Requesting donation of thatch for a zayat [waiting shelter] Regarding the above subject, xxxx village tract is requested to assist by sending 100 thatch [shingles] to yyyy on April 20th 2000.
[Sd.] [Producing 100 thatch shingles within one day would be extremely difficult unless the village already has them on hand for their own houses.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #239 (Papun)
Stamp:
15-5-2000 For the use of yyyy Army Camp hill in rainy season, send 2 cartloads of firewood to arrive on 17-5-2000.
[Sd.] 15-5-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #240 (Papun) To:
Stamp:
Date:
26-5-2000 Subject: Informing [you] to meet the Column Regarding the above subject, the Elder’s village must send 20 wooden posts / wah boh bamboo, 5 coconut tree seedlings, and 5 ywa lah flower plants to the Column on the 27th at 0800 hours without fail. If [you] fail, it will be the responsibility of the respective persons.
[Sd.] [‘Wah boh’ is a particularly large variety of bamboo used mainly for building posts.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #241 (Papun) To: Head (Ko aaaa)
8-6-2000 Now, as soon as you receive this letter, to build the camp within 4 days send the quota of (nipa palm) thatch, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The back bears the unit stamp: "Frontline #xx Infantry Battalion / Column x" and the officer has written "300 thatch".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #242 (Papun) To: Head
8-6-2000 As soon as you receive this letter now, for building the camp send the (thatch) quota within 4 days to yyyy camp, you are informed.
[Sd.] [The back of this order is stamped "Frontline #xx Infantry Battalion / Column x" and bears the address and the number ‘200’, probably the number of thatch shingles which the village is being ordered to send.] ______________________________________________________________________________ xxxx [village]: 23-7-2000 4"x2" - 23 feet (16 taun) 80
planks [Sd.] [This is a brief order demanding 80 2-inch by 4-inch planks each 23 feet long, and 250 5-inch by ¾-inch planks each 18 feet long. 1 taun is 1½ feet or ½ metre.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #244 (Papun) Mother Daw aaaa: 3-8-2000 What is the unusual news? If [you] want to contact [us], write a letter and give it to the yyyy village head. Write on the envelope (Strategic Commander, yyyy camp) and seal the envelope properly. What is the situation of the teaching school? Is there still teaching? Where are they teaching? Reply by letter. Do as you’ve been asked by cutting the wood for zzzz [Army Camp]. That is all.
[Unsigned] ______________________________________________________________________________ 16/8/2000 To: U aaaa Pagoda
Trustee Subject: To send cut wood The Elders’ village must send one ton of 5x2 wood, one ton of 6x2, and one ton of 4x2 to yyyy camp on 20/8/2000. U aaaa and U bbbb do not need to attend the meeting which I informed you of through U cccc from zzzz. Nine tons should be sent, but send 3 tons on 20/8/2000. Start arranging it on 16/8/2000, then send it to the camp on 20/8/2000. The Elders’ xxxx area is exempted from clearing the ground, and is to take responsibility for wood instead. Camp Commander [Sd.] [Pagoda trustees are villagers on a committee which takes the responsibility of caring for the local pagoda and monastery. 5x2, 6x2 and 4x2 are plank measurements in inches; the lengths are not specified here. This village is being forced to provide 9 tons of wood instead of doing forced labour ‘clearing the ground’, which means either clearing land for an Army camp or clearing scrub along the sides of a military road.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #246 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson Subject: Come to a meeting Regarding the above subject, the head yourself must come without fail to Battalion Headquarters on the 4th waning day of Wah Kaun month, 18-8-2000, Friday, to arrive at 1000, ten o’clock, you are informed. Bring along the timber. Stamp:
[Sd.] [On the back this is addressed to the village head and marked "Acting Battalion Commander aaaa". It is a carbon copy with only the village name, stamp and signature added afterwards on the front.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #247 (Papun) To: Head
Date:
24-8-00 With respect, writing to inform you as below.
[Sd.]
24-8-00 [This letter is written in a mixture of Sgaw Karen and Burmese, written by an SPDC officer who is Karen.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #248 (Pa’an) To: Pagoda trustee and monthly village head 30-8-2000 Come to yyyy camp as soon as you receive this letter. Calling for the wood which is overdue to arrive. Bring the wood. Bring also chicken or fish. Camp Commander, yyyy [Sd.] xxxx [village] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #249 (Thaton) To:
9-9-2000 How much of the wood which was requested by the Column have you gathered? Show it. Inform [us] quickly of which day you will be able to send it to yyyy village, you are informed.
[Sd.] 9-9-2000 [On the back of this order many calculations have been written which appear to relate to log and plank sizes and numbers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: [Village] Head, come to send 25 red cane [rattan-like, used to make furniture etc.] to arrive on 15-9-2000 at 10:00 in the morning at yyyy camp, you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back this is marked "To Head, xxxx village".] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
Date:
13-9-2000 [Village] Head, come to send 25 red cane [rattan-like, used to make furniture etc.] to arrive on 15-9-2000 at 10:00 in the morning at yyyy camp, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This order makes the same request as Order #250 above, but was sent to the head of a different village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #252 (Papun)
Stamp: Subject: To send hill toddy [palm leaf] roofing For the use of yyyy camp, send 500 shingles of hill toddy roofing on 15-9-2000 to yyyy camp, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #253 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Date: 17-9-2000 Subject: As soon as you receive this letter, you are informed to send 150 pieces of bamboo to the camp for repairing the camp for security by the deadline of the 20th. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #254 (Pa’an) To: Chairperson / Village head Subject: Requesting wood and bamboo Regarding the above subject, to build a Strategic Command camp, the Elder’s village must send 100 bamboo and 30 wooden posts to Deputy Warrant Officer aaaa, chief of the Battalion Cooperative [shop] of #xxx Light Infantry Battalion in yyyy. You are informed to send them by the deadline of 27-9-2000.
Stamp:
[Unsigned] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #255 (Papun) To:
Stamp: Subject: Sending bamboo for fencing For the use of yyyy Army Camp, send 200 (two hundred) pieces of fencing bamboo from xxxx village to yyyy Army Camp to arrive on 7-10-2000, you are informed. [Sd.] 2/10/2000 [‘Fencing bamboo’ is bamboo split into almost-flat slabs and cut to length; they may also be required to sharpen one end to a point.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #256 (Papun) To:
Stamp: Subject: Informing [you] to come to yyyy Army camp. For the use of yyyy Army Camp send quickly 2 pieces of 3"x2" wood 12 taun [18 ft/6 m] long, and 4 pieces of 5"x¾" wood 12 taun long, from xxxx village to yyyy Army Camp, and to coordinate and discuss the situation of the area, come to meet at yyyy Army camp on 4-10-2000 at 0900 hours, you are informed.
[Sd.]
3-10-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #257 (Papun) To: Chairperson Subject: To find wah boh bamboo for making bamboo water carriers Regarding the above subject, bamboo water carriers are needed for the use of yyyy camp, so send quickly 5 wah boh bamboo from the Elder’s village, you are informed.
Stamp: [Bamboo water carriers are hollow segments of bamboo closed at one end, usually at least 6 inches (13 cm) in diameter and 2 to 3 feet (50 to 75 cm) long, which are tied together and used to carry water.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #258 (Thaton) To:
12-10-2000 Writing a letter to inform you that the tonnage of logs [demanded] is not yet complete. Get more to complete it.
yyyy
[camp] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #259 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Date: 21-10-2000 To build fences for the Battalion’s security, xxxx village must send 500 bamboo to the front of the yyyy village chairperson’s house on October 25th 2000. Your assistance is requested.
[Sd.]
21/10/2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #260 (Papun) To: Chairperson
27-10-2000 Subject: To send posts For the use of yyyy camp, send 30 posts, each 10 taun [15 feet/5 m] long, to arrive on 29-10-2000 at yyyy, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #261 (Papun) To: xxxx Chairperson 2-11-2000 Son is writing with respect to Mother. Please accept Son and help me again. Help to get 150 bamboo tomorrow. Let me rely on you, Mother.
Mother, Note: If a wooden raft is going downriver, report it to the camp first. [SPDC officers often address older village headwomen as ‘Mother’ and refer to themselves as ‘Son’.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #262 (Papun)
Stamp:
To:
Date:
9-11-2000 Subject: The matter of giving firewood Regarding the above subject, [this comes] from yyyy #x Military Strategic Command. To cook alms-food [food for offerings] for nay ga za dtin, send without fail 2 bullock cartloads of dry firewood, to arrive on 9-11-2000 at 10 o’clock. If [you] fail, the Head yourself must come to meet with the yyyy Army Camp commander, you are informed. Note: ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Mother Daw aaaa The kapok [stuffing] in the Tactical Commander’s pillow is no good anymore, so we want to replace it with new kapok. Bring it with Mother today and come to meet with the Tactical Commander. The Tactical Commander wants to meet because he hasn’t seen you in a long time. [Sd.] 12/11/2000 [Kapok is a cotton-like substance which grows in small balls as the fruit of the kapok tree; it is commonly used to stuff pillows and for other similar uses.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To:
Stamp: Subject: Sending the bamboo for fencing For the use of yyyy Army camp, send 150 bamboo for fencing from xxxx village to yyyy Army camp to arrive on 20-11-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.]
16-11-2000 [On the back is written: "xxxx [village]. [I] want to know the situation of the houses from zzzz. Inform and reply."] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #265 (Papun) To: Chairperson
Stamp:
Subject: To send bamboo for fencing For the use of yyyy Army Camp, send 200 bamboo trees for fencing from xxxx village to yyyy Army Camp to arrive on 20-11-2000, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This order was issued by the same camp as Order #264 above and with a similar demand, but was sent to a different village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #266 (Pa’an)
Stamp:
To: Subject: Sending bamboo The Elder’s village is informed to send one hundred and fifty (150) pieces of bamboo for the use of Light Infantry Battalion #xxx to arrive at the Battalion on 6-12-2000 (Wednesday).
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #267 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date:
3-12-2000 To fence yyyy Army Camp, the specified villages must cut bamboo again. The villages are to send it on 4-12-2000, and continue to arrange and send 1,000 Kyat per day (video) and sentry fees (set tha) of 500 Kyat per day, you are informed.
[Sd.
‘U aaaa’] [The "1,000 Kyat per day (video)" is not clarified and could have either of two meanings: either the villagers have a video machine and must pay 1,000 Kyat each time they use it, or the Army has a video machine to watch videos themselves, and they demand money from the village to finance it. The Army camp also demands forced labour as sentries but actually just wants money, not people - the villagers have to pay 500 Kyat per day not to send someone.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #268 (Papun)
Stamp: Once again [we] need bamboo for fencing the Army camp, so the villages specified must cut bamboo again. Send it to yyyy Army Camp on 5-12-2000, you are informed.
(U aaaa) ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #269 (Thaton) Mother: 4-12-2000 [We] received only 500 dtan wah [small-diameter bamboo, probably for fencing] and a’kyan wah [bamboo split lengthwise] in all. The bamboo was small so cut 500 more bigger a’kyan wah and dtan wah. I sent a letter for Teacher aaaa this morning with the tractor. Ask Teacher aaaa if he received / didn’t receive it. Tell Teacher aaaa again to come to meet Captain with the money today. If it doesn’t come today, [it is] no good. Mother, go and tell Teacher aaaa precisely. Mother, go yourself to tell Teacher aaaa to come today for sure.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #270 (Pa’an) To: Village Head /
Chairperson
Stamp:
yyyy
Subject: To send firewood The firewood requested by Light Infantry Battalion xxx must be sent without fail on 17-12-2000. If [you] fail, you are informed that it will be the village head’s responsibility. Place: zzzz
- wwww
[Sd.] [Handwritten note:] There is a meeting with village heads, so report to the Battalion at 11 o’clock in the morning. [This is a typed order with the village name written in by hand, and a handwritten note on the bottom.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #271 (Papun) Stamp:
[Sd.] [This order was written in a quick and messy scrawl, probably in a hurry.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #272 (Papun) U
aaaa House posts 9 taun [14 feet/4.5 m long], myaw [roof supports] 10 pieces, seh myaw [another type of roof supports] 8 taun [12 feet/4 m long], long myaw 70 pieces. 100 kyat thaung bamboo. [This is a routine demand for building materials, unsigned and undated.]
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Village A, Papun District
All of these orders were sent to the same village in Papun District between August and October 2000 from the local authorities, SPDC Army and DKBA. Almost all of these are direct and indirect demands for forced labour. Rather than mixing them in with the other orders, we have presented them as a set to give an idea of the incessant stream of demands which village elders have to cope with. Take note of the dates on the orders, and you will see that the village receives order documents almost daily; yet these are only a subset of the orders received by the village during this time period.
Most of the demands are for porters to go with columns on patrol or to carry supplies to Army outposts. In this village they use ‘emergency servant’ (see for example Orders #274, 286 and 287) to mean forced portering for several days with a patrolling Army column, as opposed to the more routine demands to carry supplies to outlying posts which require one to two days each time.
In this area the SPDC military, primarily Light Infantry Battalion #xxx, demands porters and other forced labour through the village tract head, who has to notify each of the villages in the area to send their share of forced labourers; this is why most of the orders in this section have been sent by ‘Chairperson, yyyy village’ (the village tract head) instead of the Army. The smaller villages usually fail to send enough forced labourers on time in response to these orders, so in order to avoid punishment by the Army the village tract head, who lives in a much larger village, hires some day labourers to fill the demand and sends them to the Army, then sends letters to each small village demanding the money needed to pay their share of these workers when they return from their labour. Through constant repetition this has developed into a system; the Army dictates its demands to the village tract head, he demands the labour from the small villages, they don’t send anyone so he hires people to go, then he demands 500 Kyat per day for each person he has hired, the total amount depending on the number of people originally demanded from the smaller village and the number of days they are kept by the Army. The problem is that the Army demands people almost every day, so the small villages run out of money and cannot pay. This results in desperate letters from the village tract head, who has to face the returning labourers demanding their promised payment or must pay them himself. In the end, he complains in Order #283, "The amount of money [already owed for failure to send labourers] will increase if it takes any longer. If that happens, there will be a dispute between us. The amounts I have previously paid for have still not been returned to me yet. I am very sad that it doesn’t work, even when I repeat it again and again. I would like to know if they will ever be returned to me or not. I want to know this. That’s all." Two weeks later, he says in Order #285, "The Elder’s village should send only people, don’t deal with money. It is not good for the Elder or for me." He reiterates this in Order #286, but the text of subsequent orders makes it clear that the small village is still trying to arrange money instead of people. If the village sends people every time it will be hard for them to work their fields and they will also have to risk facing the SPDC soldiers, so even if they cannot pay the money they still try to avoid going themselves.
This leaves the village tract head caught between the Army and the smaller villages. Sometimes a village tract head in such a situation can no longer keep supplying all the forced labour demanded, and when the Army comes to question him he sees no choice but to point them at the small villages, which can result in orders being issued to forcibly relocate the small villages, or the military storming and looting of small villages, the arrest of elders and the capture of villagers to be porters. On August 24th 2000, the local Battalion Captain did come to see the village tract head because forced labour had not been sent; this resulted in Order #282, in which the village tract head called the smaller village heads to come "yourselves to meet the Captain of xxx [Battalion]". Similarly, on August 16th the village tract head writes in Order #279: "You are informed to come and meet with the xxx [Battalion] Commander as soon as you receive this letter. Why did you fail yesterday? The Commander informs you that if you fail today, he will take no responsibility."
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To: U aaaa
3-8-2000 Send one emergency servant for [LIB] xxx to the yyyy chairperson tonight. You are informed to do it as soon as you receive this letter. Note: Bring the person yourself.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
4-8-2000 - Yesterday’s affair was not an emergency servant. It was carrying supplies to zzzz [an SPDC Army outpost]. Hired 1 person for U aaaa’s village, so the Elder should arrange [payment] for 1 person quickly. Also arrange the balance for the previous 1 servant.
[Sd.] [This is a letter from the village head to the head of a subvillage which follows up the demand from Order #273 above. The village did not send anyone, so the village tract hired someone to go in their place and is now demanding the money. In this village they use ‘emergency servant’ to mean forced portering for several days with a patrolling Army column, as opposed to the more routine demands to carry supplies to outlying posts which require one to two days each time. The military demands porters through the village tract and the demands are divided down among the villages. Villages can either send people or hire them; if no one goes, the village tract hires people to go and then charges the villages 500 Kyat per day for each person hired. This is further elaborated on in the text of the orders below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: Informing you to arrange thatch for roofing Regarding the above subject, Chairman’s village must send 100 thatch [shingles] for roofing to U aaaa’s house (yyyy [village]) by the date of 6-8-2000, you are informed. Do it without fail.
[Sd.]
Lt. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #276 (Papun) To: U aaaa 5-8-2000 You are informed to come on 6-8-2000, tomorrow at 8 o’clock in the morning, to the Chairperson of yyyy. There are important matters to be discussed, so come without fail. Note - Come without fail, as it is a very important matter.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #277 (Papun) To: U aaaa + U bbbb
14-8-2000 If you cannot come today, come tomorrow, 15-8-2000, at 8 o’clock in the morning. The xxx Battalion Commander would like to discuss with you Elders. Come without fail, you are informed again. Note: Bring the balance of the servants’ money.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #278 (Papun) To: U aaaa 14-8-2000 As soon as you receive this letter, come to the Chairperson. The #xxx Light Infantry Battalion Commander wants to meet. It is to meet with the Battalion Commander, so come without fail. Note: Without fail. If you fail, it will be The Elder’s responsibility.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa + U bbbb
16-8-2000 You are informed to come and meet with the xxx [Battalion] Commander as soon as you receive this letter. Why did you fail yesterday? The Commander informs you that if you fail today, he will take no responsibility. Bring the rest of the servants’ money. Send an additional person to carry supplies to zzzz [camp] tomorrow (17-8-2000). Bring the balance for one person from 12-8-2000. Bring servants’ money and supply-carrying money together.
[Sd.] [The Commander ‘will take no responsibility’ means that the villagers will have only themselves to blame for whatever punishment the Commander decides to inflict on them.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #280 (Papun) To: U aaaa
20-8-2000 The Elder’s village must send 2 loh ah pay workers, each with a machete, tomorrow on 21-8-2000 at 7 o’clock in the morning to yyyy for #xxx [LIB]. Note: Both male and female can come. Reply as to why you failed to send thatch today.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #281 (Papun) To: U aaaa
21-8-2000 To clear the ground along the road from wwww to zzzz, The Elder’s village must send one person from each family tomorrow, 22-8-2000, Tuesday morning at 6 o’clock, to wwww village. Note: Without fail. U aaaa yourself
should
[Sd.] [‘To clear the ground along the road’ means to clear all the scrub on both sides of the road to create an open ‘killing ground’ in order to protect SPDC troops from ambush and landmines.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa + U bbbb
24-8-2000 Why did you fail [to send] the loh ah pay for #xxx [LIB] yesterday and today? I understand that you Elders have problems. Therefore I inform the Elders yourselves to meet the Captain of xxx [Battalion]. Come together with this messenger.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa - U bbbb
26-8-2000 For one day of carrying supplies for #xxx [LIB] to zzzz camp, Elders’ village must send 2 loh ah pay people tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning to yyyy, you are informed. If they can’t arrive by 6 o’clock in the morning on 27-8-2000, come to yyyy today at 6 o’clock and sleep here. The amount of money [already owed for failure to send labourers] will increase if it takes any longer. If that happens, there will be a dispute between us. The amounts I have previously paid for have still not been returned to me yet [the amounts he has paid to hire porters on the addressed village’s behalf have still not been reimbursed to him by that village]. I am very sad that it doesn’t work, even when I repeat it again and again. I would like to know if they [the sums of money] will ever be returned to me or not. I want to know this. That’s all. [Written sideways along the left margin:] Need 60 thatch [shingles] for [LIB] xxx. Send them tomorrow.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #284 (Papun) To: U aaaa
6-9-2000 Maung bbbb [another village elder of the recipient village] just sent 2,500 Kyat. U Maung bbbb said U aaaa has the remaining money of 3,500. Therefore, send the rest of the money, 3,500 Kyat, with this messenger U cccc. Here there are a lot of difficulties, so do it without fail.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
11-9-2000 The Elder’s village must send 2 loh ah pay people to carry supplies for [LIB] xxx. You are informed to send them to yyyy before 5 o’clock in the afternoon today. The Elder’s village should send only people, don’t deal with money. It is not good for the Elder or for me. Note: Send people. They should be male, females are not accepted.
[Sd.] [Usually instead of sending the porters demanded almost daily by LIB xxx, the recipient village has been leaving it to the head of the garrison village to hire people in their place, and he then demands money from them which they usually are very slow in paying. ‘Send only people, don’t deal with money’ means that the head of the garrison village no longer wants to do this, and is now insisting that the forced labourers be sent as demanded.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
12-9-2000 It is not for carrying supplies. It is emergency servants, and will take about 3 days. Therefore, The Elder’s village should send 2 servants with 3 days’ supplies today or tomorrow. I do not want to deal with money affairs. [I] Want people. There are different types of people, so it is not good to solve it with money. In future, send people. Right now, [you] are hiring people because of your difficulties [in sending people], so send the money for hiring as quickly as possible.
[Sd.] [‘I do not want to deal with money affairs’ means that the head of the garrison village is insisting that in future the recipient village send people for the forced labour, not money. However, this last time he is prepared to accept money instead of people because he knows the recipient village has difficulty sending forced labourers. See also Order #285 above.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
18-9-2000 The emergency servants returned today. They took 7 days. Arrange the amount [of money] for 2 persons for 7 days. Send it with tomorrow’s loh ah pay people. The Elder’s village should come and contribute labour to make fences for [LIB] xxx.
[Sd.] [This order relates to the forced labourers demanded in Order #286 above. The demand was for 2 people to go for 3 days ‘emergency servant’ (portering) labour for a column of LIB xxx going out on extended patrol. The receiving village did not send anyone, so the head of the garrison village hired people to go in their place. The SPDC column then held these labourers for 7 days instead of the 3 days they had specified (this is normal practice). Now that the labourers have been released they want their payment for 7 days from the village head of the garrison village, so he is in turn demanding it from the village which was originally ordered to provide the forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
28-9-2000 In accordance with the duty assignments from [LIB] xxx, you are informed to send 1 wah boh bamboo 13 taun in length from each family to Sergeant bbbb of [LIB] xxx, tomorrow, Friday on 29-9-2000 at 7 o’clock in the morning. Note: The whole village - bring machetes and rice packs along.
[Sd.] [‘Wah boh’ is a species of large bamboo used in building; 13 ‘taun’ is 21 feet/7 metres in length. The ‘note’ makes it clear that one person from each family must come to carry their piece of bamboo to the Army camp and will then have to remain there to do forced labour building or fencing. The other orders in this set imply that the work involved is building fences around the Army camp. This order was followed by Order #289 the following day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
29-9-2000 No one came for today’s loh ah pay. Therefore, one person from each family together with one wah boh bamboo, machetes, and rice packs, must go to xxx Battalion and contribute labour tomorrow, 30-9-2000, without fail. You are informed again. If you fail, it will be the Elder’s responsibility.
[Sd.] [This order relates to the demand made in Order #288.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
2-10-2000 The Elder’s village must send 3 male loh ah pay people today at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to the yyyy chairperson. It is loh ah pay for [LIB] xxx and Elder U aaaa is informed to come along. Note: Come yourself. [‘Will take no responsibility if you fail’ means that he will not try to protect the recipient village from the wrath of the LIB xxx officers. See also Order #291 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
8-10-2000 The 3 servants took 5 days, and it cost 7,500 Kyat. 6,000 Kyat was given already, so send the remaining money, 1,500 Kyat, tomorrow without fail. The hired persons have returned, so arrange it for them.
[Sd.] [This relates to the demand for forced labour in Order #290 above. Instead of sending the 3 people demanded by LIB xxx, the village sent 6,000 Kyat to the village head of the garrison village to hire 3 people to go for them. He did so, but the Army held them for longer than expected so he is now demanding the balance of payment from the other village head. The recipient village has to pay for the hired substitutes at a rate of 500 Kyat per person per day, totalling 7,500 Kyat (3 people for 5 days) in this case. This was followed up by Order #292 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
10-10-2000 As soon as you receive this letter, send immediately the rest of the money, 1,500 Kyat. The people who were hired are asking for it every day. U aaaa should try to see it from my side. Therefore, send it today without fail. If things are not going smoothly, [I] will try a method to make it smooth. Don’t blame it on me this time.
[Sd.] [This followed 2 days after Order #291 above. The village has still not sent the 1,500 still owed to the hired labourers, and they have been asking the village head of the garrison village for it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #293 (Papun) To: U aaaa
12-10-2000 To send supplies from #xxx [LIB] to zzzz [camp], The Elder’s [your] village needs to send 2 supply carriers to yyyy on 13-10-2000, tomorrow, at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. If [you want to] hire, inform me in time.
[Sd.] [Once again, the village head of the garrison village gives the recipient village the option of sending forced labour or paying him to hire people to go in their place.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
20-10-2000 On 19-10-2000 at 9 o’clock in the evening, #xxx [LIB] called for 1 emergency servant. As there was no time to call the Elder’s [your] village, yyyy village hired one as a substitute for the Elder’s village. I don’t know how many days it will be. To discuss this matter, the Elder yourself should come and meet with me, you are informed.
[Sd.] [‘I don’t know how many days it will be’ means that he does not even know how long the Army will keep the forced labourer, and the amount owed by the addressed village will depend on the number of days when it comes time to pay the labourer. The answer is given in Order #295 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
23-10-2000 The servant for 19-10-2000 took 2 days. One person from the Elder’s village costs 1,000 Kyat. Therefore you are informed to send it without fail today or tomorrow.
[Sd.] [See Order #294 above. The recipient village has to pay for the hired substitute at a rate of 500 Kyat per person per day, totalling 1,000 Kyat (1 person for 2 days) in this case.]
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Village B, Papun District
All of these orders were sent to the same village in Papun District between July and
October 2000 from the local authorities, SPDC Army and DKBA. Most of these are direct and
indirect demands for forced labour. Rather than mixing them in with the other orders, we
have presented them as a set to give an idea of the incessant stream of demands which
village elders have to cope with. Take note of the dates on the orders, and you will see
that the village receives order documents almost daily; yet these are only a subset of the
orders received by the village during this time period.
Many of the demands are for porters to go with columns on patrol or to carry supplies to Army outposts. In this village they use ‘emergency servant’ (see for example Orders #306 and 323) to mean forced portering for several days with a patrolling Army column, as opposed to the more routine demands to carry supplies to outlying posts which require one to two days each time.
The content of this set is similar to those in "Set to a Village I" above. In this area the SPDC military, primarily Light Infantry Battalion #xxx, demands porters and other forced labour through the village tract head, who has to notify each of the villages in the area to send their share of forced labourers; this is why most of the orders in this section have been sent by ‘Chairperson, yyyy village’ (the village tract head) instead of the Army. The smaller villages usually fail to send enough forced labourers on time in response to these orders, so in order to avoid punishment by the Army the village tract head, who lives in a much larger village, hires some day labourers to fill the demand and sends them to the Army, then sends letters to each small village demanding the money needed to pay their share of these workers when they return from their labour. Through constant repetition this has developed into a system; the Army dictates its demands to the village tract head, he demands the labour from the small villages, they don’t send anyone so he hires people to go, then he demands 500 Kyat per day for each person he has hired, the total amount depending on the number of people originally demanded from the smaller village and the number of days they are kept by the Army. Examples of this system in operation can be seen below in Orders #319, 328, and 333 through 335. The problem is that the Army demands people almost every day, so the small villages run out of money and cannot pay. This results in desperate letters from the village tract head, who has to face the returning labourers demanding their promised payment or must pay them himself. In Order #329 he writes, "Send the servants’ money with this messenger. Think of the hired carriers. They are asking the Chairperson every day [for their money]." In Order #305 he complains, "Try to get the hiring money for the previous 2 servants within 3 days. I’m in bad circumstances and can’t wait any longer." As a result, he tries to insist that the village send people, not money, as in Order #323: "I prefer not to deal with money, and prefer to get people. Dealing with money is not good my friend, as there are different kinds of people." This is reiterated in Orders #325 and 330 with statements such as "Send people only, [I] do not want money." This village does send actual labourers much more often than Village A in "Set to a Village I", but they still try to avoid sending people whenever possible because the villagers need to work their fields and do not dare face the soldiers. The village tract head is often placed in a difficult situation when the small villages do not send forced labour but he has no money to hire replacements. If no one is sent the Army comes to the village tract head for an explanation, and if he blames it on the smaller villages then they will be forcibly relocated, stormed by the Army or otherwise punished. This is what is meant in Order #327 when the village tract head calls for 8 people to do forced labour for LIB xxx and writes, "Bring them yourself. If you fail, [I] will take no responsibility."
Along with portering, this village is also ordered to do other forms of forced labour such as clearing scrub to create open ‘killing grounds’ along the roadsides (Order #316) and growing rice for the Army (Orders #297, 305, and 317). In these cases they generally have to send large numbers of people and cannot pay to get out of it. The rice farming is usually on good farmland which the Army has taken from the villagers without compensation. The villagers are then forced to plant the crop, sometimes even using their own seed, tend and weed the crop through the growing season, then harvest, thresh and winnow it. The entire crop is then taken by the Battalion for its own use or for the officers to sell for their personal profit. Order #317 of August 23rd 2000 calls for 10 villagers to go for forced labour weeding the Army ricefield. August is normally "weeding time" in rice fields, so the villagers would all be busy with their own fields and no one complied. When no villagers showed up, Order #318 was issued, demanding that they come to explain to the Battalion Quartermaster Captain. At this point, the villagers would have little choice but to go and perform the labour as demanded.
This set also includes demands for various items, particularly large quantities of durian and mangosteen fruits (Orders #299, 301 and 302). These fruits are hard to obtain in the large quantities demanded, so the village notified the village tract head that they could not comply on time. He replied with Order #301, which shows the inflexibility of Army demands: "Friend, I completely understand your problem, but it is very important. It can’t be that we don’t get the durians and mangosteens today. If 20 durians and 200 mangosteens do not reach them today at 11 o’clock, would U aaaa yourself go and explain to the Strategic Command?" When the village finally managed to comply after several days the Battalion immediately came back with another order (#302)for the same quantity again. The second time they offered some money, but the amount is no more than 20% of the value of the fruit they have demanded.
To: Chairperson
11-7-2000 To carry supplies from Battalion xxx to zzzz Camp, be informed that the Elder’s village must send 2 people tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning to the yyyy Chairperson. If hiring [if you want to hire someone to go for you], send 1,000 Kyat for 2 persons with this messenger. xxxx Chairperson, Adjutant Captain from [LIB] xxx wants a discussion, so come today or tomorrow, 12-7-2000, at 10 o’clock. [Written sideways down the left margin:] Note: The carrying of supplies will be for one day.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
17-7-2000 To grow rice for the Strategic Command, send 4 loh ah pay farmers from the Elder’s village to yyyy tomorrow, 18-7-2000, Tuesday, at 6 o’clock, you are informed. Note: Without fail.
[Sd.] [The ‘servants’ money’ refers to money which the village still owes to pay for substitutes who already did forced labour in their place.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
20-7-2000 To move rice from the Army supply depot storehouse, the Elder’s village must send 3 loh ah pay people to yyyy tomorrow, 21-7-2000, at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note - Send them without fail.
[Sd.] [This order was followed up by Order #300 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
21-7-2000 Send 20 good, big and nice durians and 200 mangosteens tomorrow, 22-7-2000, at 8 o’clock in the morning to the Chairperson’s house or the Strategic Command. They are for the Strategic Command and it is important, so send without fail. If you fail to do so, the Elder yourself should go and explain, you are informed.
[Sd.] [Durians are seasonal and highly valued fruit which weigh 1 to 5 kilograms (2 to 10 pounds) each, while mangosteens are small, sweet and expensive seasonal fruit. See also Order #301.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa 22-7-2000 The 3 loh ah pay people for yesterday didn’t come. Don’t [you] care? Send 6 people today as soon as you receive this letter. Male or female is acceptable. It will be okay if you don’t send them, but [I] will take no responsibility for your problems in coming. Aren’t you sending the remaining servants’ money? If not, reply. Send 20 durians
and
[Sd.] [This order was a follow-up to Order #298 above, and also gives a reminder about the durians and mangosteens demanded in Order #299.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa 22-7-2000 Friend, I completely understand your problem, but it is very important. It can’t be that we don’t get the durians and mangosteens today. If 20 durians and 200 mangosteens do not reach them today at 11 o’clock, would U aaaa yourself go and explain to the Strategic Command?
[Sd.] [This followed Order #299 above. The village head has clearly notified the head of the garrison village that he cannot supply the durians and mangosteens as demanded (these are both expensive fruits which are not always easy to obtain). This places the head of the larger village in difficulty, because the Army has insisted they be delivered today. See also Order #302 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
25-7-2000 Sending 1,200 Kyat with this messenger. Tomorrow, keep 200 big and nice mangosteens and 20 durians as nice as today’s at U aaaa’s house. Will send a messenger to fetch them. Do it without fail.
[Sd.] [This followed Orders #299 and 301 above. Now that the village has finally managed to gather and send, possibly at great expense, the durians and mangosteens demanded 4 days earlier, the Army tastes them, likes them, and immediately demands the same number again for the next day. Given the number demanded, the Army officers may be selling them. This time some money is being sent, but 1,200 Kyat is no more than 10% of the value of the fruit demanded.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
27-7-2000 Send 3 loh ah pay people tomorrow, 28-7-2000 at 6 o’clock, to carry supplies to zzzz [Army Camp]. Note: Send people only. [‘Send people only’ means not to send money to hire people as substitutes.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #304 (Papun) To: U aaaa
31-7-2000 Send 3 persons to carry supplies for a one day trip tomorrow, 1-8-2000, at 6 o’clock in the morning, to the Chairperson, you are informed. Send money for the previous 3 persons. If possible, bring it yourself.
[Sd.] [The ‘previous 3 persons’ refers to the forced labourers demanded in Order #303. Clearly the village did not send those people as demanded, so the head of the larger village had to hire 3 substitutes to send to the Army.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
1-8-2000 Send 5 people to grow the Strategic Command’s rice on 2-8-2000, tomorrow at 7 o’clock in the morning, to the yyyy Chairperson, you are informed. Note - Without fail. Try to get the hiring money for
the
[Sd.] [To ‘grow the Strategic Command’s rice’ means forced labour growing rice for the Army on land they have confiscated from the villagers. The ‘hiring money’ is money which the village owes for hiring 2 people who already did a shift of forced labour in their place.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
4-8-2000 The letter sent this morning said ‘emergency servant’ but it is not. It is carrying supplies to zzzz [Army camp]. They left at 8 o’clock this morning. Hired 2 persons for U aaaa’s village. Therefore, send [money] for 2 persons with this messenger. Do it quickly for the previous 2 servants too.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: To: Chairperson
4-8-2000 Subject: To arrange thatch for roofing Regarding the above subject, you are informed to send 100 thatch [shingles] for roofing from xxxx village to the Chairperson’s house by the date of 6/8/2000. Without fail.
[Sd.]
Lt. [This DKBA order is written in Burmese. On the back, it is addressed to the village specified and marked ‘Army Affairs’. The village head has also written on the back a list of village names and quantities of rice, beans, chillies and sugar, probably amounts they were forced to hand over to the SPDC or DKBA.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #308 (Papun) To: U aaaa
5-8-2000 Yesterday I hired 2 people to carry supplies [for the Army]. Therefore, send 1,000 Kyat with this messenger. Do it for the previous 2 servants too.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #309 (Papun) To: U aaaa
5-8-2000 To discuss very important matters, come to the yyyy chairperson tomorrow, 6-8-2000 at 8 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note - Very important matter. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #310 (Papun) To: U aaaa
8-8-2000 Come quickly to the yyyy chairperson as soon as you receive this letter. There is one more trip to carry supplies to the hills. The quota is 8 sacks as before. Note - Without fail. To continue hiring, bring the money along. [‘The quota’ means they must provide enough people to carry 8 sacks of rice to the SPDC hill outpost. The village tract chairperson is saying that the people he usually hires to go in place of the villagers are too tired to do this trip, so he’ll have to hire people from Papun town and they are asking to be paid 2,000 Kyat per sack carried.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #311 (Papun) To: U aaaa 11-8-2000 The Elder’s village must send 2 people tomorrow, 12-8-2000 at 6 o’clock in the morning, to carry supplies to zzzz [Army camp], you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #312 (Papun) To: U aaaa
13-8-2000 The Battalion Commander of #xxx Light Infantry Battalion would like to discuss with the Elder, so come to the Chairperson’s house on 14-8-2000, tomorrow at 8 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. As U aaaa was told before, bring the remaining servants’ fees. Note - Without fail.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa 16-8-2000 Send 3 people from the Elder’s village to carry supplies to zzzz [Army camp] on 17-8-2000.
[Sd.] [This was followed by Order #314 the following day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
17-8-2000 [You] Were informed yesterday to send 3 people today to carry supplies. Didn’t you receive the letter yesterday? The supply group climbed this morning. It was for a one day trip. Send without fail. Inquire into that other affair. [This followed the day after Order #313. ‘The supply group climbed this morning’ means the forced labour porters left to carry the Army supplies to the hill outpost.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #315 (Papun) To: U aaaa
20-8-2000 Send 5 loh ah pay people for [LIB] xxx. Both male and female are acceptable. You are informed to send them, each with a machete, to yyyy on 21-8-2000, tomorrow at 7 o’clock in the morning.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
21-8-2000 To clear the ground along the vvvv - wwww road, send one person from each family from the Elder’s village to yyyy on 22-8-2000, Tuesday, tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed.
[Sd.] [‘To clear the ground’ means to sweep for landmines and clear the scrub over a wide swath along both sides of the road to create a ‘killing zone’.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
23-8-2000 To cut the grass from [LIB] xxx’s ricefield, the Elder’s village must send 10 loh ah pay people to yyyy on 24-8-2000, tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note: Without fail. If you fail, the Elder’s village must plough the fields with 3 buffaloes.
[Sd.] [To ‘cut the grass’ means to weed the field, which is standard practice at this time of year, halfway through the growing cycle. Of course, villagers are very busy weeding their own fields at this time, but the Army still demands that they do all the work of rice farming for them. This order was followed by Order #318 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
24-8-2000 [Your village] failed to come yesterday and today to contribute loh ah pay for [LIB] xxx. Why? I know the Elder’s village has been [busy] growing rice. Therefore, the Elder yourself should come to discuss and explain to the xxx [Battalion] Quartermaster Captain. The Quartermaster Captain has just arrived at my house. Come and meet the Quartermaster Captain as soon as you receive this letter.
[Sd.] [This order followed the day after Order #317 above.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
26-8-2000 Send 4 people to yyyy tomorrow, 27-8-2000 at 6 o’clock in the morning, to carry supplies from [LIB] xxx to zzzz [camp], for one day’s trip. If hiring [if you want to hire someone to go for you], send the money to hire together with this messenger.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #320 (Papun) To: U aaaa
27-8-2000 [I] Would like to know if xxxx [village] will take responsibility for the no-moon day donations to the monks. Reply so that [I] can arrange it tomorrow when I go to the monastery [he will tell the monks]. [The money] To carry supplies today was given, but not fully yet. Will continue tomorrow. Bring [money] for 4 persons tomorrow when coming to the monastery.
[Sd.] [Instead of sending 4 people as porters as demanded (see Order #319), xxxx village sent money to hire 4 substitutes for one day, but the labour will be for more than one day. ‘Will continue tomorrow’ means that the forced labour will continue for at least another day, so xxxx village will still have to pay for whatever number of additional days the Army keeps the workers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
11-9-2000 Send 5 loh ah pay people from the Elder’s village to yyyy today at 5 o’clock in the afternoon to carry supplies for [LIB] xxx, you are informed. If hiring [if you want to hire people to go in your place], send the money with this messenger. Reply to me what you will do. Note - Without fail. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #322 (Papun) To: U aaaa
12-9-2000 The Captain from [LIB] xxx would like to discuss with the Elder, so you are informed to come on 13-9-2000, tomorrow at 11 o’clock in the morning.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
12-9-2000 Yesterday’s [call for forced labour] was not for carrying supplies, it was emergency servants and will take about 3 days. Arrange [money to pay] for 4 persons for 3 days, so that when the hired persons return it can be given immediately. I prefer not to deal with money, and prefer to get people. Dealing with money is not good my friend, as there are different kinds of people. It doesn’t matter that [you] failed to give the full moon day donations for Taw Tha Lay month.
[Sd.] [This order followed the day after Order #321. ‘Carrying supplies’ usually means 1 day of forced labour carrying loads to a hill Army outpost, but ‘emergency servants’ means forced labour as porters with a mobile patrol for several days. The village failed to send people to meet the demand, so the head of the larger village has hired 4 people to go in their place and promised them payment on their return. See Order #324, which followed a week later.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
19-9-2000 The servants arrived [back from carrying] on 18-9-2000 in the evening, and it took 7 days. Therefore bring the fees tonight or tomorrow. To make fences for [LIB] xxx, xxxx [village] failed to reach the toilets [the fence built by the village was supposed to reach the toilets but didn’t]. zzzz [village] has few families and is widely scattered, so come to meet with me to discuss this matter.
[Sd.] [This order relates to the forced labour demanded in Orders #321 and 323. Now that the 4 hired porters have arrived back, the village which was originally ordered to send them is supposed to pay them for their 7 days of labour. In addition, the village is being ordered to finish some fencing forced labour they did at the Army camp which the Army found unsatisfactory.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
28-9-2000 To carry supplies from [LIB] xxx to zzzz camp, the Elder’s village must send 3 loh ah pay people to the yyyy chairperson on 29-9-2000, tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning, without fail, you are informed. Send people only, [I] do not want money. I heard that U aaaa did not give the rest of the money, 3,000 Kyat. It will be okay. Note:
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #326 (Papun) To: U aaaa
28-9-2000 In accordance with the assignments given by [LIB] xxx, the Elder’s village must send 1 wah boh bamboo 13 taung [21 feet] in length from each family, and contribute loh ah pay to Battalion xxx on 29-9-2000, tomorrow, Friday. Note: Each should bring one wah boh bamboo, a machete and a rice pack, and report to Sergeant bbbb of #xxx [Battalion] on 29-9-2000, Friday, at 7 o’clock.
[Sd.] [This is actually demanding one person per family as forced labour, not just one piece of bamboo per family. The work is most likely fencing or other building at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
2-10-2000 To contribute loh ah pay for [LIB] xxx, the Elder yourself should bring 8 male loh ah pay people from your village to the yyyy chairperson today at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, you are informed. Note: Bring them yourself. If you fail, [I] will take no responsibility.
[Sd.] [‘Will take no responsibility’ means that the head of the large village will not try to protect the smaller village from the Army if they fail to comply with this order.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
8-10-2000 Send the servants’ fees tomorrow. The hired servants have returned. 4 days - 3 persons 6,000 [Kyat] Send it tomorrow, 9-10-2000, without fail.
[Sd.] [As usual, the recipient village has failed to send the forced labourers demanded by the Battalion so the head of the main village has hired people to go in their place. Now the porters have been released and must be paid by the villagers, so the small village is being ordered to pay.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
10-10-2000 Send the servants’ money with this messenger. Think of the hired carriers. They are asking the Chairperson every day [for their money]. If you cannot send the money, U aaaa yourself should come and meet the Chairperson. If you fail to resolve this today and if [I] have to resolve it in another way, don’t blame it on me. Would like to know how
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[Sd.] [This order relates to the money demanded in Order #328 above to pay porters who were hired to go for forced labour in place of the villagers. Thadin Kyut is a month in which there is a major Buddhist festival at the full moon, which occurred on October 12th 2000.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
12-10-2000 To send supplies from [LIB] xxx to zzzz camp, the Elder’s village must send 4 loh ah pay people to the yyyy chairperson on 13-10-2000, tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. Note: People themselves must come. [i.e. don’t send money.] [This order is unsigned, but is clearly in the handwriting of the same village tract PDC head who issued most of the other orders in this section.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: Democratic Karen Buddhist Organisation To: Chairperson, xxxx village Date: 12-10-2000 Elephant owners from xxxx village and the Chairperson yourself must come and meet at zzzz tomorrow at 9:00 without fail, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #332 (Papun) To: U aaaa
18-10-2000 The servant fees of 3,000 [Kyat] for 11-9-2000 and servant fees of 2,000 [Kyat] for 2-10-2000, totalling 5,000 Kyat, should be arranged with this messenger. If [you] fail to arrange it, come to the Chairperson tomorrow, 19-10-2000, at 8 o’clock in the morning, you are informed. If [you] fail, it will be your responsibility.
[Sd.] [These ‘fees’ are the money to hire substitutes for the Army forced labour demanded in Orders #321 (11-9-2000) and #327 (2-10-2000) respectively.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
20-10-2000 On 19-10-2000 at 9 o’clock in the evening, [LIB] xxx called for emergency servants and I hired [some] on behalf of the Elder’s village. Therefore, send the hiring money with this messenger. It is for 2 servants. To discuss with me the matter of the previous balance in money and these emergency 2 people, the Elder yourself should come without fail, you are informed for the last time. Don’t put the blame on me in the future.
[Sd.] [After the forced labour was finished, this was followed by Order #334.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
23-10-2000 The emergency servants of the night of 19-10-2000 took 2 days. Send 2,000 Kyat today for 2 people for U aaaa’s village. With the previous balance of 2,000 Kyat, the total will be 4,000 Kyat. Send it together. U aaaa, please think of me too. The Army called them for 2 days exactly. I heard that you have been travelling. If you go somewhere, hand over your duties to someone. Come and meet me in advance, too. [I] Would like to discuss in advance before meeting with the Army. Yesterday the D.K.B.A. came and waited [positioned themselves around the village]. I told them to go easily [on the villagers].
[Sd.] [This relates to the forced labour mentioned in Order #333 above. The Army took 2 people and kept them for 2 days, so at 500 Kyat per person per day the total is 2,000 Kyat. The ‘previous balance’ refers to money still owed relating to previous forced labour demands.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa
27-10-2000 Send 2 emergency servants as soon as [you] receive this letter. If hiring [if you want to hire people to go in your place], send the hiring fees together with this messenger. [I] Prefer to get people if available. Note: Don’t be later than 12 o’clock noon today.
[Sd.]
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Demands for Logs in Thaton District
All of these orders were sent to the same village in Thaton District between August and
October 2000, and all of them relate to demands for teak wood. The local SPDC officers
demand the logs on a regular basis, then force the local sawmill owners to mill them
without payment, and sell them for personal profit. In December 2000 Order #434 demanding more teak planks was also received
by the same village, but we have included it under the "Education"
section below because it claims to be for the purpose of building a school (though Army
officers frequently make such claims and then sell the wood for their own profit). As with
‘Set to a Village I’ and ‘Set to a Village II’, these orders
are separated here to give some idea of the incessant stream of demands placed on a single
village.
Though the village headwoman is sick, the local Camp Commander, an Army Captain, demands 3 tons of teak logs from her village and the same from two other villages at the same time (see Order #338). Orders #339 and 340 make it clear that the village is having a hard time complying, but they manage to do so one ton at a time. However, on receipt of the wood the Captain sent out Order #341 complaining that "the wood which Mother sent is small and we could not mill it. If we cut it, we will get only scrap. Much of it is thay pote [dalbergia kurzii, a large tree with malodorous wood] and other kinds, and they are small and crooked. The wood you sent makes it look like you just did it to fulfil your duty. … Send 2 tons of big teak to arrive on 20-10-2000. Send it quickly, before that date." He followed this with Order #342, adding, "There are over 80 houses in Mother’s village, ask one piece of wood from each house and if you gather it you can get one ton of teak planks. If you have a problem sending logs, send one ton of teak planks." In both orders, he makes it clear that if the headwoman wants to take back the wood she already sent, "You can have it". However, after the village had sent him his big teak by the deadline and taken back their 3 tons of "small" logs, he immediately sent out Order #343 demanding the "small" logs back again because "we need them for an emergency". In the end this village had to supply 6 tons of wood in the space of 2 weeks, 3 tons of it big teak logs, and they had to cut and haul 3 tons of big teak logs to the Army camp, and 3 tons of smaller logs to the Army camp, then back to the village, then back to the Army camp again. They had to do all of this while the village headwoman was sick.
However, this is not the end of the demands. Other demands to this same village during this same time period are included in the other sections of this report. As can be seen in Order #337 below, they also face demands to take their elephants to haul logs to the road for the Army, and to provide tractors free of charge to haul the same logs along the road to the sawmills. The sawmill owners who are summoned to the Army camp by Order #336 are then told to mill the logs into planks, also free of charge. All of this goes to the personal profit of the SPDC officers.
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Stamp:
22-8-2000 The Column Commander wants to meet the sawmill owners from xxxx village, so gather and send them today to arrive at yyyy village, you are informed.
[Sd.] 22-8-2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ To: U aaaa (Elephant owner, xxxx village) 27-8-2000 When U aaaa’s elephant arrives at yyyy village, pull the thay pote [dalbergia kurzii, a large tree with malodorous wood] logs that have been cut near yyyy village to the road using the elephant. [We] will take the logs along the road using Ko bbbb’s tractor. When the elephant arrives at yyyy village, pull all of the thay pote logs that have been cut to the road, you are informed.
Stamp: ______________________________________________________________________________ Mother [Village] Head I received the letter and the goods that Mother sent. Mother didn’t come this morning, so Son’s leader has asked Mother’s assistant to give three tons of logs from Mother’s village to Son. We have demanded [logs] from vvvv and wwww villages [as well]. Send three tons of logs from Mother’s village to arrive on 3-10-2000. For Mother, I have sent milk and bottled tonic. When Mother is healthier come to visit me for a while. If there are any unusual things reply by letter with the emergency [servants] who will come tomorrow.
[Sd.] [SPDC officers often refer to older village headwomen as ‘Mother’ and to themselves as ‘Son’. ‘The emergency servants who will come tomorrow’ refers to a group of forced labourers which the headwoman has been ordered to send to the camp the following day.] ______________________________________________________________________________ To: Mother, Son is writing a letter, send the wood quickly that was asked from Mother. [You] have to continue to send it to yyyy [village] by any available long-tail boat. Get it tomorrow and send some wood quickly. If Mother is healthier, come to visit.
zzzz Camp Commander ______________________________________________________________________________ Mother [Village] Head Received the one ton of logs that you sent yesterday.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Mother [Village] Head Writing a letter to inform Mother Head that the wood which Mother sent is small and we could not mill it. If we cut it, we will get only scrap. Much of it is thay pote [dalbergia kurzii, a large tree with malodorous wood] and other kinds, and they are small and crooked. The wood you sent makes it look like you just did it to fulfil your duty [i.e. you scraped together anything to add up to the tonnage demanded]. We are keeping the wood that Mother sent as is at yyyy. Send 2 tons of big teak to arrive on 20-10-2000. Send it quickly, before that date.
Reply
with an explanation tomorrow.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Mother [Village] Head Writing a letter to inform Mother Head that the wood which Mother sent is small [diameter] and crooked. If [we] cut it at the mill we will only get scraps. Send 2 tons more of teak which is bigger. There are over 80 houses in Mother’s village, ask one piece of wood from each house and if you gather it you can get one ton of teak planks. If you have a problem sending logs, send one ton of teak planks. Reply by letter today what Mother will send. If Mother wants the wood back that you already sent, you can have it.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Mother [Village] Head Son is writing this letter to inform Mother, we received the wood that you sent today. Give Son the logs that you already sent before. We need them for an emergency. May Mother be healthy.
Son. [‘The logs that you already sent before’ are those which were sent in response to Orders #338 and 339. In Orders #341 and 342, the Captain said that they were not big enough, demanded that an additional 3 tons be sent, and told the headwoman that if she wanted the substandard logs back "you can have it". Now that the village has taken them back and sent another 3 tons of logs, the Captain writes this letter demanding in addition the first 3 tons which he had previously rejected.]
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