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Extortion of Money, Food and Materials
Orders in this section make material demands on villages. Demands which require a significant amount of labour from the villages, particularly cutting and hauling wood and bamboo or making thatch, have been included above in the section ‘Forced Labour Supplying Materials’. Many of the orders in other sections of this report also include material demands. Villages are forced to provide the Army with everything: money, food, alcohol, cheroots, betelnut, firewood, clothing, building materials, and many other things. These are in addition to logs and commercial products which the Army officers sell for a profit. Villagers are forced to provide these things or face the threat of punishment. They are almost never paid for them, and when they are paid it is a fraction of the real cost, usually paid with money extorted or stolen from other villagers or themselves. The expansion of the Army has resulted in new camps being built and every new camp means new demands on the villagers. Demands are sometimes direct and sometimes placed through township or village tract authorities, who then pass them on to the villagers. All demands for materials and cash end up at the village head, who must then divide up the burden by assigning villagers to gather materials on a rotational basis and dividing up the cash to be paid by the number of families in the village. Most families end up having to give several thousand Kyat per month for the monetary demands, as well as contributing materials. This is in addition to the food and belongings which are looted from the villagers by passing SPDC Army columns and the forced labour that must be done.
The SPDC in Rangoon informed its field units in 1998 that their rations would be cut back in quantity and quality and that they should begin producing much of their own food or obtain it from the villagers. Army units then began confiscating farmland from villages and demanding that the villagers do forced labour on this land (see Order #54 under ‘General Forced Labour’). Another result has been increased demands for food without payment. Livestock and poultry are regularly demanded by Army units for breeding purposes (see Orders #257, 293, 320) or the villagers are ordered to breed the livestock for them. Plant and tree seedlings are also demanded from the villagers. Tools are demanded from the villagers for farming or for use by villagers or rank-and-file soldiers doing forced labour farming (see Order #254). In addition to these self-sufficiency through forced labour farming activities, officers still find it easier to simply demand food from the villagers in their area. Most of the orders below are demands for food including chickens, ducks, pigs and fruit. In orders in other sections of this report can be found demands for village elders to bring along ‘one chicken’ or ‘four bowls of rice’ when coming to bring building materials or report intelligence. Some of the orders contain references where the officers admit to having ‘problems’ feeding themselves without the Rangoon-supplied rations; for example, in Order #258 an SPDC officer wrote, “Food is cut off, so send 1 viss [1.6 kgs. / 3.6 lbs.] of chicken and vegetables with the messenger who comes now to send the letter. Also pumpkin.” In December 2002 a Camp Commander wrote Order #327 saying, “Rice problem, so help with 5 bowls [7.5 kgs. / 17 lbs.] of rice, you are requested. Also bring the things to cook.” Villagers have often complained to KHRG researchers that Army units demand their rice and replace it with poor quality Army ration rice – the grains are low grade and broken and it is often full of rocks, insects and impurities. In Order #289 a Major announces to a village chairperson that, “[We] Have rice / milk tins / beans / oil / sugar to sell, so the people who will buy it come with money. These are probably his own soldiers’ rations which are being sold to the villagers for the profit of the officers as is done in many units of the SPDC Army, further exacerbating the food shortage and often forcing the lower ranks to steal food in order to eat.
Village heads also receive demands to provide food for their own villagers who are doing unpaid forced labour. Only rarely do SPDC Army units provide food for their labourers. Usually villagers must bring their own food and often they are kept well beyond the end of their originally specified shifts and have run out of food. Rather than the SPDC unit providing them with food they send a request to the villagers’ home village to send food. Order #266 states, “Cook to feed the servants, the Elder yourself come without fail to send a big pan/big pot each tomorrow with the set tha.” The Camp Commander in Order #259 claims, “Frontline LIB #207 xxxx [camp] does not demand servants from the villages for help and are using our trucks, so for them to eat, come to send 3 big tins (24 bowls) [37.5 kgs / 82.5 lbs.] of rice for the servants to xxxx camp …” The officer claims that the villagers should provide the rice out of gratitude that the Army is not forcing them to porter its supplies, however the drivers are performing forced labour driving the trucks and they are the ‘servants’ for which the rice is being demanded.
SPDC Army officers who wish to make offerings at a local Buddhist monastery usually demand that the villagers provide the money, incense, food and other items. Many of the orders such as Orders #260, 265 and 272 demand coconuts and bananas for offerings to spirits. Order #277 demands chickens from the villagers because the Battalion is going to make an offering to the local monks and does not have any chickens.
Small personal items are also demanded from villagers. Officers demand items such as a Karen sarong to give as a Christmas present (Order #252) or orchids for a present to a superior officer (Order #263). Some officers send local village heads their ‘shopping lists’, sometimes with a small amount of money, with orders to buy whatever is on the list and send them to the camp.
Cash demands in several forms are made by SPDC Army units from all the villages in their area of control. Some of this money is in the form of routine monthly extortion, usually referred to as “servant fees” or “Battalion donation money”, while other money is demanded in place of forced labour. Villagers who can do so often hire people to go in their place for forced labour or the village tract heads do it for them and bill the villagers for the cost later. Army demands for “money to hire servants” are simply pocketed by the officers, who then demand the labour from elsewhere. Other villages are simultaneously paying to avoid having to go for some other form of forced labour. In the end the villagers are paying fees to ‘hire’ forced labour while also doing forced labour. The ‘fees’ eventually become so routine that they are simply referred to as ‘servant fees’ but it is understood that they are not given in lieu of forced labour. Villagers try to pay to get out of additional forced labour until this too becomes a ‘servant fee’ and the Army continues demanding yet more forced labour. Villagers end up paying all kinds of ‘servant fees’, ‘porter fees’, and ‘messenger fees’ while still going as servants, porters and messengers. All of this money goes into the pockets of Army officers and corrupt village tract and township officials.
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25/12/2001 Village Head aaaa Buy a Karen sarong as a Christmas present. If you have no new sarong, give the money equivalent to the value of a new sarong to this messenger. Send this message to xxxx Head, aaaa's
house. ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp:
Date: 2-1-02 Subject: The matter of inviting to Independence Day. Regarding the above subject, the Independence Festival will be celebrated on January 4th at K’Dtaing Dee Village Tract. Many types of sports will be played on this day. Therefore, village head and female/male villagers come to play on the 4th at 8 o’clock in the morning, bring along support money of 1,500 Kyat for the Independence Festival, you are informed. (Note) Do not fail.
[Sd.] 2-1-02 [On the back this order is addressed “To Head, xxxx [village]”. The village head collected 80-90 Kyat from each house in the village and 30 people went to the festival. Donations are often requested for festivals such as this with the money collected usually totalling much more than the expenses incurred by the festival. The remaining money goes into the pockets of Army officers and corrupt township and village tract officials.] ______________________________________________________________________________
To:
3/1/2002 Head, find and rent 4
chopping hoes from the Head’s village and send them with the messenger who
is coming now.
With respect, [On the back this order is addressed “To: xxxx village, (Village Head) U aaaa. From: xxxx Camp.”] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #255 (Papun)
Stamp:
To: Date:
6-1-02 Subject: The matter of sending fund money Regarding the above subject, send without fail the fund money of 1,500 Kyat that was to be collected for Independence Day, you are informed. This money must be repaid to the Army.
[Sd.] Note: Also bring 3,000 Kyat of money for the water bullock cart [fees]. [On the back this order is addressed “To: Head, xxxx [village]. Urgent.” This order is related to the money demanded for the Independence Day Festival in Order #253. The village tract chairman is claiming that the Army has paid for the festival and now wants to be reimbursed.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #256 (Papun)
Stamp:
11-1-2002 Please send 2 bottles of local alcohol with the messenger for Captain IO [Intelligence Officer] to the house at yyyy where Captain IO stayed before. Thanking Mother
Captain IO [On the back this order is addressed “To: Chairperson, Daw aaaa, xxxx village.”] ______________________________________________________________________________ [To:] The Big Division Commander wants to meet, so come and arrive on 16/1/2002 at 10 o’clock Wednesday. Bring 3 chickens which are 25 kyat tha [400 grams / 15 ozs.] because they are going to breed. May [you be] happy.
U
bbbb [On the back this order is addressed “Give to: Daw aaaa, Chairperson, xxxx [village]”. This order from one village head to another is being sent on the behalf of an SPDC Army unit requesting chickens so the Army can breed them.] ______________________________________________________________________________
To: 17-1-2002 Food is cut off, so send 1 viss [1.6 kgs. / 3.6 lbs.] of chicken and vegetables with the messenger who comes to send the letter now. Also pumpkin. [Sd.] [This SPDC officer is admitting that he does not have enough rations and must demand meat and vegetables from villagers to make up for it.] ______________________________________________________________________________
Stamp: Subject: Demanding rice assistance for servants. Frontline LIB#207 xxxx [camp] does not demand servants from the villages for help and we are using our trucks, so for them [the drivers] to eat, come to send 3 big tins (24 bowls) [37.5 kgs. / 82.5lbs.] of rice for the servants to xxxx camp to arrive on 20-1-2002, your help is requested.
[Sd.] [The Camp Commander is justifying his demands for rice by claiming to be doing a good thing for the villagers by not forcing them to go as porters for the Army.] ______________________________________________________________________________
To:
Date:
20-1-2002 Making an offering of coconuts/bananas, come to meet with the column commander at xxxx Camp, you are informed. Bring along the material which is needed and [I] want [you] to come and meet as soon as this letter is received now.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed “To: xxxx Village Head, Stamp: Frontline #38 Infantry Battalion, Date: 20/1, Column #x Headquarters.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #261 (Papun) To: Our column has not
gone to take the rations yet, so [we] need rice for the soldiers
and servants to eat. Therefore, help with about 5 bowls [8 kgs. /
17lbs.] of rice from the elder’s village, your help is requested.
Stamp:
[Sd.] Requesting for help. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #262 (Papun)
Stamp:
29-1-2002 Come to send 6 viss [9.6 kgs. / 21.6 lbs.] of pork to xxxx Camp to arrive today. Money will be given immediately. Must come to send.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed “To: Head, xxxx village. Stamp: #36 Infantry Battalion, #x Company.” The village head could not find any pork so he brought 2 viss [3.2 kgs. / 7.2 lbs.] of chicken instead. The SPDC gave him 500 Kyat for one viss of chicken, 1,000 Kyat for the two viss. The villagers in the area sell one viss of chicken at 1,500 Kyat.] ______________________________________________________________________________
To: 2-2-2002 Friendly,
[Sd.] [The newsletter is a four to five page propaganda newsletter distributed by the SPDC in Thaton District. It talks about developing the villages, but most of the development described in the newsletter is done through the forced labour of the villagers. The village heads are forced to distribute the newsletters and the villagers have to buy them. The proceeds from the newsletter go into the pocket of the LID #44 Commander, Col. Min Aung Lein. The village head gave the orchids, but no payment was given for them.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #264 (Papun)
Stamp:
3-2-2002 Village Head, send 1 chicken and one bottle of alcohol with the messenger who comes now. Send one chicken of at least 60 kya tha, 70 tha [960-1,120 grams / 30-35 ozs.].
With friendship, ______________________________________________________________________________ Stamp:
Date: 3-2-2002 Preparing for the worship of the Nats [spirits] at xxxx Army Camp, come to send 3 coconuts, 9 bunches of bananas to arrive on 4-2-2002 and come to prepare for the worshiping, you are informed.
[Sd.] [This order was sent to several villages in the area.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #266 (Dooplaya)
To:
10/2/2002 Cook to feed the servants, the Elder yourself come without fail to send a big pan/big pot each tomorrow with the messenger, you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #267 (Toungoo) Receipt of received servant fees. Date: 11-2-2002 This month ___11/2001
for servant fees, from xxxx village,
[we] received truly 40,000 Kyat of money exactly from
the person U / Remaining money to pay for this month is 10,000___Kyat.
[Sd.]
bbbb [These receipts are all typewritten with the information filled in in the blanks. KHRG has received several copies of these receipts. They are issued each month to villages in the area after the village pays what it owes in servant fees. Note the writer made a mistake with the second date in the blank. ] ___________________________________________________________________________ Order #268 (Papun) [To:] Mother There are no Kyeh
Ni cigars in xxxx [camp] so send 2 bundles.
[Sd.]14/2 [‘Kyeh Ni’ is a brand of cigar. The Camp Commander is saying that he wants the villagers to buy the milk tins whether they want them or not. These milk tins are probably a part of the rations sent to the camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #269 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date: 16-2-2002 Because
of an emergency matter, when you receive my writing come to meet with me
at once. Writing to inform you like this.
[Sd.]
Saw bbbb [On the back this order is addressed “To: xxxx village, Chairperson U aaaa, Head matter. Stamp: Village Peace and Development Council, Date- 16-2-2002, yyyy village.” By ‘the people’ he means the SPDC who have demanded something for which the villagers will be penalised 200,000 Kyat if they do not do it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #270 (Papun)
Stamp: To: Today, come to send 3 coconuts, 9 bunches of bananas to the Army Camp for an offering of food.
[Sd.] 17-2-2002 [On the back this order is “Stamp: Frontline #38 Infantry Battalion, Date: 17/2, Column #x Headquarters. To: xxxx, Head, Frontline #38, Column, xxxx Camp.”] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #271 (Papun)
Stamp:
Date: 26-2-2002 We will buy cement for the monastery at xxxx village at a low price, one sack is 1,100 K or 1,200 K. When this letter is received, reply at once with the number of sacks that [you] want to buy.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed “xxxx village. Village Head.” Stamp: Frontline #36 Infantry Battalion [Sd.] Date: 26-2-2002. Column #x Headquarters.] ___________________________________________________________________________ Stamp: For xxxx Camp, come to send a bunch of bananas and a coconut for making an offering to the Nats [spirits], you are informed.
[Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #273 (Papun)
Stamp: To: Subject: Come to send information Regarding the above subject, come without fail (without fail) to send information and 3 chickens to xxxx monastery to arrive tomorrow on 3-3-02, you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is addressed “To: Ko aaaa (Chairperson), xxxx village.”] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #274 (Toungoo)
Stamp:
To:
Date: 11-3-2002 Subject: The matter of coming to give servant hiring fees for the month of 3/2002 and the remainder of servant hiring fees for 11/2001 Regarding the above subject, the villages from Bawgali Gyi village tract have hired a total of 10 people as servant this month of 3/2002. Collect and send [the money] as we allocated for all the villages below and also come without fail to send the remaining money which is owed to pay for the previous month to arrive at the same time ( 3-2002 ), you are informed. 1. xxxx
- 4 people ( 4 x
15,000 ) =
60,000 Kyat 3. zzzz
- 1 person ( 1 x
15,000 ) =
15,000 Kyat 4. wwww - 1 person ( 1
x15,000 ) = 15,000
Kyat 5. vvvv
- 1 person ( 1 x
15,000 ) =
15,000 Kyat 6. uuuu
- 1 people ( 1 x
15,000 ) = 15,000
Kyat
[Sd.] 10-3-2002 [On the back this order is addressed “To: Chairperson/Secretary, xxxx village.” These lists are sent to the villages in the area every month letting them know how much money they owe in servant fees, both for the current month and in arrears. KHRG had received many copies of this letter over the past several years and they have appeared in several previous orders reports.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #275 (Papun)
xxxx village
13/3/2002 Mother, for making the offering of food to the Nats [spirits], bring 9 bunches of bananas and 3 coconuts to arrive today. Send [this] to xxxx Camp.
xxxx Camp [On the back this order is addressed to “Mother (Head), xxxx village.”] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #276 (Toungoo)
Stamp:
Date:
13-3-2002
To: As soon as [you] receive this letter- 1. 12 bunches of Ya
Kaing [Arakan] bananas Come to send [them] to xxxx Camp, with respect and you are informed.
[Sd.] [On the back this order is address “To: xxxx Chairperson, Secretary. Stamp: Camp Commander, xxxx Camp. Stamp: #48 Infantry Battalion, Date: 13-3-2002, #x Company - xxxx Camp.”] ______________________________________________________________________________
To:
25/3/2002
With respect,
______________________________________________________________________________ Order #278 (Papun)
To:
30/3/2002
With the villagers now, Mother has to
send rice (63-messtins = 4 sacks [200 kgs. / 440 lbs.]), 1 25
viss [40 kgs. / 90 lbs.] sack of sugar, 1 sack of 70 milk tins,
2 50 viss [80 kgs. / 180 lbs.] sacks of beans, salt,
fishpaste, tea, 1 sack of chili, the total is 9 sacks to yyyy [village].
[Sd.] |