Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by villages in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, along the route of the Ye-Tavoy railway line which is currently being built with forced civilian and convict labour, and in the area where the SLORC / Total / Unocal gas pipeline from the Martaban Gulf is to come ashore en route to Thailand. This report can be considered as supplementary to "SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-C", KHRG #95-15, 2/5/95. Photocopies of the order documents themselves may be enclosed with this report, and if not they are available on request. Villages in the area receive a constant stream of orders and threats such as these. For each order included here, there are hundreds more which have been issued. Many are lost or destroyed, while others are impossible to obtain. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to those who helped us obtain copies of these documents.
The recurring phrase 'if you fail it will be your responsibility' is well understood by village elders to mean 'you will be arrested and tortured or we will come to burn your village'. While SLORC stands for State Law & Order Restoration Council, it administers through State, District, Township and Village level Law & Order Restoration Councils or LORCs, an abbreviation used throughout this report. Most orders are addressed to the 'chairman' or 'secretary' of the village - these are village elders appointed (usually against their will) by SLORC to be its local contact people. When orders are not obeyed they are the first to be tortured. LIB stands for Light Infantry Battalion, while IB is Infantry Battalion. Where necessary, names of people and places have been blanked out and denoted by 'xxxx' or 'yyyy' to protect them. All numeric dates in the orders are in dd-mm-yy format. Please feel free to use this report in any way which may help the people of Burma, but do not forward it to any SLORC representatives.
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Order #1
Bond and Guarantee to Sign
Date: 2-95
We here undersigned take responsibility and guarantee that we will move xxxx / yyyy [villages] and all the villages on the attached list from their respective locations and that we will absolutely finish moving them within one week, from 16-2-95 to 23-2-95.
| Chairman | Members | ||
| Signed: Name & NRC number: Village: Date: |
[Sd.] xxxx / #yyyy xxxx 18-2-95 |
Signed: Name & NRC number: Village: Date: |
[Sd.] xxxx xxxx 18-2-95 |
| Member (1) Signed: Name & NRC number: Village: Date: |
[Sd.] xxxx / #yyyy xxxx 18-2-95 |
Signed: Name & NRC number: Village: Date: Signed: Name & NRC number: Village: Date: |
[Sd.] xxxx xxxx 18-2-95 [Sd.] xxxx xxxx 18-2-95 |
[Note: NRC stands for National Registration Card. SLORC-appointed "committee" members from 5 different villages were forced to sign this bond. It means that if all the villages specified do not move by February 23, they will most likely be arrested, tortured and possibly executed. All of the villages are in the Ye-Tavoy railway area near Ye. This order may be related to reports that SLORC has decided to change the railway route from the east side of the Tavoy River to the west side.]
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Order #2
27-2-95
To: xxxx [village] (Chairman / Secretary)
All of xxxx village has to give paddy to yyyy [army] camp, and must finish giving it within 2 days. You can go and ask at yyyy village about this matter. Chairman or Secretary or Members from your village must come and see me. If you don't comply with this letter, the village will bear the responsibility.
[Sd.]
Lt. Win Sein
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Order #3
Date: 1994 December 25
To: Village LORC
Chairman
(xxxx village) notification
Subject: Volunteer workers for Ye-Tavoy railway
Regarding the above subject, your village has to take responsibility for 30 earth holes as your share for Ye-Tavoy railway construction. One hole costs 380 Kyat. As soon as you receive this letter you must come together with the money for 30 holes to the Village LORC office.
If you cannot pay the amount you must send 7 volunteer workers from your village with their own food for 1 month. They must arrive on 28/12/94 at xxxx camp.
If you fail you must bear the responsibility. With this group, U xxxx must also report to the camp.
[Sd.]
2nd Warrant Officer
xxxx camp
Camp Commander
LIB #408
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Order #4 Stamp:
LIB #406
24-12-94
Column #1 Headquarters
To: xxxx village (Chairman) Mr. xxxx
Subject: To discuss about digging roadbed earth [earth to be used to lay a roadbed]
We hereby inform you that you must come to the xxxx column commander on December 25th.
[Sd.]
Column Commander
LIB #406
xxxx