SPDC ORDERS TO VILLAGES: SET 99-A
Toungoo District
Toungoo (Taw Oo) district forms the northern tip of Karen State, sandwiched between Karenni State to the east, Shan State to the north, and Pegu Division to the west. Much of this district is steep forested hills with small remote Karen villages. For several years these villages have suffered destruction and forced labour as SLORC/SPDC troops have tried to undermine the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in the area by wiping out village food supplies and forcing people to build a military access road into the area. This road now reaches Bu Sah Kee, though in rainy season it is wiped out and vehicles can only reach Kaw Thay Der or Yay Tho Gyi; hence the orders in this report ordering as many as 260 villagers at a time to "transport food", i.e. carry Army rations, from Yay Tho Gyi to Bu Sah Kee and other Army camps. From Yay Tho Gyi to Bu Sah Kee is several days’ walk over very steep forested hills.
Now that the SPDC Infantry Battalions are more strongly entrenched in the area the villagers were hoping for a respite; many of them in villages along the road even call their villages "Nyein Chan Yay" ("Peace") villages, having made an informal agreement with the local SPDC military that they will comply with all orders and demands if only their villages are not destroyed or forced to move. This includes villages such as Baw Ga Li Gyi and Yay Tho Gyi (Kaw Thay Der). However, these villages are facing increasingly heavy demands for porters and money by the SPDC battalions, and as they have no money to pay to avoid portering they are in a dilemma. At the same time, villages which are not seen as cooperating fully are being punished severely. In Saw Wah Der village SPDC troops recently chose all the nicest houses in the village and burned them, and all of the villagers now live in the forest in fear. Further east, SPDC Major Myo Myint could see the ricefields of Bu Sah Kee village from the camp of Infantry Battalion #26 which he commands, and the villagers there always flee into the forest when his troops approach; so in September 1998 he sent patrols out with orders to destroy the entire rice crop of the 60 families in the village. They uprooted, cut down or stomped down about half of the entire crop which was to support the village through the coming year, and the villagers there no longer know what they will do when they run out of rice.
The motor road now being built from Toungoo in Pegu Division to Mawchi in southern Karenni (Kayah) State is intended to create easier access to southern Karenni from the central plains of Burma, both to make military control of Karenni easier and because Mawchi is a mining area. The distance is about 80 kilometres in a straight line, but actually closer to double this distance because most of the route is through steep and remote hill country. Though it is usually referred to as the Toungoo-Mawchi road, there is already a road from Toungoo to Baw Ga Li Gyi, so the new construction is actually from Baw Ga Li Gyi to Mawchi. As can be seen by the orders below, the road is being cleared and constructed using large amounts of forced labour of the villagers. Many villagers in Saw Wah Der area lost their 1998 rice crop because there were so many SPDC troops along the road route that they didn’t dare to plant in the nearby fields. Construction stopped during the rainy season of 1998 but has now resumed. Once it is completed, it is almost certain that the same villagers will be forced to guard it against mining, sabotage or ambush of military convoys, because the road passes through remote areas.
Many of the orders below call for ‘servants’ or ‘loh ah pay’ (translated here as ‘voluntary labour’), SPDC’s terms for forced labour. The villagers who go are used as porters, messengers, road labourers, and doing Army camp labour such as sentry duty, cleaning, and building and maintaining barracks, fences and booby-traps. ‘Operation servants’ specifically means long-term frontline porters. Village heads are called to ‘meetings’ to ‘discuss the matter of servants’ or to ‘discuss clearing of the road’, but at these meetings the Army officer or local Peace & Development Council (PDC) officials simply dictate forced labour assignments and threats for failure to comply. Some orders refer to forced labour for the Na Pa Ka [the Western Military Command]; though they are based far to the west in Arakan (Rakhine) State, one Strategic Command of 3 Battalions has been operating in Toungoo District for at least 2-3 years now to assist the Southern Military Command.
Most of the orders below are from Baw Ga Li Gyi village tract, a group of over 10 villages administered by the Village Tract PDC in Baw Ga Li Gyi, a large village of several hundred households. This Village Tract PDC is clearly working closely with the local SPDC Battalions; they receive orders from the Battalions, then pass them on to the elders of all villages under their administration, sometimes with extra demands tacked on to enrich themselves. In the process, a complex system of ‘servants’ and ‘servants’ fees’ has developed within this village tract. Initially the local Battalions issue orders to the Village Tract PDC demanding numbers of forced labourers for a specific purpose. Knowing that the villages do not want to do the labour and will be slow to comply, the Village Tract PDC often hires day labourers through agents in Toungoo, pays for their ‘car fees’ (i.e. transport costs) to Baw Ga Li Gyi, and supplies them to the SPDC military. The Village Tract PDC then issues orders to the villages under their administration to pay their share of the cost based on the relative size (number of households) of their village; for example, a village may be ordered to pay for 10 of the 80 people hired by the Village Tract PDC. The amounts are often not specified in the orders because they are already understood; for example, 4,000 Kyats for each short-term porter plus 250 Kyats for his ‘car fee’.
Under this system even small villages must pay 30,000-80,000 Kyats per month, and many simply do not have the money to do so because of all the other SPDC demands they have to meet. As a result, most villages are delinquent in their payments, and once payments fall behind by a couple of months the Village Tract PDC often tells the village ‘we will no longer take any responsibility for you’ and reports the village to the military for failure to ‘perform their duty’. A military column might then storm the village to loot and burn houses as punishment.
In addition to these fees, villages are faced with direct orders to provide forced labourers, sometimes when the military says it is for ‘emergency’ purposes, meaning that they need labourers right away for one-time work. At the same time, they face constant demands for rice, meat, vegetables, fruits, cheroots, condiments, and building supplies such as bamboo and roofing leaves. In July 1998 villages throughout the village tract were even ordered to form teams to compete in the "Battalion Commander’s Cup Volleyball Tournament" (see Order #T64). Usually when villages are ordered to form teams for SPDC competitions, they are then forced to pay a heavy ‘entry fee’ to enter their team, while villages which do not form teams are forced to pay an even heavier ‘fine’. Some orders below also demand money for compensation to be paid to landmine victims and others who have been wounded or killed while doing forced labour for SPDC troops. While this may appear humanitarian at first, such compensation should clearly be paid by the SPDC, not demanded from the local villages which supplied the forced labour under pain of punishment in the first place. Furthermore, Order #T55 demands 100 Kyat from each family in all the villages to pay for a funeral, though there is no way that the funeral could cost so much; chances are that the excess will not be given to the victim’s family but will be kept by the local authorities.
For more information on the situation in Toungoo District see KHRG
Information Update #98-U5, "Continuing
Hardships for Villagers in Northern Karen Districts", and a full KHRG
report on the subject to be released soon.
Restrictions on Villages
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Order #T1*
Village Tract Peace and Development Council To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To obey the orders issued by the local Battalion Regarding the above subject, in accordance with the official instructions sent today, 6-1-98 at 8 o’clock in the morning, to the office of the Village Tract Peace and Development Council by the Battalion Commander of #39 Infantry Battalion, the following orders are issued for security reasons and all villages in Baw Ga Li Gyi Village Tract must obey these orders. (1) All villagers must sleep in the village at night and must not sleep in any gardens / fields outside the village. (2) Everyone must ask permission from the village authorities in order to travel to other places such as Toungoo, and must go only when the authorities have registered them and given permission. (3) The family lists will be checked in all villages, and if someone is not sleeping at home at night when the family lists are checked by the authorities, he will be regarded as one who has contact with insurgents and appropriate action will be taken. (4) It is confirmed that these orders take effect from 6-1-98, the date of their issue. Therefore, you are informed to announce these orders to the people of your village so that they will know and obey these orders.
[Sd.] Copy to: - The Battalion Commander [This order makes life very difficult for villagers in the cropping season, when it is necessary to stay in their fields which may be far from the village. For those regarded as having ‘contact with insurgents’, ‘appropriate action’ means arrest, interrogation under torture, and often summary execution.] |
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Forced Labour on Roads
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Order #T2 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Date: 11-5-98 Subject: Voluntary labour for construction of the Toungoo - Mawchi road Regarding the above subject, through the Toungoo - Mawchi Frontline Road Construction Unit, #48 Infantry Battalion from Baw Ga Li Gyi Base asks all villages in the area of Baw Ga Li Gyi village tract to provide a total of 20 voluntary labourers and rotate them every 5 days, so you are informed that the Chairperson / Secretary must send xx voluntary labourers to Baw Ga Li Gyi Base on (12-5-98) with their food for 5 days. Note: [blank]
[Sd.] [Forced labour constructing the main part of the Toungoo-Mawchi road, which runs over 100 kilometres from Pegu Division to Karenni (Kayah) State, began in early 1998 and is not yet completed. The road is to pass through remote and very rugged forested terrain for almost its entire length. See also Orders #T3 and T4.] ============================================================ Order #T3*
Stamp: Date: 11-5-98 Subject: Voluntary labour for construction of Toungoo - Mawchi road Regarding the above-mentioned subject, #48 Infantry Battalion from Baw Ga Li Gyi base have asked for voluntary labour through the Toungoo - Mawchi Frontline Road Construction Unit. Therefore the Chairperson / Secretary are informed to send voluntary servants, according to the quotas assigned to each village in the list below, to Baw Ga Li Gyi base on 12-5-98 at 7 o’clock in the morning with their food for 3 days. The more people the road construction unit gets, the fewer days they will have to spend to finish the work, so the total number of (20) persons previously specified has been replaced by the newly fixed total of (40). In accordance with the instructions of the Battalion, you are notified that you must send the voluntary labourers as specified and apportioned to each village without fail (without fail) and it will be entirely the responsibility of your village if you fail. (1) vvvv village voluntary servants
(20) persons
(for) Chairperson ============================================================ Order #T4
Stamp: Subject: Summoning voluntary labour 1. The Mawchi - Baw Ga Li Gyi car road is for the development of the local area. The road construction causes no one any trouble or difficulty, and the intention of the road construction is to make transportation and communication easy. Therefore, make sure there are no landmines and no ambushes at the road construction site or along the old car road. If there are any landmines or ambushes, the road construction must be carried out by the people of the village. 2. Therefore, you are informed that you must send (xx) voluntary labourers in turns [on a rotating basis] for the road construction to Baw Ga Li Gyi on 26-5-98 at (0800) hours.
[Sd.] [This is referring to the Toungoo-Mawchi road; a road already exists from Toungoo to Baw Ga Li Gyi, so the main work is being done on the Baw Ga Li Gyi to Mawchi section, which makes up well over half of the road’s length of over 100 kilometres. As the order demonstrates, forced labour is being used regardless of whether or not there are landmines or ambushes, and the construction is definitely causing people some trouble. Not only is there forced labour, but many farmers with fields along the road route didn’t dare plant a crop in 1998 because they were afraid of being grabbed for labour by the soldiers along the road.] ============================================================ Order #T5 To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: Voluntary labour on Paleh Wah - Baw Ga Li road According to the instruction of the Battalion Commander from xxxx Camp, to repair the damaged parts of the road between Paleh Wah and Baw Ga Li, xx servants from your village must come to xxxx [village] bringing with them the following items and wait there. We will go by vehicle to repair the road. (1) Hoes
[Sd.] [This is the existing road from Baw Ga Li Gyi westward to Toungoo.] ============================================================ Order #T6 To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To send voluntary labourers for road construction The local battalion from Baw Ga Li Gyi Base has asked for voluntary labourers for the road construction as follows, and so you are informed that you can comply by sending the voluntary labourers (or) collecting the fees for the voluntary labour. The Chairperson (or) the Secretary himself must come (or) bring the voluntary labourers / send the fees on (4-12-97) according to the following list.
Those villages which have not submitted their population list as requested by the authorities must make the list and send it as soon as possible.
[Sd.] [This order relates to forced labour on the road from Baw Ga Li Gyi either to Bu Sah Kee or to Toungoo.] |
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Portering and Other Forced Labour
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Order #T7*
Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: To send voluntary labourers In accordance with the instructions of the Battalion Commander of #xxx IB at xxxx Base, you are informed that you must collect one voluntary labourer per house from your village and send them with their own food for 4 days; they will have to transport food [carry rations as porters] from Yay Tho Gyi to Maung Daing Gyi Camp and they must come without fail. Send them right now.
[Sd. /Lt.] [This was carbon copied and sent to several villages, some with the village name left blank.] ============================================================ Order #T8 To: Chairperson Subject: To send the voluntary labourers to Maung Daing Gyi village Regarding the above subject, the numbers of voluntary labourers to transport the food to Maung Daing Gyi Camp are assigned to Baw Ga Li Gyi Village Tract as follows: (A) wwww [village] (10) persons You Chairpersons yourselves must bring them to xxxx Camp on the 17th at 6 o’clock.
[Sd./ xxxx / Lt. Col.] At the same time, the meeting of the Chairpersons will be held. [This is a demand for porters to carry rations from the roadhead to an Army camp. It was copied and sent to several villages.] ============================================================ Order #T9 Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: To send (8) voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, we cannot hire any servants from Toungoo so you are informed to bring (eight) voluntary labourers to xxxx on September 11 at 6 o’clock in the morning. You yourself must bring them.
[Sd. /Lt./ 10/9/98] Note: Take the letter to yyyy village right now. [Sd./ 10/9/98] [In this particular village tract, the normal practice is for the Village Tract PDC to hire labourers for the Army and then force the villagers to pay the cost (see summary notes on Toungoo District above); however, the villagers are also often called for forced labour when the Army can’t be bothered to go through this procedure, as this order shows. The note at the bottom probably refers to a copy of this order enclosed for another village. Orders #T10 and T11 below were received at the same time by other villages.] ============================================================ Order #T10
Stamp: Subject: To send (5) voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, we cannot hire any servants from Toungoo so you are informed that you yourself must send (five) voluntary labourers to xxxx on September 11th at 6 o’clock in the morning.
[Sd. /Lt./ 10/9/98] ============================================================ Order #T11
Stamp: Subject: To send 5 voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, we cannot collect any servants, so you are informed that you yourself must come and bring (five) voluntary labourers to xxxx on September 11 at 6 o’clock in the morning.
[Sd. / Lt. / 10/9/98] ============================================================ Order #T12 xxxx village elder I have heard about a tree falling between xxxx and yyyy, so tomorrow please order 5 of your villagers and some of us will also go and do [clear] it together. Thankfully,
[Sd.] [Note: This order is written in Karen, from the village tract PDC chairman to a village elder. This type of work, not work for the Army, is what ‘loh ah pay’ really means in Burma; however, in real ‘loh ah pay’ the village elder would not ‘order’ 5 villagers, he would ask for 5 volunteers. This order reflects on the way that SPDC forced labour is not ‘loh ah pay’, but even more so on how their use of force is creeping into and corrupting what used to be voluntary work by villagers within their community.] ============================================================ Order #T13 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Date: 22-4-98 Subject: To send voluntary labourers The Battalion Commander of #xxx IB at xxxx Base asks (xx) voluntary labourers from your village and so you, the Chairperson yourself, must come and bring them. You are informed that if you cannot send them, you must hire the labourers by yourself through Ko xxxx at Baw Ga Li Gyi village. Bring the fees for the labourers along with you and come without fail.
[Sd.] [Ko xxxx is most likely an agent who supplies people willing to do forced labour for money. It appears that he is frequently used by the Village Tract authorities to obtain labourers to fill the military’s demands, as his name appears in several orders.] ============================================================ Order #T14 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Date: 19-4-98 Subject: To send voluntary labourers The Battalion Commander of #48 IB at Baw Ga Li Gyi Base is asking for voluntary labourers from the villages in Baw Ga Li Gyi Village Tract, so you are informed to send xx voluntary labourers with their own food for 5 days to Baw Ga Li Gyi Base on (22-4-98), Wednesday, at 9 o’clock in the morning without fail (without fail).
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T15 To: Chairperson
Stamp: Date: 23-2-98 Subject: To send voluntary labourers to Baw Ga Li Gyi on
(24-2-98) You are informed to send the voluntary labourers to Baw Ga Li Gyi on (24-2-98) at 5 o’clock in the morning. The full quota of people must be sent in accordance with the instructions of Baw Ga Li Gyi Camp issued on (23-2-98) at 7 o’clock at night. Note: You must not fail.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T16
Stamp:
Advance #xxx Infantry Battalion To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To bring 5 voluntary labourers You are informed that you yourself must bring 5 voluntary labourers to xxxx Camp on 6-1-98 at 3 o’clock in the evening without fail (without fail), and if you fail to comply, it will be entirely your own and your village’s responsibility.
[Sd. / 2nd. Lt.] ============================================================ Order #T17 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Date: 10-12-97 Subject: To send the voluntary labourers we requested Collecting the exact number of labourers we asked for on (9-12-97), you yourself must bring the voluntary labourers today, (10-12-97), at 10 o’clock in the morning without fail. The reason for asking them to bring their own food for 4 days is that they must go along with the troops up to Si Kheh Der. (Therefore, you must comply without fail, and if you fail, it will be entirely your responsibility. If the local troops arrive at your village, you will face the same fate as Za Ba Ji and Meh Kyaw villages and we will not take responsibility for you.)
[Sd.] [The villagers sent are to be used for forced labour going along as porters for a military column heading to Si Kheh Der. KHRG has been unable to confirm what was the ‘fate’ of the 2 villages mentioned who failed to obey an order at the end of 1997, though it may have included the arrest of village elders or the burning of houses.] ============================================================ Order #T18 9-12-97 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Subject: To send voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, in accordance with the instructions of the Battalion Commander of #39 IB, you are informed to send voluntary labourers according to this apportionment. (1) uuuu [village] (30) persons
(6) zzzz [village] (12) persons As mentioned above, this is to notify [you] that the Chairperson and the Secretary themselves must bring the voluntary labourers with their own food for 4 days on (10-12-97), Wednesday, at 9 o’clock in the morning without fail.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T19
Stamp: Subject: To send voluntary labourers In accordance with the instructions of the Battalion Commander of #39 IB to convey food [carry Army rations] from Yay Tho Gyi to Si Kheh Der, you are informed that you yourself must come and bring xx voluntary labourers from your village with their own food for 2 days to Baw Ga Li Gyi on (18-11-97) at 7 o’clock in the morning, and if you fail it will be entirely your responsibility. Note: It is only loh ah pay [‘voluntary labour’].
[Sd.] [In this context ‘It is only loh ah pay’ means that it is to be short-term forced labour (in this case portering) as opposed to longer-term forced labour, which is usually referred to more specifically as ‘frontline operations servants’, ‘voluntary road labour’, etc.] ============================================================ Order #T20 To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To send 7 voluntary labourers In accordance with the instructions of the Battalion Commander of #39 IB sent today, (16-11-97), for voluntary labour [portering] from Yay Tho Gyi to Si Kheh Der village, you yourself must bring xx voluntary labourers with their own food for 2 days on (18-11-97), Tuesday, at 7 o’clock in the morning, and if you fail it will be entirely your responsibility. I confirm that the labourers will be used only for loh ah pay.
[Sd.] [In this context ‘only for loh ah pay’ means that it is to be short-term forced labour (in this case portering) as opposed to longer-term forced labour, which is usually referred to more specifically as ‘frontline operations servants’, ‘voluntary road labour’, etc.] ============================================================ Order #T21 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Subject: Voluntary labour to convey food In accordance with the instructions of the Battalion Commander of #39 IB, all villages around Baw Ga Li Gyi must send voluntary labourers to convey food [carry Army rations] from Yay Tho Gyi to Bu Sah Kee, so (xx) voluntary labourers from your village must be sent to Baw Ga Li Gyi on 27-10-97 at 7 o’clock in the morning and they must bring their own food for 3 days. We will leave for Yay Tho Gyi after the labourers from all villages arrive at Baw Ga Li Gyi. You are informed to send the labourers in the specified number and on the specified date without fail.
[Sd.] [Copies of this order were sent to several villages, each ordered to send different numbers of forced labourers.] ============================================================ Order #T22 To: Chairperson / Secretary
Stamp: Date: 12-9-97 Subject: To send operation servants Regarding the above subject, #73 IB from Baw Ga Li Gyi Base has summoned operations servants from all villages for 17-9-97, but the number of servants was not specified. Villages can either send the servants from the village (or) hire the servants from Toungoo. We want to know how your village plans to get the servants, so you are informed that you, the Chairperson, yourself must reply to the Chairperson of Baw Ga Li Gyi on 16-9-97, the date of sending bamboo shoots and spikes, without fail, and must bring the remainder of the previous servants’ fees along with you.
[Sd.] [‘Operation servants’ means forced labour porters who might be taken to the frontline for weeks or months. ‘The date of sending bamboo shoots and spikes’ refers to the demand in Order #T62.] ============================================================ Order #T23*
Stamp: Subject: To send the specified voluntary
labourers we requested to convey food Reference: The decision made by the meeting of all villages on 26-8-97 (1) Regarding the above reference, at the meeting of all villages on 26-8-97 the quota of voluntary labourers for each village, bringing their own food for 4 days to convey food [carry Army rations] from Maung Daing Gyi to Bu Sah Kee, was agreed by all Chairpersons and Secretaries, but your village did not send the voluntary labourers on the specified date of 29-8-97. (2) On 29-8-97, #73 IB summoned your village to send the voluntary labourers as soon as possible, and your village failed again. (3) Therefore, the local Battalion informs you that as soon as you receive this letter, you, the village authorities, the Chairperson and the Secretary, must send xx voluntary labourers to the specified gathering place at Baw Ga Li Gyi / Yay Tho Gyi to convey food according to the quota as immediately as possible (as immediately as possible). (4) Villages which fail to send the voluntary labourers will have severe action taken against them. The Chairperson and the Secretary themselves must come and bring the voluntary labourers. (5) You, Chairperson / Secretary, are informed that motor vehicles from your village are not allowed to travel starting from 30-8-97 because your village has failed to send voluntary labourers. If there is a similar failure in future, appropriate action will be taken against you.
[Sd.] Note: Since 1 more voluntary labourer is needed, send one more. [At the time of this order, a road from Baw Ga Li Gyi to Bu Sah Kee had already been completed using forced labour, but this order was issued during rainy season, when it is not passable. As a result villagers still have to go as porters, then after each rainy season they are forced to rebuild the road.] ============================================================ Order #T24
Stamp: Subject: To send voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, in accordance with the decision of the meeting held on August 26th ‘97, you are informed that your village must send voluntary labourers today without fail in the specified number, and if you fail it will be entirely your responsibility. Note: The Chairperson himself must come and bring the labourers.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T25
Stamp: Subject: Voluntary labour to transport food [carry
rations] from Maung Daing Gyi to The number of voluntary labourers from each village to transport food was specified at the meeting of the Deputy Battalion Commander of #73 IB of Baw Ga Li Gyi Base and the Chairpeople / Secretaries from all villages held on (26-8-97), and the meeting made a decision that [the forced labourers of] some villages must gather at Yay Tho Gyi and the others at Baw Ga Li Gyi. In accordance with the instructions of the Deputy Battalion Commander of #73 IB at Baw Ga Li Gyi Base on (27-8-97), after gathering at the specified place, each group of voluntary labourers must come to gather at Yay Tho Gyi Base on (29-8-97). The villages to gather at Yay Tho Gyi village must come on (29-8-97) by 12 o’clock noon, and the villages to gather at Baw Ga Li Gyi village must come on (29-8-97) by 6 o’clock in the morning. After gathering at Baw Ga Li Gyi village, all villagers must arrive at Yay Tho Gyi by 12 o’clock noon. You are informed that you must bring two copies of the voluntary labourers’ list. The group to gather at Yay Tho Gyi must bring a [second] copy of the voluntary labourers’ list for Baw Ga Li Gyi Base.
[Sd.] [In a very convoluted way, what this order is saying that at the meeting on 26 August the Battalion gave orders for forced labourers from the villages to gather in 2 groups, at Baw Ga Li Gyi and Yay Tho Gyi, on 29 August. The Baw Ga Li Gyi group must gather by 6 a.m. so they can proceed to join the other group at Yay Tho Gyi by noon. Both groups must bring 2 copies of the labourer list to be sent to Baw Ga Li Gyi (probably 1 for the Army camp and one for the PDC office). The whole group will then proceed to carry rations from Maung Daing Gyi to Bu Sah Kee.] ============================================================ Order #T26
Stamp: Subject: To send the voluntary labourers again to transport food [rations] Your village did not comply with the order to send voluntary labourers to transport food, so one person from each family from your village must come and gather at Baw Ga Li Gyi on 24-8-97, Sunday, today, at 7 o’clock at night, in accordance with the instructions of the Deputy Battalion Commander of #73 IB at Baw Ga Li Gyi Base. Then they must wake up in the early morning on 25-8-97 to depart. [They must spend the night at the Base and then leave early morning with the Column as porters.] You, the Chairperson and the Secretary, yourself come and report the progress of collecting the voluntary labourers.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T27* To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To send the voluntary labourers to transport food [Army
rations] from The Deputy Battalion Commander of #73 IB at Baw Ga Li Gyi Base summoned the Chairperson of Baw Ga Li Gyi village on (21-8-97) at 9 o’clock in the morning and assigned the Chairperson to send one person from each family in all villages to transport the remaining food from Yay Tho Gyi to Maung Daing Gyi. You, the Chairpersons and the Secretaries of the villages, must gather the voluntary labourers to transport the food and send them to Baw Ga Li Gyi village without fail (without fail) as soon as you receive this letter. They must bring their own food for 5 days. The Chairpersons and Secretaries themselves must bring them. You must be informed that the villages which ignore this summons and do not respect this order will have appropriate action taken against them. You are informed that the assignment to transport the food at Yay Tho Gyi Base has been specified for each village, and the villages which do not accomplish their duty will be driven to carry out their task by all means until they fully accomplish their duties. Therefore, all villages must gather the labourers as soon as this letter is received and must bring the necessary things. You are informed that all of the Chairpersons and the Secretaries must supervise in order to get one person from each family and send them.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T28
Stamp:
19-8-97 Subject: To send voluntary labourers Regarding the above subject, in accordance with the instructions of Advance #73 [Infantry] Battalion, you are informed to send (xx) voluntary labourers. With their own food for one day.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T29
Stamp: To: Chairperson / Secretary
Date: 19-8-97 Subject: To send the voluntary labourers again Regarding the above subject, the Yay Tho Gyi Base informed the Baw Ga Li Gyi Base that the voluntary labour group sent from all villages to transport food [Army rations] from Yay Tho Gyi to Maung Daing Gyi did not accomplish their duty according to the apportionments and they went back to their villages, so the Deputy Battalion Commander at Baw Ga Li Gyi Base summoned the Chairperson of Baw Ga Li Gyi Village Tract and instructed him as follows. All villages must get one person from each family in the village for voluntary labour and send them to Baw Ga Li Gyi on (28-8-97), Wednesday, at 12 o’clock noon. If the villages fail to comply, appropriate action will be taken. After arriving at Baw Ga Li Gyi at 12 o’clock noon, all must proceed to Yay Tho Gyi. Therefore, you are informed that all villages must send the voluntary labourers again to transport the food.
[Sd.] ============================================================ Order #T30 Stamp: |