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SPDC & DKBA ORDERS TO VILLAGES: SET 99-CAn Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
[Some details have been omitted or replaced by ‘xxxx’ for Internet distribution, and copies of the Burmese originals are not included.]
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SPDC and DKBA Army units and local authorities to villages in Pa’an and Dooplaya Districts of Karen State and Kyaik Mayaw township of Mon State, southeastern Burma. All of them were issued in the period November 1998 - July 1999. They include orders announcing the commencement of a major forced labour canal project in Mon State in April 1999, orders for forced donations by dozens of villages to an Army-organised Buddhist temple festival, demands for village donations to establish an SPDC-recognised school, a letter of resignation which an NLD member in Karen State was forced or coerced to sign, dozens of demands for forced labour of various kinds, demands for money, food and building materials, and orders issued by the DKBA in Pa’an District. There are also orders summoning village elders to attend ‘meetings’ at which SPDC Army officers or officials dictate demands for forced labour, money and materials and threaten the village for any failure to comply.
This report does not aim to provide a comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in these areas, but to provide a reference containing examples of several kinds of orders received by villages in several different regions. More information on the human rights situation in each District is available in other existing KHRG reports. Originals of these orders were obtained by KHRG monitors in each region, with the exception of Orders #1-3, 10-13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 48, 59, and 76-79, which were obtained by the Human Rights Section of the Federated Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), and Orders #18 and 45, which were obtained by the Burma Initiative. KHRG would like to thank both of these organisations for allowing us to translate and publish these orders in this report. For every order reproduced here, hundreds more are issued every week; these should be seen only as a small representative sampling. Most of these orders were handwritten, some typed, and carbon-copied if sent to more than one village. They were issued by local SPDC and DKBA Army commanders and Peace & Development Councils (PDCs), which are local-level SPDC administration at the Township, Village Tract and Village level. While the Township and often Village Tract PDCs consist of SPDC officials under direct military control, the Village PDC chairperson and members are appointed, often against their will, by the local military. These are the people referred to as ‘Chairperson’ and ‘Secretary’ in the orders. They are responsible for providing forced labourers, money, materials, intelligence etc. as demanded by the military and the higher-level PDCs, and they are the first to be arrested and tortured if they fail to do so; this is what is meant by threatening phrases such as "if you fail it will be your responsibility".
Orders in this report have been divided by topic. For each topic a short summary has been included to explain the context in which the orders were issued. The orders were written in Burmese except Orders #97 and #98, which were written in Sgaw Karen by the DKBA. Village names, people’s names and Army camp names have been replaced with ‘xxxx’, ‘yyyy’, etc. where necessary to protect villages from retaliation. We have attempted to accurately reproduce the visual page layout of each order, and underlining, etc. are as they appear in the order. ‘Stamp:’ gives the translation of the unit stamp affixed to many of the orders, while ‘[Sd.]’ denotes the usually illegible signature of the issuing official. Italic text in square brackets has been added by KHRG for clarification where necessary, but all other text is as it appears in the orders. Note that Burmese grammar is very different from English, and therefore some of the phraseology sounds awkward because we have tried to reproduce the wording as exactly as possible.
As in the originals, all numeric dates are shown in dd/mm/yy format. Some orders use Burmese dates: the year 1361 is the period from April 1999-April 2000, the months begin at each new moon and are divided into the moon’s ‘waxing’ and ‘waning’ phases. In all of these cases the original order also specifies the Gregorian calendar date. In Burmese, numerals are usually written in parentheses; in the translations these have been omitted in most cases where they would not be used in English. Most orders are addressed to the ‘Chairperson’, which is the SPDC-appointed Chairperson of the village PDC, while other orders are addressed to the ‘Headman’, who is head of the village elders; these are usually the same person, and often it is actually a woman because the villagers feel that women, particularly elderly women, will be detained and tortured less often than a male headman would be. Many orders call for ‘loh ah pay’, which we have translated literally as ‘voluntary labour’, though it is the term used by the SPDC to call for forced labour. The term ‘wontan’ also appears frequently; we have translated this literally as ‘servant’, and it is used by the SPDC to refer to porters and other forced labourers. Reference is made to ‘servants’ fees’, also known as ‘porter fees’; these are the routine extortion fees which villagers must pay to all Army battalions in their area. Many orders contain phrases like "if you fail it is your responsibility" or "we will not take any responsibility for your village"; these are threats that village elders will be arrested and detained under torture or houses will be looted and/or burned for failure to comply with the order. Some Battalions in the orders call themselves ‘Advance’ or ‘Frontline’ battalions, indicating that they operate in conflict areas.
Copies of the Burmese originals of selected orders are included at the end of the report [these have been excluded from this Web version]. The translations of these orders are marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate this. The poor quality of many of the copies is due to the poor quality of paper used by SPDC units and their use of carbon copies. Copies of the full set of Burmese orders in this report are available (with appropriate details blacked out) on approved request from KHRG.
Abbreviations
SPDC State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling
Burma
PDC Peace & Development Council, SPDC local-level
administration
(e.g. Village PDC [VPDC], Village Tract PDC, Township PDC [TPDC])
DKBA Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karen group allied with
SLORC/SPDC
IB Infantry
Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
LIB Light Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC),
usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
KNU Karen National Union, main Karen opposition group
KNLA Karen National Liberation Army, army of the KNU
Kyat Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate,
300+ Kyat at current market rate
Viss Unit of weight measure; one viss is 1.6
kilograms or 3.5 pounds
Pyi Volume of rice equal to 8 small
condensed milk tins; about 2 kilograms / 4.4 pounds
Taun Burmese unit of measurement equalling 1.5 feet or ½
metre (elbow to fingertip)
Twa Burmese unit of measurement equalling 8-9 inches or
20-22 cm (one handspan)
Table of Contents
Page |
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Preface |
1 |
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Abbreviations |
2 |
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Table of Contents |
3 |
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4 |
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| Orders #1-2 | 5 |
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| Order #3 | 9 |
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| Orders #4-6 | 10 |
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| Order #7 | 14 |
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| Order #8 | 16 |
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| Orders #9-42 | 17 |
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| Orders #43-73 | 30 |
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| Orders #74-94 | 42 |
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| Orders #95-104 | 50 |
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Copies of Selected Original Orders in Burmese |
56 |
The Canal Project in Kyaik Mayaw Township
The two orders below relate to a large-scale forced labour project which the SPDC announced and began in April 1999 in Kyaik Mayaw township, just southeast of Moulmein in Mon State. The project involves the digging of 14 irrigation canals. Though money is being collected from all villagers in the region to "hire machines", in projects of this nature the authorities usually keep all of this money and then force the villagers to work by hand. If this occurs, this project could go on for several years, and the villagers will also be forced to maintain the canals once they are established.
| Order #1*
Minutes of the meeting concerning the canal which will be dug to get water for the fields in Kyaik Mayaw township, held at the Township Peace & Development Council office, Shwe Hin Tha Hall, on April 6th 1999 at 1000 hours.
1) U Aye Thein
District Land Officer, Mawlamyine [Moulmein] District [*Note: the third item above is mistakenly numbered ‘2)’ in the original, so we have left it that way.] Discussion District Land Officer U Aye Thein gave a speech. Although the Secretary of the District Peace & Development Council had to attend this meeting, he had another important matter [to attend to] so I have come here on behalf of the District Supervisor of Agriculture. Kyaik Mayaw township has many water resources, so to increase the agricultural acreage we are digging canals. The people of the villages must dig the canals yourselves. After the Water Festival [in mid-April] we must dig the canals. Concerning the digging of the canals, to systematically manage the public labour all department heads must be involved. For the development of the agricultural sector, the departments concerned have to perform duties in the field. That was the content of his speech. The Chairperson of the Township Peace & Development Council stated that we intend to dig 14 canals in the year 1999-2000, and that after digging the canals we will cultivate 50,000 acres of paddy field in the coming year. [Page 2 of the document begins here.] We will cultivate more than last year, and it will also provide suitable protection against flooding for the fields in Kyaik Mayaw township. For the digging of the canals, we have already assigned the duties for each village to the department heads. [Each department head will be sent to supervise the work of one or more villages.] The Chairperson of the Township Peace & Development Council then read out the list of department heads who would supervise each village and the length of canal which must be dug by each village. The members of the Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils then discussed this again, and said that after the Water Festival they are occupied with the dry season paddy harvest time and with preparing to cultivate the rainy season paddy, so that it is difficult to get public labour to dig the canals. If possible, we should collect money to hire heavy machinery for digging.
Decision 1 If they cannot get public labour for the digging then the Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils concerned must collect money and contribute. Decision 2 The money to be collected is 500 Kyat from each family. If they have fields add 350 Kyat per acre. At Let Pan, Kayan, Kyone Sein, and Babu Gone collect 500 Kyat from each family and add 1,050 Kyat per acre, because the canals will directly affect those villages. Decision 3 Concerning the digging of the canals, the department heads must explain the situation and collect the money at the wards / villages under their responsibility, and make a speech concerning this. Report back on 10-4-99 about field work. Decision 4 When you collect the money do not misuse it. The Township Peace & Development Council … [the remainder of this page of the document was lost.] [Page 3 of the document begins here] Decision 5 The deadline date for collecting the money is 11-4-99. Decision 6 When digging the canals with labour / machines, the members of Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils must supervise carefully the digging which is under their responsibility. Decision 7 The digging of the canals is the responsibility of the public who live in the township. They must do it successfully and compulsorily. The members of the Ward / Village Peace & Development Councils responsible must understand that action will be taken to stop their duty [if they are undutiful; the wording is unclear but appears to mean that they will be removed from their duties if they fail]. Decision 8 The digging of canals must start on 18-4-99. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 in the morning.
Reference: 500 / 5-18 / Ma Ya Ka
[Sd.] Distribution: [This order is fairly typical of the administration of major SPDC projects. Orders come from higher levels, then responsibility is handed down to the Townships to allocate forced labour and forced payment to the villages. The demands are then dictated to the village leaders, referred to here as "Ward / Village Tract Peace and Development Councils" at meetings like this one. Note that under "Discussion", these village leaders tried to protest that their villagers are too busy with farm work to do heavy forced labour digging canals, but their concerns appear to have been brushed aside. Not only will the villagers have to do forced labour, but they will also have to pay huge sums of money which are supposedly for the digging of the canals; some of the demands for money resulting from this meeting can be seen in Order #2.] ============================================================ Order #2* Township
Peace & Development Council Subject: To contribute money on time for digging canals in 1999-2000 For the digging of canals in Kyaik Mayaw Township in 1999-2000, to hire machines for digging, the ward / village must collect money according to their allotment and send it to the Township Peace & Development Council by the deadline of 27-4-99. If you cannot contribute the money, all wards / villages will start to dig on 30-4-99 the length for which you are responsible, you are hereby informed.
[Sd.] [For background to this order, see Order #1. ‘The length for which you are responsible’ refers to the length of canal which has been assigned to each village based on village size. This order was typed and sent to all villages in the township, with the village name written in afterwards by hand.] |
The following order, sent out to all villages in Kyaik Mayaw township of Mon State, tells each village tract how much wet rice acreage they must cultivate in the 1999 growing season. The quota for the township (52,444 acres) has been handed down from higher levels, and this order breaks this quota down into an acreage for each village tract. The acreage quotas are imposed so that the SPDC can meet its targets when it confiscates a quota of rice from every farmer after the harvest. These quotas are usually set at 12-15 baskets of paddy per acre, and farmers are forced to sell their quota to the authorities at less than half of market price or face arrest. In practice, when the farmers hand in their quotas the corrupt local officials steal much of this money by claiming that the rice contains straw or impurities, and the farmers end up receiving only 20-25% of market price. (For examples of this, see "Death Squads and Displacement", KHRG #99-04, May 1999.) No exceptions are granted even if the crop fails due to natural disasters, so many farmers have to buy rice on the open market just to fill their quota.
Order #3* Township
Peace & Development Council Subject: Assignment to cultivate rainy season paddy acreage 1) We have a plan to cultivate 52,444 acres of rainy season paddy. To achieve this target, xxxx ward / village group is assigned to cultivate xxxx acres of rainy season paddy. 2) The ward / village group responsible for these xxxx acres must do this in negotiation with the organisations concerned. We assign each farmer, type ba ya ka [indicating a strong degree of order], to achieve the target for rainy season paddy on time, you are hereby informed.
[Sd.] [This was a typed order copied to several villages, with the village name written in afterwards by hand. 52,444 acres is probably the quota of acreage dictated to the Township authorities by higher levels within the SPDC, and the Township then reallocates this amount to each village based on village size. After the harvest, the farmers’ rice quotas will most likely be calculated based on the assumption that the villages have produced a total of 52,444 acres of rice whether they have or not, even if the crop fails or if they do not have access to that much land.] |
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Forced Contributions to a Pagoda Festival
The following three orders relate to a pagoda festival which was held in the large village of Nabu in Pa’an District, central Karen State. The first order ‘invites’ all villages in the area to attend a meeting about it, the second order reports on the results of the meeting and dictates how much each village must donate, and the third order scolds a village for not having turned in their donation on time. Forty-four villages were forced to contribute to this celebration, and the total amount was much more than should have been required; much of what was collected may have been kept by the local military authorities. It is also important to note that this burden imposed on the villages is in addition to the usual forced labour and money which they are forced to provide to the military each month. Most subsistence farmers in this region are struggling to survive as it is, and can scarcely afford to ‘donate’ anything more, even for a religious celebration. Villagers also regularly complain that they give to the monks and the temples as they can on their own and make merit in this fashion, whereas being ordered to give to the temple is not in line with Buddhist tenets at all.
Order #4 To: Village Chairperson Subject: Invitation to attend the meeting to discuss the celebration of Buddha Zaniya worship Regarding the above subject, Aung Myay Set Kyar pagoda is enshrined in Nabu monastery compound. Even though [living] among other religions, people have celebrated Buddha Zaniya worship annually for many years now, arranged by the Battalion Commanders and leaders of the village, all of whom are Buddhist. To preserve the traditions of the ancients who celebrated Buddha Zaniya worship, in order to celebrate the same while we are alive, the meeting will be held according to the programme below. Programme Place - Aung
Teik Dee Monastery, Nabu village
[Sd.] [This order was copied and sent out to many villages. It is a typed order with the village name filled in by hand. The heads of many villages were ordered to attend this meeting, after which the Army sent out Order #5. ‘Pagoda trustees’ (gaw p’ka) refers to a committee of lay villagers responsible for taking care of the monastery/pagoda.] ============================================================ Order #5* [The following order has 3 pages; the first page is the main letter, followed by a list 2 pages long. It is a typed document with the village name filled in at the top by hand.] Nabu,
Aung Teik Dee Monastery xxxx village Subject: To come and bring the donated money / rice for the celebration of Nabu Aung Teik Dee Buddha Zaniya worship 1) According to the meeting which was held on the 10th waxing day of Da Baun, 1360 (24-2-99), Wednesday, we allocated the requirements for the celebration of Buddha Zaniya worship at Nabu Aung Teik Dee monastery, to send donated money / rice, meat / fish, and produce, by the list in Appendix A [see below], you are hereby informed. 2) Therefore you must send the donated money from the village, rice, meat/fish, produce and firewood, on the 2nd waning day of Da Baun, 1360 (2-3-99), Tuesday, by noon, 12 o’clock, to the financial and budget controlling committee at Nabu Aung Teik Dee monastery, you are hereby informed.
[Sd.] [Page 2]
Appendix (A)
[Notes on the above order: In the table ‘K’ has been used in translation of the abbreviated Burmese symbol for Kyat. For this celebration, this order is demanding that the 44 villages named ‘donate’ a total of 141,250 Kyat, 44 tins and 128 pyi of rice, 44 viss of chicken, 44 viss of cooking oil, 132 viss of vegetables/produce, and 33 cartloads of firewood, while the local Army battalions, Supply Corps, ‘G.E.’ (the General Engineering Corps of the Army) and the DKBA are supposedly to contribute an additional 32,000 Kyat and 7 tins and 8 pyi of rice. One ‘viss’ is 1.6 kg / 3.5 lb, one ‘pyi’ of rice is about 2 kg / 4.4 lb (depending on the grade), and one ‘tin’ of rice is about 17 kg / 37 lb; in other words, the total amount demanded from the 44 villages is approximately 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of rice, 70 kg (155 lb) of chicken and the same of cooking oil, and 211 kg (464 lb) of vegetables. In addition, even at a conservative estimate of 100 kilograms per cartload, 33 cartloads of firewood would total 3,300 kg (7,260 lb). These demands are being placed on villages which are already having a great deal of difficulty surviving under the burden of SPDC demands and forced labour, and they are being given no more than a week to comply. The back of page 3 of this order was inscribed "QUICKLY". In addition, much of the money and food will probably not be used for the celebration, but will simply be taken by the Army officers.] ============================================================ Order #6* Stamp:
Nabu,
Aung Teik Dee monastery To: Head of Village Subject: To come and bring the donated money/rice for the celebration of Nabu Aung Teik Dee monastery Buddha Zaniya worship 1) For the usual annual celebration of Buddha Zaniya worship at Nabu monastery, we need donated money / rice / meat and fish / produce / firewood for the celebration, so send them on the 2nd waning day of Da Baun, 1360, you were already informed. 2) Until now you still haven’t sent the requirements for the celebration, the donated money / rice / meat and fish / produce / firewood. These must be sent by the 7th waning day of Da Baun, 1360 (7-3-99) (Sunday). Do not fail, you are informed again. [Sd.
/ Major] [This is a typed order with the village name filled in by hand, prepared to be sent to several villages. It refers to the matters raised in Orders #4 and #5.] |
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The following order is a notification to local villagers of a meeting which was held to decree the establishment of a new ‘sub-high school’ in xxxx village of Pa’an District, central Karen State. This is a high school which is recognised but not supported in any material way by the authorities, which is common in Burma. The villagers pay for the school, the teachers and all the materials, but the school is only allowed to exist if it teaches the SPDC-approved curriculum.
| Order #7
Stamp: Minutes of the meeting held on June xx 1999 at 1300 hours at xxx Light Infantry Battalion concerning hiring 6 senior assistant teachers (male/female) for the sub-high school [see note below] to be opened at xxxx
1) The following persons attended the meeting:
The Battalion Commander gave an opening speech [summarised in the paragraph below] 2) The reason for holding this meeting now with the village heads and chairpersons is to open a sub-high school in the 1999/20[00] educational year in xxxx. Six senior assistant teachers (male/female) must be hired from the town to teach at the sub-high school. The salary for the teachers will be 5,000 Kyat each, so 30,000 Kyat will have to be paid [per month]. Food allowance for 1 [month] will be 20,000 Kyat, so the cost will total 50,000 Kyat per month. I want to say that the villages must donate this money as you can. Next year we will get a quota of teachers (male/female) from the State, [page 2 of the document begins here] and there will be no need to continue hiring teachers (male/female) so there will be no need to donate money. The delegations from the villages who were attending the meeting spoke and said that they will donate the money for education, and the decision was made to donate the money as shown below. 3) To send the donated money in 6/99 to LIB xxx, the village heads must explain to the villagers so they will understand. On the first waxing day of every month, collect the money. The decision was made to send the donated money for 6/99 as follows.
[Page 3 of the document begins here] 4) The meeting was adjourned at 1400 hours.
[Sd.] Distribution:
[Notes: The above distribution list is shown in 3 columns, though it appeared in 1 long column in the original. In the above order we have used ‘sub-high school’ as the translation of "dweh bet a’tet dan kyaun", a village high school which is recognised but not supported by the SPDC; the villagers must hire and pay for the teachers and for all or a portion of the building and other materials. This order demands that the 18 villages named pay a total of 12,200 Kyat for the month of June 1999, to go with 10,000 Kyat which is supposed to be contributed by the Light Infantry Battalion; altogether this makes less than half of the 50,000 Kyat specified per month, though this may be because the school is not yet open.] |
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NLD Resignation Letter
Over the past one to two years, the SPDC has tried to undermine the National League for Democracy (NLD) party which won the 1990 elections in many ways, and one of the most prominent has been by forcing or coercing NLD members to resign from the party by threatening their jobs, their livelihoods and their families. KHRG obtained the letter below from xxxx District in central Karen State. It is a form letter produced by the SPDC which NLD members are forced or coerced to sign, requesting NLD Headquarters in Rangoon (Yangon) to accept their resignation for reasons of "food, clothing, shelter and the state of my health". Similar letters have been used throughout Burma.
| Order #8*
To: Chairperson Subject: Asking to resign from membership Regarding the above-mentioned subject, at xxxx Township ( )
Signed [Sd.] [This is a form letter which NLD members in the region are coerced or forced to sign to resign from the party. The entire letter has been pre-typed and copied; only the blanks (underlined in the above translation) are left for the NLD member to fill in. "Son/Daughter" and "U/Daw" (Mr./Mrs.) are printed in this form and the member crosses out whichever does not apply to him/her. On this letter the NLD member crossed out "Ward" because he is from a village and not a town ward. Other than that, he only filled in the underlined blanks and his NIC card number as shown; the rest was already on the form. Items shown as crossed out appear as they are in the original.] |
General Demands for Forced Labour
The orders below are from three different areas: Pa’an District in central Karen State, parts of Dooplaya District to the south of Pa’an District, and 200 kilometres further south in the southern end of Dooplaya District. Some are for forced labour cultivating food for the Army (e.g. Order #9), some are for road labour (e.g. Orders #16 and #19), some are for military porters (e.g. Order #15), and most of the remainder demand ‘servants’ and ‘messengers’ to do rotating shifts of forced labour at local Army camps. This is a standard practice of the SPDC Army. Most Army camps demand 3 to 10 people from each of the surrounding villages in rotating shifts. The villagers must take along their own food and stay at the Army camp for two days to a week, doing labour as messengers, sentries, building and maintaining buildings, bunkers, trenches and fences, clearing scrub, cutting and hauling firewood, hauling water, short-distance portering and any other duties demanded of them. Usually they are not released until their replacements are sent; some of the orders below call on village leaders to ‘replace the servants’ (e.g. Orders #20 and #38), and Order #20 even threatens that "If the servants run away because you haven’t come and replaced them, we will shoot and catch them, so come quickly and replace them". It is difficult for villagers to go for all of this forced labour, so they are often delinquent in complying with these orders. Usually the Army responds by sending threatening and angry letters (e.g. Orders #10 and #15), until after the third letter the village has little option but to comply or face the possibility of very serious punishment which usually includes the arrest and torture of village elders.
| Order
#9*
Stamp:
#xxx
Infantry Battalion To: Chairpersons Subject: To send volunteer servants For cultivation at #xxx Infantry Battalion [camp], send 5 cattle (with plough) and 15 people (with mattocks) to xxxx on 13-6-99, you are hereby informed. [Sd.]
[The SPDC in Rangoon has reduced rations to its Army units in the field and has ordered them to produce more food themselves or take it from the villagers. As a result, Army units are now demanding more food from villages and are also taking their land and demanding that the villagers do forced labour farming to produce food for the soldiers.] ============================================================
Stamp: Subject: Send servants quickly Regarding the above subject matter, although we already informed you to quickly send servants from xxxx village, until today you still haven’t sent them. [This is the] Last warning and notification to quickly send them. If you fail I will take no responsibility, the responsibility will concern the village. You are hereby informed that this is the last warning. [Sd.]
[The back of this order is stamped twice "IMPORTANT". This order was sent the day after Order #11 below, and to the same village.] ============================================================ Order #11* Stamp:
Subject: Come and meet at the Column Regarding the above subject, headman of xxxx village, come with 10 servants and meet at the Column. If you fail, the responsibility will be the headman’s, you are hereby informed.
[The 10 ‘servants’ are villagers for a shift of forced labour.] ============================================================ Order #12 Stamp:
Subject: Come and meet at the Column Regarding the above subject matter, headman from xxxx village, come with 10 servants and meet at the Column. If you fail, the responsibility will concern the headman, you are hereby informed. Stamp:
[Sd.]
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