Biting the hand that feeds the nation

Pascal Khoo-Thwe

Mar 2, 2009 (DVB)–As Peasants’ Day is marked in Burma on 2 March, the plight of farmers in the country remains desperate.

Farmers or 'peasants', including tribesmen, are one of the most abused, exploited and overlooked social denomination in Burma – and they are often taken for granted not only by the ruling elites but also by the opposition groups.

Yet they make up the majority of the population, and the ruling elites are mostly of peasant stock.

Whenever there is political instability or power struggles among the ruling elites, rural areas are where they always go to rally for support. Villagers are forced to join willy-nilly at their own risk and irrespective of the outcomes.

After the coup in September 1988, preceded by the nationwide uprising, students and activists fled into the jungles to avoid arrests. Villagers gave us shelters, fed us and guided us through the dangerous jungles, feared by us so-called educated people. But as soon as we were out of danger, it was the villagers who bore the brunt of the wrath of the army, and their villages were burnt down, crops destroyed, and they themselves were imprisoned, tortured or even killed.

During the parliamentary democracy period from 1948 to 1962, many farmers were recruited as cannon fodder for various factions of the rebels fighting U Nu's government, which also recruited villagers. When asked by U Nu why so many farmers had joined the Burma Communist Party, someone reportedly replied that had the prime minister looked after the farmers better, there would not be much support for the communists.

The late dictator General Ne Win exploited the weakness of U Nu by enticing farmers with favours and actively promoting the myth of noble peasants on the one hand and meting out brutality towards those who opposed his myth with the other. As a result, the communists were driven out of their strongholds in central Burma, but sympathy for the communists never went away, even though most of them do not believe in Communism. Once he achieved his aim of gaining absolute power, Ne Win treated the farmers with same disdain as his predecessors and ignored their plight.

The situation was no better for farmers during the colonial period either. When ex-monk Saya San led farmers – mostly armed with amulets, spears and agricultural tools – against their foreign masters during the 1930s, the British ruthlessly crushed the rebellion with a campaign that treated the farmers no better than dacoits. They were imprisoned, hung and shot. The rebellion was said to be caused by money lending Chettiars from India who monopolised the rice market and sucked the blood of farmers dry with high interest rates, which was also exacerbated by the Great Depression.

But many, including those who lived under colonial rule, argue that the situation for present-day farmers is worse than that under the British. They are certainly not wrong, if not completely right. In place of Chettiars are now companies owned by the army and relatives and cronies of the generals, who are using all available means and tricks to bleed the farmers dry. Farmers are eking out a life no better than that of slaves as their best farms, crops, communal pastures and jungles are confiscated by the army, and they are commandeered into forced labour for 'government projects'. And their children are still forcibly recruited into the army.

Their remaining children cannot afford to go to school, and some of them have sold their ancestral farmlands to look for jobs in cities and neighbouring countries, or to join the rebels. When the guardians of Burmese rural life are forced to leave their homes due to the impacts of globalisation and greed, their old communities are left derelict and lifeless.

But it is hard to imagine the rise of a new Saya San in the near future for farmers as it is harder to fight your own flesh and blood than foreign 'bloodsuckers'. It will take more than Seven Samurais to get rid of the cancerous climate of fear and its agents in Burma, as the military itself is merely an agent of powerful neighbouring countries which only are mainly interested in getting cheap natural resources from Burma.

At the same time, farmers and the children of farmers who became soldiers, doctors, engineers and the like must change or at least improve our ways of thinking and modus operandi if we are to retain a hint of our traditions and identity. Burma is like a burning house and we can't save everything. What makes it worse is, most of us affected have been playing the crying and blaming game while the house burns.

Then again, in the past no one dared to think that peasants in China could defeat the mighty Chiang Kai Sheik government or that the mighty Shah of Iran could be overthrown by a religious figure. Look at the works of history and find in them hope or despair. But I do doubt if the majority of farmers would benefit from a successful revolution – which is one of the reasons why the farmers themselves are very reluctant to rebel against a government armed to the teeth. In any case, the farmers have too many things to do on the farms to survive and the best policy for any sensible government would be to leave them alone and let them do their jobs in peace. But will they? Paddy fields, jungles and villages have been the battlegrounds of greed and hatred for more than half a century in Burma and there is no sign that it will stop to be so.

Meanwhile, whether there is a government-appointed Peasants' Day in Burma or not – which incidentally is marked on the same day that Ne Win staged the military coup in 1962 – the role of the farmers is still being overlooked by all those involved who are wasting their time on theoretical matters which lead us nowhere and not taking action.

It's also time to think carefully whether it is successive constitutions and elections that have been feeding Burma every day or the 'peasants' and other hardworking people, and to look for more pragmatic strategies to help the country.

But one thing is certain – farmers will be the true inheritors of the earth for bad or for worse, as we will still have to eat the food they grow and the animals they feed.

Kachin ceasefire groups to contest 2010 election

Mar 5, 2009 (DVB)–Kachin ceasefire groups have set up a committee to form a political party, the Kachin State Progressive Party, in lieu of contesting the 2010 election.

The committee, led by Kachin Independence Organisation vice-chairman Dr. Tuja, is not affiliated to the KIO, joint secretary Colonel Goon Maw said, who confirmed that the KIO has no plans to form a party, nor contest the election.

“What our vice-chairman Dr. Tuja is doing is willing the existence of a party that represents Kachin people in Kachin state,” he said.

“It is a preliminary committee for the emergence of the party; it includes armed groups and some interested local people."

According to sources from the China-Burma border, the committee is made up of Dr. Tuja, and Major’s Manchan Thein Saung and Phone Ram of the KIO splinter group, New Democracy Army-Kachin.

"We don't know the attitudes of other groups, but as for the KIO, we will continue to maintain the status quo,” said Goon Maw.

“Whether it is the KIO or Dr. Tuja or anyone that has the desire to take part in party politics, he or she has to quit the KIO.”

The government has stated that all ceasefire groups must disarm and form political parties if they are to contest the elections.

"The subject of the arms needs to be discussed slowly," said Goon Maw.

"I don't think they will do it in a hurry. We have no separate views on the election, but we constantly watch the participation of the people in the emerging situation."

Committee members have been rallying people in towns throughout Kachin state, Goon Maw added.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

NLD criticise government’s choices for national symbols

Mar 5, 2009 (DVB)–The National League for Democracy have criticised the Burmese government for arbitrarily choosing the country’s new national symbols without asking the opinion of ethnic groups.

The junta recently picked Thazin (Orchid), Ingyin (Pentacme suavis) and Padauk (Pterocarpus) as national flowers, according to the Upper Myanmar news journal.

They also chose teak as the national tree, the dancing peacock as the national bird and the white elephant as the national animal.

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win criticized the government for not officially announcing their decision to the public, and making the choices without consulting the ethnic people who carried their own traditional beliefs.

“Every single ethnic group in our country has their own myths, history and beliefs,” he said.

“This decision made by government without these people’s opinion may create arguments based on culture clashes.”

A housewife in Rangoon said she did not know about the appointing of national symbols until she read the journal, and added that she would refuse to recognize them.

“We don’t even know who made these choices and how they did it, so we have no reason to pay attention on these ‘so-called’ national symbols,” she said.

A well-known writer in Mandalay disagreed, saying it was better to have something rather than nothing.

He added that the dancing peacock should cause no argument given that it was used as a national symbol by the Burmese monarchy before British invasion.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

Political prisoners locked in isolation cells

Mar 5, 2009 (DVB)–Political prisoners, including 88 generation student member Htay Kywe, have been locked in isolation cells and barred from seeing family members at Buthidaung jail in Arakan state, west Burma.

"Htay Kywe is in good health but not allowed to see people from outside," said a former prisoner at Buthidaung who was recently released.

Along with Htay Kywe there are more than 10 political prisoners at Buthidaung jail, including monk leader U Eithritya, Taungup township NLD secretary Zaw Naing, and Than Htay.

"We were not allowed to have contact with political prisoners and if we did, we were punished," said another former prisoner.

U Eithritya refused to appeal for his release despite prison governor Sein Tun urging him to.

"He said I can't kneel in front of them for my action. I have no wife, nothing to worry about or to yearn for. I should be released with their order."

The former prisoners claim that Sein Tun and his warders have been extorting money from visiting prisoners’ relatives, and assaulting prisoners whose relatives didn’t give them money.

"They said we will beat you up as much as we like and you can tell anyone you like including the BBC. We don’t care,” the former prisoner said.

They added that, due to the lack of medical care and proper food, inmates' health has been deteriorating.

Reporting by Maung Too

Is ASEAN really working for the people?

Yaysin

Mar 5, 2009 (DVB)–At the ASEAN People’s Forum in Bangkok last month I couldn’t escape the words of ASEAN secretary general, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, who stated time and again that the bloc cannot stand on its own without the peoples' input.

ASEAN leaders are trying to juggle the differing issues of 500 million people, Pitsuwan said. Therefore the people have the duty to point out where ASEAN is going wrong.

While his words were very sweet and attractive, they were nevertheless useless for me.

I didn't complete my university education, but as a citizen of Southeast Asia I can see what the real problems in the regional countries are. I don’t know why the leaders always pretend that they don’t see the reality. Even though they say “people, people, people” hundreds of times, I want to ask them whether ASEAN really is working for people or not?

The organization I now work with is small, but even we obey the principle of group decision-making: we are all equal within the organization. As I understand, ASEAN should be a lot better than our small group.

ASEAN leaders do whatever they want without consulting the grassroots, no matter whether their aims are realistic or not. They only talk about the good aspects of what they do, never the negative effects their decisions have. But then, when something negative happens, they blame the people.

“You have responsibilities to tell to your leaders,” they say. “The leaders can’t do it all without citizen’s participation.”

If they really think of the people, why don’t they consult with the people before they implement their work? Furthermore, how can ASEAN possibly say that the people should have more input when one country, Burma, doesn’t let its people participate?

One member of the audience challenged Pitsuwan on this issue, asking what the benefits of ASEAN membership are for Burmese people. When I heard his reply, I wanted to die immediately.

Without ASEAN, he said, the international aid wouldn’t have reached the delta area worst hit during Cyclone Nargis. The Burmese, and the whole international community, know how Nargis victims there could not access food and shelter.

The ASEAN charter is just a waste of time. I don’t understand how ASEAN leaders claim to analyse regional problems and threats without acknowledging that HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and the millions of Burmese refugees and migrant workers in Thailand are a problem for the ASEAN region.

Now, ASEAN is creating an actor which doesn’t have a mouth, eyes or ears - the ASEAN Human Rights Body. Even though it is still in the building process, ASEAN can’t show that AHRB will be effective for the people because the ASEAN forum didn’t allow two representatives from Burma and Cambodia to discuss human rights.

Before it does come into existence then, I suggest that if ASEAN members really don’t practice what they preach, they shouldn’t continue funding the body and instead give that money to the poor.

Thai authorities order KNU to leave Thai soil

Mar 6, 2009 (DVB)–A letter stating that no Karen National Union members are allowed to live on Thai soil has been sent to the KNU by Thai authorities.

The letter, sent on 11 February, instructs KNU members to move back and settle on the Burmese side of the border.

It was issued by the Thai government on the instigation of the Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

"The Thai authorities issued the edict on the basis of the argument of the SPDC and the DKBA that KNU issues orders for its troops to leave the Thai side,” said KNU Central Executive Committee member David Htaw.

Htaw insisted that the KNU had maintained the decision not to base its movements in Thailand and that it is more effective for KNU troops to rally within Burma.

But the Thai authorities won't forcibly expel KNU members who receive medical treatment in Thailand.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

Pop star imprisoned for further 10 years

Mar 6, 2009 (DVB)–The frontman of a well-known pop band has been sentenced along with two others to ten years imprisonment under the Electronics Act.

Win Maw, an 88 generation student member who fronts Shwe Thanzin (‘Golden Melody’), was sentenced on 5 March. Another 88 generation student member Zaw Zaw Min (also known as Baung Baung) was also sentenced, along with Aung Zaw Oo.

The latest sentencing means Win Maw will now serve a total of 17 years, Zaw Zaw Min a total of 12 years, and Aung Zaw Oo a total of 22 years.

All three court hearings were held in Insein Prison’s special court.

Meanwhile, Weekly Eleven journal editor Kyaw Kyaw Thant, who is imprisoned at Insein jail for reporting on Cyclone Nargis, has reported breathing difficulties after being kept in a small cell and denied regular exercise, his sister Thanma Thant said.

Kyaw Kyaw Thant was arrested with Ecovision's reporter Eint Khaing Oo.

Dr. Thet Lwin, who was sentenced on 3 March, has been transferred to Sittwe prison in Arakan State. Myo Min Wai has been transferred to Khandee prison in northern Burma, and Myon Min to Kyaukpyu prison in Arakan state, sources close to Insein prison said.

Two Rangoon supreme court lawyers, Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein, who had been imprisoned for four months for alleged contempt of court, were released today.

Young lawyer, Nyi Nyi Htway, who has been imprisoned for six months in jail for allegedly hampering trial procedures, is due for release in April.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

Truckers block Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge in protest

Mar 6, 2009 (DVB)–Over 100 passenger pickup truck drivers in the Thai border town of Mae Sot blocked a busy crossing point this morning, in protest over Thai authorities allowing trucks from the Burmese side to steal their passengers.

A leader 0f the passenger truck drivers union in Mae Sot, who led the blockade of the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge, said the protest was to prevent Burmese trucks from Myawaddy running beyond the border check point.

This would lead to competition for Thai drivers taking passengers travelling to Mae Sot.

“The Thai immigration authorities have responsibility on this, so we demand for their action,” he said.

Activist lawyer released while others remain in prison

Mar 6, 2009 (DVB)–Well-known central court activist lawyer, Aung Thein, has been released from Irrawaddy’s Pathein prison, while another lawyer Khin Maung Shein was released from Myaung Mya prison.