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Newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma
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June 16
- July 3, 2006
Readers’ Front
World Cup gambling enthusiasts undaunted by threats
of arrest
Malaria on the rise in Three Pagodas Pass
Barriers to education for poor families in Southern
Burma
Villagers forced to guard MOGE gas pipeline
Canadian lawmakers call for UNSC action on Burma
World Cup 2006: Burma under their feet
Open and close door policy on a Free Market Economy
Are the Asians morally inferior than the West?
Population transfer threatens Mon community
Discussion on Population Transfer
Readers’ front
Dear readers,
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Regards,
Editor
Kaowao News
kaowao@hotmail.com,
www.kaowao.org
World Cup gambling enthusiasts undaunted by threats
of arrest
(Kaowao, July 3, 2006)
People betting on the World Cup Soccer matches in
Mon State can do so only if they are university
students or successful at paying bribes to the local
police, according to residents.
Police Major Hla Than of Thanbyu Zayut Town raided
the houses which hosted the soccer gambling at the
beginning of the World Cup, but ended up accepting
bribes for 50,000 Kyats from the small dealers and
100,000 Kyats from the big dealers, reported Nai Ban
from the town.
In Moulmein, the capital city of Mon State, there is
no report on betting since the local authority
warned the gamblers will be arrested, with satellite
owners serving up to three years in jail and having
their satellite dish confiscated. However, the
Moulmein University students can watch and bet on
the games because authorities do not want to provoke
a student riot, said a second year university
student.
Million of Kyats were bet in Thanbyu Zayat and Ye
Townships. Most gambling enthusiasts are male from
16 to 50 years old.
As Thailand prohibits gambling, people from the Thai
side cross the Three Pagodas Pass border to bet on
the game inside Burma. The main gambling venue at
the Thai Burma border town is hosted by a member of
the cease-fire group, the DKBA, a huge amount of
money is betted during the World Cup with many
losing their life’s savings.
Malaria on the rise in Three Pagodas Pass
(Kaowao: July 3, 2006)
Two third of patients along the Sangkhalaburi Thai
Burma border are suffering from malaria during this
raining season, according to medical workers.
Many refugees and internally displaced persons
including New Mon State Party leaders have
contracted malaria," said a medic from the
Halockhanee Mon resettlement camp.
“About 65 per cent of 700 patients in the Arrowjan
Hospital, Wine and Jaytanar Clinics have malaria.
The PF and PV malaria diseases are common in this
area. The PF is the most dangerous and is difficult
to recover from.
Patients who suffer from malaria are mostly children
and women,” he added.
“Because of mosquitoes that thrive in this region
during the rainy season, a high number of people
crossing the border, the lack of mosquito nets and
proper anti-malarial drugs, there have been more
patients than in previous years. When Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF)
was
in this area, malaria treatment was much better,”
commented a social worker from Waeng Ka Mon village.
They could get access to people inside Burma heading
to the border.
Following the withdrawal of the MSF, Mon medical
workers working in refugee camps and rural areas in
Tavoy, Yebyu, Ye and Three Pagoda Townships face
difficulties due to lack of support and technical
assistance. They are worried that they will not
have enough medicine to treat the high number of
patients and the incidence of malaria will increase
as a result.
The
MSF provided treatment for the Mon refugees in
southern Burma, but stopped its operation in March
of this year due to restrictions imposed by the
Burmese authorities. MSF had been working on the
Thai Burma border since 2001.
The malaria warning was issued to tourists planning
to visit the Burmese-Thai border area near Mae Sot
in Thailand’s Tak province.
Barriers to education for poor families in Southern
Burma
(Kaowao: June 26, 2006)
Even with the support of the Total Oil Company,
school tuition fees around the Yadana gas pipeline
have increased with families having difficulties
paying for their children’s education.
Nai Ong from northern Yebyu reported that higher
tuition fees were introduced for the school year
2006-7 at 13 villages around the Yadana pipeline
area in Kanbauk, Klein Aung and Yebyu Townships.
The financial burden of paying for school repairs
and additional building falls upon children and
their families. The principal of Paung Taw Joint
High School, Ms. Cho Cho, collected 15,000 Kyats
from each middle school student and 17,000 kyat
(US$17-20.00) from high school students. The fees
will go toward a bag of cement 6,000 Kyats, 200
bricks 2,000, chairs 4,500, and a bookshelf 10,000
Kyats.
The principal reasoned that the school had not
received enough funds from the government for school
repairs and the construction of new buildings. The
local community is faced with extremely expensive
costs in maintaining the running of the schools.
Many poor Tavoyans and Mon families are not able to
pay for these costs and schools have turned these
children away who are unable to pay. In addition to
informal costs, other additional fees of keeping
their children out of school are books, uniforms,
supplies, food and transportation. According to the
local villagers, they are happy due to additional
support for community development provided by the
Total Company. Special teachers from the YMCA and
medical doctors are hired from Rangoon and the
living standard in these villages is reportedly
higher than other rural villages. It also attracts
other villagers to the area who bring their children
to attend the school there. However, the government
teachers take full advantage and open private
tutoring to collect money on the side, charging
300,000 Kyats per year.
There are 2 government run high schools and 2
joint-high schools (government recognized
self-supported school) in the gas pipeline area.
At the Three Pagodas Pass border town of the Thai
Burma border, the tuition fee has also increased
from 200 to 320 baht for elementary school and from
330 to 550 Baht for middle school.
In the rural areas, Mon children are learning their
basic education in self-supported Mon national
schools run by MNEC (Mon National Education
Committee). These Mon national schools are regarded
as illegal institutions and are shut down often due
to threats from the Burmese authorities.
Although the Burmese authorities claim 90 per cent
enrollment for education in the country, UNICEF says
it’s more likely 55 per cent enrollment.
Villagers forced to guard MOGE gas pipeline
(Kaowao: June 20, 2006)
The Burmese Army in Mudon Township have continued to
conscript local villagers to guard the Kan Bauk -
Myaingkalay gas pipeline which passes through their
area.
According to the local sources, every village
adjacent to the pipeline has to provide five persons
each to guard the pipeline and those who fail to do
so must pay the guard 3,000 Kyats in fines to the
Burmese army.
A farmer from Klot Sort village, who does not want
to be named, said some children and women have to go
on duty if their household fails to provide the
people. They have to remain at the guard hut and
wait until the Burmese troops arrive to check their
patrol. The BA also punishes the local militia if
they cannot find the quota from their village.
An explosion close to the Kan Bauk - Myaingkalay gas
pipeline occurred near Kwan Hlar village central Mon
State in February 2006. About a hundred people
including village headmen from the village were
rounded up and subsequently questioned after the
explosion and the SPDC authorities forced the
villagers to guard the pipeline.
The pipeline transports gas from the Yadana Gas
offshore field in Tenasserim to a cement factory in
Myaingkalay village in Karen State. A series of
explosions have occurred in Mon State starting in
2002, three times in Mudon, one time in Thanbyu
Zayat and one time in Ye townships, 2 of which were
ruptures that released gas throughout the local area
causing fires and environmental damage.
Canadian lawmakers call for UNSC action on Burma
(Kaowao: June 28, 2006)
Fifty Members of Parliament call for United Nations
Security Council action on Burma, addressing to UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and 15 members of UN
Security Council yesterday.
The Canadian MPs
urged UN chief and members of Security Council,
by signing and adding their names on a letter,
to put the situation in Burma on the formal agenda
of the UNSC and to pass a binding resolution
requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma.
According to a statement from the CFOB (Canadian
Friends of Burma) based in Ottawa, the
Parliamentarians noted that the UNSC briefings were
only a first step and increasingly unstable
situation in Burma represents a threat not only to
the people of Burma, but also to international peace
and security. The
UNSC has rendered
two briefings on Burma in December 2005 and in May
2006.
“Canada’s support in this effort is very
significant, given enlisting of 50 MPs which we
haven’t seen in Canada,” said Tin Maung Htoo,
Coordinator of CFOB. “This parliamentarians’ support
strengthens the position of the Government of Canada
that has already expressed the need to have an UNSC
action on Burma,” he added.
Recently, Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay
issued a statement calling on UN Security Council to
tackle Burma issue, an explicit call made after the
United States.
Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) lobbied MPs to
support this letter in Canada, as part of
international effort that drew more than 562
parliamentarians support from 35 countries including
Burma’s neighbors and member countries of UN
Security Council.
World Cup 2006: Burma under their feet
(Kaowao, June 20, 2006)
Even though the SPDC authorities ban the World Cup
2006 from betting, people in Mon State enjoy
watching the game at a risk of losing their life
savings.
Kaowao has learned that millions of Kyat (Burmese
currency) was placed in bets on World Cup Soccer
matches in Germany 2006 in Ye township. Gambling
enthusiasts are mostly male from 16 to 30 years old
hoping to win big. Children, women and Buddhist
monks, give full intention and gather in homes with
a TV satellite by paying entrance fees that varies
on whether it is a private video house or a
theatre. In some privately own theatre, the
audience can watch the game with a glass of beer or
soft drink.
The price of satellites has jumped to 150-175% prior
to the world cup season, from its normal price. “A
200,000 satellite dish was 300,000 or 350,000 in
early June. My children know all the soccer stars
such as Rooney, Ronaldhino and Beckham,” said Nai
Phu from Durae.
Mr. Shwe Nan Tin, a member of the cease-fire DKBA,
hosts the main gambling venue of the Three Pagodas
Pass Thai Burma border town. Gamblers from around
the region come to place a huge amount of money on
their winning teams.
A Mon community leader from Moulmein said, “People
have no other entertainment and job
opportunities. Having the authorities threatening
people with arrest and satellite owners getting up
to three years in jail plus having their satellite
confiscated, does not stop the heavy gamblers.”
The Burma soccer team was once famous in Southeast
Asia, but military rule has stifled growth of the
much-loved sport that needs strong community
involvement and money. Burma back in the 1960s and
early 1970s was part of a professional league
winning two Asian Games championships in 1966 and
1970, four Southeast Asian Peninsular Games titles
and numerous other soccer awards.
Local Perspective on ASEAN
Open and close door policy on a Free Market Economy
(By Banya Hongsar and Lita Davidson)
The Union of Myanmar needs the protection of the
Association of Southeast Asia Nations to cover up
its deplorable treatment of human beings, while
ASEAN needs the United Nations to shirk its duty to
provide the Southeast Asian region with a secure
working environment based on human development, the
foundation for a thriving economy. Since 1967,
ASEAN has opened its borders to economic
integration, but has a hands off policy to develop
tolerance and freedom to address human suffering
within its regions. The stage is set, but there are
no actors to promote a free market economy in
Myanmar.
While having set up a Security Community to be
established by 2020, there has been little incentive
to develop protocols to deal with human security
given its stance on its so-called non-interference
policy. In particular, it does not acknowledge the
rights of people, address international reports on
human rights violations, such as rape as a weapon of
war, and turns it back away from thousands of
refugees and the rights of migrant workers residing
within their borders.
The Joint Communiqu้ of the
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held in New York on the 13
September 2005 states that ASEAN Socio-cultural
Community is a community of caring societies,
diverse in culture yet with a distinctive regional
identity. But the regional body turns away from the
rights of domestic workers rights in Singapore and
Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia who have fled
wide-spread and a well publicized international
humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, with thousands of
refugees flooding across their borders and thousands
more displaced within the jungles of Myanmar, one of
its member nations.
Socio-economic integration is at the core of ASEAN
policy. But does ASEAN have the wherewithal to
develop Myanmar according to its policy of trade and
investment? The very people who are needed to
promote a free market economy are thwarted from
doing so due to abuses from its members’
governments. How can it carry out its policies on
peace and stability when it comes to Myanmar? Will
Thailand and Malaysia develop a more humane and
socially integrated approach in dealing with illegal
migrants, the Burmese pro-democratic forces, and the
many-armed ethnic groups based along the Thai Burma
border and the ever-growing menace of the drug trade
that now threatens its stability? The Security
Community was formed to address these very problems
of peace when it admitted to the fact that social
development is at the core of economic success. But
many observers say that reaching a consensus will be
difficult given its position on non-interference and
non-intervention.
ASEAN Protocols should be encouraged to acknowledge
these people’s rights from Myanmar and the western
governments must make a stronger case for
championing human rights in this part of the world.
Burmese workers must share social and cultural
rights equally with local residents. Whose
responsibility is it to promote these peoples’
rights? Will it be up to the United Nations? Are the
religious groups responsible for their people? After
all, ASEAN extols the diversity of the many
religious groups within its grouping, should then
the religious groups promote their followers’ rights
within the framework of ASEAN?
According to a media release (6 March 2006) of the
Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform of ACT,
Australia, the production of opium in Myanmar in
metric tons in 2004 was between 300-400 tons. This
press release showed that Myanmar had produced up to
1,800 in 1993-1995. ASEAN did not raise these
important stability issues publicly in its
ministerial forum for some years. It only recognizes
the avian bird flu or rising oil prices and
expresses outrage at terrorists’ attacks, while many
thousands have been killed, face starvation, and are
subject to a range of human rights abuse within
their borders. By doing so, one has to question
whether this would threaten its image of harmony,
stability and strength. These inherent social
problems are never formally recognized or considered
important enough to correct in achieving economic
success it so often proclaims it wants to achieve.
ASEAN members who want to lead their nations into a
globalized world economy need to start promoting
freedom and liberty if they want economic
development on a much broader scale. But there is a
tendency for Asian leaders, for example, Lee Kwan
Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, to argue
that authoritarian governments are much better at
leading their people to economic success. With
Thailand and the Philippines now struggling to
develop a democratic system, one may conclude that
this view is once again gaining ground. But if
anything, these countries have shown, especially
with respect to India, that having an open
environment based on freedom of _expression,
political and civil rights are more conducive to
economic growth. During and after the 1988 uprising
that demonstrated a nationwide protest against
authoritarian rule by a strong civil society, no
measurable assistance toward Myanmar was ever
provided by ASEAN. It accepted Union of Myanmar as
its member in 1997 and at once started to exploit
the country for its gas and oil.
ASEAN neglects its core values by sticking to its
non-interference policy. Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand implicitly condone the uneconomic behavior
of Myanmar, while benefiting enormously from cheap
and illegal labour for the last 30-40 years.
Currently, there are over 100,000 illegal Burmese
migrants in Malaysia, 20,000 in Singapore, and over
a million in Thailand.
Without cheap labour from Myanmar, many construction
projects, food processing factories, tourist
industries in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan,
and South Korea would not have been completed,
saving these governments billions of dollars on
their march to economic success. A Burmese illegal
worker, depending on the country, earns anywhere
from $10-35 per day and often undergoes a range of
abuse to get those earnings. Migrant workers have
contributed significantly to the economies of these
countries, but governments are loathe to recognize
that cheap labour has built their countries from the
bottom, just as many western countries did during
the first decades of industrialization. ASEAN
leaders should take a few lessons from the western
governments in promoting equal rights for their
workers, after all it took many decades for the
western government to recognize their Asian workers
and now many governments have apologized for their
inhumane treatment of Chinese labourers.
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the
current government of the Union of Myanmar does not
represent the welfare of its citizens that number
over a million migrant workers. But only seeks ways
to benefit from the labour of these people, as
demonstrated recently in arguing for migrant worker
processing centres to be set up in Myanmar and not
in Thailand.
Former Czech President Vaclav Harvel and Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for
the UN Security Council to take immediate action
against Myanmar for failing to protect human rights
committed by its troops in September 2005. ASEAN
however had little to say to these international
condemnations. Most of the governments in ASEAN are
autocratic and its business partners, even for
example South Korea, one of ASEAN biggest business
partners, censors the press to refrain from printing
anything negative about social problems. How can we
expect them criticize others when they refuse to
admit their own problems, as so often is the case in
Asia?
ASEAN has provided aid to these countries as part of
their lip service, but alleviating poverty alone
will not eradicate the many social problems
Southeast Asia faces in its mandate to accelerate
the economies in the region. It has yet to fully
realize that investing in free speech and building a
stronger civil society that is able to demand
appropriate public action is the key to economic
success. Within Myanmar, only a number of people
have access to the Internet where there is no
freedom of _expression. How can people operate in
such a restrictive environment? When China and South
Korea invests millions of dollars in Information
Technology in Myanmar does it ever cross their minds
that most Burmese don’t have a computer, let alone
electricity to start it with and if they did would
be arrested for using the Internet.
Furthermore, there is no support from ASEAN allowing
people to have access to instruments of expressions
in a modern economy. For example, radio and TV
programs are offered by the west, such as BBC world
services and ABC. Over 80% of the population has to
rely on BBC and RFA radio to listen to daily news on
local and international issues. Where is ASEAN? If
it is committed to peace and stability, why doesn’t
it provide people with better access to exercise
their economic and political rights to achieve
peace? The ASEAN leaders have to think again what
is an open market economy, so the people have
accurate information about their government’s daily
business at home. Reading newspaper published by a
democratic group from Bangkok can be jailed for
seven years in Myanmar.
ASEAN is now in a position to tackle these social
problems, but the regional body lacks the commitment
and the teeth to defend human development or human
rights in its own countries.
Marwaan Macan-Markar reported on IPS September 2005
that Myanmar’s economy had grown in the light of the
fact that the country has the second highest
prevalence rate of HIV in South-east Asia with an
estimated 170,000-620,000 people living with the
killer disease, according to a UN agency.
The regional body’s only objective is to engage with
Myanmar on issues that have an impact on investment
and trading in the region. A much greater role must
be promoted for civil society and local development
groups if it ever wants compete globally. However,
regarding Myanmar, no development can be achieved in
armed conflict zones. No projects can be implemented
when domestic politics is in chaos. No one with
civil and political rights can speak freely against
the wrongdoings of the military or the socialist or
communist political systems.
The ASEAN Secretary-General Mr Ong keng Young told,
ACB Asia Pacific program on 2 June “we are trying
our best to work with the Myanmar people on what we
call capacity building and bringing them more and
more into the open market”. Myanmar was ranked
third from the bottom in a new survey monitoring
global economic freedom, with researchers reporting
a small improvement in the country’s business
environment over the past 12 months. Local farmers
and general workers earn roughly Kyat 200-300 per
day ($5-7), the price of an egg is Kyat Kyat 60-70
in local market. So an individual must work for one
day just to buy a meal for the whole family.
The political elite of the ASEAN sends their
children overseas to study new technology and
advanced education. The SPDC sends their children to
Thailand and Singapore for Information Technology
degrees and other Business Degree studies. Locally,
the Mon children have no access to public schools,
while the Burmese government shuts down locally run
schools paid for by the local community groups. In
this respect, competition from the ethnic groups is
suppressed, as the Burmans want complete access to
land, people, and resources.
An open economy is anathema to the Burmese
government, as it will not tolerate any competition
from the ethnic groups. Over 2000 Mon teachers and
40,000 children were eligible for aid from Thailand
from local charity groups to support the Mon
language. This is an example of what ASEAN has to
think about to promote its policy initiative on
Myanmar and economic security.
Lack of political progress at the national or state
levels has resulted in frustration within the
nationalist communities. Since signing truces with
Rangoon, the KIO and NMSP in particular have made
repeated calls for political engagement with the
military government, according to Ashley South who
wrote in September 2004 in Irrawaddy magazine. After
10 years of cease-fire talks, over 3 million Mon
people have not received social and cultural rights
from the government.
For example, over 1,000 Mon nurses, 2,000 Mon
national teachers and 40,000 Mon children are not
protected by the Government of Union of Myanmar,
this is a question for the regional leaders to
clarify within SPDC administration. If 6-7 million
people of the Karen and Mon populations in southern
of Burma have no educational access, how is it
possible to promote a free market economy with an
illiterate population? Having an educated
population is the main pillar of a successful market
economy in the modern world.
ASEAN plans to move towards greater economic
integration, emphasizing sustainable and equitable
growth, according to its policy papers. If this is
the case, corruption would be targeted and the
private sector would be developed in Myanmar.
Farmers, workers and labourers would be allowed to
form unions.
The ICRC, Rangoon based report in 2004, stated that
57,109 detainees were held in 64 detentions centres
around the country. These detainees are registered
prisoners, but there are more detained in armed
conflict zones in the other seven ethnic states,
demonstrating that the political dominance of the
Burman government is so strong that a free market
economy would be difficult if not impossible to be
established by civil society groups, a prerequisite
for economic growth.
The H.E. Secretary-General Ong Keng Young addresses
to ASEAN-EC Symposium in November 2005 said that the
state creates a conducive political and legal
environment for a market economy. The private
sector generates jobs and income and civil society
is mobilized and political and social interactions
are allowed. The SPDC itself and the Myanmar
government have little courage to apply this norm.
The SPDC itself is unable to manage its public
education and health sectors.
In July 2004, the 13 cease-fire groups submitted
proposals at the National Convention, which has been
in recess while demanding self-determination for
their own territories, but the military authorities
of Burma have rejected all of them, the BBC
reported. Over the last two years, these leaders
were pressured to lay down their arms and surrender
to the government. The National Convention produced
no popular constitution to complete its 7-point road
map to democracy in Burma.
Human Rights Foundation of Monland reported from
1998-2006, that over 40 local civilian were killed
by the government troops, in which there was no
legal action allowed to be taken by the victims
family against the SPDC authority. Instead, they
were all accused of supporting anti-SDPC troops in
Ye township in Mon State.
ASEAN lacks the political will to develop its
regions. The majority of its members are ruled by a
one party system in which military personnel are
above the law. Myanmar can never hope to achieve
ASEAN’s goal of socio-economic integration policy
unless they grant autonomy to its non-Burma seven
States and a democratic government is restored with
the National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi governing the country based on freedom
and equality.
Asian Values in the Burmese Context
Are the Asians Morally Inferior Than the West?
(By Kanbawza Win)
"There would be a euphoria in the Japanese
leadership with the news that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
is hospitalized," commented the man in the
street. I enquire why, and he replied that Daw Suu,
is not only a thorn to the Junta but also to the
Asians and he reasoned that the Burmese army was
founded in Japan and the Japanese leaders has all
the time supported them, as even now they prevented
Burma from putting in the UNSC agenda, lest the
former would take action and the Burmese army would
be no where. He sadly added that the inhuman cruel
ways, which the Japanese Kampeti had taught to the
Burmese army during the Second World War was being
brush up and augmented by the Burmese tatmadaw
(armed forces) up to this day. He lamented that
these sons of the Sun would not be able to
comprehend of how the tatmadaw can mechanize
an assassination that look like an accident, such as
putting lead water (which can lead to slow death,
that has been practices so much on the political
prisoners inside jails) in the water pipe line that
flows into Daw Suu's residence.
As an average man his hypothesis seems to be strong
and I dared not defend the Asian morality now that
both giant neighbors like China and India, not to
mention ASEAN countries, have come out strongly on
the side of the Burmese Junta vis a vis the
Burmese Democracy Movement. The last nail in the
coffin being what the Indian leaders (the biggest
democratic country in the world) said, that they
could not export democracy to Burma. Knowing full
well that the world would be a far better place if
democracy spreads, the Indian leaders seems to
shudder at the thought that they would not be able
to sell arms to Burma, if democracy flourish in that
country. May be one version of Asian values similar
to the Constructive Engagement.
There are more intriguing issues to explore within
this context of Asian values. How can the region of
Asia, comprising of some many different cultures and
customs be grouped together to form the “Asian
values”, to represent the combine image of Asian
society? Do “Asian values” exist as something
definably different from the hegemonic culture of
“Western values”? Can we explain this phenomenon in
the concepts of the clash of civilizations? What is
the significance of the concepts of social structure
in explaining human behavior that varies within the
societies, over time and according to circumstances?
Asia is a region with a kaleidoscopic panorama of
racial, languages, religions, cultures, history and
political systems. In the early 1990s, the concept
of Asian values was created by the elites to
advocate stability and enforce social cohesion in a
heterogeneous society, and it later becomes
internationalized as a fundamental core by the
leading exponent of the concept.
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir pointed
that Asian nations have highly varying historical
and religious backgrounds; Malaysia is a
predominantly Muslim country, Japan is somewhat
Confucian (as is South Korea) with Shintoism and
Buddhist playing a role too, and Thailand is
Hinayana Buddhist, while Philippine is a Christian
country. However, there exist a stratum of common
values and beliefs that most Asians follow as a
guide through the world; these formed the concept of
Asian Values. But how did it reflect in the Burmese
dictatorial concepts? Asian value system emphasizes
the importance of the community and family.
Fulfilling individual responsibility towards family
and community is prioritized over the consideration
for individual interest and privileges. Asian values
also include respect for authority, which are seen
to guarantee stability for the entire society; and
placed importance on hardworking attitude in
pursuing progress and harmony in the global economic
world.
From the Burmese scene, we can see that disparity
exists in the priority of social values given by the
Asian and Western groups. Even though both the
Asians and Western emphasized the importance of new
ideas and public accountability, Asian prioritized
order, harmony and respect for authority while the
Western placed more value on the rights of the
individual and the need for open debate. In short
the long custody of Daw Suu, supported by the great
Asian countries of China, India and Japan has become
a mockery of the Asian values in the world.
Questioning the universality of basic civil and
political rights, the idea of the clash of values
between the “East” and “West” enjoys influence
amongst academics, politicians, journalists and
others interested in the implications of Asia’s
changing position in the global political economy.
The false monoliths that are being depicted in the
notion of “Asian Values” versus “Western Liberalism”
conceal major and unresolved political and
ideological disputes within Asia and the West as Daw
Suu's case. Indeed, it is the universality of these
disputes that accounts for the extensive interest
outside Asia in the idea of “Asian values” with
conservative ideology and philosophy.
Leaders of some of the Asia countries criticized the
West for refusing to accept the legitimacy of Asian
values because it cannot accept that East Asia is
becoming a centre of World power and that a
psychological revolution is taking place in East
Asia as Asians recover from their colonial past and
are discovering that they can do things as good as,
or even better than the West. However, they refuse
to sees that the Asian region as benefiting from and
strengthened by the fusion of the best practices and
values from many rich civilizations, Asian and
Western; that many Asian values should obviously be
destroyed, including feudalism, excessive
anti-materialism and excessive deference to
authority; that no one should be allowed to hide
behind the cloak of cultural relativism or
dictatorial.
Dr Mahathir called for “mutual respect” among
nations; as many in the West deemed that their
values and beliefs were universal while the
advocates and champions of Asian values were
condemned as merely there to justify oppression,
dictatorship and uncivilized behavior as what the
Burmese Junta is doing on its own ethnic
nationality. Perhaps, Asian Values is a concept to
encourage Asian people to free themselves from their
own low esteem, the legacy of years of Western
colonization. The perception that "West is the Best
and Superior" still pervades in the culture of many
ex colonial countries, in the name of globalization
and the entire Burmese believe in it due to the
attitude of the great Asian nations of China, India
and Japan. The expansion of the right of the
individual to behave or misbehave as he pleases has
come to the expense of orderly society as in the
case of Senior General Than Shwe of Burma, to have a
well-orderly society, so that everybody can have
maximum enjoyment of his freedoms can only exist in
an ordered state and not in natural state of
contention and anarchy.
Notions of rationality and progress are defined in
the West; while the East was mired in religion and
despotic, patrimonial political systems susceptible
to constant internecine struggles and incapable of
progress. Inversely, the people accused that the
Asian values is being used to justify the
undemocratic and hypocrisy of the authority to
confine the human rights. Western leader, scholars
and media always claimed that Asian's authority is
ignoring the human rights, particularly in China and
Burma. Samuel Huttington's " The clash of
Civilizations and the remaking of world order"
argued that the world appeared to be heading towards
conflicts, not between countries, but between whole
civilizations as Osama bin laden has proved to be
true. Asian values have become the ideology of a
range of regimes, which combine an organic statist
variant of political conservatism with market
economies. It is in the context of a fundamental,
although ongoing, contest between organic statist,
liberal and social democratic variants of
capitalism. Inevitably the current Burmese regime is
a classic example of the bad Asian values to justify
their abuses of power and the inequities of their
societies.
Daw Suu's argument that development can and must
occur in a democratic "culture of peace" has not
moved Burma's Asian neighbours beyond the mentality
of domestic jurisdiction and non-interference, which
characterizes the region. In a developmental context
it has been possible to argue that stability and
basic welfare are the priorities; strong government
and a curtailment of some political rights are thus
necessary in the interests of society. The
collective goals are clear so the government's
responsibility of upholding these should not be
unduly hampered by democratic checks and balances
seems to be the rationale of the Chinese, Japanese
and Indian leaders.
It is populism, rather than democratic theory, which
explains the nature of the new Asian politics.
Most Burmese view the US and the West as the "land
of opportunity" and liberty, of friendly and
generous people, of volunteerism, a country on the
cutting edge of innovation and creativity in the
arts, sciences and commerce are also part of the
picture. while the "dark" side of America may not be
far "off-screen" in many Asian homes, respondents
reported that there is still a deep admiration,
especially among the better read and travel, for
American ideals and openness; and a sense that
despite its serious problems, the United States
remains enormously resourceful, resilient and
wealthy, still at the pinnacle of both "hard" and
"soft" power in the world. Masakazu Yamazaki asserts
that "the only thing Asian countries share
together is modernity" "Asian values" and "Asian
democracy", found considerable skepticism in the
region. to see if one can separate human rights from
democracy. Democracy, that is rule by the people,
can - and has - trampled on the rights of some
citizens in history. And some rather authoritarian
leaders have been successful at advancing important
economic human rights. Rulers, however they may be
chosen, believe they are promoting the common good.
But who defines that common good? Is it General Than
Shwe for the people of Burma?
Human rights questions have been on and off the
agenda of world politics since the end of the Second
World War. The holocaust in Europe and Japanese
atrocities in Asia generated political momentum in
the immediate post-war years for the establishment
of an international human rights protection system.
The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948 was a testimony to the international
commitment to human rights protection. International
pressure on East Asian states over human rights has
been interpreted as an attempt to undermine their
political position and therefore a threat to regime
survival. Human rights differences between the
Western world and East Asian countries can therefore
be a major source of friction, creating problems for
the Asia-Pacific region's search for a post-Cold War
regional security structure and better regional
economic co- operation.
The post-Cold War international debates on human
rights have been referred to as a clash between the
post-colonial approach and the neo-colonial
approach. The post-colonial approach, developing
from the liberal tradition, emphasizes the
interdependence of states and the triumph of the
liberal democracies over authoritarianism.
remarkable economic success of a number of East
Asian countries since the mid-1960s The East Asian
challenge can be seen in cultural, economic and
political terms. Culturally, they assert that the
Western approach ignores the specific cultural
traditions and historical circumstances of Asian
societies, whose interpretations of human rights are
different from the Western tradition. Economically,
they maintain that the priority of developing Asian
societies has to be the eradication of poverty: the
right to survival must come first. Therefore,
political stability under the capable leadership of
good government is essential. They also question the
motives of the West by accusing the Western
countries of having double standards and using human
rights merely as an instrument for advancing Western
economic or security interests. In some ways the
East Asian reaction to Western pressure on the human
rights question can be characterized as a realist
response: Western human rights policy has been seen
as "power politics in disguise" - an instrument for
advancing Western political and economic interests.
As human rights issues return to the international
agenda, the records of East Asian countries has been
subjected to critical scrutiny by the international
community. While there may be some scope for
interpreting human rights differently and perhaps
even assigning different priorities to specific
human rights according to the region's special
circumstances, East Asian states are on the
defensive, e.g. China, Japan and South Korea's
Daewoo in Arakan state.
The importance of economic and social developments
in measuring human rights conditions is widely
accepted throughout the human rights community. A
study commissioned by the United Nations Centre for
Human Rights identified poverty as a key obstacle to
the advancement of human rights. As the report
suggests, worldwide poverty and increasing disparity
between the North and the South "is endangering the
ethical foundation of our Planet". But in the case
of Burma, the military regime is deliberately making
the country poor so that it could be in power
forever. While Asian governments' emphasis on
development needs and cultural differences are not
entirely groundless, they have failed to justify
their policies in the suppression of human rights or
in claiming that they are the only representatives
of their societies and thereby the only adjudicators
of human rights standards. As many human rights
activists have observed, while development is a
legitimate human rights concern in the developing
world, all too often state development policies in
such countries become a source of human rights
violations when people are forced to leave their
homes for development projects or are deprived of
their means of livelihood as the case of the oil
pipe lines and the up coming Salween dam.
In spite of the growing importance of human rights
issues in world politics, Asian states prefer to
deal with human rights within their own domestic
jurisdiction, resisting international monitoring.
They are reluctant to sign major instruments of
international human rights protection. Countries
such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and
Thailand are not signatories to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. Since the end of the Cold War many
East Asian states have continued to adopt an
uncompromising attitude towards human rights
differences with the West, and deny human rights NGO
activities at home. They are often ruthless in
dealing with political dissidents, considering them
as a threat to regime stability. But external
pressure has clearly played a part in shaping
government policies and the human rights agenda in
the region. The Japanese government, for example,
clearly found it necessary to adopt a tougher
posture towards China after the Tiananmen tragedy in
1989 as a result of Western pressure, despite its
intuitive tendency for a friendly political
relationship with its giant neighbour. Even hard
line states like China find it difficult to ignore
human rights issues, making a significant policy
shift in encouraging scholarly research on human
rights. The state sponsorship of scholarly human
rights study in the PRC was largely a direct
response to Western condemnation of the human rights
conditions in China following the Tiananmen incident
in 1989.The role of international intervention in
human rights problems is controversial. The
international community clearly has a role to play
in assisting countries, which suffer in conditions
of natural disasters or war when individual rights
are transgressed by warring groups or governments.
The need for humanitarian assistance clearly
supports the argument that a more flexible view of
sovereignty should be accepted. In fact states which
respect human rights and promote human welfare are
more likely to be stable members of the
international community. Asian states, which
highlight Asian values, are reluctant to tolerate
international involvement in human rights protection
in the region, rejecting it as a Western attempt to
impose a set of standards which are not consistent
with Asian traditions and realities. Yet they have
not produced a convincing alternative approach.
International relations in the Asia-Pacific region
are not as institutionalized as in Europe, and
region-wide fora for discussing human rights issues
are therefore limited.
It was shocking to the Burmese people when Japanese
apposed the Burmese case in the agenda of the UN
Security Council, although it is understandable that
China and Russia objected being themselves
dictatorial regimes, but Japan is supposed to
encourage democracy. One can judge Japan by reading
their school text books. It tells us that the
Japanese manage but cannot lead. Their leaders avoid
conflict, favoring consensus and cooperation. They
conspire, but do not inspire. And, while there have
been many powerful Shoguns, it has been ages since
Japan produced the equivalent of a Churchill or a de
Gaulle. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, was
hardly a major force in Japanese politics when he
became prime minister in 2001. Once in office,
moreover, he never received lavish praise from the
news media, which commonly referred to him as
selfish, single- minded and bull-headed. Even former
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori muttered that his prot้g้
was "a weirdo."
But
In the post war period he is the only Japanese Prime
Minister that sent Japanese naval tankers to the
Indian Ocean to support US and British forces
operating in Afghanistan. Soon thereafter he went
even further, putting Japanese boots on Iraqi soil
during wartime. In so doing, Koizumi transformed the
U.S.-Japan alliance into one with global reach -
without generating any of the opposition that
earlier would have paralyzed Japanese political
life. But how does he handle the Burmese case?
Last week, in a brilliant parting shot, Koizumi
announced the withdrawal of Japanese troops from
Iraq and introduced legislation to elevate the Japan
Defense Agency to full ministry status. Koizumi had
created a more muscular Japan with more security
options than at any time since the 1940s. Even great
leaders make strategic mistakes, however. Koizumi's
biggest error has been his unnecessary provocation
of Japan's Asian neighbors, especially China, now
Japan's largest trading partner. Again with the
objection of putting Burma on the UNSC he had earned
the wrath of the Burmese people.
He had poked a sharp stick in his neighbors' eyes by
visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo,
where Class A war criminals and a revisionist
version of the Pacific War are enshrined. Japan has
been an extraordinarily good to the Burmese military
regimes for more than half a century. Its economic
aid and foreign investment helped much. But it takes
a very long period of good behavior and insistent
effort to overcome the distrust of other states.
Japan's unwillingness or inability to confront its
history squarely - and to demand that its Asian do
the same - is undoubtedly the largest single
constraint on its diplomacy. For all his other very
considerable accomplishments, Koizumi's unnecessary
(even if tacit) endorsement of revisionist history
will be a blot on his otherwise extraordinary
legacy. By the Japanese action it proves beyond
doubt that we Asian need to catch up with the West
as far as democracy, human rights, morality and
responsibility is concerned.
Vancouver
Population transfer threatens Mon community
(By Cham Toik)
Palean is a Mon village community of extended
families located in western Ye of Mon State and was
a good representation of Mon culture. This way of
life formed the basis of Theravada Buddhism in
Southeast Asia that delivered a message of peace
transmitted from generation to generation in not
only the Mon culture but also was adopted by the
Burman and Thai cultures.
The Palean community is a perfect example of how
people can live within self-sustained communities on
fertile and productive land according to a
traditional life style. The people enjoyed a
peaceful life and felt no fear and left their doors
unlocked at night, their farms were un-fenced, and
the women hung their day’s laundry
outside. Following Mon rural culture, a visitor
dropping by is always offered fruit or vegetables,
fresh water to drink or betel nut to chew and a
wholesome dessert.
The whole village helps to ensure that a ‘Haeng’ is
built behind their homes for the long-term storage
of rice paddy for the coming year, enough to feed
family members and visitors. The women go to the
Haeng only when paddy is needed where it is pounded
by hand to remove the rice husks, a long and labour
intensive process that makes the most delicious and
nutritious rice. This has been their way of life
since Mon language was first recorded in 500 A.D.
and which verifies Mon’s existence as a people. Mon
culture was born from the village community and is
the foundation of a unique language and has been
since the advent of sedentary rice agriculture in
Southeast Asia for at least two thousand years.
Today throughout the area, the Palean community
faces the loss of their traditional way of life
brought on not only by the demands of the global
economy in which Mon leave to Thailand, but to the
ever increasing threat of Burman domination.
Day after day, villagers have reported their rice
and their clothing being stolen and indiscriminate
attacks by Burmese migrants. Human rights violations
such as murder, loss of land and disruption of
agriculture practices, cultural repression and the
continued migration of young Mon to neighboring
countries add to the growing threats of the Mon
culture. However it may be regarded elsewhere, the
political crisis in Burma, it is fair to say, has
been devastating for the ethnic peoples.
Increased crime
On May 6, 2006, a passenger on his way from Azin to
Ye stabbed and killed a Mon taxi motorcyclist from
behind and along with his gang stole the victim’s
motorcycle. In another similar incident, a
motorcyclist on his way to Zobbu town from northern
Ye was beaten by a passenger. The passenger, a
Burman worker with his gang, thought the owner of
the motorcycle was dead and took the motorcycle.
Burman robbers attacked, robbed, and beat Ms. Mi Hla,
aged 43, on her way back from her farm in Durae.
Another lady from Lamine sub-town said she is scared
of the Burmese migrants who come around as a gang
intruding her farm at night stealing anything they
can get their hands on leaving scattered debris in
their wake. “They don’t respect local laws and our
way of life, we don’t dare complain because they
will destroy our garden plots. Some of our gardens
were burned down after we complained,” said the
villager.
A border trader says more migrants have moved into
her community and comments on the loss of peace in
the village, “In the past we could leave our
belongings outside, now everything is stolen.”
The village headman of Andaeng who organizes
festivals said petty crimes such as pick pocketing
and looting often occur and children have their
jewelry stolen when they walk around in public
gatherings. Most of the criminals are Burmese
speaking men and women and no efforts on part of the
Burmese government to address these crimes and its
threat to Mon culture have been made.
New settlers and migrants to the Ye area have
committed several crimes these days. Many believe
the main cause for these crimes is due to poverty
and lawlessness, but Mon political leaders, as well
as local people, say that the population transfer
from the north is the main factor behind the high
crime rate.
In need of a labour force
Faced with a rapid loss of labourers after thousands
of Mon left to Thailand to escape human rights
violations and economic poverty by the Burmese
military, the local communities rely on internal
migrant workers from upper Burma and Kyaik Hto of
northern Mon State to come to southern Mon State to
work on farms, rice fields, and rubber plantations.
Nai Khin, a local businessman from Durae told Kaowao
that he was quite happy about having a migrant
housemaid in his house to do the work. Young people
including boys and girls from his village have left
to Thailand where they can earn more money than they
do in Mon State.
The daily wages for a farm laborer are about 3000
Kyat a day (about 2.5 US dollars) in Ye Township,
while wages in the north are considerably lower at
1000 Kyat per day in upper Burma. With such
economic disparity as well as milder weather in Mon
State, many adults and young people from other areas
flock down south to work in the fishing and
agriculture industries.
“They are hard working people and much easier to
deal with. Even though I was advised by a monk to
hire local workers, it is impossible to find anyone
nowadays,” said Nai Dut from Mawkanin.
Tighter government control
While the military regime regularly checks the
household registration in the remote areas, its sole
purpose is to monitor the movement of opposition
groups. No information related to the internal
immigration has been released to the general public
in Mon State and no consultation with the local
people has ever been put on the table.
The Burmese Army classifies the remote areas as
black, brown and white in its war on controlling the
ethnic population. The black area is where most of
the non-Burman people live and is under the
opposition-armed group’s control. The brown area
falls within both government and rebel control
depending upon influence, while white is under the
government control. The black and brown areas have
seen the worst human rights violations including
forced labour, execution, rape and extortion.
Particularly in southern Mon State, the brown area
has become the major goal for the SPDC government.
If it controls the rural area, through displacement
and land confiscation, it can undermine the
political leadership of the ethnic peoples and hence
be well on its way to control the whole country.
The ceasefire between the military government and
the New Mon State Party was to produce political
stability and a future of peace, but all it did was
open the doors to more abuse of power including land
confiscation and the relocation of civilians from
the north. The ceasefire agreement proved to be a
hidden motive of assimilation policy by the ruling
Burmese junta to exercise complete control over land
previously held by the Mon and other ethnic
nationalities, aptly referred to as the “Population
Transfer Policy.”
“There is no fighting and we don’t have to flee but
slowly many outsiders have arrived, this is
different from the past,” said Nai Zin, a betel nut
gardener from Andaeng, northern Ye.
The Burmese Army confiscated thousands of acres of
land in Mon State without paying compensation. In
total about 10,000 acres of land had been taken out
of farming production and turned into land used to
develop for the government projects, and as claimed
by the authorities, to promote economic prosperity.
Forcing to give up their land, thousands of farmers
have been made destitute or migrated to Thailand. In
the mean time, the Burmese government has launched
an undeclared population transfer policy, moving in
its own people, for example, retired military
officers, their families and friends into the black
areas of southern Mon State to live and work in the
projects run by the Burmese Army on confiscated
land.
Nyan Saik, of Mon Environmental Group, reported that
the Burma Army operates 3 brick factories on
confiscated land in Ye Township and about 300
Burmans are employed with a wage paying 2000 Kyats
per day. According to a local source from Zobbu,
“the BA is coloring it white and needs Burmans to
speak the same language or who understand Burmese
for military instruction during security patrol.”
The source from the New Mon State Party said a
military base in Mokanin village, northern Ye, was
built for the sole purpose of relocating retired
military personnel and disabled war veterans. The
military camp is near local Mon villages where the
Burman soldiers are free to engage in social
activities and mix with the local girls and women in
the community, while many Mon farmers have left
their homes to escape human rights violations
perpetuated by these people and economic
impoverishment brought on through land confiscation.
“We are powerless and will soon become the minority
in our land. The Burmese authorities favor those
(Burmese migrants) for the well paying jobs and use
them in their divide and rule tactics. Many
strangers are appointed as militia and some have
become the village headmen and interfere in our
daily affairs,” said a leader of Mon Youth
Association.
Community concern
Nine years ago at the 50th Golden
Anniversary of Mon National Day sponsored by the
Palean community in 1997, a Mon community leader Nai
Sadao Htow said that villagers should stay close to
their homeland to live a traditional way of life
rather than leaving their homes to seek jobs in
Thailand. He delivered a speech in front of 10,000
participants on the auspicious occasion. Not many
people were worried about population transfer at
that time since only a handful of outsiders were
working in their community and were warmly welcomed.
The situation rapidly changed within nine years with
a significant increase of Burman settlers into the
area. Most villages in southern Mon State are now
filled with Burmese migrant workers or strangers due
to lack of human resources in their community.
In local teashops, their morning gathering place,
Burmese conversation controls the crowd. Some
villages have a Burmese abbot in their monastery.
This situation has alarmed Mon nationalists and
Rehmonya Nikaya Buddhist monks in examining the
increase of non-native people mixing in their
villages. They say the concern now is not only with
increasing crime, but also the threat of loosing
their traditional way of life, an issue that may
take on negative consequences and which is a matter
of concern for all. They share the general feeling
that the ceasefire agreement between the NMSP and
the Burmese military government, land confiscation
and population transfer are connected to each other
and that it may create problems with Mon and Burman
alike.
The serious threat for the Mon led to disturbances
between the Mon and Burmese and, unfortunately,
resulted in a negative aspect in the community.
Being accused as robbers, some Burman migrants were
killed by a Mon armed group last year. As a result,
the Burman are often looked down upon by the local
community.
During the 3rd Mon National Conference
held in Nyisar hosted by the New Mon State Party (NMSP)
in April this year, the delegates discussed a policy
paper prepared by overseas Mon organization
regarding the population transfer into Mon State.
Nevertheless, there is as yet no clear resolution on
how to deal with this issue and many feel that
instability and crime are likely to get worse unless
some action plans by the government and local people
are drawn up to establish a political dialogue to
work together in mutual respect.
Population transfer as a global issue
Population transfer for the Mon community is a case
for international human right’s law.
While travelling around the world during the past
ten years raising awareness about the plight of the
Mon, this writer was extremely shocked to learn
about the obstacles faced by other indigenous
peoples in their struggles for peace and justice. I
was able to participate in several meetings related
to the rights of minority people and indigenous
populations including the United Nations Draft
Declaration on Indigenous Peoples and Working Group
on Indigenous Populations. During these occasions,
indigenous friends raised the issue of the
population transfer and reports were sent to the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) in Geneva,
Switzerland.
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization,
which
serves the interests of unrepresented indigenous
peoples and minorities (UNPO)
in which the Mon people are members, held a
Conference on Human Rights of Population Dimension
of Population Transfer in Tallinn, Estonia in 1992
that sought to raise concern on the problems of
population transfer faced by its members around the
world.
The
population transfer is defined as the movement of
people as a consequence of political or economic
processes in which the State government or State
authorized agencies participate. The International
Law, in Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
of 1949 states, “The occupying power shall not
deport or transfer parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies” and
Article 85, paragraph 4 of the Additional Protocol 1
80 states, “... the following shall be regarded as
grave breaches of this protocol, when committed
willfully and in violation of the Convention or
Protocol: (a) the transfer by the occupying power of
its own civilian population into the territory it
occupies... in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth
Convention”.
While the state organizes the population transfer
policy, the local people fall under the hand of the
majority people in all spheres of economic, social
and political life that will undermine and displace
our way of life.
Interestingly, the British colonial rule had at
least some degree of protection for the minority
people or the population transfer. Article 52 of
the Chittagong Hill Tracts protected the Jumma
people in Bangladesh and 1900 Regulation prohibits
settlement of “non-hill men” or outsiders.
However, the situation changed under independent
Bangladesh rule, the military administrators
transferred an estimated half a million plain
settlers by providing inducements between 1979 and
1983. In the first week of June 2005, the
government of Bangladesh placed a proposal to
continue to provide “free food rations” to Muslim
plain settler families. These settler families were
brought under the government sponsored
transmigration programmes and the government has
been providing free food rations to these plain
settlers. In five years, the military governments
settled an estimated 500,000 plain settlers by
providing inducements in order to make indigenous
Jumma people a minority in their own land.
According to Mr. Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian
Centre for Human Rights, if the present population
transfer programmes are carried out, the populations
in the CHTs will increase by over 25% the total
population of the CHTs and all of them are
mainstream plains people. This will destroy the
distinct identity of indigenous peoples. Similarly,
the issue on transmigration of Indonesia’s Javanese
people to West Papua, Moluccas and Aceh is raised by
indigenous peoples on its threat to their way of
life.
In the case of Tibet, China has transferred its
population into Tibet since the invasion in 1949.
According to the report of the Tibet Government in
Exile, there are over 7.5 million non-Tibetan
settlers of Chinese and Hui Muslims while Tibetans
inside Tibet comprise only 6 million. The increasing
Chinese population transfer into Tibet has also
reduced the Tibetan people to a minority group in
their own land.
A new era of Burman domination
The new global economy has been the other driver
behind diverse populations moving across borders to
seek secure employment and the Mon have constituted
the biggest population to journey across the
southern Thai Burma border. However, Burmese
settlers and the military government have again
challenged the Mon’s existence as a people.
For over two hundred years, the Mon people have
migrated from and into Thailand to escape famine,
disease, war and Burman domination from the north
and have survived. Some of the inhabitants, of the
Thai Mon villages in central Thailand and
Sangkhlaburi on the Thai Burma border, are the
descendents of Mon who sought exile, refuge and
economic security in Thailand.
Since Burma gained independence from Britain, the
centralization of the Burmese government has
continually threatened the lives and cultures of all
peoples. The non-Burman communities are
systematically targeted and have been deprived of
their birthright to teach in their own languages and
prevented from producing creative literature to
preserve their cultural heritage.
The military repression of the entire population has
taken a heavy toll on the people who suffer
continually from economic poverty, from forced
labour and armed conflict.
The Burmese Army has intensified its military
offensive over the past decade in the ethnic
nationalities areas forcing thousands to flee to
neighbouring countries to maintain its grip on
power. As a consequence, Arakanese, Karen, Shan,
Mon and others have left their villages. Sooner or
later, the Burmese Army with its administrative
staff and their families will relocate to these
areas and Burmese settlers from central Burma will
fill the vacuum in these areas.
The relocation of the Burmese population to the
ethnic areas today is done with little thought to
the consequences and is carried out within the
context of greed, ignorance, mismanagement and lack
of a political will. Unless the SPDC makes an
effort to work with the ethnic nationalities and
democratic forces to solve the country’s political
crisis, the cultures of the ethnic nationalities
will disintegrate and the diversity of Burma’s
peoples will be lost forever.
Discussion on Population transfer threatens Mon
community: By Cham Toik
Thank you for this article. It reports details about
what's going on in Mon State. It is a part of
systematic invasion and part of the strategy of SPDC
regime.
mks (Canada)
Thanks for pointing out a very important issue,
population transfer of Burmese migrants into Mon
areas and threatening our Mon communities. The
writer closed the well written article with "Unless
the SPDC makes an effort to work with the ethnic
nationalities and democratic forces to solve the
country’s political crisis, the cultures of the
ethnic nationalities will disintegrate and the
diversity of Burma’s peoples will be lost forever."
I afraid that this is the only thing SPDC really
want it to happen, to kick all non-Burman people out
of the country and reserve the vacant land for
Burman, if not to assimilate them all. And I don't
believe that SPDC will do anything to stop
population transfer, because it intends to do so.
What we can do about it? Let's put it into few
practical steps;
1. Stop complaining about it and do something. You
and I know very well that there is strength in
unity, it is high time that the Mon get together and
unite, but we have got to have a clear plan on how
we can build unity among us and really implement the
plans.
2. Ask NMSP to reconsider its unsigned ceasefire
agreement. You and I also know very well that the
ceasefire agreement was never signed, it is just a
trick of Burmese Junta to fool NMSP and Mon people,
why the hell do we have to keep it?
3. Form a Mon National Government, because the
Burmese Junta will never protect our population, why
don't we form our own government to protect our own
people instead?
4. Get the UN Security Council to really act. Why
don't we put our heart and soul into getting the
UNSC to solve the problems in Burma? You and I also
know very well that one of the reasons for Burmese
Junta to move its capital from Yangon to Pyinmana
was to avoid the risks of being attack by US-led UN
forces. UNSC is our only hope, but Burmese Junta's
only fear.
5. Talk to our Burmese friends that they are not our
enemy and that they can help us for the benefit of
all people in Burma. They have to pay the debts of
their ancestors' bad deeds. The Burmese have got
to take the responsibility if Burman is to survive
as a race.
With these 5 simple steps, I believe that the
situation will positively change. These ideas are
just basic strategies; we can work together to have
a more effective one.
In unity and solidarity,
Sumit
Thailand
I am very impressed with Cham Toik's well written
article "Population Transfer Threatens Mon
Community" itself, and with responses and comments
made by Mon patriots around the globe. It is very
encouraging to see that everyone is aware and
concerned about the issues that could threaten the
survival and the very existence of our Mon even
though there are differing views on this issue.
Yes, as the author mentioned in his article,
population transfer is an important issue and,
frequently used by many governments as a strategy to
dominate ethnic minorities areas and territories. As
a consequence, an article on this issue has been
drafted and ratified in the Internal Law. The
article 49 of International law prevents a large
scale and systematic transfer of civilian population
by the states and governments. If this happened to
any ethnic nationalities inclusive of our Mon, all
measures have to be taken in order to stop it.
However, regarding population transfer to our Mon
state, there is still differing views whether it is
a "Population Transfer" or, "Population Movement".
In its very definition, population transfer is the
large scale transfer of civilian population
conducted by the governments in order to dominate
politically, economically and socially.
With regard to our Mon State, my personal view is
that of "population movement" not in a state of
"population transfer" yet. Even though increasing
numbers of battalion and infantry are sent to our
Mon states, it is hard to say that there is a large
scale transfer of civilian population into our Mon
areas. In addition, in making a large scale
population transfer into our Mon state in order to
dominate us, the Burmese military government has to
have a stronger support, control and cooperation
from its own Burmese people. In current political
situation, even Burmese people themselves are
against Burmese military government and it has no
control and cooperation whatsoever from its own
people.
Even the Burmese military government has to move and
try to secure its power base from Rangoon to
Pyinmanar for afraid of revolt by its own people.
So, I would rather put that it is an economic
migration and a population movement based on
economic conditions. In this age of globalization
and global economy, there is a population movement
across territories and borders of nation states. For
instance, Mon from Mon states move to Thailand, Thai
people move to Singapore, and Singaporean move to
more developed nations in search of a better pays
and working conditions. At the same time, people
from upper Burma and other states and divisions move
to our Mon state in search of works.
These movements are temporary and cannot be
categorized as permanent population transfer as Mon
will come back to Mon State, Thais will come back to
Thailand and Singaporean will come back to Singapore
after the termination of employments. However, it
will affect, one way or another, our ways of life in
our Mon states or else by the presence of people
from different cultures and people from other states
and countries. We used to hear complaints frequently
made by Thais local peoples and Thai authority by
the presence of our Mon economic migrants in
Thailand. However, as the Thai cannot prevent and
stop our Mon economic migrants, they have
alternatively to find a solution to register and
control it.
So, in our Mon case too, we better find a realistic
and a practical solution to tackle the issue of
population movement in our Mon state. It does not
necessarily mean that it is not an important issue
and we do not need to worry and be concerned about a
threat to our Mon national identity as a result of
the presence of other nationalities in our land. As
Mon, we all have to constantly keep it in mind and
prepare how to deal with it if it happen to us.
However, we should separate our worry from the
reality. Worry is based on subjective analysis, our
assumption and our feeling. The reality is based on
the unbiased situation analysis and then make an
informed decision. It should be realistic and
practical. The major concern among us are about the
domination on our Mon by Burmese or others
culturally, socially, economically and politically.
So in order to prevent the domination of other
people on our Mon, we better build a stronger Mon
civil society and encourage the awareness of, and
attachment to our Mon culture and Mon identity. We
all are well aware that national identity cannot be
overwhelmed by the other nationalities as long as we
are aware and strongly attached to our national
identity. National identity and national culture are
not confined to a geographic location or a
territory.
Population movement across borders of nation states
is very common in this age of globalization. So we
have to strengthen our national unity, national
awareness and attachment to our national identity
wherever we are. As long as we can manage to
strengthen the awareness and attachments to our Mon
national culture and identity no matter whether we
are in our Mon state, in Karen state, Rangoon
division or abroad we can maintain our Mon national
identity and can survive as Mon in the world.
Siri Mon Chan
(Canberra, Australia)
Dear Editor,
I really enjoy reading your article and agree that
the SPDC’s population transfer is a threat for the
Mons and other ethnic. Burma is a diverse and
complex state, population transfer is not only
between the Burman and non-Burman; as I have heard
Wa people in northern Shan State are brought to the
south. Even though the SPDC may not directly
involve in the larger scales, all of these chaos are
due to the SPDC’s centralization policy.
Min Min (UK)
