READERS’ FRONT

USDA PLANS FOR COMING ELECTION

MON VILLAGERS KILLED BY ARMED GROUP

FARMLAND SEIZED: BA’S DESTRUCTIVE LAND USE POLICY

Rubber price drops after export ban To China

GRADUATION OF MON SUMMER LITERACRY CLASS

MIXED REACTIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION

SDU STATEMENT ON DECLARATION OF SHAN STATE INDEPENDENCE

SONGKRAN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL IN FINLAND

CALLING FOR LECTURERS AND TUTORS

READERS’ FRONT

Dear Readers,

We invite comments and suggestions on improvements to Kaowao newsletter. With your help, we hope that Kaowao News will continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in Burma. And we hope that it will become an important forum for discussion and debate and help readers to keep abreast of issues and news.  We reserve the right to edit and reject articles without prior notification. You can use a pseudonym but we encourage you to include your full name and address.

Regards,

Editor

______________________________________________________

I would like to thanks to Kaowao regarding the news of Nai Aung Tin passed away and for something I don't know about him.  That news will be the prize and a token of appreciation for what he had done his entire life to the Mon national movement.

Min Thant Sin

(London, UK)

_____________________________________________

Mon National Day in the Netherlands

I didn't see Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) leader and MP Nai Thaung Shein’s photo on the Chairperson's Chair at the 58th Mon National Day in the Netherlands.  Who's on the CHAIR, It’s Funny.  Is it their entire political movement group?  What a shame!  Don't forget All Mon People are in almost every country & on Internet

Fighter

USDA PLANS FOR UPCOMING ELECTION

(Kaowao: April 21, 2005)

The Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) is preparing to transform itself into a political party in order to participate in the upcoming general election.

According to a source close to a senior USDA member, since the SPDC started launching its (7) step Road Map to democracy, they have been instructing township, district, and state level heads of the USDA committee to open local offices and to choose the right candidates to represent them in the next election campaign.

"I think they will replace the Nationalities Solidarity Party (Ta Sa Nya) who contested the last general election in 1990," said a high profile politician in Mawlamying who spoke under condition of anonymity.

In 2004, USDA membership increased in Mon State with many coming in from the National League for Democracy (NLD) and various Mon youth groups.  The Secretary of Mon State Peace and Development Council, Lt Col. Soe Myint Aung ordered USDA to recruit over 140,000 members at a meeting held on October 3, 2004, Chaungzon (Bilu Kyun) Township.

The USDA members are given special status by the government and have gained popularity among the population who see them as a reliable organization. They can travel freely throughout the country with their membership cards.

MON VILLAGERS KILLED BY ARMED GROUP

(Kaowao: April 19, 2005)

Sources from inside Burma say that on April 17^th, eleven local villagers were killed by a Mon armed group in southern Ye, Mon State.

The incident occurred at Yaen Rae village shortly after the local Mon people celebrated the traditional New Year at the Kyaik Memalort mountain festival. Properties belonging to the victims such as cash and jewelry were looted after the killing, local sources said.

It is believed that Captain Chan Dane and others from Hongsawatoi Revolutionary Party or HRP were behind the brutal executions. The motive behind the murders remains unknown, but the reason for the killings given was that the villagers had failed to meet with the Mon splinter group.  The villagers refused fearing arrest and torture by the Burma Army who routinely persecutes villagers who make contact with an armed opposition group.

It is not known who was killed and how many children were among the victims. The dead will most likely be buried without a full investigation as the rule of law in Burma is non-existent.   

The source from Hamgam also reported that the HRP group had robbed many villagers on their way to the religious festival of Kyaik Memalort, a festival that attracts many people from the surrounding area in southern Mon State to celebrate the annual Songkran new year which is held across Southeast Asia.

The Buddhist monks and the local communities in Ye township were greatly disappointed when they heard the news that innocent villagers were targeted and murdered by an armed group.

However, the HRP leader Nai Pan Nyunt rejected the allegations saying that his group was not involved.   On the phone to Kaowao on the 19^th of April, Colonel Pann Nyunt said that Captain Chan Dane had split from the HRP a long time ago and that his party did not have anything to do with the killings and lootings. 

Captain Chan Dane gained his reputation for being a notorious guerilla when he murdered a senior leader of NMSP three years ago.

FARMLAND SEIZED: BA’S DESTRUCTIVE LAND USE POLICY

(By Lita Davidson, Kaowao)

About six hundred plantations and privates gardens were confiscated in Mon State by SPDC and local junta authorities. The land will be set aside for the building of new artilleries for the Burma Army, a source from Ye township said.

The troops are to be based on higher ground in the area or on the British mountain (Day Halae in Mon), the site of old British battalions during World War 2nd, the source said. The BA is planning to confiscate the whole surrounding area which includes Mon plantations and gardens in the western part of Ye township, Mon State.

Farmers and their families, especially women who are the main workers that tend to gardening and agricultural activities, will be driven off land which has sustained the local villagers for generations. Mon villagers nurture and regulate the land under a local management system involving individual households to guard it against soil degradation and overuse. But once the land is seized by the Burmese military it is feared that the land will face rapid destruction when it is converted to battalions which will render the land useless. The Burmese military, like their Chinese counterparts to the north, follow the same system of destroying both productive agriculture land and forest resources to bolster short term economic success, which will cost the country trillions of dollars in the future.  

“The owners are allowed to travel to their plantations to pick vegetables and some fruits, but they have to pay 2500 Kyats for per acre to the (SPDC),” a local Mon politician said.

The plantations and gardens or horticulture farms in Ye covers an area of over 15,000 acres, while the rice paddy area is about 6,700 acres in total, a former agriculture manager said under the condition of anonymity.

The confiscated land includes one of the most spectacular tropical ecosystems in the Tenasserim Range that supports a wide diversity of plants and animal species along the coastal area referred to as Phalean (Gu Pateik) beach that overlooks the Andaman Sea. “The land survey was conducted by the Township Recording and Survey Department in the last week of March,” a politician said. “The BA wanted a vantage point from the top of the mountain to monitor seagoing activities,” the secretary of New Mon State Party Nai Hongsar said.

Receiving no compensation from the Burmese junta, the farmers and their families face an uncertain future and will add to the thousands more internally displaced in the country.

Rubber price drops after export ban To China

(IMNA: 7 April 2005)

After the SPDC military regime banned rubber exports to China, the rubber price dropped and thousands of rubber compound sheets are left in storage, said Nai Plai a local Mon State rubber exporter to China.

The rubber price has decreased since last September and the current compound rubber sheet price is 430 kyat (0.5 US Dollars) per pound. It was 540 Kyat per pound in mid-2004, he added.

A retired township agriculture manager said that although China required a half million pounds of rubber exports from Burma in 2004, Burma could only export about 300,000 pounds. The rubber compounding factory in Thanbyu Zayat, Mon State, can produce

only 110, 000 pounds each year for export to China.

Among 11,000 acres of rubber and orchard plantations confiscated by the Burmese Army in the Mon area, about 60 percent of the land is for rubber export. The BA does not allow villagers to collect rubber latex in the confiscated rubber plantations, according to information reported by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland.

The Mon area also faces a labor shortage problem and plantation owners have to pay a high price for day-laborers to work on their plantations. Many skilled Mon farmers and workers have migrated to Thailand where they can earn more money creating a labor shortage in the Mon area.

Normally, the traders had sold rubber compound sheets to the Myanmar Perennial Crops Enterprise (MPCE) in the past. But according to Nai Plai, the SPDC has closed down the Myanmar Permanent Crops Enterprise department, so traders have no place to sell their products.

When Burma’s Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt was in power, rubber export to China was steady and traders made a profit. But since he was dismissed from power, the trade relationship between the two countries has steadily decreased, explained Nai Plai.

The traders are disappointed with the many checkpoints (set up by the SPDC authorities and the Burmese Army) along the export route to China and have to pay taxes levied. Exporting rubber under the current regime’s rules would not get much profit compared to the black (illegal) market because of taxation, the trader explained.

According to the trader, the SPDC freely permitted exports of rubber and sugar to foreign countries last year, but now there are many export fees to pay out this year and more checkpoints to cross.

Rubber plantation family businesses were able to make a profit in which they waited until the price of rubber increased to sell their products, but now poor families with small plantations have to sell their products for survival. Now they have difficulty selling their rubber even when the price is low, said Nai Maung Kyin, a rubber plantation owner.

Mon State has approximately 120,000 acres of rubber plantations. Rubber trees are also grown in Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) Division, Karen, Arakan, Shan, and Kachin States. The SPDC also plans to extend the rubber agriculture program countrywide, assisting farmers who want to plant rubber, according to an announcement on the state-controlled Myanmar Television.

Despite the government’s announcement of extending the rubber planting program, the Burmese Army has taken over many rubber plantations in Ye, Thanbyu Zayat and Mudon townships.

GRADUATION OF MON SUMMER LITERACRY CLASS

(IMNA: April 11, 2005)

A graduation ceremony was held for the 13^th anniversary of Mon literacy training organized by Rev. Palita on April 10^th in Mudon Township in which over 10, 000 students and 5,000 supporters from various villages attended. 

The closing ceremony began at 7:00 p.m. and the organizing committee handed out certificates to the most outstanding students from different villages in Mudon Township.  As is customary for the Mon, the community organized a Mon traditional dance backed by live music for the audience.

In a speech, the senior monk Rev. Palita described the historical background of the Mon language that was first inscribed on rectangular stone slabs around the 5^th century A.D. The stone slabs are finely displayed in Thai museums all over the country that depicts almost 1000 years of cultural development and the ebb and flow of a number of Mon kingdoms in Thailand and Burma. Rev. Palita highlighted the significance of Mon influence on the Thai kingdom’s administration during the 15-16^th Century A.D.  He urged the audience to maintain Mon literature and language for future generations. 

Closing ceremonies were also held at the Township level according to the respective village tract Organizing Committees.  Nyung-gone village tract, which is about 3 miles south of Mudon town, also held a ceremony there today that drew in hundreds of students. 

Last year a ceremony was held in Kamawet, the biggest village in the Township that drew about 10,000 students from 11-village tracts. The ceremony was attended by 5 to 18 year olds who completed their basics in reading and writing the Mon language.  “If they know how to read and write then they can understand Mon history and will respect the value of Mon literature and culture.   Now some Mon children do not understand Mon history, they will not know who they are and where they come, this will cause problems,” said a parent, Mr. Nai Aung Moe.  “The summer Mon literacy training was organized for a specific purpose and goal and we achieved that, I am happy and the students are grateful,” added Mr. Moe.

A chairman of Mon Literature and Culture Committee, Mr. Nai Tun, from Three-Pagodas Pass border town said they were also organizing a session for Mon children there, the parents want a similar literacy training program.  He said that they would provide textbooks, stationary and teachers for the children who live in rubber plantations and farms far from the training area.

This year, about 63, 000 students participated in the summer literacy training covering the whole Mon area – 16 Townships in Mon State, Karen State, Pegu Division and Tenasserim Division with about 1000 teachers including many Buddhist monks volunteering.  Over the summer, Mon Literacy Training is also provided in Mon communities in Rangoon, Mandalay and Pegu (Pago) in Burma. 

Politics

MIXED REACTIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION

(Shan Herald Agency for News: 19 April 2005)

Shans both at home and abroad have responded differently to the unexpected declaration of Shan State independence on Sunday by hitherto little known latecomers.

Many ordinary people express delight. "At last they are really saying what we want," exclaimed a Shan migrant in Bangkok who said he is organizing a rally in support of the declaration.

Inside, Burmese speaking Shans flocked together to listen to the reports broadcast by the foreign-based radio stations.

"Now the politicians held in reserve all these years have come out of their warehouse", said an excited officer from a Shan ceasefire group interviewed by phone.

Seasoned politicians on the other hand are wary. "The last time Independence was declared was in 1993 by Khun Sa," remembered a former political officer who now lives in retirement in southern Shan State. "And he was destroyed when Rangoon pooled its resources against him."

"We stand by the resolutions of the Ethnic Nationalities Council" said Sao Sengsuk, Chairman of the exiled Shan Democratic Union.

The ENC which claims to represent the majority of the non-Burman nationalities reported in its 5 March 2005 statement it was committed to finding a political solution to the crisis in Burma through a Tripartite Dialogue as called for by the United Nations General Assembly since 1994.

It also agreed with five of Rangoon's much-publicized Six Objectives:

Non-disintegration of the union

Non-disintegration of the national unity

Stability of national sovereignty

Development of a genuine multi-party democracy

Promotion of social truths such as justice, freedom and equality

As for the military rulers' sixth demand for a leading role in Burma's future politics, it allowed that the military should have a role 'in the transition period.'

He blamed the latest development in Shan politics as the result of Rangoon's inflexibility, as demonstrated by the arrests of 11 Shan politicians, 10 of whom have been jailed in February. At the same time, he saw the latest move by the radical Shans as 'ill-advised'.

Other Shans also expressed concern for the detained Shan leaders. "They may have to bear the brunt for all this hullabaloo," worried an elected Shan MP in northern Shan State. "The generals will make them pay."

SDU STATEMENT ON DECLARATION OF SHAN STATE INDEPENDENCE

The declaration of independence by the Shan elders and formation of the "Interim Government of Federated Shan States" on 17 April has forced the SDU to take up political position, so that our political allies and friends would have a clear view on where we stand.

The SDU principle political position is that the Union of Burma is now defunct and no more in existence, due to the abolition of the 1947 Union Constitution and Panglong Agreement by the Burmese military in 1962, which are the only legal bonds between the Shan and Burman States. Thus, Shan State has no more contractual obligation to be part of the union and it is fighting to regain its sovereignty and self-determination back from the occupying Burmese forces.

The approach to obtain this goal has been to struggle together with all the ethnic groups, including the Burman, within the now defunct Union of Burma through the reestablishment of a new federal system.

The declaration of independence is a normal emotional outbreak of the people of Shan State, which have been oppressed due to many political reasons and unfavorable international political configuration. It is natural reaction by the people reeling under the gross human rights violations, which include mass killing of the innocent people, raping of its women, forced mass population transfer and forced labours and so on.

This pentup anger, combined with frustration of wanting to be free, has been kept in check on the population by the political leadership of the Shan State, until it came out into the open with the declaration of the Shan independence by a group of Shan elders, who no doubt might have been mirroring the aspiration of the Shan people. But the problem here is twofold:

One is that the Sao Hso Hkhan Hpa (Surkhanpha) led exiled government does not have the endorsement of the SNLD, the ceasefire armies and even the Restoration Council of Shan State, which is in open conflict with the SPDC regime. It is not possible to agree with the formation of such government without the key stakeholders and players of the Shan people and it is not a way to form the government first and solicit for the people’s acceptance later.

The other factor is that the virtue of declaring independence, when we are forming a united effort together with the other non-Burman ethnic nationality groups, the Burman opposition and sympathetic and friendly international states and actors to find a solution within the bounds of a genuine federal union, democracy and equality. The SDU believe that this is a more viable political objective than declaring independence and fighting it out alone against the entrenched SPDC regime.

The SDU would continue to adhere to the principle of tripartite dialogue, restoration of democracy, equality and rights of self-determination to resolve the conflict, until it is decided by the international community and the real stakeholders of the Shan people that this type of conflict resolution is no more feasible.

Sai Wansai

General Secretary

20 April 2005

SONGKRAN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL IN FINLAND

(Kaowao: April 17, 2005)

Recent Burmese refugees from the Union of Burma gathered for a noon day celebration at Hakaniemi, Helsinki for the traditional New Year Festival.

The Buddhist New Year known as Songkran (Thin Gyan, water wars) or water festival is held annually around mid April across Southeast Asia in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

This is the first time the Burmese refugees living in Helsinki could get together to hold their traditional festival. They cooked Burmese ‘moke hin khar’ and offered up many other delicious foods and refreshments for their Finnish host community.

There were 22 people including 8 children that partook in the festival, including Mons, Burmans, Karens, Finnish and French speaking people.

It is estimated that about 120 people from the Union of Burma live in Finland, most of whom are political refugees accepted by the Finnish government’s refugee resettlement programme. Some came to work for various companies and eventually got married to local Finnish people.

A Burmese refugee said that the Finnish government accepted some refugees from Burma to resettle in Finland this year.  Refugees, those accepted by the Government of Finland, would be supported by the Finnish social welfare system for three years. During which time they would learn the Finnish language and how to adapt to Finnish culture. After, depending on their educational background, they may have the opportunity to attend the universities, colleges or professional schools. All education is free in Finland plus students receive a school allowance. Once they get a job and earn an income they will have to pay taxes like everybody else. The government guarantees a place to stay, health care, education and daily allowance for every single person living in Finland.

While it is far away from their home land and living in a much different climate, the people of Burma can for the first time enjoy peace, safety and the rule of law in Finland, a luxury not enjoyed by most in their home land of Burma.

Calling for Lecturers and Tutors

The Empowering Women of Burma and the Faculty of Pedagogy of the AEIOU Programme, Chiangmai University, Thailand is calling for volunteer lecturers and tutors to teach and train the Primary /Junior Assistant Teachers for Burmese Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and migrant workers in the following specialize disciplines.

 (1) Curriculum Development

(2) Child Psychology

(3) Theory and Practice

(4) School and Classroom Administration

(5) Moral and Manners

(6) Integrated Teaching

(7) Physical Education

(8) Co-curriculum and extra-curriculum activities

Lecturers will have to submit the transcript of M Ed and tutors their B Ed certificates from any internationally recognized university. They must show their track record of pedagogy and must have the teaching experience for at least 5 years and if possible to submit their published and unpublished papers. Preference will be given to those who can speak Burmese or any Burmese ethnic nationality language to fit with the prevailing Burmese situation in the peripherals of Burma and inside the country. Once selected will have to reside in Chiangmai for at least two months. The last date for the Cold Season Semester is Dec.1^st 2005.

AEIOU Programme is part of the EWOB (Empowering Women of Burma) that is not an NGO but a nationalistic dedicated volunteer organization led by the Burmese Academics.  For the past one and half decades it has been silently catering to the needs of millions of Burmese refugees and IDP in the peripherals of Burma playing a low profile with love, care, sincerity, humility, patriotism and understanding especially in the field of education.

Emoluments will be based on the Thai standard. Applications together with their short Curriculum Vitae can be submitted to P O Box 19, Chiangmai University P O, Chiangmai 50202 or email directly to maymay_yee@yahoo.com or profwin@gmail.com.

Sd/  Ma Tin Yee (Rosy) Ph.D.

Rector AEIOU Programme, CMU

And Director of EWOB