VPDC chairmen reluctant to collect student distinction taxes

July 28th, 2010

Hong Dein, IMNA : Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) chairmen around Mon State complain that they are uncomfortable taxing village residents for funds that are awarded to Mon State high school graduates who have gained distinction on their 10-standard exams in 2010.

VPDC chairmen in Mudon Township reported to IMNA field reporters that the Burmese military regime has ordered Township authorities to each collect 4 million kyat to fund awards given to honored students. Mon State contains 10 townships and two sub-townships; VPDC chairman have been ordered to collect award taxes from villager residents and submit the funds to township authorities by today, July 28th.

A VPDC chairman from Mudon township explained, “Each township has to pay 4 million kyat to Mon State authorities for awards for the high school students”. He claimed that villages in Mudon Township were expected to submit between 80,000 and 100,000 kyat per village to township authorities.

VPDC chairmen around Mudon Township informed an IMNA field reporter that they were forced to collect the distinction taxes from citizens in their villages –between 2,000 and 3,000 kyat per household –despite the fact that they were reluctant to do so.

The Mudon Township VPDC chairman quoted above explained that he and his fellow chairmen felt embarrassed about collecting the distinction taxes from village residents because villagers are already required to submit funds for a wide variety of purposes. These include funds used to support security patrols for the Kanbauk – Myaingkalay gas pipeline that runs through Mon State, forced labour costs, and village militia taxes.

“We have a feeling of discomfort about collecting money frequently from villagers”, this chairman explained.

According to a high school teacher from Thanbyzaryat Township, a visit from Southeast Command (SEC) Commander Thet Naing Win is expected near the end of July, the same time of year when he visited Mon State high schools in 2009. Thet Naing Win will distribute prizes to students who gained distinction in four or more of their subject exams. This teacher reported that in the year 2010, four students passed with six distinctions (otherwise known as full distinction), thirty-seven students passed with five distinctions, and 141 students passed with four distinctions. Schools in which over 50 percent of exam takers passed all of their exam will be, as in previous years, also be awarded a prize of 1 million kyat.

Protracted problems following the 2010 elections

July 28th, 2010
Thousands of political prisoners, especially pro-democracy activists and ethnic-minority political activists, are still in prisons in Burma. The ethnic minority armed groups have consistently refused to accept the proposal of the military regime in Burma, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to transform their armed forces into government-controlled Border Guard Forces (BGF) or local militia forces. There have been increasing military offensives by the Burmese Army in ethnic-minority regions in eastern Burma part. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese refugees living in Thailand cannot expect to go back home after elections.

These are Burma’s election dilemmas. The international community, including some ASEAN countries, demanded that the regime hold ‘free, fair and inclusive’ elections, but it has flatly rejected this idea. Restrictions of freedom in the 2008 Constitution and elections forced Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, National League for Democracy (NLD), to decide to not participate in the 2010 elections. No political prisoners are to be released before elections, and they have no rights to form political parties or to be members of a political party.

The 2010 Burmese elections are only free for the SPDC’s newly formed political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP); the party has been formed of retired military commanders, led by Gen. Thein Sein, current Prime Minister of Burma. The USDP has freely raised funds for itself with the permission of the SPDC, and it has freely conducted a “political campaign” since 2009, while many ethnic-minority political are still waiting to be officially registered to run in the elections, and are struggling meet party budgets.

Is it “fair” to have a competition between the USDP and Burma’s other political parties, when the USDP is strong supported by the Burmese government? The original election laws are not fair, and totally restrict pro-democracy parties, ethnic-minority politicians, and political parties that won in Burma’s 1990 elections from running in the contest elections. The elections are not inclusive for all political forces, but the SPDC plans to retain it’s power through new name and a legitimate role.

The regime has to hold the elections, but only because of international pressure. On the other hand, Burma’s military leaders understand that they must retain their power through a new name in legitimated elections, as Burma has already been ruled by the military for over two decades. The regime certainly has no intentions to solve the country’s protracted problems.

Many people in Burma do not have much interest in elections, because they have already learned of the regime’s unfairness from the 2008 Constitutional Referendum. Because the voters already know about the doomed nature of the elections, and they have no ‘favorite political parties’ to vote for, they have no choice for their future.

Predictable results will come of Burma’s 2010 elections. The USDP will win the elections and will form a new government. Retired generals will hold cabinets posts. What will change? Burma’s generals will just be changing their clothes. Their political ideologies will remained the same. They will arrest anyone who is against the government. They will keep all political prisoners imprisoned, and could extend more prisons countrywide.

The new regime will allocate more of the nation’s budget to the Burmese Army, or tatmadaw. The fighting between ethnic-minority armed forces and the Burmese Army troops will be on-going. Human rights violations committed against members of ethnic minorities will continue, and thousands more people will be displaced from their homes. Some refugees in Thailand’s refugee camps will seek refuge in third countries. But many of them will be remained in refugee camps.

The upcoming elections, which have thus far not been “free, fair and inclusive” in nature in Burma, will not lead to democracy, national reconciliation, peace and prosperity. Many of Burma’s already protracted problems will remain the same.

Mon party’s campaign dogged by government surveillance

July 28th, 2010

Kong Janoi, IMNA : Representatives from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP) are finding that Burmese government surveillance measures are stifling their campaign activities.

According to IMNA field reporters, AMRDP leading organizers Nai Nwe Soe and Nai Baya Aung Moe are being closely monitored by a regional Military Intelligence Unit this week during their campaign in Myiek Township, Tenasserim Division. Witnesses from around Mon State report that that all AMRDP representatives have been followed by the Military Intelligence office in every Township they visit during their campaign, which began in late June.

The party has reportedly been troubled by the Burmese Election Commission’s requirement that all campaign activities be reported to the Commission in advance.

“Last week, when they [AMRDP campaigners] were organizing people in Mudon town, they faced a problem with authorities because they [the AMRDP] informed the [Election] Commission that they would give a speech with two people. In the campaign meeting, when the audience asked a question of their party, one of their members, whose name had not been given to the authorities, talked to the public, so the authorities gave a warning to their party,” a Mudon town witness reported.

“I would like to ask them why pro-junta party like Union Solidarity and Development and Ethnic Unity Party is free to do anything without any restriction from the government,” he added.

Despite pressure from Burma’s military regime, Nai Ngwe Thein, the leader of the AMRDP, believes that the party will ultimately be successful in gaining votes in Mon State.

“We will definitely win the [parliamentary] seat in Mon State if there are free and fair elections, because as far as we know, many people don’t like the pro-junta party. People will only vote to pro-junta party if they feel a threat [from the Burmese government]. We have to explain our people not to afraid to vote to our party,” he explained to IMNA’s field reporters in an interview this month.

According to IMNA field reporters observe situation in Mon State, many people are increasingly enthusiastic about casting their votes in favor of the AMRDP.

Nai Tun, a resident of Mudon Township, said, “Although we see this election is not fair, when the Mon party will come up for elections in our region, we will vote for them because our votes will go only for the Mon Party which we believe will care for our people.”

A political observer from Rangoon named Nai Htaw Mon explained to IMNA that even one member of the AMRDP in Burma’s parliament will likely increase the Mon people’s cultural rights.

“If we look at the Mon culture and literature aspect, it will be freer to learn and teach after the election [if even one AMRDP member is elected]. Politically speaking, if the Mon Party will properly get elected at last, with ten members, what they can do is be a voice in parliament with that amount of people.”

The AMRDP was formed in April 2010; the group is currently the only Mon political group campaigning in Mon State and Mon-controlled areas in the 2010 Burmese elections.

New Mon political party registers more than 1,000 members

July 27th, 2010

AMRDP committee member Dr. Min Nwe Soe addresses an audience in Moulmein during the party’s election campaign

IMNA, Rai Maraoh : The All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) claims that the party has thus far managed to formally register 1,400 members during its recent campaign, despite the restrictions imposed by the Burmese government’s Election Commission.

Before the AMRDP began actively campaigning in late July 2010, the party was forced to submit its official symbols and committee roster before to the Commission for approval, pay large fees for registering representatives, and notify the Commission of its campaign’s commencement a week ahead of time. Despite these obstacles, party representatives boasted to IMNA last week that their election campaign has been both highly successful and entirely legal.

“We have not broken the Election Commission’s announcements [rules], but we can still campaign very well. We are doing it [campaigning] the legal way, so there is no need [for us to be] scared. We [the party] get satisfaction from [registering] our Mon people, and we are successful,” said AMRPD chairman Nai Nwe Thein, also known as Nai Janu.

Nai Nwe Thein also explained that that the party had, since it’s campaign’s commencement in June, formally registered more than 1,000 members from Ye Township, Thanphyuzayart Township, Mudon Township, and Karen State. The party is also currently conducting campaigns in Moulmein city and Tenasserim Divison; a future campaign in Paung Township is planned.

He informed IMNA that by the second week of July 2010 the party had sent in a list of 1,400 officially-registered AMRDP members, along with the names of the party’s Central Executive committee (CEC) members, to the Election Commission in Naypyidaw.

“[Many] Mon people do not know which party they will vote for and how to vote in an election. Some of them do not know anything about the political [situation], and they do not know about our party, but now they will know that they have party to vote for [the AMRDP], as a result of our party’s campaign,” Nai Nwe Thein stated.

He added that many of the Mon people AMRDP members had spoken with indicated that they were fearful that registering with the party would lead to harassment from Burmese authorities. Nai Nwe Thein informed IMNA that in order to curb such fears, party members have begun explaining the AMRDP’s strict observance of Election Commission’s rules to their audiences, and that the Mon people need have no fear about registering as AMRDP members.

The AMRDP was founded on April 7th, 2010, and was formed around a 5 member “breakaway faction” from the original 15 member Mon “Working Committee”. The party’s official goals include representing Mon people in all areas of Burma, as well as all ethnic groups living in Mon -controlled regions of the country.

UNICEF notebook donations fall flat as supplies are sold to students

July 20th, 2010

Hong Dein : Teachers from Burmese government controlled primary schools in Mudon Township, Mon State, have sold study books donated by UNICEF to primary school students, according to parents.

A primary school in Mudon town which had been given notebooks bearing UNICEF logos, charged students for the books, which had been initially donated by the international aid agency for distribution to students for free. When parents went to enroll their children in school they ended up having to pay 5,000 kyat for the notebooks and 5,000 kyat each for the curriculum cost, according to Mi Hla Ngwe, the parent of 3rd grade student.

Mi Hla Ngwe explained, “My children only got a book this year from school. Last year they got bags [for carrying books] and note books from school.”

The UNICEF notebooks and bags that had been donated and then distributed to students, had been free with not cost to enrolling families.

But the request for payment from students families for the donated supplies isn’t the only surprising cost. Families must pay for all their enrolment and curriculum costs despite announcements in the government newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, that this year enrolment in primary schools would be free.

According to the Mudon primary school headmistress, while the Burmese government announced free primary school enrolment, the government has not given the schools extra money to cover their expenses without enrolment costs. As a result teachers have had to collect money from the students to cover the expenses for the school.

“The government just gave [us] the amount they wanted to for building a school. The school and the village parent association were paid on with the surplus money from the [completed] building,” a primary school teacher said. Once that money runs out it appears the school will have no funding.

The UNICEF program, which was first implemented in 2008, is still relatively small, operating in only 9 townships in different states and divisions throughout Burma. The program includes trainings for teachers in the use of school equipments, in addition to the donation of bags and notebooks. One primary school teacher who had attended the UNICEF training said, “Last year primary schools in [our] township got bags and books from UNICEF. But not this year.”

The decision to charge students for items donated for free distribution highlights the larger problem of underfunding that Burma’s schools notoriously face. With little support funding, schools must charge students and families anyway they can to keep functioning at a minimum level.

The teacher who received the training reported that the students at her school have become very difficult to control and that teaching is not easy due to her extreme class size of over 40 students. In addition teaching is difficult as the classes are very close together and noisy.

Students’ parents in Kalorthot village in Mudon Township have also reported having to pay high costs for middle and high school level courses. These include enrollment fees and traveling cost for both students and teachers who have to come to school from far way. The current enrollment fee for a middle school student is about 15,000 kyat and for a high school student it’s about 20,000 kyat. The traveling cost for a student is about 40,000 kyat per month. In addition for teachers, the village parent association and teachers collect money from students’ parents for each teacher traveling long distances to the school.

The headmistress added, “due to all students passing through the system [without good grades or understanding] the students will face trouble when they get to higher grades.” In some cases as a result of the under funded and over run system, some students end up dropping out before the completion of the academic year.

As a result, parents end up having to compensate for the lack of a working classroom by paying additional costs for private tutors if they want children to understand the lessons.

As noted by the MSF’s report on the “Top 10 Humanitarian Crisis of 2008”, only a quarter of children in Burma end up completing primary school.

Increased fighting stymies Thanphyuzayart to Three Pagoda Pass trade routes

July 15th, 2010

The Thai/ Burma trade checkpoint for Three Pagoda Pass (TPP) is seen in April, 2010

Jaloon Htaw : Traders in Three Pagoda Pass (TPP) Township have shut down their trade routes after increased fighting between the Burmese army and insurgent Karen forces have made the road between TPP and Thanphyuzayart too dangerous to travel.

According to traders, the presence of Burmese army coastline command Light Infantry Battalion No. 409 and the Karen National Union’s (KNU) Battalion’s No. 16 and No. 17 has caused significant fighting along the route between Three Pagoda Pass town to Thanphyuzayart Town.

This route is the only road between TPP town and Thanphyuzayart. It is the primary trade route for traders brining Thai products form the border to Thanphyuzayart, and basic foodstuffs back to community’s living on the border.

Beginning in the last week of June to the present, traders have decided against taking the risk of traveling the route after KNU and Burmese army forces engaged each other on at least 4 occasions.

According to a source close to the KNU, on June 10th, 3 brief skirmishes with Burmese forces occurred. More recently on July 11th, at around 3 pm near Aplone village, TPP Township, KNU forces ambushed a Burmese unit and the Lieutenant commanding the unit was killed. Over the last two months the frequent clashes have lead to the deaths of over 30 Burmese soldiers.

“If they are always fighting, we don’t have security to travel this route. If they are still fighting at that time we try to travel, we will face danger,” said one merchant who trades groceries form TPP to Thanphyuzayart. “Then if they stop our car, it is takes a long time to arrive at the border.”

While valuing their safety, traders who have decided against traveling the route have begun to feel the economic impact.

The grocery trader in TPP town invested over 100,000 baht into his grocery store. On an average day when traders normally make the trip, he will turn a profit of 3,000 to 4,000 baht. However since traders have stopped traveling to Thanphyuzayart, where he normally buys his goods from a warehouse, he has not been able to restock his store. As a result his family has been living off of the money they had saved for their business.

“Because we can’t trade, I have no income,” the grocery trader told IMNA. “We’ve stopped our regular jobs. Now we have to use the money for re-investing [to survive], since we don’t have any profit.”

For regular citizens this absence of trade has also had a negative impact. As products become more scare, villagers dependent on goods coming from Thanphyuzayart or from TPP village, will have to contend with increased prices.

“If we cannot trade our goods, [those people] who need our goods will meet with problems,” explained one trader. “Also the prices of the goods will increase. If we can’t cross this way [soon], we will have to find another way [to trade]. We’ll have to look at the situation [as it progresses].”

Most of the manufactured goods that are useful every day throughout Burma are imported from just over the border in Thailand; Most of the home and food products often used, including rice, oil, onions, etc. are exported to the border areas, from within Burma.

The trader added, “In TPP, the population is estimated to be 50,000 just in town and almost 100,000 are in the Township – [all] using the goods imported to TPP.”

According to a political observer based out of TPP, the, Burmese army and KNU will continue fighting frequently throughout 2010. He told IMNA that he believes the Burmese army now has an even greater interest in wiping KNU forces out of the area.

“Burma’s authorities will destroy those who will make a conflict in the election period. They will likely fight like that again and the traders will continue to meet [these] problems.”

Nai Kao Rot a retired member of the NMSP, told IMNA that the KNU want to disrupt the Burmese efforts to hold the 2010 election. He added that one way they appear to be attempting this is by asserting that they still control their territory, and can engage the Burmese military presence.

NMSP volunteer soldiers seized by Burmese army, forced portering suspected

July 14th, 2010

Photo Caption- Two Burmese soldiers oversee a civilian who is being used as a porter for the SPDC in Mon State

Jury Chai : In an unprecedented move, Burmese solders have apparently arrested members of the largest Mon ceasefire group to work as either guides or porters as the Burmese unit operates in the area.

On July 12th, soldiers from the Burmese soldiers from the Costal Regional Command Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 409 where conducting security operations around Three Pagoda Pass(TPP) Township, Karen State, and arrested three New Mon State Party (NMSP) volunteer soldiers while they worked at their plantation and took them to apparently use as porters.

The NMSP volunteer soldiers were seized around 7 am according to a villager who witnessed the interaction from a distance. The 3 NMSP members were not in their Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) uniforms at the time of the arrests.

The arrest of NMSP members for forced portering is an unprecedented move by Burmese military forces, as it appears to directly violate the terms of the ceasefire decided on between the NMSP and Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1995.

This apparent violation of ceasefire terms comes after the NMSP rejection of the SPDC border guard force proposal led the SPDC South East Command (SEC) to nearly abolish the ceasefire agreement in April. However the Burmese military backpedaled from harsher wording after the statement of a return to a “pre-ceasefire relationship” by Lt. Gen. Ye Myint prompted an exodus of NMSP families and supporters to the Thai Burma border.

“The soldiers arrested them on July 12th, and the soldiers have not allow them [to go free] yet,” said a source close to the NMSP. “We are still investigating.”

The NMSP volunteer soldiers who were arrested by the LIB No. 409 soldiers are Chan Lwin, Kyout Karaiand and Ye Aung. All three are from Jaw Kha Broud village, TPP Township.

LIB No. 409 which is led by battalion commander colonel Kyaw Soe Lwin is temporarily based in Chaung Zone village, TPP Township.

According to a source close to Chan Lwin’s family, ”They [NMSP volunteer soldiers] were arrested by Burmese soldiers when they went to the plantation south of Ma Papran village near Chaung Zone.”

The three soldiers are between 20 and 30 years old, and are already married. Two are ethnically Mon and one is ethnically Tavoyan.

“Now we have given the information to all of the NMSPs offices and check points [in TPP Township],” said an NMSP officer.

After the Burmese soldier’s arrested the NMSP members apparently for portering, the NMSP reported the arrests to Burmese Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 32 base in TPP town. IB No. 32 responded to party officials saying they would solve this problem, a NMSP officer based in TPP told IMNA.

The tactical commander of LIB No. 409 is slated to arrive in the TPP area later this July. As a result soldiers from LIB No. 409 have been ordered, beginning last week, to ensure security for the duration of the tactical commander’s stay in the area.

Other villagers have reported that local civilians have also been arrested in addition, to be used as porters. One political observer in the area speculated that the 3 NMSP volunteer soldiers have been taken as guides through the jungle by LIB No. 409.

Officials are worried that the arrested NMSP will face abuses that are reportedly common when villagers are forced to porter for the Burmese army.

The NMSP officer added, “I am worried but I can’t say anything, because we haven’t found them yet.”