Interview | Saw [3] L---, (Male, 60), G--- village, M’Saw Area, Ler Muh Lah Township, Mergui-Tavoy District (March 2019)

Ethnicity: Karen 

Religion: Christian

Marital Status: Married

Occupation: Farmer

How long have you lived in G--- village?

I was born here and I have lived here ever since. Now I am 60 years old.

What have you experienced during these 60 years? Have you experienced any land problems, human rights violations, or other issues?

We lived a normal life here in the village and the Tatmadaw [forced us] to relocate and live near the road in 1976 and 1977. It was not easy to secure our livelihood there. Therefore, we came back and lived together here in the village. Then we built houses and other buildings step by step to rebuild our village. In 1976 and 1977, we were blessed as no one was killed. Now, some of us are working on plantations and some are working on hill farms and plain farms.

We heard that one company came into the village and confiscated the local people’s land. But we don’t know when it was. Do you know about that?

Yes, it was the Asia World Company. They came in 2000 […] and planted palm oil trees in the local areas without telling us anything. We could not prioritise and concentrate on that issue because we had to work for our livelihood, and we didn’t know what to tell them or how to tell them. They planted in the whole area where our village lands were located. Sometimes, they even had arguments and problems with us. One year after they planted the [palm oil trees], their workers burned the lands and then attacked and threatened the local people and demanded money from them. I also experienced it myself. They said that I burned their plants and they arrested me and held me for over one week. They took me to their place and then asked me to give them between 30,000,000 kyats and 50,000,000 kyats (between USD [4] 19,852 and USD 33,086). I did not do anything wrong so I did not give them any money. Later on they released me and they also arrested my ten workers. It was really hard.

Where did they arrest you?

They came and arrested me here in the village.

Where did they take you?

To Ba Mat. There were also militias there. The Asia World Company manager and the militias worked together to arrest me.

Do you know the commander of the militias?

The commander of the militias was Maung Aye Kyeh.

Where did he live?

He lived in Tu Yaw Hpoh. He lives elsewhere now.

Did they torture you?

No, they did not.

How about food? Did they treat you well?

We had to take our food with us. Sometimes our family had to send us food. [I was held] for over one week.

How many days?

About 10 days.

How many acres of your lands were confiscated?

My land is close to the other local villagers’ lands that were confiscated. Only 10 acres of my lands were confiscated. The total amount will be a lot if we combine it with others. […]

How many [acres of] people’s lands were confiscated?

Many people from our village had lands confiscated. One of the uncles, [5] called Saw H---, lost 100 acres of land. Uncle E--- and Uncle U--- lost 100 acres each. I just mentioned people who had a lot of land confiscated. Other people had 10, 20 or 30 acres confiscated. [The company] cut big trees from some people’s plantations. They were destroyed so we could not do anything.

What kinds of trees did they cut down? 

They cut down durian and betel nut trees. One of my brothers’ durian trees was about 12 feet tall [3.66 metres] and 3 to 4 feet wide [0.91 to 1.22 metres]. There were about 20 to 30 trees. […]

How many households are in your village?

There are about 50 households.

How many households or people’s lands were confiscated?

[…] There are about 10 people whose lands were confiscated.

How many acres were confiscated in total? Can you guess?

It might be 1,000 acres. People’s lands across the whole village were confiscated.

Did they negotiate or discuss with the local people before they confiscated the lands?

No, they did not.

Did only the company come to confiscate the lands?

At first only the company came, and later they called their security [personnel].

Who provided security for them?

Militias did.

Were the Tatmadaw [6] soldiers included?

No, they were not included in the beginning. However, the company hired them for security services so later on they based near those areas. Then they took their soldiers there.

Where did the soldiers come from?

They came from the town.

Which town?

Maybe they are from Myeik (Mergui) town. They stayed in the village for three years […] then they left.

Did the soldiers cause any human rights violations?

No, they did not. But we had to put our animals in a cage or tie them to a fence to stop them from destroying the young palm trees.

What did the soldiers do when the animals went there [to the plantations]?

They called us to take them back. They did not kill them but we had to give them money.

Can you please tell me [the name of the Asia World’s Company local manager]?

It was U Chit Than. He worked here for ten years but he is dead now.

Who [is the manager] now?

Kyaw Zaw Tun [is the manager] now.

What does the situation look like now?

That palm oil company just comes to plant some palm trees next to the road now. […] They just do that to promote themselves. They don’t do it effectively. It is just a waste. The company is big but there are only about 10 workers here.

Do you want compensation for your lands or do you want your lands back? 

We want our lands back and we don’t want those palm trees. If we wanted to we could have organised ourselves to plant those. In some areas, we planted [a few] of them [...]. We just plant them next to our fences and houses. We dare not plant [a lot] because we didn’t get permission [from the company] to plant yet. […] We only want the lands back. We don’t want compensation. We cannot do anything.

Do you have anything to add or any suggestions?

We want the lands to be our own. We also reported this case to the Myanmar government, parliament and the Karen National Union [7] [KNU] as well. We reported it to every organisation. However, we didn’t receive permission to work on our own lands so we dare not do anything yet. We want them to help us.

How do you want them to help you?

We want them to help us to get our lands back. We just want our lands back to be able to plant. It just looks like we are living on the company’s lands and we dare not touch and plant anything. If we get the lands back, we will be able to plant.

Do you want to tell me any more information?

That is the most important thing, for us to get our land back