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Print:The most systematic and burdensome abuse inflicted on villagers by SPDC military units and authorities is forced labour, and the orders included below give some impression of the constant stream of demands for all kinds of labour which villages have to face. They include demands for one person per family to go for forced unpaid road labour, various numbers of villagers to go as porters carrying munitions and supplies for mobile military columns, forced labour building and maintaining Army camps, carrying Army rations and supplies, acting as unarmed sentries, military messengers and general servants at Army camps, and various other forms of labour
The most systematic and burdensome abuse inflicted on villagers by SPDC military units and authorities is forced labour, and the orders included below give some impression of the constant stream of demands for all kinds of labour which villages have to face. They include demands for one person per family to go for forced unpaid road labour, various numbers of villagers to go as porters carrying munitions and supplies for mobile military columns, forced labour building and maintaining Army camps, carrying Army rations and supplies, acting as unarmed sentries, military messengers and general servants at Army camps, and various other forms of labour. We have also included orders which demand bullock carts and boats for use by the Army, because such orders implicitly force the owner to go along and do forced labour driving his/her bullock team or boat. Orders for villagers to do forced labour as sentries and for village elders to ‘report information’ to the Army, which are also forms of forced labour, are included in the next section entitled "Orders to Provide Military Support". Note that many of these orders demanding forced labour were issued well after May 14, 1999, which is when the SPDC leadership claims to have issued a general order to all of their military and administrative units to halt conscription of forced labour under the ‘Villages Act' and the 'Towns Act’. In practice, the military and SPDC authorities almost never even make reference to these Acts when demanding forced labour from villages.
Most of the orders are addressed to the village head, who must then decide which villagers must go to fill the quota demanded by the Army. A rotating system between the families of the village is generally used to do this, in order to spread the burden as evenly as possible. However, with so many different forms of forced labour being constantly demanded by every Army unit and SPDC authority in the area, families find that they must send someone for forced labour at least once every week or two. Some of the demands are on an ad hoc basis, such as orders to spend a week building a road or a day fencing an Army camp, while other orders demand ‘servants’ on a ‘rotating’ basis, which means that the village must provide a certain number of forced labourers on a rotation of a few days to a week. The villagers must take along their own food and stay at the Army camp for their rotation, doing labour as messengers, sentries, building and maintaining buildings, bunkers, trenches and fences, clearing scrub, cutting and hauling firewood, hauling water, short-distance portering and any other duties demanded of them. They are usually not released until their replacements arrive; hence some of the orders below in which Army officers write things such as "Send the replacements for the 5 servants because they have been here for 7 days already." Some orders specifically demand men or that no children be sent (see Orders #59 and #101), but most orders leave this up to the villagers. Women often go because the men do not dare face the soldiers (see for reference Order #35), and children often go so that their parents can continue to work in the fields. Order #106 specifically demands that ‘all those aged above 12 years … including women’ go to the camp the following day for forced labour. Many of the orders demand that the village elders personally accompany the labourers from their village to the camp (using language such as ‘Gentlemen, come yourselves to bring them’); this is so that on arrival the officers can interrogate the elders for intelligence on opposition movements and the activities of villagers, and so that the elders can be put to supervising the forced labour of their villagers.
It is difficult for villagers to go for all of this forced labour, so they are often delinquent in complying with the orders. Usually the Army responds by sending threatening and angry letters, often written in red ink, until after the third letter the village has little option but to comply or face the possibility of very serious punishment which usually includes the arrest and torture of village elders. None of the labour mentioned in the orders below is undertaken voluntarily, but always under the direct or implied threat that the village elders or villagers will face serious punishments for any failure to comply. Some of the orders below warn that any failure to comply will be punished, while others mete out specific punishments to villagers who do not perform, demand fines or replacement labourers from the villages, and demand the names of any villagers who have failed to appear or have run away from forced labour (see for example Orders #28, 29, 32, 107 and 113). Order #118 threatens that the village will be forcibly relocated to an Army-controlled site if it fails to complete the assigned forced labour clearing a roadside, while Order #107 warns that the Army will shell the village if the village head does not bring 5 villagers for forced labour. The military authorities usually refer to the work and the labourers themselves as ‘loh ah pay’, a Burmese term referring to a traditional practice of contributing one’s labour for small village or temple projects in order to earn Buddhist merit; however, the labour referred to in these orders has no connection whatever to the type of work meant by ‘loh ah pay’. Rather than translate this misuse of ‘loh ah pay’, we have left it intact where it occurs in the orders. One type of forced labour is called ‘set tha’, which essentially means forced labour as military messengers, general servants, errand-runners and occasional sentries at Army camps. It is important to note that not only do these orders demand forced labour, but after being written by an Army official they are almost always delivered to the villages by civilians doing ‘set tha’ forced labour as messengers. Many of the orders also refer to forced labourers as ‘servants’ (‘wontan’), ‘loh ah pay servants’, or occasionally ‘operations servants’, which means frontline porters.
Some of the orders included below demand payment of fees in lieu of forced labour. These can take various forms. In the most common form, the villagers simply cannot do all the forced labour demanded of them and still produce a crop to survive, so they hire someone to go in their place or pay a ‘fee’ which is essentially a bribe to the military in lieu of going. This is sometimes disguised under the wording of ‘paying the Army to hire labourers’, but in fact the Army simply pockets the money and demands others to do forced labour instead. In some cases the military demands far more labour than is actually required because they are actually seeking payment rather than labourers. Another form of forced labour fees is shown in Orders #127 and #128. These orders have been issued by the head of a Village Tract Peace & Development Council who is working closely with the military in the area. In this area, the military gives orders to the Village Tract telling them how many forced labourers they want from the villages. The Village Tract authorities know that the villages cannot provide the labour, so they hire itinerant labourers through agents in town to fill the military’s quota. They then divide the burden of forced labourers between the villages in the village tract based on the size (number of households) of each village, and send out an order for each village to reimburse them for the hiring price at a rate of 4,000 Kyat (or in some cases 4,250 Kyat) per forced labourer. Essentially this is the most indirect form of forced labour, where each village must gather money from each family, which is then used to pay the village tract authorities to hire labourers to meet the military’s demands. In most regions the forced labour works on a more direct basis, and even in this particular region this system does not prevent the military from issuing ad hoc demands for forced labour directly to the villages on a regular basis.
The orders below have been divided into 3 categories: general forced labour, forced labour on infrastructure, and forced labour fees. ‘General Forced Labour’ mainly includes rotating and ad hoc labour at Army camps, portering, forced labour as messengers, servants, etc. Many of these orders do not specify the exact nature of the forced labour, so some of these actually relate to infrastructure. Orders under ‘Forced Labour on Infrastructure’ include those for building and rebuilding roads and bridges, and several orders forcing villages to clear the scrub along roadsides to create a ‘killing ground’ which makes it harder for opposition troops to ambush SPDC columns and convoys, and also makes it harder for opposition troops to move across the roads. Orders under ‘Forced Labour Fees’ directly relate to the collection of money from villages in lieu of forced labour. Note that other sections of this report also include orders which either directly or indirectly entail forced labour, particularly the sections "Orders to Provide Military Support" and "Extortion of Food, Money and Materials".
A) General Forced Labour
Order #26 Stamp: [I am] Writing this letter. To carry the rations tomorrow, send 10 people from Chairperson's village to me. Do not be late. Arrive at 5 o'clock in the morning. I will be waiting. P.S. Reply when [you] receive this letter. Yours, [The 'rations' are Army rations which are usually dropped at the roadheads by military convoys once every month or two; entire villages are then ordered to carry the rations from the roadheads to Army camps and outposts throughout the region.] ______________________________________________________________________________Order #27 Stamp: To: [Sd.] Captain, 8/10/99 ______________________________________________________________________________Order #28 Stamp: To: 13-9-99 Subject: [We] already ordered the following things from the Chairperson of the village
Regarding the above subjects, [we] already gave orders to the Chairperson, so if [you] don't obey, serious action will be taken. [Sd.] 13-9-99 [Villages are supposed to send 'messengers' on a daily rotation to do errands at the Army camp. The house registers which are requested are used to determine rates of extortion and demands for 'loh ah pay' forced labourers. In Burma, all overnight guests must be registered with the authorities or the host and their whole family risk being arrested. The final two items refer to the permission which villagers must obtain to transport rice into or out of their village, go to market or go anywhere at all. All of these demands are routine and typical, though it is rare to see them expressed so clearly all in one document.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #29 Stamp: 22-9-99 To: Chairperson Subject: Collecting firewood in the village / Chairperson come to meet 1. Regarding the above subject, from our camp [we've told you to] collect one bundle of firewood, but as of today [it] hasn't arrived yet. 2. On 21-9-99 [I] sent a letter but [you] didn't reply at once. Send a messenger every day on time. 3. Whether the Chairperson is healthy or not, [you] haven't informed us. Chairperson, keep to the specified time and come today, 22-9-99, at 1200 hours. 4. If you are not well, hire a carrier and come. 5. If [you] don't come, [I] will refuse permission and prohibit the carrying of rice to xxxx village, and will prohibit the transport of market goods. 6. Carrying rice to yyyy village is permitted. Carrying to xxxx village is not permitted, you are informed. 7. Regarding the above subject, summoning [you] because [I] want to meet and discuss this. If [you] don't obey and come, you must be punished and labelled as being solidly against the nation, and serious action will be taken. Come today. [Sd.] 22-9-99 [This is a seriously threatening letter. Firstly, if the officer forbids the transport of rice and market goods to and from the village this may bring starvation on the villagers, and the village head is additionally threatened with being labelled as a 'destructive element'. 'Carriers' and 'messengers' mean villagers to do forced labour as porters and 'set tha' messengers respectively.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #30 Stamp: 14-9-99 To: Chairperson Subject: Informing [you] to send the new labourers The labourers from xxxx village have done their duty for 20 days already. Therefore we inform the Chairperson to come on 14-9-99 with the new labourers to change. [Sd.] [This order refers to villagers doing a shift of forced labour who must be replaced before they will be released. The Company number has been left blank.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #31 To: 13-9-99 Subject: To send 1 servant A servant from xxxx village ran away on 11-9-99. Informing you to send 1 servant to yyyy camp today. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #32 To: Chairperson Date: 12-9-99 Subject: The Chairperson must come and meet with the Camp Commander Village Chairperson, there are emergency matters to take care of, so as soon as [you] receive this letter, come quickly to meet the xxxx Camp Commander. If [you] fail, the responsibility will fall on the Chairperson, letting you know so you are hereby informed. Chairperson, from 8-9-99 until now the messengers from the village have not come. Therefore, [send] a register of the names of the messengers who were on duty from the 8th until now, and [we] will fine these messengers. [We] will fine the messengers who were on duty 1,000 Kyat [each], letting you know so you are hereby informed. [Sd.] 12-9-99 [Written in addition on the back of this order was 'Come to meet today'.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #33
Stamp: 11-9-99 To: Chairperson Subject: Informing you to send back the servant 1) One rotation servant from xxxx village ran away as he pleased. [Sd. / 11/9] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #34 To: Chairperson Stamp: Date: [blank] Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labourers] Send one person per house from Gentleman's [your] village without fail for loh ah pay on the 28that (0600) hours to yyyy village, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #35 Chairperson Subject: The matter of loh ah pay labour Tomorrow at 6 o'clock in the morning, come without fail and arrive at the Ya Ya Ka [VPDC] office with food for 3 days. No less than 5 persons. Note: They can be women or men. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #36 Stamp: To: Chairperson/Secretary, bring along with you 10 persons for loh ah pay labour this evening. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #37 Stamp: To: As soon as you get this letter, Chairperson yourself come with a servant and report. Also, bring along 2 pyi [about 4 kg/9 lb] of rice and 1 bottle of cooking oil. [Sd:] xxxx [To come 'with a servant' means to bring one person from the village to do a shift of forced labour at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #38 To: - We are releasing servant xxxx two days early. His turn is supposed to be 5 days, but his duty is finished. [Sd.] [The first point notifies the village elder that the villager has finished the task he has been forced to do so he is being released before the originally specified time. The second and third points also involve forced labour, because no one can control an elephant except its regular owner/mahout so this person must go (possibly losing significant income he could have made with his elephant otherwise), and the ironwood planks demanded are hard to find and very labour-intensive to saw.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #39 To: Village Head 25-8-99 Subject: To send servants Letting the village head or the deputy village head or village elders know to come with 5 duty servants to yyyy village, where the local Column Commander is staying today. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #40 To: Chairperson Subject: [We] need wood for building the new high school. So for loh ah pay from the villagers, your villagers have to come and carry the timber to [the site] near xxxx village. [They] have to do loh ah pay and [come] with a packet of rice each. Gathering place: xxxx VPDC [Ya Ya Ka] [Sd.] [This particular Village Tract Peace & Development Council works very closely with the local military who appointed them, so it is difficult to know whether this order really originated with the military or the PDC. This particular PDC is known for receiving orders directly from the military and passing them on to the villages.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #41 Stamp: To: Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] and attend a meeting (a) aaaa village (70) persons 1. [sic: 2.] Therefore send the loh ah pay labourers at the specified time, and Village Chairpersons, [we] will hold a meeting on 14-7-99 at 8 o'clock in the morning, so come on time without fail, [you] are informed. [Sd.] Chairperson must bring 140 150 limes when you come to the meeting. [Copies of this order were sent to all villages listed at the top.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #42 To: Chairperson Subject: To send village servants for rotation To do loh ah pay for Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion, [send] 1 servant from each village, Chairperson yourself come to bring them to xxxx Army Camp to arrive on the 4th waning day of first Wa Zoh month [1-7-99] , you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #43 Stamp: To: Chairpersons 29/6/99 1. For use at xxxx Army Camp, send the number of loh ah pay labourers specified in the list below to the army camp, to arrive on 30-6-99 at 7 o'clock in the morning. (a) aaaa village (70) persons 2. Therefore, send the loh ah pay labourers on time according to the quantity specified, you are informed. 3. To hold a meeting for the village chairpersons, come to the army camp to arrive on 30-6-99 at 10 o'clock, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #44 Stamp: Subject: Informing [you] to come and bring servants When Frontline #xxx Light Infantry Battalion was patrolling for regional control and security, when we stopped in yyyy village we had a problem with servants. Chairperson yourself come to send 5 loh ah pay servants from xxxx village with rations for 3 days to arrive today at yyyy village, intelligence department, you are informed. Date: 25/6/99 [Sd.] ['We had a problem with servants' means that they could not round up enough villagers as porters for their patrol or forced labourers to take back to the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #45 Stamp: Subject: To send a motorised longtail boat If you gentlemen have Daw xxxx's motorised longtail boat, the Army needs to use it. When you get this letter, just send it. [Sd.] [This order carries the implicit demand that the boat owner/driver go along to drive the boat.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #46 To: Chairperson, Secretary 24-6-99 Subject: To buy and carry rice Regarding the above subject, 15 loh ah pay servants from Chairperson's village must come to xxxx village tomorrow at 7 o'clock. [You] must report information to the Camp. [You] must give 1,500 Kyats cash to the Column for the servants' food every 15 days. Therefore, send 1,500 Kyat in cash with the servants tomorrow. [I am] writing this letter to inform you. [Sd.] 24-6-99 [This order is written in red ink, which is interpreted by villagers as an indication of urgency and an implied threat. It is the village head who must report intelligence to the camp, while the 15 other villagers being demanded must do some form of unspecified forced labour. Such forced labourers always take along their own food because they know the Army will not feed them; the demand for regular payments for their food is probably just direct cash extortion. It also implies that this labour will be permanent and carried out on a 15-day rotation basis.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #47 To: The Column says that mother's village, xxxx, should cut wood between 28-Mile and 34-Mile. Therefore, mother should tell loh ah pay labourers from the village to report to yyyy camp. Respectfully, ['28-Mile' and '34-Mile' refer to road or pathway milestones, so the area covers a stretch of 6 miles.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #48 Stamp: Date: 14/6/99 1. For use at xxxx Army Camp, the above villages must send loh ah pay labourers to the army camp, to arrive on 15-6-99 at (0700) hours, according to the list below. (a) aaaa village (70) persons 2. When [you] send the loh ah pay labourers, they must bring plastic sheets themselves, and the loh ah pay labourers from bbbb village have to go from xxxx to yyyy camp and arrive at (0800) hours in the morning, you are informed. [Sd.] 14/6/99 [This was a carbon-copied order sent to many villages. The plastic sheets they must bring are to worn to protect themselves from the rain.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #49 Stamp: Subject: Come to send information to yyyy Camp within this night Regarding the above subject, Chairperson (or) Secretary yourselves from xxxx village must come to yyyy Camp tonight with one person to replace the guide [to replace the villager currently doing forced labour as a guide] for the Column. Bring information without fail. This is an emergency matter so bring information without fail, you are informed. [Sd.] 10/6/99 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #50 Stamp: 8-6-99 Ko aaaa, Sending this letter right now with the villagers from xxxx village to carry rice. From the 50 sacks of rice left by Captain bbbb, give 11 sacks of rice to these villagers. [I] will ask [them] to come and carry the rest of the rice within the day. I will give them a recommendation letter together with my [this] letter when the villagers come. You check it and give them the sacks of rice. If [we] need help, [we] will ask it from Ko aaaa [you]. Right now, [we] don't need it. When [we] need, I will tell [you]. Send back this letter and the recommendation letter for the rice along with the villagers. If [you] have any problems, write a letter to me. With friendliness, [This is a letter from an Army officer to a village elder. The Captain has left 50 sacks of rice at the elder's village, and this officer has now rounded up villagers to do forced labour carrying it the rest of the way to his camp. This letter is to verify to the village elder that it is okay to hand over some of these sacks of rice to the villagers to be carried away; the villagers will have to make several trips to carry all of it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #51 Stamp: Date: 4-6-99 To: Village Head - Village head and 3 messengers, come on 5-6-99 and report without fail to yyyy. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #52 Stamp: Date: 4.6.99 To: Subject: Informing [you] to come to the Army Camp Regarding the above subject, xxxx Village Head Daw aaaa must come with a messenger [someone to do forced labour as a messenger] on 5.7.99 [sic: 5.6.99] at 9 o'clock to yyyy Army Camp, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #53 Stamp: 1-6-99 To: Chairperson, Secretary, Village Mother, Village Father Subject: The matters of rotating for guide duty and servants' fees Chairperson and Secretary, as soon as [you] receive this letter, you are requested to come right now to xxxx. [We] have to discuss and clear up the above subjects. You are requested to bring the money at the same time. It is important so come without fail, [we] write this letter to inform you. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #54 To: 31.5.99 Subject: From xxxx village, the village head must come and bring the carpenters who will build the bridge and villagers immediately upon receiving this letter to yyyy camp, you are informed. Bring the rice that you borrowed. [Both the carpenters and the villagers will be used as forced labour to build the bridge.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #55 Stamp: To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: Asking for loh ah pay servants From gentleman's village, the Column asks you to give 15 loh ah pay servants and bamboo and pork, bring them at the same time to the Column. Informing you for the second time. Do not fail to bring them. If you fail, it will be the gentleman's [your] responsibility, you are informed. [Sd. / 30-5-99 (xxxx)] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #56 Stamp: To: Chairpersons Date: 30/5/99 1) On 31-5-99 in the morning at 8 o'clock, the Battalion Commander wants to meet the Chairpersons from the above villages at xxxx Army Camp. The Chairpersons yourselves come to the Army Camp at 0740 hours, come without fail. 2) On 31-5-99 at 0700 hours, send loh ah pay for use at the Army Camp according to the numbers below. Each of them must prepare [and bring] plastic sheeting, you are informed. (a) aaaa village labourers 70 persons [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #57 Stamp: The headman's village must start providing one bullock cart for Ta Won Kyay [duty/obligation], so send this bullock cart to arrive on 24-5-99 at 6 o'clock in the morning. Note: Change the bullock cart every day, and when we finish 6 carts [we] will switch to another village. [Sd.] ['Ta Won Kyay' (duty, obligation) is the term used to refer to things such as rice quotas and other materials which villagers must give on a regular specified basis to the Army and authorities. This means the village will have to provide a bullock cart for the Army's use on a regular basis, a different villager's cart each day for 6 days in a row, then the rotation will move to another village. This automatically implies that the bullock cart owners will have to go along to drive their teams in doing the forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #58 Stamp: 19-5-99 To: Chairperson / Secretaries Now, as soon as [you] receive this letter, come quickly to replace the servants with servants from Gentlemen's [your] village, each of them with rations for 5 days, a machete and plastic sheet, you are informed. Friendly and respectfully, [Sd.] 19/5 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #59 Stamp: From Gentleman's [your] village, [send] one bullock cart and 5 loh ah pay labourers, they must be men and do not send fewer under any circumstances. Send them without fail to the Ya Ya Ka [VPDC] office on 7-5-99 at 6 o'clock in the morning in order to build a sawmill. Note: Major xxxx has ordered it. [Sd.] [This order and those immediately below give an indication of how the military uses the village tract PDC authorities to force its orders on the villages. The village did not comply immediately as ordered, so this order was followed by Orders #60 and 61 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #60 Stamp: Date: 7-5-99 Subject: Note: [Sd.] [This order followed the day after Order #59 above. The village still did not comply, so Order #61 was sent.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #61 Stamp: Date: 8-5-99 Headman, [we] asked you to send one bullock cart and 5 people to arrive at 6 o'clock in the morning, but until now they haven't arrived yet. Therefore, send quickly one bullock cart and 3 people right now with the person who brings this letter, to carry the machine saw in xxxx village. Note: Send them to arrive within 1 hour. [Sd.] [This order followed the day after Orders #59 and #60 above. As no more orders followed, the village must have complied; however, just a few days later the demand was repeated in Orders #62 and 63 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #62 Stamp: Date: 12-5-99 From Headman's village, send without fail one bullock cart at 6 o'clock in the morning. Note: Major xxxx has ordered it. [Sd.] [This order came only a few days after those immediately above, and was followed the next day by Order #63 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #63 Stamp: Date: 13-5-99 Right now, as soon as [you] receive this letter, the Headman must come and bring along one bullock cart to the Ya Ya Ka [VPDC] office. Note: The Headman clearly doesn't respect this office. [Sd.] [This order followed the day after Order #62 above. Taken in the local context, the 'Note' written on this order is extremely threatening.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #64 Stamp: Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] to clear the scrub To clear the scrub between yyyy and zzzz villages, come to yyyy led by the village head and arrive on 5-5-99 at 6 o'clock in the morning, you are informed. [Sd.] 4.5.99 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #65 To: Chairperson [For] loh ah pay [send] 10 persons tomorrow, 5-5-99 at 0700 hours, and send information to the camp. [Sd.] [This order was written with very abrupt grammar, literally "Loh ah pay, 10 persons tomorrow, …"] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #66 Stamp: Now, as soon as you receive this letter, [send] 2 servants from Gentleman's village to the Column, Gentleman yourself come to send them tomorrow early in the morning, you are informed. Note [Sd. / 4/5/99] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #67 To: Chairperson Now, when you receive this letter, tomorrow, 5-5-99 at 0700 hours hire 10 persons for loh ah pay, and report information to the camp. [Sd.] [Though this order refers to 'hiring', it really just means to bring 10 people for forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #68 To: Chairperson 2-5-99 Subject: To clarify about servants Regarding the above subject, to clarify about the servants from xxxx village, Chairperson yourself come today to the yyyy Camp Commander, you are informed. [Sd. / 2/5/99] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #69 To: Chairperson / Secretary 1-5-99 Subject: The Chairperson must come with one guide Regarding the above subject, right now as soon as [you] receive this letter, come to the camp at once. Come quickly, it's important. Bring along one guide. [Sd.] [The village head is being asked to bring one of his villagers to do forced labour as a guide for an SPDC Army column.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #70 Stamp: Date: 27-4-99 To: Chairperson Subject: To send loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to carry [Army] rations, you Gentlemen yourselves must come and bring along loh ah pay [forced labourers] from Gentlemen's [your] village, to arrive on 28-4-99 at 6:00 in the morning, you are informed. [Sd.] 27/4 Note: To register the names for loh ah pay, make a list of their names, ages and fathers' names systematically. [This is a standard order which villages always receive when the monthly ration shipments come in, and all of the villagers are forced to go and carry them from the delivery point to the Army posts.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #71 To: Chairperson Date: 21-4-99 Subject: To send rations for loh ah pay [forced labourers] Regarding the above subject, for one of the loh ah pay labourers from Gentlemen's village who is with Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion, come to send 2 bowls [about 4 kg / 9 lb] of rice, fried shrimp-paste, plastic sheeting and salt to yyyy village now, as soon as [you] receive this letter. If [you] fail, it will be Gentlemen's [your] responsibility, you are informed. [Sd.] Note: Next time [you] change the servant, bring the rations [for him] at the same time. [This order probably resulted when one of the villagers doing forced labour ran out of food. The Army does not want to release him nor feed him, so they demand food for him from the village, then go on to warn the village head that in future all forced labourers on rotation should bring along enough food for their shift.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #72 Stamp: Subject: To send loh ah pay servants Now, as soon as you receive this letter, Gentleman [village head] yourself bring rotation loh ah pay messengers to the camp. xxxx village ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #73 Stamp: Date: 17-4-99 Subject: To send emergency servants Regarding the above subject, you are informed to come yourself and bring one servant immediately to yyyy Camp when you get this letter. If you fail, it will be your responsibility. [Sd. / 17/4/99] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #74 To: Chairperson / Secretary Date: 12-4-99 Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] Regarding the above subject, from Gentleman's [your] village [send] one man for loh ah pay with food for 5 days. Gentlemen, come yourselves to bring him to yyyy [camp] and arrive on 13-4-99 at 12:00 o'clock noon, you are informed. Stamp: [Sd.] xxxx ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #75 To: Chairperson / Secretary Date: 11-4-99 Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] Regarding the above subject, to carry [Army] rations, loh ah pay from the Gentlemen's [your]village must come and arrive on 12-4-99 at 6:30 in the morning at yyyy village. Gentlemen, come yourselves to bring them, you are informed. Stamp: [Sd.] xxxx ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #76 To: Chairperson / Secretary 9-4-99 Subject: To send 8 load-carrying bullocks Regarding the above subject, to carry rice to yyyy, send 8 load-carrying bullocks to the Chairperson's house at zzzz [village], to arrive on Sunday 11-4-99 at 0700 hours. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #77 To: Chairperson / Secretary Now, as soon as you receive this letter, [send] 2 servants and a donation of 5,000 (Five Thousand) Kyat for xxxx pagoda. Send it to yyyy village without fail. If you fail the Chairperson and Secretary will be held responsible, you are informed. Stamp: [Sd.] [The 'servants' are forced labourers, and the donation will likely be either pocketed by the Intelligence Officer or used to make an offering to the pagoda in his own name.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #78 Stamp: Stamp: Verification Date: 31-3-99 The 3 villagers named below, in place of xxxx Village Tract, are taking responsibility as military operation servants together with our Frontline #xxx [IB], Col. #x, from 31-3-99 to 31-4-99 [sic: 30-4-99], they are truly verified. 1. Ko aaaa 35 years old, (father) U eeee xxxx Village, Kyauk Kyi Town [Sd.] 31/3/99 [Sd.] [This is a movement pass for 3 villagers who have been hired by the village to go as frontline military porters in place of 3 of their villagers. The portering shift is to last an entire month.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #79 Stamp: Date: 17-3-99 To: Chairperson Subject - Informing you to gather labourers to carry rations According to the order from the Ma Ya Ka [Township Peace & Development Council] in Papun of 1999 March 16, letter number 3/16 - 1/Oo 1/178, between 20-3-99 and 25-3-99 we have to send [rations] from Papun to zzzz camp. We inform you to gather labourers to carry 17 sacks of rice from yyyy village to zzzz camp, and to send the labourers to xxxx Ya Ya Ka [the Village Peace & Development Council of xxxx village] on 19-3-99 at 12 noon, and do not be late. PS - Bring with you sacks and pots for carrying the rice. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #80 Date: 14-3-99 Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labourers] From the Gentleman's [your] village, send one person per house without fail on the 15th at (0600) hours to yyyy Village for loh ah pay, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #81 To: Stamp: Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] Send one person per house for loh ah pay from Gentleman's [your] village without fail on 26-2-99 to yyyy Army Camp, you are informed. To arrive at (0700) hours. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #82 Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: To send 5 bullock carts and 1 messenger Regarding the above subject, from your village, sir, [send] 5 bullock carts to yyyy village and one messenger to zzzz camp to arrive tomorrow, 26-2-99, in the morning at 9 o'clock. Do not fail to send [them]. If you fail it will be your responsibility, sir. You are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #83 Stamp: To: Chairperson Reply by this messenger to inform [us] whether or not you have finished sending 5 bullock carts and a messenger from yyyy to zzzz. [Sd.] [This order followed after Order #82 above.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #84 Stamp: To: Subject: The matter of rotating servants Chairperson, send the servants for rotation today, 19-2-99, Friday, you are hereby informed. [Sd.] 19-2-99 ['Servants' here means forced labourers; villages have to provide a fixed number of forced labourers on multi-day 'rotations' to the Army camps in their area. The current set of labourers are not released until their 'rotation' replacements arrive.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #85 To: Chairperson Stamp: Now, as soon as you receive this letter, Chairperson yourself come to meet with the Battalion Commander at yyyy camp, you are informed. When the Chairperson comes, bring a messenger at the same time. The messenger from Chairperson's village never came yet. Chairperson yourself come, and if you do not come we will take action, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #86 Stamp: To: Subject: To send loh ah pay labourers [You] are informed to send immediately 10 loh ah pay labourers to xxxx as soon as you receive this letter, absolutely without fail. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #87 To: Chairperson / Secretary Date: 10-2-99 Right now, when [you] receive this letter, the Chairperson yourself must come to the Army Camp. Together with the Chairperson, bring along 2 people to be servants. If [you] don't come, the responsibility will fall on the Chairperson. Important. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #88 To: U aaaa (xxxx [village]) Date: 29-1-99 Come and bring 15 villagers to carry the [Army] rations, and arrive on 31-1-99 in the morning at yyyy. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #89 Stamp: To: Chairperson Subject: To send loh ah pay [forced labour] Send one person per house for loh ah pay from Gentleman's [your] village to yyyy village, to arrive on 27-1-99 at (1000) hours. Send [them] without fail, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #90 Stamp: URGENT 26-1-99 To: Chairperson U aaaa Yesterday [you] sent 2 bullock carts but they didn't arrive yet at yyyy village. Send them now, you are informed. [Sd.] ['URGENT' is written in red ink and underlined. The owners/drivers of the bullock teams will also have to go along to drive their teams doing forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #91 Village Head Stamp: The place for which your village is responsible is not yet finished. Tomorrow early morning, the whole village must do it. 16-1-99 [Sd.] [This order refers to a forced labour assignment which was given to the village, such as clearing a patch of road or some related job, but the Army is not satisfied with the work which has been done and is therefore ordering the "whole village" to come out and finish it.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #92 To: Chairperson 15-1-99 [We] already called for a loh ah pay group, but no one has come yet. The whole village must come for loh ah pay to arrive on 16-1-99 at 6 o'clock in the morning, and now as soon as [you] receive this letter, quickly send a sentry to guard the bridge to the camp, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #93 Stamp: To: Subject: To carry [Army] rations To carry rations at yyyy Camp, 15 loh ah pay labourers must come to zzzz village, to arrive on 12-1-99 at 0700 hours in the morning, you are hereby informed. (Do not fail to send [them].) [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #94 Stamp: [We] sent a letter with a messenger on the 2nd [of January] to xxxx and until now he has not come back yet. Therefore make the messenger come back. Send him now with the messenger who brought this letter. [Sd.] [This order refers to a villager who was doing forced labour as a messenger; the Army officer sent him to deliver an order to a village and he never returned to continue his shift, so the officer is demanding that he return.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #95 Stamp: Date: 6-1-99 Subject: To send bullock carts Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion at yyyy Army Camp urgently needs bullock carts. Send 5 bullock carts to arrive on 7-1-99 at 0900 hours, you are informed. [Sd.] [This order will also force the owners/drivers of the bullock carts to drive their teams in doing the forced labour hauling things for the Army.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #96 To/ Chairperson From xxxx village we need 2 servants, please send [them] as soon as possible when you get this. It is an emergency. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #97 To/ Chairperson Daw aaaa From xxxx village we need 2 servants, please send [them] as soon as possible when you get this letter. It is an emergency. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #98 To: ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #99 Stamp: Chairperson, right now as soon as [you] receive this letter, come to yyyy village. [We] have to clear the matter of servants right now. Come and meet without fail, you are requested. [Sd.] ['Servants' (wontan) in this context means forced labourers. 'Clear the matter' means to clarify demands for forced labourers and possibly to admonish the village for previous failures to send people when ordered.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #100 To: Chairperson, Secretary Send 2 servants right now. [I] have already given the 1,200 Kyat in cash that the Chairperson gave me. The Chairperson must clear the balance, you are informed. From 15 to 30 yyyy [This is apparently a note from one village head to another, telling him that he has already passed on the payment of 1,200 Kyat to the Army but that the Chairperson had better forward the balance as well as 2 forced labourers immediately.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #101 Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion To: Chairperson Subject: To send loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to go and carry [Army] rations from yyyy [village], from Gentleman's [your] village one person per house must come with a basket and hand-basket [a type of bamboo basket carried in the hand like a shopping bag] each, to arrive on the 27th at (0600) hours. Do not fail to send [them], you are informed. [Sd.] 26-12-98 Note: When you send the loh ah pay [labourers], they should not be too old / too young. ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #102 Stamp: Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion To: Chairperson Subject: To coordinate the number of servants Regarding the above subject, come to discuss and coordinate on 25-12-98 at 0900 hours. Come without fail to report information, you are informed. [Sd.] 24-12-98 Note: For your village, divide the real families in the village register into those who can do servant duty and those who cannot do servant duty and bring it [the lists]. ['Servants' ('wontan') and 'servant duty' mean forced labourers and forced labour for the Army and SPDC authorities.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #103 Brother, Your younger sister / 23-12-98 dddd said [he] isn't sure about Thramu [Teacher] yet, that's why I haven't let her go back yet. [This is actually a letter from one Karen village elder to another, written in Sgaw Karen, passing on news of SPDC demands for forced labourers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #104 To: Village Head Date: 15-12-98 [You] are informed that xxxx village should send 10 loh ah pay [workers] to yyyy village tomorrow, 16-12-98, at 0730 hours in the morning without fail. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #105 Stamp: xxxx To: Chairperson Tomorrow on 14-12-98, send 20 people to arrive at 0700 hours at yyyy for loh ah pay labour, you are informed. [Sd.] 13/12 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #106 To: Date: 9-12-98 (1) For loh ah pay, gentleman's village should send persons aged above 12 years (all those aged above 12 years) including the Chairperson. Bring food for one day (without fail) and report at 09 o'clock in the morning on 10-12-98, Thursday, at zzzz Camp. (2) Every village in yyyy - zzzz area is being called for loh ah pay, thus gentleman's village is informed to come no later than 9 o'clock in the morning without fail. [In different handwriting:] All villagers aged above 12 years (including women) should come to yyyy Camp at 9 o'clock on 10-12-98, Thursday, without fail. [Sd.] [This order was carbon-copied to several villages, with the village name and the final note at the bottom written in afterward by hand.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #107 To: Stamp: Subject: Informing [you] to bring the servants 1. Regarding the above subject, as soon as [you] receive this letter, led by the Chairperson and Secretary yourselves, come and bring 5 servants, one and a half viss [2.4 kg / 5.2 lb] of chicken and one and a half baskets of rice from Gentleman's [your] village to yyyy village. 2. If [you] don't come and bring [them], [we] will send the shell of a big weapon so that you won't need to come yourselves. [Sd.] xxxx [The 'servants' requested means villagers for forced labour. The threat to 'send a shell' means that if you don't comply, don't bother coming later to explain because we will simply shell your village.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #108 Stamp: I am writing this letter. Send duty servants from xxxx village to yyyy to arrive on 2-12-98. [Sd.] 1-12-98 ['Duty servants' (Ta Won Kya wontan) means forced labourers to do a rotation of errands at the Army camp.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #109 Stamp: To: Chairperson (xxxx [village]) Date: 20-11-98 There is nothing to meet about. For the Army camp there is no firewood, so assist with 2 bullock carts [full of firewood], and to run the machine come and coordinate with the Captain. [Sd.] [This order requires the villagers to go to the forest to cut firewood, then haul it to the camp, as well as to discuss forced labour 'running the machine',which may be a sawmill or rice mill.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #110 Stamp: This is aaaa writing this letter. [Sd. / 11/11/98] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #111 To: Chairperson Date: 26-10-98 Subject: To carry rations at yyyy Send 10 loh ah pay labourers from xxxx village on 28-10-98, Wednesday, to carry [Army] rations at yyyy, you are hereby informed. If there are not enough people, hire some people from the zzzz group commander. [Sd.] ['Hire some people' means that if the village sends less than 10 people then they also have to send money to make up for as many as they do not send. The money will not be used to 'hire' labourers; instead, the labour will be divided among as many people as have been sent, or additional labourers will be demanded from other villages. On the back of this order the village head wrote a list of 10 names, the people who went for the forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #112 Daw aaaa (Village Head) xxxx [village] 19/10/98 - I'm Major bbbb. [Sd.] * Messenger dddd has been serving for 4 days, so change him tonight. [This order demands replacements for rotation forced labourers who have already been with the Army for some time. 'It will be Mother's responsibility' implies that the labourer will not be released if his replacement doesn't arrive; 'Mother' is the village headwoman.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #113 Stamp: To: Date: 27-9-98 Subject: Calling a meeting about military operation servants [We] want to discuss and specify the number of servants who will go with the mobile column for military operations, so come and arrive on 28-9-98 at 10 o'clock in the morning, you are informed. The set tha [forced labourers for messengers and errands] didn't come on the 25th, so you are informed to bring along with the Chairperson those set tha labourers and the set tha labourers for 28-9-99, Saw aaaa and bbbb, a total of 4 villagers from xxxx. [Sd.] ['Military operation servants' means forced labour porters to go on extended frontline patrol with mobile Army columns; such porters are frequently kept by the Army for a month or longer, and are often killed when they can no longer carry.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #114 Stamp: From the Chairperson of the Ya Ya Ka [Village Peace & Development Council], to discuss about servants, come to a meeting at Ya Ya Ka office on 15-9-98, in the morning at 7 o'clock, you are informed. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #115 To: Ma aaaa Stamp: - The servants have been released. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
B) Forced Labour on Infrastructure
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Order #116 Stamp: Township Peace & Development Council To: Chairperson Subject: The matter of cutting the scrub and clearing the forest beside the 1. Regarding the above subject, at Southern Regional Army Headquarters, Regional Commander General Tin Aye, Deputy Regional Commander Brigadier General Thura Maung Ni and their troops wish to travel to Than Daung Gyi, so [you] must always open [the forest] to the light and clear the road from Than Daung to Than Daung Gyi, and [you] must clear alongside the Baw Ga Li - Maw Chi - Ko Chaung road and open [it] to the light by cutting the scrub and the forest, you are ordered and informed. 2. Therefore, the villagers along the Baw Ga Li - Maw Chi - Ko Chaung road in Gentleman's [your]village tract, within your own village tract boundary [you] must open [the ground] to the light, cut the scrub and clear the forest along the road by the deadline of 31-7-99, and when it is finished you must report, you are informed. [Sd.] Copies to- Office Copy / File [This is a typed and copied order with the village name written in afterwards by hand. Villages are often ordered to 'clear the scrub' along roadsides, mainly to make it more difficult for opposition troops to ambush SPDC columns and convoys and to make roads harder for opposition troops to cross. The road mentioned is over 100 kilometres long, part of an old disused pre-World War Two road from Toungoo town (in eastern Pegu Division) eastward to Mawchi (in southern Kayah State). In early 1998 the SPDC began using forced labour to build a new road along the old route. For more information see "False Peace: Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State" (KHRG #99-02, 25/3/99), pages 20-23.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #117 To: Date: 6-9-99 Subject: Informing all village heads to come and meet with the Company Commander We ordered [you] to clear the roadside from 21-mile to 18-mile during the period from the 2nd to the 9th [of September 1999]. But [you] did not do your duty perfectly on the segment [of road] that we assigned. Some of the villages have new heads of their village, and the new village heads do not know the segments which they have to clear. Therefore let the new village heads and the old village heads know to come and meet with the Company Commander without any absentees. Note: On 7-9-99 report without any absentees. [Sd.] [Villages are frequently ordered to clear the scrub along several miles of roadside, mainly to make it more difficult for opposition troops to ambush SPDC columns and convoys and to make roads harder for opposition troops to cross. '21-Mile' and '18-Mile' specify road markers, so this village was ordered to clear the scrub from both sides of the road over a 3-mile stretch. This order was later followed by Order #118 below.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #118 To: Date: 25-9-99 Subject: Informing you to come to 21-Mile We ordered you to clear the roadside from 21-Mile to 18-Mile, but we are not satisfied with the clearing. Therefore we ordered all of the village heads to come and meet three times already. We inform you that if you fail [to come] this time, according to the instructions of Tactical Command, your villages will have to relocate to appropriate places for security. If the village heads fail to come, we will inform the Tactical Command about relocation again and again. Ko aaaa, Ko bbbb: come without fail. [Sd.] [This order was a follow-up to Order #117 above. It has become much more threatening, making it clear that the village will be forced to relocate to an Army-controlled site if it fails to comply.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #119 Stamp: To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: To discuss the collapse of the vehicle road Regarding the above subject, come and gather at the VPDC [Ya Ya Ka] office tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock. The Gentlemen yourselves must come and discuss what to do about the collapsed vehicle road, you are invited. Respectfully, [At this meeting the villages will almost certainly be assigned forced labour to rebuild the collapsed road. Most roads in Burma are dirt, built by forced labour and incompetently engineered by unskilled Army officers, so they collapse every monsoon season and villagers are forced to rebuild them every dry season.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #120 Stamp: The condition of the yyyy - zzzz vehicle road is no good at all. Therefore, as a show of public strength, one person per house with mattock [large hoe], machete and food for 3 days must come without fail from Gentleman's [your] village to the Ya Ya Ka [VPDC] office tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #121 Chairperson Subject: The matter of rebuilding the roads Regarding the above subject, come without fail for loh ah pay labour. One person per house must lay the stones for the roads, informing and reminding [you] again. [Sd.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #122 Stamp: To: Chairpersons Date: 22/6/99 1. The small rivers between zzzz, yyyy and xxxx villages make it difficult for the villagers to travel in the rainy season. Your villages must finish making each bridge on the specified rivers by 27-6-99 as below.
2. Therefore, finish the bridges by the specified time, you are informed. [Sd.] [The meaning of '¾® river' is unclear, but appears to be a blank which was left because the officer did not know the name of the river and was never properly filled in. While the Commander claims that the bridges are for the benefit of the villagers, it is more likely that he is having them built for the benefit of his mobile patrols.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #123 To: Village Head 13.1.99 Subject: To come and meet with the Company Commander at yyyy Army Camp 1) From xxxx village, one person from each house [must] come to yyyy Army camp tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock led by the village head. Do not fail to come. 2) You must clear the scrub from the roadside area as we notified you before, so be quick. Do not fail to come. If you fail to come the responsibility will be yours, you are informed. [Sd. / Captain] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #124 To: Chairperson Date: 15-12-98 Subject: Calling for road loh ah pay Regarding the above subject, to repair the car road (yyyy / zzzz) on 16-12-98, bring 67 loh ah pay workers with mattocks / machetes to yyyy camp on 16-12-98, (Wednesday) morning at 0700 hours, without fail. Village head or assistant village head yourself [must] come, you are informed. If you fail to come, the responsibility will be yours. Place: yyyy Stamp: [This is a typed order copied to several villages, with the village name, date and exact number of labourers written in afterwards. Mattocks are large hoes.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #125 Stamp: Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion Subject: To discuss the cutting and clearing of the road Regarding the above subject, [we] want to discuss about doing it, so come and arrive on 9-12-98 at (0700) hours at yyyy [camp], you are informed. [Sd.] 8-12-98 ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #126 Stamp: Date: 12-3-98 To: Chairperson Subject: Invitation to the meeting to coordinate emergency work and to send workers Reference: Ye Township Peace & Development Council, date 11-3-98, 1) In accordance with the notification by Tactical Command #222 and TPDC [Township Peace & Development Council], to finish the Ye-Dawei [Ye-Tavoy] railway within the specified time, send 10 workers from each place, we already informed you with the letter referenced above. 2) The aforementioned meeting: Attend without fail, you are informed. [Sd.] [The Ye-Tavoy railway, over 150 kilometres long from Mon State to Tenasserim Division, has been built with the use of several hundred thousand villagers as forced labour since 1993. It is still not functioning, but forced labour on the project still comes and goes for villagers in the area. For background and interviews concerning this project, see the reports "Forced Labour in Mon Areas"(KHRG #96-20, 22/5/96), "Ye-Tavoy Area Update" (KHRG #96-01, 5/1/96), "SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-C" (KHRG #96-22, 27/5/96), and other previous reports.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
C) Forced Labour Fees
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Order #127 Stamp: Date: 15-10-99 To: Chairperson / Secretary ( xxxx [village] ) Subject: The matter of collecting the monthly servants' fees for 9/99 1. The register for sending servants and reserve Army servants in 9/99 is as follows: (a) Tactical Command 21 persons 2. Every village in xxxx Township has to pay their quota of servants' fees, depending on their proportion of the [total] number of households. (a) aaaa [village] 43 x 4,000 = 172,000 [Kyat] (b) bbbb [village] 12 x 4,000 = 48,000 Balance from 8/99 = 21,000 (c) cccc [village] 6 x 4,000 = 24,000 Balance from 8/99 = 90,800 (d) dddd [village] 5 x 4,000 = 20,000 Balance from 8/99 = 62,250 [page 2 of original starts here] (e) eeee [village] 5 x 4,000 = 20,000 Balance from 8/99 = 155,700 (f) ffff [village] 2 x 4,000 = 8,000 Balance from 8/99 = 32,125 (g) gggg [village] 2 x 4,000 = 8,000 Balance from 8/99 = 25,750 [Sd.] [This order relates to the standard "servants' fees" (often called 'porter fees') which villages must all pay every month in addition to the forced labourers they must send. In this Village Tract, the PDC is working closely with the local SPDC Battalions; they receive orders from the Battalions, then pass them on to the elders of all villages under their administration, sometimes with extra demands tacked on to enrich themselves. In the process, a complex system of 'servants' and 'servants' fees' has developed within this village tract. Initially the local Battalions issue orders to the Village Tract PDC demanding numbers of forced labourers for a specific purpose. Knowing that the villages do not want to do the labour and will be slow to comply, the Village Tract PDC often hires day labourers through agents in Toungoo, pays for their 'car fees' (i.e. transport costs) to the village tract, and supplies them to the SPDC military. The Village Tract PDC then issues orders to the villages under their administration to pay their share of the cost based on the relative size (number of households) of their village; for example, a village may be ordered to pay for 10 of the 80 people hired by the Village Tract PDC. In this order, the amount billed to the villages is 4,000 Kyat for each short-term porter plus 250 Kyat for his 'car fee' where necessary. Item 1 above specifies how many forced labourers the village tract sent to the Army for the month, and the rest of the order divides up the costs between the villages of the village tract. The payment generally averages out to 1,000 or more Kyat per family. The Army also demands many other fees from them, as well as food and, of course, their forced labour as 'servants'; many families cannot pay, and as can be seen by the 'balances' still remaining from previous months, several villages are far behind in their payments.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #128 To: Chairperson / Secretary Subject: The matter of collecting monthly fees for Army servants for 8/99 1. The register of Army servants and reserve Army servants which [we] sent in 8/99 is as follows: (a) IB #xxx 22 persons Stamp: 2. Each village in xxxx Township must pay their quota of servants' fees, depending on their proportion of the [total] number of households. (a) aaaa [village] 43 x 4,000 = 172,000 [Kyat] (b) bbbb [village] 12 x 4,000 = 48,000 Balance from 7/99 = 45,990 (c) cccc [village] 6 x 4,000 = 24,000 Balance from 7/99 = 63,500 (d) dddd [village] 5 x 4,000 = 20,000 Balance from 7/99 = 48,000 [page 2 of original starts here] (e) eeee [village] 5 x 4,000 = 20,000 Balance from 7/99 = 131,450 (f) ffff [village] 2 x 4,000 = 8,000 Balance from 7/99 = 27,875 (g) gggg [village] 2 x 4,000 = 8,000 Balance from 7/99 = 17,500 [page 3] Therefore, collect it according to the quotas for each village and come to bring it, you are informed. [Sd.] [This order relates to the standard "servants' fees" (often called 'porter fees') which villages must all pay every month in addition to the forced labourers they must send. For additional explanation, see also the notes on Order #127 above.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #129 Stamp: Date: 7-6-99 Subject: To collect and send the monthly military servants' fees for ( 5 / 99 ) Regarding the above subject, in ( 5/99 ) the number of military servants that were sent was ([unclear]) persons. In accordance with the proportion of houses in each village, Gentleman's xxxxvillage must pay ( 15,750 ) Kyat for ( 3 ) persons as military servants. Therefore, the Gentleman's village must collect it and come to give it, you are informed. For the previous months of ( / ) ( / ) ( / ), you must pay in cash ( 16,625 ) Kyat. Collect and bring it at the same time. Total of the money due: 32,375 Kyat. [page 2 of original starts here] Therefore, in accordance with the request, collect from the villages and come to bring it, you are informed. [Sd.] 8-6-99 [This is a typed and carbon-copied order with the village name and some of the amounts (shown in italics) written in afterwards; the line totalling the two amounts and the second page were also written in afterward by hand. Similar to Orders #127 and 128 above, this order was issued after the village tract authorities had hired itinerant labourers to send in response to the military's demands for forced labour. The village tract authorities then determine how many labourers each village is 'responsible' for and bills them accordingly. The village addressed in this order also must pay some money for the 'previous months', i.e. they are behind in their payments. The Army also demands many other fees from them, as well as food and, of course, their forced labour as 'servants'.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #130 Stamp: Subject: To send servant money Regarding the above subject, [we] want you to collect and send servant money. If you don't come and bring it between 22-6-99 and 26-6-99, serious action will be taken by the Army camp. Note: [We] want the Chairperson yourself to come and report to the Ya Ya Ka [VPDC] office. [Sd.] [This refers to money collected from the villages by the village tract authorities to hire people to go for forced labour assignments; see also Orders #127-129 above. Here again the complicity of the village tract authorities and the Army can be seen; the village tract has hired and sent people to fill the Army's forced labour demands and is simply demanding reimbursement from the local villages, but threatens them with action 'by the Army camp' if they fail to pay.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #131 Stamp: 19-6-99 Subject: To send 6 carriers [porters] for LIB #xxx Operations Regarding the above subject, [we] have to hire carriers. xxxx village is responsible for 7,500 Kyat, seven thousand five hundred Kyat exactly, send it without fail on 20-6-99, you are informed. [Sd.] [This order really means that the village must send either 6 porters or 7,500 Kyat in lieu of porters. It is issued by the Village Peace & Development Council of a central village; the Army has sent a demand for a certain number of porters, and this VPDC has had to distribute the burden between the villages in the area. Knowing that no one in the local villages dares go as porters, they are assuming that each village will prefer to pay to hire substitutes rather than go themselves, so they are taking the responsibility for collecting the money and hiring the substitutes. In the disastrous economy of today's Burma, there are usually some itinerant labourers around who are desperate enough to hire themselves out to go as porters in the place of villagers.] ______________________________________________________________________________ Order #132 The matter of the servant from xxxx [village] xxxx [village] 9-5-99 [This is a quick note to or from a headman, regarding money which was paid to the authorities in lieu of forced labour and 'spending money' to be given to someone who is going for forced labour.] ______________________________________________________________________________ |
