[Tlc] T-Mon news

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri. See 4 stories below.
Thanks,
justin

Mon National Day kicks off worldwide 

Changes to Travel Document Requirements

Summer Paddy Cultivation Ordered in Mon State

Traffic police in festivals to extort motorbike owners

_____________________________________

Mon National Day kicks off worldwide 

Kaowao: February 21, 2008

Mon National Day Committees in their new homes and host
countries are preparing for the big annual Mon National Day
celebration and have been working hard to unite their people
in an event that will draw in thousands for fun and
entertainment. 

In most locations, such as in Malaysia, Thailand and back home
in Burma, Mon National Day will be celebrated on Friday,
February 22, but in the US, Australia and Canada the grand
event will take place on the weekend. 

According to the Mon Affairs Union (MAU), the Mon community at
the Thailand Burma border area is joining the event with the
New Mon State Party at Palai Japan village. 

Overseas Mon Coordinating Committee (OMCC) is also drafting a
joint statement for the 61st Anniversary of Mon National Day.

The Thai-Mon community have already hosted the event on
February 2nd and 3rd at Ban Rai Thai Mon village near
Samutsakhorn fishing community but the event was not attended
by migrant workers due to harassment by the Thai local police.

The Three Pagodas Pass Mon community has to celebrate with
low-profile modest festivities this year as a bomb went off to
disrupt the event and celebrants are wary of another possible
attack this year.   

Mon National Day is largely celebrated back home in Burma in
areas dominated by Mon inhabitants in Mon State, Karen State,
Rangoon and Pegu.  The celebration has grown in Mon immigrant
communities across Asia, Europe, Australia and North America
where Mons live and enjoy some freedom.

Mon migrant workers in South Korea celebrated Mon National Day
on Februry 7th at a Korean monastery in Seoul.  According to
Nai Blai organizer of the MND, there are over one hundred Mons
working in Korea and almost all of them attended this event. 
The event was organized by Mon singer Gong Chan, Nai Tin Min
and Nai Blai.   

The MND was also celebrated in London, UK on February 16, 2008
with cultural performance and traditional food. 

Mon leaders in 1948 implemented the first Mon National Day to
bring together people in a meaningful way based on cultural
heritage and political aspirations as a people. The 1st Mon
National Day Ceremony was celebrated at the cinema hall of Wae
Dut (Ywa Lut) in Beelu Kyun Island, Mon State.  According to
the booklet written by Rev. Abbot Palita, 7 leaders who
organized the event were Rev. Abbot Kusala, Mon Pho Cho
(President of UMA), Nai Pho Aung,  Nai Pho Sein, Nai Htaw Aa,
Nai Chan Mon (Secretary of UMA) and Nai Pyaing.

In Canada, jointly hosted by the Mon Canadian Society, Mon
Women's Organization and Mon Buddhist Temple (Canada), the Mon
National Day in Calgary will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight
at Southview Community Association.  The Mon Canadians will
hold this event as a 10th year celebration featuring cultural
performance led by Mi Ohnmar and a live music band led by Nai
Reh Nai. 

“We name our band ‘Band Mon Poey’.  It is a great opportunity
for us to welcome Canadians and friends in honouring our
heritage.  We also want to highlight the same spirit 10 years
ago when we started this celebration in Canada", said an
organizer of the MND in Calgary. 

Eric Snider, a longtime Canadian supporter of Burma recalls
the first celebration in Canada, “It was my pleasure to be a
part of the first celebration of Mon National Day in the city
of Vancouver more than 10 years ago and I am glad to know that
you are continuing the fine tradition that I was part of then.
   Let us live and work for the day when it will be possible
for the Mon community to celebrate this day as gladly and
openly in the heartland of the Mon people in Burma itself as
it is done in more than a dozen countries around the world
today.” 

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Changes to Travel Document Requirements

Kaowao: February 21, 2008

Ye, Mon State -- Burmese military junta and authorities have
been cooperating in their security efforts and subsequently
making profits from local villagers. 

Southern Ye Township military commander, Kha Ma Ya (Light
Infantry Battalion) No. 31, declared each residence must carry
the new travel document for their own security.  The small and
simple document costs villagers 1000 Kyat per household. 

A Khaw Zar villager told Kaowao that these documents were
required not only of plantation owners but also daily workers
who were forced to purchase and carry the document whenever
traveling to or from the village. He said, “The military are
empowered to query everybody that travels to and from the
farms; they even stop women and children as they now expect us
to all hold this document. We were previously allowed to hold
one pair of documents per household but they now refuse this
rule, opting instead to enforce one document per person and
therefore increasing their profits greatly. “

This traveling document was issued in Khaw Zar Sub-Township
and currently documents are held in the New Mon State Party
(NMSP) area, Southern Ye Township alongside Khaw Zar and Han
Gan villages.

Authorities have now increased security and their presence
along the sentry gates and ordering villagers to work on a
rotating roster taking greater responsibility for security. 

Karen and Mon armed groups are active in remote area of
Southern Ye and Yebyu townships and the area is named as a
black area (killing zone) by the Burma Army.  Several
villagers have been arrested, tortured, raped and killed by
the Burma Army during military operation to wipe out guerrilla
groups.time savetime saved

 

***********************************************************************

Summer Paddy Cultivation Ordered in Mon State

Smulk Chan, Kaowao: February 21, 2008

SPDC authorities ordered farmers to grow their summer paddy in
Mon State in order to improve the development of the
countryside local sources from Mon State reported.

“The junta is placing these orders last month in Mudon and
Thanbyu Zayat, and around villages including Chak Toie, Dai
Mai and Saung Min.  They forced this without supplying enough
water for the farmers in each village,” said a farmer from
Mudon, Mon State.

Farmers in these areas have been ordered to cultivate the
summer paddy; those who do not grow the paddy have to pay a
tax of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 Kyats.”

A Kalaw Thaw (Klot Sot) farmer told Kaowao, “If we do not
cultivate the paddy by ourselves, we have to pay the tax and
allow them to cultivate on our farms. That is why we follow
their orders to an extent and cultivate our own farms to
retain ownership and protect them from damage.  If we allow
them to cultivate on our land they promise to provide for us;
however, we don’t want to allow them to claim ownership of our
paddy, and we don’t like them to work on our farms because
they don’t know the land the way we do.  So we worry about
their methods may cause the destruction.”

Several farmers complain that it is not the right time to grow
the paddy in this season and it has been difficult to obtain
the water from the stream.  Without regional support with
materials, the farmers have to purchase water and fertilizers
by themselves to successfully cultivate the summer paddy.

A farmer forced to cultivate the summer paddy said, “We are
fully aware that we lose money, energy and waste our time for
zero personal profit, however we have to cultivate the paddy
because we live in fear of the government and their power.  We
are afraid our farms will be destroyed.”

The problems farmers face to cultivate the paddy in summer
affect not only farmers but their children’s education;
generally children have to help their parents and do not have
time to study for their exams. 

This project was ordered by the SPDC in an effort to
demonstrate how Burma as a country is developing.  In Mon
state, Mudon, Thanbyu Zayat and Ye townships have been forced
to grow paddy in each village, while in Karen state farmers
whose farms lie near the dam were forced to cultivate the
summer paddy while the remaining farmers were forced to
cultivate groundnuts and sun flowers.

*****************************************************

Traffic police in festivals to extort motorbike owners

Kaowao: February 20th, 2008

Mon State -- the number of blue-uniformed traffic police has
been reduced, with their presence now only visible at the main
check points as they come to the villages and seize any
unlicensed motorbikes.

“Because of all different festivals in the rural communities
at the beginning of February, many traffic cops from town come
to the villages and seize any unlicensed motorbikes, usually
at the entrance to the village.  They threaten to fine
villagers too,” said Nai Soe, a Malawmyine-Ye vehicle driver.
 He stated that the cops target on motorbikes and arresting
owners during the village festivals.

“They don’t always impound the bikes but instead request the
owner pay a fine.  They travel around all villages as
undercover cops and make quite a bit of money,” he added. 

According to a La Mine villager, “At the moment it feels like
everyday our township faces the same thing with motorbikes
being seized and villagers being threatened with significant
fines.  The traffic cops wait outside the village, often
concealing themselves until the last minute, so they are
almost like robbers, sneaking out and seizing the bikes,
threatening and fining the villagers.”

Like in Malawmyine and Ye cities, the police do not always
impound the vehicles, opting instead to place heavy fines of
up to 40,000 Kyat on villagers, at the same time verbally
abusing them as ‘beggars’ when they ask for the return of
their bikes.  “You know the really disappointing part is they
wait for festivals to act like this.  This type of behaviour
is also common around wedding ceremonies and our Buddhist
ordination ceremonies. This hurts all the villagers, and
taints what should be a happy occasion,” he added.

 

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______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu