Living Silence in Burma (29 page)

There have also been instances of rape and other forms of abuse by soldiers from the ethnic nationalist armies, although there is virtually no documentation of this.
¹⁷
Soldiers from the resistance armies are generally more careful about how they treat civilians, and in at least some of the armies they are more likely to face punishment.

In conflict areas, older women have often been compelled to take on the position of village head. Because the
tatmadaw
is more likely to perceive male villagers as active enemy supporters and the headman’s job involves dealing with all the armies that come through, few men are willing to take on the job. While the villagers may expect that older women can use their position as mothers in society to persuade younger soldiers to reduce certain demands, there are also numerous instances of female village heads having been beaten, tortured or raped.
¹⁸
In some areas, the position rotates among different women, as no one wants to take on the burden for long.

Because of the systematic and widespread nature of the abuses committed by
tatmadaw
soldiers in conflict areas, Amnesty International has accused the
tatmadaw
of committing crimes against humanity.
¹⁹
Clearly, the destructive impact of the violations on communities has been profound and, rather than building unity, the
tatmadaw
’s practices have engendered mistrust and hatred.

In areas where ceasefires have been negotiated, the use of physical violence against civilians is much rarer, although
tatmadaw
units may still confiscate land and demand forced labour in areas where they have access.
²⁰
In most ceasefire areas, civilians have been able to rebuild their lives and begin new business ventures. Even after the New Mon State Party agreed to a ceasefire, however, thousands of displaced villagers were afraid to return to their original village sites because of the proximity of
tatmadaw
army camps.

Pitting communities against each other

Military commanders and other state authorities have implemented additional policies which have created a legacy of increased racial hatred in some areas. Policies include confiscating land which is then either given or sold to people of other ethnic groups, encouraging Burmans to move into the ethnic states, and rewarding Burman soldiers who marry non-Burmans. The intention of all these policies is to dilute the concentration of non-Burman, non-Buddhist populations and delegitimize ethnic groups’ demands for autonomy. While these policies have not been practised in all areas at all times, there are several examples.

In Northern Arakan State, the authorities have moved Rohingya populations out of many villages, and resettled Arakanese and Burman Buddhists in their place.
²¹
In many cases, Arakanese Buddhists have supported this policy as they do not want the population of Rohingya Muslims in their state to increase. Meanwhile, with the agreement of the SPDC, between 1999 and 2001 the United Wa State Army moved between 50,000 and 126,000 Wa hill farmers from north-eastern Shan State to an area close to the Thai border.
²²
Forty-eight thousand Shan, Lahu and Akha villagers, who lived in an area where the Shan State Army (South) was active, were forcibly displaced to make room for the Wa settlers.
²³
The relocation programme was carried out because the UWSA wanted to expand its area of control while the SPDC wanted to remove support for the Shan State Army (South) and mix up the population in the area. In Northern Shan State, recent Chinese immigrants have been able to buy up land from indebted farmers, fuelling resentment at the growing Chinese presence.
²⁴
Groups such as the Shan, who found comfort in their dominant numbers locally, now risk becoming minorities even in their own districts and states.

A piecemeal process of Burmanization in the ethnic states is also taking place, as new bases are built, land is confiscated, and
tatmadaw
soldiers resettle their families around the bases. Over the past twenty years, there have been periodic reports of Burman soldiers in the
tatmadaw
being rewarded with money or a promotion if they marry Chin, Karen or Shan girls in the ethnic states.
²⁵
By mixing the blood of ethnic minority populations, future generations are likely to become Burmanized and adopt Burman-style Buddhism. The impact of these policies is to shift the balance in the composition of local populations and to create the conditions for communal strife in the future.

The threat of independent groups

Successive military regimes have fostered state-controlled organizations at the expense of independent organizations. In the 1970s and 1980s, citizens were strongly encouraged to join the BSPP, while since 1993, young people and adults have been pushed to join the USDA. In addition, there are a number of government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) which have been used by the authorities to promote government policies. These include the Myanmar Red Cross Society, the Fire Brigades, the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation, the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association, as well as a number of professional organizations. Many people join the local chapters of the Myanmar Red Cross or the Maternal Child and Welfare Association out of a genuine desire to help their communities. The leaders of the GONGOs tend, however, to have close links to the authorities and frequently speak out on behalf of the regime at mass meetings.
²⁶

While the GONGOs take prominence in the state media, a number of religious associations of all faiths and social and cultural clubs have quietly managed to establish themselves or continue their activities throughout military rule. Community-based organizations working on social welfare issues have been tolerated; independent farmers’ or workers’ unions, however, have not been allowed.

Since the early 1990s, the number of both NGOs and smaller community-based organizations has increased markedly.
²⁷
This has come about in part because of official permission for some international NGOs to begin working in Burma and for UN agencies to expand their programming. International NGOs and UN agencies have often funded or partnered with local organizations, and in some cases have provided training to their staff. At the same time, there is a sense among many Burmese that the needs for social welfare assistance have increased and that they must try to do something about it. Some political activists have also turned to social welfare work as a more immediate and less risky way to help their fellow citizens. Furthermore, with more foreigners travelling into Burma and more Burmese travelling abroad for conferences, study tours and training programmes, there is now a greater awareness of what community organizations are doing in other countries and how to operate and fund community organizations in Burma.

When an organization is founded, the members must decide whether or not to register with the government and to what degree they will cooperate with the authorities. While some have preferred to operate completely independently, others have found that when they could win
over local authorities, they could work far more easily. Groups that become prominent or include former political activists, however, can come under pressure to reorganize as a GONGO or to cease their activities altogether.

One group that was turned into a GONGO was the Myanmar Women’s Entrepreneurial Association (MWEA). Founded in 1995 by a group of Burmese businesswomen, the association was allowed to register with the Home Ministry only after its members had all signed pledges that they would not become involved in political activities. The association became quite active in the business community, and even planned to erect a new office building in central Rangoon. A few days before holding a celebration to mark its first anniversary, one of Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt’s staff called the association and demanded tickets for several SLORC officials. He also informed them that they must allow Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt to give the keynote address. Following the event, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt’s speech was quoted at length in the newspapers.

The USDA also went after the association, demanding that MWEA members join the USDA and give contributions. A conflict erupted in the women’s organization. Some argued that members should be able to decide individually whether or not they would join the USDA rather than having the whole association sucked in. But others thought it would be better for the MWEA to cooperate with the USDA in order to avoid trouble. In the end, the MWEA was compelled to work more closely with the regime. In the words of one observer, the MWEA was ‘SLORCed’.

In another instance in the mid-1990s, a former 1988 activist named Ye Naing worked together with some friends to start a social welfare association in a town in central Burma. Although he had grown up in a rough area and started using drugs when he was thirteen, he gave up drinking and drugs a few years later in 1988, when he joined the democracy movement. In the mid-1990s, he started trying to reform other young alcoholics and drug addicts in his area by applying positive peer pressure.

After being praised by some of the neighbourhood elders for his good work, he went on to organize other students to help repair the local monastery. Although he was a Muslim, he decided that, as a Burmese citizen, he should be willing to do anything that would be good for his society.

At the same time, he formed a small organization to assist with funerals and other social events, especially for the needy. Usually people have to hire coffin bearers and buy them alcohol, because the task is considered
a distasteful one. But poor people cannot afford this, so Ye Naing’s group offered to carry coffins for no charge. If a couple eloped and needed money for their wedding ceremony, Ye Naing’s group would give them a small interest-free loan.

According to Ye Naing, ‘The ward authorities and the local USDA chapter felt insulted when we got involved in these kinds of cases, because they felt we were doing their job.’ Also, he said, the authorities were suspicious of his group because of the recognition it was gaining in the community and because he was a former student activist. In 1996, when student demonstrations broke out in Rangoon and threatened to spread to other towns, Ye Naing learned that the authorities were planning to use the occasion to arrest his group. They all ran away, but Ye Naing said that some missed home and went back. They were imprisoned.

Nevertheless, there are many other more positive stories of organizations that have survived and managed to provide basic assistance or promote local development. The Metta Development Foundation is a good example. It was established in 1998 by Seng Raw, a Kachin woman who wanted to support post-ceasefire reconstruction in Kachin State. The foundation has been able to set up farmer field schools and sustainable agriculture training courses which have helped to improve the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in Kachin State as well as in other ethnic states.

Similarly, as tragic as the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis was, one positive outcome was that many new groups emerged or temporarily shifted their focus to provide humanitarian assistance. Yadana, a modest but self-assured woman from Rangoon, talked about how she and a few others put together a group of about thirty-five people from their neighbourhood to assist cyclone victims. The group included merchants, private teachers, street vendors and day labourers, who could help load and unload relief supplies. Each time they assembled a large enough stockpile of donations, members of the group would take a day off work to take the supplies out to villages in the delta. While they were irritated by the fact that the authorities often made it difficult for them to operate independently, Yadana said they found great pleasure in providing assistance to people who really needed it. The members of the group quickly became very close, even though they hadn’t known each other well before. As Yadana put it, ‘we have the same heartbeat’.

In the ethnic resistance areas and along Burma’s borders, members of various ethnic communities have also set up independent organizations. Some, like organizations in government-controlled areas, focus on relief
and development work, healthcare and education. Others, however, have focused on human rights documentation and awareness raising and the promotion of women’s and children’s rights. The Karen Women’s Organization, for instance, transformed itself from a social welfare organization into an organization that provides a much more diverse range of services. Operating along the Thai–Burma border and in KNU-controlled territory, it has written reports on the rape of Karen women by
tatmadaw
soldiers, co-produced a video on gender-based violence for Karen audiences, provided human rights and democracy training, and established women’s leadership courses. It is also an active member of the Women’s League of Burma, which brings together women’s groups from a variety of ethnicities and advocates for women’s rights and democracy in Burma.

The growing number of NGOs and community organizations inside Burma and along its borders offers hope that Burma’s future will be brighter. At the very least, the people who work or volunteer for such organizations are becoming part of an active community of people who insist on addressing community problems despite the challenges imposed by the authorities. As such organizations expand and become more confident, perhaps the authorities will no longer find it so easy to divide communities and pit people against each other.

8 | The military: a life sentence

    Prisoners get released, but for us soldiers, there is no hope … We will be forced to work until the day we die. (Ex-sergeant Maung Maung)