Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 5 Oct 1992 22:46:02 PDT
From:         "(Coban Tun)" <tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>
Subject:      Burma: Report from inside (LONG)

We heard the news of SLORC forceibly relocating people out of
Rangoon out to satellite villages after the May election of 1990.

Following is the one of four interviews conducted by BKK based NGO
Burma Rights Movement for Action (B.U.R.M.A)

                   Report from inside Burma,

(Interviews in Satellite Villages)

First Interview

I recently arrived in the Shwe Pyi Tha new town, which is a new
satellite villages in the outskirts of Rangoon. Previously, the
area was all paddy fields for rice production.  The land was owned
by the farmers themselves.  When the military took over state
power, the junta confiscated the paddy fields without paying any
compensation to the farmers.  Thus, the farmers now are landless,
have no place to grow the rice for their survival. Even though the
farmer's lands were confiscated, the farmers each had to pay 1500
kyats to the junta to build a new home in the new town.
Ironically, they built their new homes on land they once owned, but
lost to the military government.  So, the farmers, not being able
to farm any longer, have to search for work every day in order to
survive.

Shwe Pyi Tha is divided by the Rangoon Prome railway into the east
area and the west area.  In the east area, there are many large
comfortable houses, and the area is well decorated in order to
serve the high ranking army officers and civil servants.  The
people call the east area the "VIP ward".

In the west area, there are many huts made of bamboo with thatched
roofs. The two areas are very contrasting although near together.

There are 9 wards in Shwe Pyi Tha, not counting the VIP ward.  In
the VIP ward, construction of the spacious houses has been going on
for two years now.

The poor people were forced to shift to Shwe Pyi Tha from their old
houses because the military junta told them that their old area was
needed to build roads, new buildings (offices and living quarters
for the armed forces officers), or to build the new market etc,.
Even though the poor people's houses were destroyed by the junta,
the people received no compensation, and still had to pay at least
3000 kyats to 5000 kyats to get a small piece of land in the new
town.  These poor people have to work very hard every day to get
even a small amount of money only for food. Now, they must begin
their lives all over again.  For example, the people build a small
bamboo hut only 10 feet square which costs at least 1000 kyats.
Since they can earn enough each day only for mere survival, they
must borrow the money with a high interest rate from the rich
people.  If the people can not borrow the money, they have to move
to another place called Aye Mya Tha Ya which is on the Rangoon
Prome highway road, more than 150 miles from Rangoon. Even the
people in Shwe Pyi Tha new town can not go to Rangoon area for
their jobs because the transportation rate is very expensive.
Their average daily income is only around 15 kyats.  The round trip
Rangoon area costs 10 kyats.  This expensive transportation rate
is due to an increase in the price of petrol from 3.50 kyats to 15
kyats for a one gallon. Now, in Burma, all commodity prices are
very high because of the expense of transportation.

One boy who is in the 4th standard in school, said that previously
his family lived in Sin Min ward in Alon township.  Now, the junta
built the new Thi Ri Min Ga La market in their old place. One day
the township SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council)
officials ordered the people to move from their old place to one of
the new towns. The SLORC told the people to give the money for the
new place and the people got one week to prepare to move to the new
town.  On the last day given for preparations, two army trucks and
two fire trucks came to their old place to force the people out.
The people did not destroy their house because they did not want to
move from their old place.  So, the army took the head of the house
(most are the fathers of the families) and detained them for one
week. Although, the people did not want to move from their old
place, they were forced to move to the new town.

In this boy's family, are his parents, his two elder brothers, one
younger sister and two younger brothers. The eldest brother is 20
years old(eighth standard in school).  The second elder brother is
18 years old (seventh standard), he is 14 years old (fourth
standard), his younger sister is 13 years old (third standard), and
his two younger brothers are both 7 years old (first standard).
Before the eviction, they were all in school. When they moved to
the new town, their family had almost no money for survival. Thus,
his two elder brothers had to leave school and find hard work to
support their family. Each of the two brother's daily income is
around 15 kyats. His father sells dry fish and salted fish.  The
young boy also works to support his family by repairing gas
cigarette lighters in his spare time. His mother sells some small
commodities in their house.  Even though the whole family works so
hard for their survival, their living standard is very low. Their
daily family expenses are at least 64 kyats.

Most of the family in the new town are starving. The people are
suffering from the high inflation rate.

The schools in the new town are a very sad situation. Some schools
are still being built. The teachers especially face a very
difficult time in traveling to and from the schools.  SLORC issues
coupon tickets to use for their transportation.  The teachers, as
well as the government workers, can use the coupons for travelling
during office hours. The teachers transportation costs are at least
4 kyats for the round trip to the new town.  Their salary is 650
kyats per month. But they pay 189 kyats only for travelling to the
school. Thus, the government staff are also suffering from high
inflation.

The hospital is being still built in the new town. There is only
one clinic to care for the people. There are only a few of
medicines in the clinic and there is a serious lack of medicine for
accident cases. The doctor only comes infrequently to the clinic.

There are four kinds of buses for transportation to the new town.
Yet the people have difficulty getting rides as there are only a
few vehicles available. Most of the people most work in the Rangoon
area. So the people must spend a large portion of the money for
transportation to go to the Rangoon area.  In the evening, during
the rush hour, the people pay at least 5 kyats for the bus from
Rangoon area to the new town area.

In the VIP ward, the main road divides the area into the high
ranking civil servants area and the armed forces staff area. Large
houses are being built in both sections of the VIP ward.  Although
the high ranking officers build the houses which here, they sell
them at a very high price rather than live in them. These high
ranking officers get bricks and cement at the official rate which
is very low. At the same time, they use the state)owned cars for
the transportation to carry the building supplies. The army
officers even use the army trucks for transportation to build their
houses.

In the new town, we can clearly see the junta's tactics of
manipulating the people. The junta gives many special facilities to
the officers to oppress the people. Although the people understand
the junta's brutal tactics, they do not dare to speak out against
the junta during this period of rule under the military.
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