LAND CONFISCATION BY MYANMAR GOVERNMENT

Dear Mon people and supporters of social justice in Burma

There are serious developments taking place in Mon state that requires immediate attention by the international community as a matter of long-term national survival for the future of the Mon people and civil society in Burma. Organized land confiscation has reportedly continued to prevail in all parts of Mon State by the Government of Myanmar that continues to confiscate several thousand acres of land for military purposes which is becoming a serious threat to survival of civilians. This threat represents a new episode in the drama against the human rights and civil society of the Mon people, whose basic human rights have been violated throughout the past forty (40) years.

In light of these developments, Amnesty International (July 17, 2002) has issued numerous urges and recommendations to the Myanmar government regarding land confiscations calling for the minimum of respect to the basic freedoms of the Myanmar citizens. But unfortunately it is feared that they will be neglected. The Myanmar government has already confiscated more than 1,000 acres of farmland in southern Ye and 2,050 acres in northern Ye in 2000 and 2001 and continues to do so to the present time.

Overview

The greatest prevalence of land confiscation is being reported in Ye township. Uniformed officials, notably high ranking army personnel, like Myanmar General Maung Bo met with village headmen and farmers on August 24, 2002 at Mokanin to inspect a site beneficial to a plan of the government’s to build a heavy artillery battalion.  In all incidents of land confiscation, villagers are ordered by the army to attend meetings with army officers and are informed of the proposed sites, the owners of the land are then informed that their farms will be seized for the building of a heavy artillery battalion. Landowners are asked whether they disagree with the proposed plan but no villagers dare to speak out fearing that to do so would risk arrest or worse.

Cases of displacement have also been reported with the implementation of land confiscation. Commercial farmers are being forced to vacate their farms, leaving all their property behind. They are told to pack up their belongings and leave the premises immediately. Several families, with no other means to earn a living, face starvation and prolonged hardship within a context of violence and civil war. Some 30 Mon families have had their land and rubber plantations seized.  In several cases, families are forced to move into town and are ordered by the military to build barracks. 

According to the AI report, a Mon man from Min Hla village, Ye township said that his family’s rubber plantation of 25 acres was confiscated along with that of 500 acres of others in July 2001.

At another location, Lt Col Thant Zin Maw, commander No. 311 Heavy Artillery Battalion and officials from Land Records Office, Forestry Department and General Administration Department arrived in Karoppi Village, Thanbyuzayat Township. He choose a site for livestock breeding and agriculture activities, reported by the Democratic Voice of Burma radio, on July 28, 2002. This project also intends to open a new Heavy Artillery Battalion in the area by the No. 606 Heavy Artillery Headquarters under the Southeast Military Command based in Mawlamyine (Moulmein), Mon State. Land confiscated will include 23 acres of pasture, 26 acres of forest land, 11 acres of rubber plantation owned by Atin, 14 acres owned by U Paw Tote, 12 acres of rubber plantation owned by Daw Tin Ngwe and 14 acres of rubber plantation owned by Nai Sa Net, all land is taken by force by the Myanmar army (Tatmadaw).

The Tatmadaw recently seized an additional 2000 acres of land from villagers that includes 600 acres belonging to Mokanin, Lamine Hnitkayin and DeinPeen villages, 500 acres between Jao-Khalae and Taungbon village, and 500 acres between Aung-Thayar and Leinmaw-Chan in Northern Ye Township, Mon State.

Local sources said the Tatmadaw plans to build four heavy artillery battalions equipped with missile launches near Kamarwet village in Mudon Township, Waegalee village in Thanbyuzayat Township and two battalions in Ye Township, Mon State.

Mon villagers have used this land for generations to sustain a livelihood based on farming vegetables, fruits, rubber and rice. Land confiscation will further increase hardship and deepen the problems of poverty, future economic development, and prolong conflict and civil war in the country.  In all cases, farmers receive no compensation and do not have recourse to any complaint mechanism or other means of redress. Some villagers, as a result, are planning revenge and have bought arms to fight the (Tatmadaw). In other cases, villagers being forced from their farms with nothing but the clothes on their back and, with no other means of survival, leave to Thailand and Malaysia as migrant labourers.

Thus this petition written by Mon Unity League urges the concerned institutions, activists, civil and political circles within the international community to extend their solidarity and not to leave the civilians in Mon State alone amid this unjustified action from the Burmese authorities, especially that of confiscated land which poses a national threat to the Mon homeland and the future of Burma. It is incidents such as these that without democracy and human rights, the problems of economic underdevelopment and poverty in Burma will never be fully addressed.

As well, the Myanmar authorities are deeply urged to accept, accommodate and incorporate the ethnic nationalities, human rights activists, institutions, and civil society circles within the Myanmar society because their intellectual capacities are needed, their never-ending activities are reflections to the extent of Myanmar development and tolerance, and add to Myanmar image within the international community.

Write to the Myanmar authorities urging them to immediately take action against the practice of land confiscation and guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Mon Unity League

November 15, 2002