Poppy Acreage To Be Increased Under Junta Direction

Poppy Acreage To Be Increased Under Junta Direction

The population in Mongton has been on the increase since outsiders drawn by the local commanders' policy of indulgence, have been moving into the area to clear land for the next poppy season, according to sources from across the border.

People from Taunggyi and Loilem districts have been swarming by the hundreds to warlord Khunsa's former "Free Territory" west of Mongton during the last month and busy preparing new poppy fields from Mongkyawt and Monghe to Sankang and Khailong, they said.

The new commander in Mongkyawt, Capt Aung Myint, Company 3, IB 225, who recently replaced Capt Thein Win, Commander Company 5, IB 65, was reported to have told his junior officers to inform the populace that poppies would be allowed to be grown at the tax rate of 0.30 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kilograms) per acre and each family was expected to work at least 3 acres.

The price of rice is also rising high, at B. 20 per liter, which is more than twice the price along the border communities in Thailand, said sources. "But these people don't mind, because they are being financed by the Chinese 'pawliang's (bosses)," said one source.

The area, especially Mongkyawt and Monghe, was once depopulated when the war between Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army and Rangoon was at its height in 1994. Due to the extrajudicial killings and other abuses by the junta troops, hundreds had fled into Thailand.

Reported by: Seng Khao Haeng