Officer

Officer: We are forced to provide for ourselves

Drugs

Reporter: Zong Arng

At a meeting with village headmen and local well-to-do people in southern Shan State two months earlier to exhort them to increase their opium production, an army officer had admitted that army units were being forced to encourage the trend by the self-reliance policy imposed by Rangoon, according to sources from Kunhing, 130 miles east of Taunggyi. 

“We are going through hard times,” Capt Hla Aung, Commander, Company 4, Infantry Battalion 246, was quoted as saying to the gathering on 8 September, at the Meditation Temple in Kunhing, Loilem district. He was said to be a native of Loikaw, Kayah State, born of a Shan father and Pa-O mother. “Those who have money are at a loss as to what kind of business they can engage. Rice farmers are also disoriented because their paddy are being forcibly bought by the government. We soldiers are also desperate, because we have been forced to support ourselves and our own families. But if all of you grow poppies, we may be able to tax you for our own upkeep. At the same time, your own life will be easier."

The captain also tried to comfort the farmers’ worry whether their poppy fields would be in danger of being destroyed by annual slashing teams. “The prohibition is only for the benefit of the international community,” he translated. “The main requirement is that you don’t grow it near public roads, towns and villages where unfriendly outsiders may notice and use it to discredit the government.” 

There should be no concern about where to sell their produce either, he said, because “factory owners” would be there to buy all. “For the army, you need to pay no more than 10% of every viss (1.6 kg) you make.” 

According to border sources, Burma’s drug enforcement agency, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, had on 7 October called for significant reduction and termination of opium output in the present poppy season followed by effective punishment for officials should they fail in their tasks.