No. 22 - 11/2005
30 November 2005

Human Rights

Local Burmese military rulers force people to buy calendars

Extortion by the rulers takes different forms in Burma. In Muse, Northern Shan State for instance the local Burmese military authorities have been forcing people in the town to buy calendars with a picture of the Pagoda in Lashio.

On November 13, the chairman of Muse, Ye Lin Oo asked all nine headmen from the town to attend a meeting and asked for the list of houses in each village. Then he gave calendars of 2006 with a photo of the Pagoda from the capital city of Northern Shan State, Lashio to each headman. He then ordered them to sell each calendar for 2,000 kyats. There are 6,000 houses in Muse Township. So at least 12 million kyats will be earned, according to the sources from Northern Shan State.

The same thing was done in Kawngmon village in Panghsai township Muse district, which has 50 houses but had been given 60 copies. For the other 10 copies, the headman had to use funds from the village to pay for the calendars.

In another village, Zaylarn, located between Muse and Namkham, four Burmese soldiers without uniforms came to the village and showed recommendation letters from the district officer to the village headman which directed selling pictures of the Mahamyatmuni statue in Mandalay and Pancavaggi, the first five disciples of the Buddha at 500 kyats each. However, the soldiers asked the villagers to shell out 1,000 kyat per copy.

On November 5, two Burmese soldiers in uniform came with calendars of Lashio Pagoda and forced shopkeepers around the Namkhum and Dongkan villages to buy them for 2,000 kyats each. Whoever refused to buy, was ordered to close their shops, a villager said quoting the two soldiers.

Around the Mao-Shweli River which has 19 villages, residents said they had been ordered to buy calendars of Lashio Pagoda. In Namkham township, the district officer gave 200 copies to each village headman from 16 villages and they were directed to sell all. Some villages near the town were given 25 calendars each by the district officer.