Junta fights to win in Shan State

_{By Hseng Khio Fah}
 
On 8 May, at 9 am to 4pm, Kutkhai based Light Infantry Battalion 290, Lieutenant- Colonel Than Htut and Chairman of Namkham Township Peace and Development Council U Tin Hlaing, accompanied by 70 security people, called on the villagers to support to the junta drafted charter, at the advance polling station at a primary school of Kunhai, Kunhai village tract, north of Namkham. The villagers were watched closely by Colonel Than Htut and Chairman U Tin Hlaing during voting.
 
According to the voters' lists, there were some 600 eligible voters. Only about 300 people finished voting yesterday. One of them, Khamhsai, 50, arrived earlier at the polling station and put a cross on the ballot paper. The colonel got angry and scolded him. He ordered the soldiers to arrest him, said the source.
 
The village tract headman apologized on his behalf saying, "He is unbalanced. That's why he did the wrong thing." After that, he was let alone, said a villager in Kunhai.
 
Then the colonel ordered the rest of the villagers to put ticks on the ballot papers. And Khamsai's paper was put in the cancelled ballot list. After learning that, some villagers returned home without voting, said the villager.
 
Similar story took place in the neighboring Nawngkham village tract.
 
There was a village secretary of Nawngma, Sai Yawd (not the real name) who voted against the junta charter. The rest of the villagers followed his example to vote against it as well. Then U Tin Hlaing ordered Police Second Lieutenant Zaw Min to arrest him for opposing the charter.
 
But Zaw Min refused to do as ordered and said, "We have no right to arrest them. It is free expression." U Tin Hlaing then ordered Township Police Officer Hla Win to arrest Sai Yawd again. He too rejected the order. U Tin Hlaing then said, "I am your superior. You must comply with the order."
 
Hla Win replied, "I cannot arrest, according to the referendum rules.  If you want to arrest, do it yourselves." There was no voting on that day because of the quarrel between U Tin Hlaing and Hla Win. U Tin Hlaing ordered all villagers to fix their thumb prints on the papers to mark they all had been at the polling station and let them go home.
 
The officials then took all the ballot papers back without giving the rest of the people to vote. "They (the authorities) may be putting ticks in our stead. If so, it will show that they are not honest," complained a villager.
 
There have been similar incidents like this in Southern Shan State. Villagers of Wanhti, Laikha township, and Nawnghee, Namzang township were forced to sign and fix their thumb prints saying, "You don't have to come on 10 May referendum. We will vote for you."