The Castaways:
Refugees Stranded on the Island of Guam
By Edith T. Mirante
During the year 2000, nearly a thousand refugees from Burma arrived on the island of Guam, a United States territory in the Pacific Ocean. They came seeking asylum in the U.S., having fled extraordinary levels of persecution in their homeland. Most were from northern Burma, especially Chin State. Forced repatriation and hostility towards Burma's refugees by her northern neighbors, India and China, had apparently led these individuals to take the creative escape route of flying to Guam, which until recently allowed people from Burma to visit (for tourism) without a visa. Once there they applied for political asylum in hopes of reaching the U.S. mainland.
The Guam escape route, now shut down, was an expensive and risky option used by particularly desperate people. They had to have access to the considerable financial resources needed for passports, plane tickets, and other arrangements. The result was a refugee population on Guam that was not only skewed towards those from especially remote and isolated regions of Burma, but which was weighed towards what would ordinarily be the "elite" in those areas. The education level of the Guam asylum-seekers was conspicuously high. Doctors, pastors, student activists, academics and NGO workers were found stranded on the island, as well as at least one elected Member of Parliament and a former Army/Police Lt. Colonel. Many could be characterized as political activists, who not only were targeted for mistreatment by Burma's military because of their ethnicity, religion, or political views, but were consciously engaged in a variety of ways of resisting the regime. They were risk-takers who fled only when they were one step away from arrest or worse.
In March 2001 Project Maje conducted interviews with a small cross-section of the Guam asylum seekers. They included ethnic Chin, Kachin and Burman. The interview sample was somewhat representative of their demographics, in terms of ethnicity and gender. The interviewees revealed a great deal of significant new information and details about recent conditions in Burma.
Ongoing Forced Labor
The interviewees consistently described the continuation of forced labor throughout the year 2000 (when most of them had left Burma). This included the forced plantation of tea in the Chin State for the military's commercial purposes, which was reportedly going on at the very time the International Labour Organization was sanctioning the regime for using forced labor.
Q: In the two or three months just before you left, at the end of 2000, was the army asking people to work for it?
A: (Chin health worker) Yes, they did, for the planting of tea in the Chin Hills. They forced all the villagers to do the planting. They forced the villagers to plant only tea. The military got the tea seeds from somewhere else, and the agriculture department raised the seeds, and the [seedlings] they forced them to plant. They forced them to plant it in many areas of Chin State. Most of the places were forest areas. They cleared the forests and forced them to plant the tea. They started in July and August to force them to clear the forests. They were still doing [the planting] in October, November.
Conditions in Detention/Prison
Several of the interviewees gave first hand accounts of brutal conditions in detention and imprisonment.
Q: Tell about your treatment while in custody...
A: (Chin pastor) There were a number of methods of torture. Once, they put a plastic [bag] around my head to suffocate me. Another time, they stripped me naked to be eaten by mosquitoes. They gave me meals consisting of rice mixed with sand. The first time I was in prison, they literally shot at my head and somehow missed it, whether intentionally or not. They also forced me to kneel on the ground, on sharp rocks for hours and put shackles on my legs.
A: (Burman student activist) I was sentenced from '92 to '95 to Insein Prison. After Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released [from house arrest], in 1995, my friend and I were transferred to Myingyan Prison in upper Burma, the third oldest [prison] in Burma. It is very bad, the worst in Burma. Heavy torture. It is near the Irrawaddy River, around 50 miles south of Mandalay. Twenty-nine other political prisoners were brought there with me. I think that two or three of them may have been Members of Parliament. They were detained and sentenced to 35 years.
I want to explain about Myingyan Prison. In Insein we were managed directly by the jail authorities. But in Myingyan we were put together with murderers and all the criminals. Most of the time we were oppressed by those criminals. So whatever happened, the authorities gave their responsibilities to them. When we first arrived in the Myingyan Jail, those criminals were waiting with sticks. We were blindfolded with some blankets and the criminals started beating us. It was so we would be afraid at that jail and not complain. They don't like complaints.
Religious Persecution
The regime's attempts to humiliate the largely Christian indigenous peoples of the north were well described by the Chin and Kachin interviewees. The military authorities go to great lengths to discourage the Christian faith and to promote Buddhism, the national religion. The regime also desecrates cultural remnants of Animism, as in their destruction of cemeteries and confiscation of the [venerated] mithun cattle [a type of large domesticated ox].
Q: During the last two years you were in Falam, [a city in Chin State] what was the attitude towards religious practice?
A: (Chin pastor) There was a commanding officer named Col. Than Aung. He told me straight to my face that, "Chins are our enemies, because Western people are our enemies." Christianity is a Western religion, and Christians and probably pastors, are the number one enemy of the State. The cross that we planted on the hilltop, they cut down, and on every hill they put up a Buddhist temple. Not only church buildings, but anything related to the [Christian] religion, is banned. When they believe that the situation is [unstable in our area], they will even forbid us to worship.
A: (Chin pastor) One of the unique animals found in the Chin State is the mithun. Each household used to raise the mithun. It was one of the symbols of the Chin people, and one of our wealths. We killed that animal only when we celebrated a big ceremony, as in ancient times. From one mithun we can get 200 viss of meat (about 300 kilograms). All the mithuns have been bought by the military who sell them to foreign countries. If our own Chin people sold these animals across the border into India, we would be arrested and put into the jail for five to six years. Because those who had connections with the military, sold all those mithuns to another country, there are hardly any left. They are almost extinct.
Kachin State Situation
Since the 1994 ceasefire arrangement between the Kachin Independence Organization/Army [KIO/ KIA] and the regime of Burma, not much has been heard about ongoing human rights violations in Kachin State. The Kachin interviewees described conditions that were little better than in the rest of Burma's frontier regions. While forced portering has decreased with the downscaling of army maneuvers, other types of infrastructure forced labor have continued, and apparently widened in scope. According to interviewees, former Kachin rebel territory was inexorably ceded to the regime's troops, and corruption and violent purges took place within the KIO.
Q: Could you compare the situation in Kachin State before and after the ceasefire?
A: (KIO sergeant) Before the ceasefire, all the servicemen in the KIO had a kind of unity and mentality to fight against the military government for our homeland. But since the ceasefire, all those traits have melted and we have become weak, not just physically but also mentally. There was much disappointment and unhappiness. Most of us disagreed with the ceasefire, because there's no benefit or advantage for ordinary soldiers and the people.
Q: What did you hear about relations between the local people and the government troops in those former KIA areas?
A: (KIO sergeant) After the Tatmadaw [government forces] arrived in the area, they made those local people abandon their homes and their villages, and relocated them to places farther away from the KIA-controlled areas to make it so they are not able to have contact with the KIA or to help the KIA.
Q: Did those people have to work for the government army?
A: Yes. Almost every day or every week, they had to work for the military, doing all sorts of things for those soldiers. Sometimes they need to build fencing for the military camp, and all the villagers are [told] to do that. They had mostly been under KIA control, before the ceasefire, but afterwards, the Burmese soldiers drove the KIO or KIA soldiers further away. In the past, the local Kachin people were forced to be porters. Now there's no portering, but still they need to work for the military. In every village, one or two persons have to be on standby for the military outposts.
Chin State Conditions
While some interviewees criticized the past neglect of development in the Chin State, it should be emphasized that development now in progress, including foreign extractive industries, is even more dangerous, in terms of environmental havoc, forced labor, and other exploitation. The previous lack of roads and railways was deplorable; roads and railways built with forced labor are worse.
A: (Chin pastor) There are three hydroelectric power plants in Chin State. The engines were in Tiddim, Falam and Haka. Those machines were donated by Australia to Haka and Falam. But the military took those machines, and replaced them with Chinese-made machines. They took the Australian-donated machines to Mogok and Mandalay. During the construction of that hydroelectric power station in Tiddim, the people were forced to work for the power plant. In 1998, I saw with my own eyes when a soldier shot one of the Chins with a gun. He died in Falam Hospital. They will distribute the electric power produced there to the army camp as the first priority.
A: (Chin pastor) Food production is very low in our region. We rely on the food from outside of Chin State. Sometimes [the government] limits the rice. When they hold up the rice for one week in Falam, we have no more rice to eat. This morning I got information that people are not allowed to carry rice from Kalemyo, in Sagaing Division, to Falam anymore. When the military wants to do something to the Chin people, first they cut off the rice. After that, the military thinks they can do anything they want to.
Deforestation and Mineral Extraction
Burma's destruction of forests and other natural resources was covered in several interviews. There was also commentary on the effects of mineral extraction in northern Burma, an issue that should be receiving increasing scrutiny, particularly with possible foreign investment in the Chin State's Mwe Taung mining area.
A: (Chin pastor) There is a forest about six miles from a village called Tlauhmun. We call it Aikon forest. It's a forest that has grown for probably hundreds of years. In 1999-2000 the military forced the people to cut down all these trees. The military had the trees sawed into planks for building. Then they sell the planks and get the money. They sold the lumber to the Public Works Department, which is also a government agency. They used it for bridges - but this "hual" wood is not good for bridges, so in a year or two the wood gets rotten. The vicious cycle goes on. The military get the money for their living. Sometime last year, [a man] was forced to move a log, but he could not because the log was too big. So they shot him, but he did not die.
Q: Is there logging in that area?
A: (Kachin shopkeeper) Yes, the government gives permits to businessmen, mostly Chinese, to cut the wood, and take the gold and cane for trading. They hire the local people and people who come from Myitkyina, not just Kachin, everyone. Because of the logging and mining, most of the mountains and the hillsides have been emptied of forests. Everything's changed, even the wildlife. In the past we heard the sounds of wildlife. But no more. They all ran away. You can hardly see any wild animals in the area anymore.
Q: What kinds of animals were there before?
A: There were so many things - tigers, monkeys and boars. Especially monkeys, so many monkeys, but no more.
Q: About how many people are working around the Hpakant [jade] mines?
A: (Kachin pastor) I'm not sure. Many. They come from the whole of Burma. Several places. All kinds of people. Now, even from China. The Chinese, even if they don't speak Burmese or Kachin, can come in because they give money when they pass through the [customs] gate.
Q: Has it changed since when you were first there?
A: Oh yeah. Up until 1993, people from outside could not come in. Also there were not that many machines. But now, a company will use machines like backhoes, and bulldozers, so many, many machines....
Q: Has the environment in that area changed since you started?
A: Yeah, because they are always digging the mountains, the hill areas. They will just dig down, and the mountains will become flat. The way of streams will be changed. Suppose the stream is going like this and they want to dig there, they will just [divert] it another way.
Q: Is there a narcotics problem in Hpakant ?
A: Yeah, it is most popular in Hpakant. All kinds of people, anybody.
Q: How do they use it?
A: Injection. Smoking [opium] is not popular. The "ya ma" - the tablet that you burn and breathe in, that is the most popular now. The Number 4 [heroin], they just inject.
Q: Do they have their own needles for injection?
A: I suppose that they have their own. And also there is maybe some center for having that injection, a shop, or a business center.
Q: Have you heard anything about HIV/AIDS in the Hpakant area?
A: It is very [prevalent], even in Myitkyina or Hpakant. I have had many experiences caring for that kind of sickness. We can't do anything for those who are suffering from AIDS, we just encourage them and pray for them.
AIDS, Drugs and Alcohol
The Guam interviewees provided front-line information about the AIDS epidemic that is making its grim progress into the remote mountains of Burma, and about efforts to evade the regime's denial about it. They also gave accounts of the promotion of alcohol and drugs to indigenous people of the northwest.
Q: Are there people who are not real doctors who give injections in the villages?
A: (Chin health worker) Yes, there are a lot of the illegal ones. The villagers told me about it. One person previously worked in mining, in some other place in Burma. Later on he went to Malaysia and worked, and he came back. He tested HIV positive when he was in Rangoon. Then he went back to his native village near Kale in Chin State. The people in that village thought that being HIV positive was the same thing as having the AIDS disease. He was treated by a person who practices illegally. That person gave him some IV [drip] line with some glucose, some vitamins and other things to that patient. The patient was so weak, he could not bear the IV line, and half of the bottle was left. They didn't want to discard the remaining [IV solution] so the father of that patient used that same IV solution, because it has a lot of vitamins. The person who practices illegally, [used] the IV line for the father of that patient. Later on, the patient died. Then the father also died, because of the infection.
In some places, they use disposable syringes. But in some places they just flush syringes and other needles with hot water. The hot water that they used to flush the needles and the syringes, they use again.
For the full text of the interviews, see the report
Ashes and Tears on Project Maje's website
Edith T. Mirante, author of Burmese Looking Glass
(Atlantic Monthly Press), is director of Project Maje, an information project
on Burma's human rights and environmental issues founded in 1986.