Mon People Celebrate Their Culture and Call for Democracy in Burma

February 16th, 2009 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

Mon people all over the world celebrated their national day this week.

The day is aimed at celebrating the rich Mon culture, something that Mon people living in Burma are unable to do.

On the Thai Burma border where thousands of refugees live, the celebrations were particularly vigorous.

There the youth movement for the creation of a democratic multi-ethnic Burma is thriving.

Our reporter King Kong Janoi travelled to the Thai Burma Border to witness the celebrations and filed this report.

On the Thai Burma border Mon refugees were determined and joyful when celebrating their National Day this week.

Hundreds of Mon, many of them young people, waved flags representing their village or group.

For six decades now ethnic Mon people have been struggling for self-determination in Burma and the right to preserve their rich culture.

The history of their repression dates back more than 200 years. Today they are routinely subjected to torture, imprisonment and rape by the military regime.

Thousands have fled the country to an uneasy existence in Thailand.

Speakers of the Mon language number less than a million but there may be as many as eight million people in the world of Mon descent.

Nai Suthon is the chairman of the Mon United League, established in 1996.

“The objective of Mon National Day is to organize Mon people, to maintain our Mon Culture and custom and to spread the message from one village to another. If we don’t do that we worry that the Mon people will forget and remain silent and eventually the Mon people will disappear.”

Mon dancers entertained the crowds. Such cultural displays are usually banned inside Burma. But the military junta even allowed a small celebration within the country this year.

Nai Suthon says he supports the establishment of a federal democracy in Burma.

“We support federalism, if we isolated ourselves it is not good. If we cannot achieve federalism, I think the political crisis in Burma is not possible to be overcome; we have to struggle until what we call self determination.”

The Burmese military leadership have long suppressed minorities in an effort, they say, to build and sustain Burmese nationalism.

Whilst some Mon elders have rallied for the establishment of an independent state, many of today’s youth agree that the unity of Burma is important. A Shan youth, Sai Leik explains.

“We need federalism and democracy at the same time because we are ethnic people in Burma, not equal to mainlanders in central Burma, so we need equal between us. So if they did not consider tripartite, it may difficult to solve ethnic problem in Burma. I mean ethnic is main issue and main concern in Burma because of the country is multi-ethnic country so they must consider ethnic people, ethnic politics.”

Many ethnic groups are demanding a tripartite dialogue with the military regime, to include all democratic and ethnic groups.

But the idea is a long way from being achieved.

The military regime says it is continuing its seven steps road-map to democracy and demands that all ethnic groups lay down their arms. The road-map has been described by critics as a sham.

Most ethnic groups, including the New Mon State party are refusing to participate in the 2010 election.

And there are many Mon youth still fighting for independence.

Mon Youth Nai Chan Jit says democracy without consideration of ethnic diversity is meaningless in Burma.

“This is different religious background, different language, different culture. If you just give them democracy and let speak only Burmese language I pretty much sure, they will fight back again.”

But Chan Jit also says it is impossible for all of Burma’s ethnic peoples to be independent.

“We also need to look at geographical location of the country, the country is between China and India which is very giant and very big so we can not properly survive if only small group like Mon and Shan success and live independently so we have to join together but with some guarantee for their rights this ethnic people only that we can solve the problem. Therefore, most people like federalism.”

Plight of Rohingya’s in the Spotlight Again

February 7th, 2009 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

As another boatload of Rohingya refugees arrives on the shores of Indonesia, Thailand is once again in the spotlight for its treatment of the stateless Muslim minority group.

Thai security forces stand accused of dumping more than one thousand Rohingya at sea in early January.

About 500 or so have been rescued but hundreds remain missing.

Whilst Indonesia is debating what to do with the 400 or so Rohingya in its care, Thailand continues to defend its actions in the face of growing international condemnation.

King Kong Janoi has the story.

According to Amnesty International thousands of Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group, flee Burma each year. The military regime denies their existence in the country and routinely subjects them to imprisonment and torture.

Benjamin Zawacki is a researcher for Amnesty International’s Southeast Asia Team.

“Well, certainly they’ve suffered human rights abuses on a vast and widespread scale in Myanmar. And again it’s been claimed that they’ve suffered human rights abuses or violations in Thailand as well.”

Many thousands have settled in Bangladesh in recent years. But others attempt a treacherous journey south to Malaysia, often using Thailand as a transit point.

Accusations of mistreatment at the hands of Thai authorities surfaced earlier this month after nearly 650 Rohingya were rescued off India and Indonesia.

Reports suggest that after being detained and beaten, multiple boatloads of about 1,000 Rohingya were towed out to by the Thai navy sea over a month beginning in December. They were deserted without engines and little food or water.
Whilst conceding they towed the Rohingya out to sea Thailand has consistently denied mistreating the Rohingya.

A request to be interviewed for this story was declined by the government.

Somsri Hananuntasuk is with Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma. She says the government came to power on a platform of protecting human rights. But their recent actions suggest otherwise.

“I know that the government don’t want to be an enemy with the navy or the police or military because they are like a limb of the government. If they don’t cooperate with the government there will be a problem. Of course the government doesn’t want to undermine their own people but still if you want to build up the new culture of politic and human rights investigation then you have to be more transparent and do things openly. If you need to punish anybody let’s do it from now so that the authorities will learn and will do things carefully in the future.”

Amidst mounting international pressure Thailand granted the United Nations High Commission access to a group of Rohingya teenagers this week. They are part of a larger group of recent arrivals detained in southern Ranong province.

Suggestions by the UNHCR that a temporary refugee camp be established in Ranong prompted fierce protests from locals.

Prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has insisted they are illegal economic migrants who pose a threat to Thai jobs, a suggestion dismissed by labour migration experts.

Somsri says the Thai government could easily accommodate the Rohingyas.

“If the Thai government says this is a big group, I would to say that in fact this is small group compare to Burmese and Cambodian refugees who come to Thailand in the past. We still have capacity to help them. I believe that and I think we should not push them back to the ocean. They don’t their destiny whether they can go back or if they go back, they will face another problem or not it, is very risky for them.”

Not everyone in Thailand feels that the Rohingya people are a threat.

Nok sells fried chicken on the streets of Bangkok.

She feels positive about illegal migrants who enter Thailand.

“Migrant people come to Thailand to work here, but it doesn’t mean that they will take our jobs because they do the jobs that Thai people don’t want to do. For example, they work in construction. I am not able to work on a constructions site. I will sell chicken in my shop. This kind of selling is not allowed for migrant people so they are not going to occupy my job.”

Surapong Kongchantuk is a respected human rights researcher in Bangkok.

He argues that there is wider problem of racism in Thailand that needs to be addressed.

“Among Thai society there is a belief that if you are not pure Thai then you have no right to use the resources in Thailand.”

But despite the hardship of life in a foreign country for Rohingya like Nasin, anything is better than what they leave behind.

“I cannot stay in our country because the government will not grant us citizenship. We cannot travel within our own country. The military take our land and possessions. We cannot get jobs. We cannot go to hospital if we are sick. How can we survive? We must leave and go anywhere we can. And we must always risk our lives.”

Thai Anti-Government Protestors Vow to Fight till the End

November 29th, 2008 by King Kong Janoi

The Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat says he will take action to end anti-government protests in Bangkok’s two main airports.

Emergency rule has been declared around the two airports.

Thousands of passengers have been left stranded by the protest action, just the latest stand-off in a long-running political struggle gripping Thailand.

Despite the damage being done to Thailand’s economy, the People’s Alliance for Democracy is insisting it has the country’s interests at heart.

King Kong Janoi filed this report from Bangkok.

With their holidays ruined and business plans postponed, exhausted and concerned passengers wait for their flights at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.

Some sleep on the floor in front of check-in counters whilst others complain to air lines, demanding answers to impossible questions.

With no end to the stand-off in sight those still waiting were eventually transferred to hotels.

A taxi driver who didn’t want to be name says the protests have lost him many paying passengers.

“Because of the political problems there are only a few foreigners now in Thailand. The Thai economy is not good so there are no local tourists either. Being a taxi driver is hard now. Some days I only earn around 3 US dollars.”

Suvarnabhumi is one of Asia’s busiest airports. It handles more than one hundred thousand passengers and 400 flights a day.

Airlines are suffering enormous financial damage due to cancelled flights. Thai Airways International estimates its daily losses will top 15 million US dollars.

But for supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy there was elation at the successful closing of the airport.

PAD member Art Dejavu manages security and says the occupation will force the resolution of Thailand’s political crisis.

“They might order to kill us, whatever, but if thousand of us die and the system changes that will be cool. I am sure that our people, most of us are just sitting and waiting for them kill us. We’ll wait for that because if we can’t win, we better died.”

Dejavu is demanding Primer Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s resignation:

“We try to fight against the corrupt government,” he says.

But Prime Minister Somchai is refusing to leave and points out that his administration was democratically elected by the majority of Thai people.

And the pressure is mounting. National army Chief Anupong Paojinda has requested the parliament be dissolved.

A Thai court, meanwhile, has ordered the protesters to leave the airports.

But fellow PAD demonstrator Piyachart Dangpuangpaiboon says the stand-off will only end when the government addresses the real problems.

“Our five leaders don’t want to be prime minister or have any position in politics. What they are fighting for, what we say is new politics; that people have an equal chance for knowledge and not only rich people have a chance in their lifetimes. Everybody has to be equal, everybody should be equal.”

As tensions increase, so too does the possibility of bloodshed.

There have already been explosives near government house and four other locations where PAD supporters have gathered.

Dejavu says they will fight till the end.

“You can’t imagine what its like to have a bomb every day in Bangkok, people get shot every day in Bangkok. But this time when we went to the airport it was a shock to the system so they have to do something. I don’t know what’s going to happen, maybe most of us will die, whatever, but PAD is not scared of this anymore. We’ve been attacked to many times.”

The stand-off has deeply divided Thailand. Opinion polls suggest the majority of Thais to not support the PAD’s protests.

Siriporn Muangsrinon, a Bangkok lawyer, expresses a widely held view.

“I am very bored with them; they destroy the country, that is a very bad situation in Thailand. They destroy economy of Thailand and image of Thai people.”

Despite not having the support of the majority, PAD has some powerful backers behind the scenes.

It was created by Sondhi Limthongkul a Thai media mogul who runs a daily newspaper and satellite Television station.

Economists are warning that if the PAD’s campaign continues it will do lasting damage to foreign investor confidence in Thailand.

Khulkingkan Aim from the Thai Lawyers council says the protesters are destroying the country.

“The tourists will not come to Thailand because they feel unsafe. And they force investors not come to invest in Thailand. It makes employees lose their job. I think the protesters must stop everything and have a new idea to grow the economy.”

Thai Hill Tribe Child Gain Rare Access to Higher Education

November 22nd, 2008 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

There are more than two million hill tribe people are living in Thailand without official identity cards, according to a recent UNESCO report.

Some are Burmese who have fled across border others have lived for generations in Thailand but don’t have official documents.

It means that their children can’t access public education.

Hill tribe children without ID cards are 70 percent less likely to go to primary school that other Thai children.

But King Kong Janoi visits The Community Leaning Center (CLC) in Mae Hong Son that’s trying to solve this problem.

Children laugh as they try to learn English.

Most of them were born in Thailand but don’t have ID cards so they can’t go to state schools.

Amongst them is 18 year old Saw Pow Kwar from the Karen tribe
.
“After I finished the middle school, I thought my learning age was over but when I heard that I can continue my study here. I am really happy.”

Children like Saw who don’t have Thai ID cards are 98 percent less likely than other Thai children to go university.

Kyaw Hla Sein the founder of the Community Leaning Center wants to provide these children with an alternative.

“When first I started teaching the children are only allowed to study in middle school not high school and further education and to set up this school I thought that I will let them learn English language here, then I will invite the community development experts to come and give them training so they know how to run a project directly of benefit to needy people in communities.”

20 years ago Kyaw Hla Sein fled from Burma after he was forced to work as a porter for the Burmese military.

“The Burmese soldier caught me, arrested me and forced me to be porter for seven months. During the seven months, the soldiers forced every porter to carry rice and ammunitions. I saw two over fifty years’ old men who couldn’t go just left by the soldiers in the middle of the jungle. I hoped that they would be able to make it home but seven months later I came back to that area and I saw only their skeletons remained.”

He says he saw some horrible things during that time.

“On the way I saw young men between 20 to 25 trying to run away and the Burmese soldier shot them death. I also saw other porters who have difficulty carrying things when they have trouble, the Burmese soldier cut the bamboo and hit them like a dog.”

When he arrived in Thailand as a refugee he sold cigarettes for a living.

“For my daily survival I have to go so many village and town to work and earn by living. I saw many people who came from Burma and I saw their children as well. But the parents do not have a citizenship so that they can’t work. Even for their daily survival, it is very hard. I saw that the children wanted to learn and get an education and I decide that one day if I have the money I will set up a school for these children.”

He got a job with the UNHCR and used his international standard wages to build the Community Leaning Center in Mae Hong Son.

There are now 32 students at his school.

They learn English, Thai and computer skills- so they will be able to find work.

But it’s not just about making money. Kyaw shows a group of students how to make mud bricks in the environmental awareness class.

“We teach them making mud brick to build mud brick not using cement. It is very good for poor people; it is a way out for poor people not to get touch not to effect forest.”

This area borders Burma where environmental groups say there is unsustainable logging taking place.

Rosy one of teachers at the school says they want to be an example for the wider community.

“For the people in the village come and look and copy these good ideas. Like three months ago, the head of Doi San village came to learn about how to use mud bricks so they don’t have to cut down the forest.”

Kyaw Hla Sein also teaches his students about organic farming.

“Organic farming is very important because now people added to chemical fertilizer and pesticides. It is not good for long run especially if you eat these vegetable you will get infect.”

The school has been officially recognized by the local governor.

Now students can use their graduation certificate to enter any university in Thailand.

Emmet Kearney the English teachers says students here are very keen to learn.

“They know if they work hard they can do something more importance, open up opportunity. So it is really nice to teach students that want to learn and have a chance to change their life with English.”

Saw Maung Maung the director of the Ethnic Migrant Family Society says children who are born in Thailand must be given education rights.

“We are left from Burma more than 25 years ago, some are older. We don’t have any opportunity because we recognize as stateless people but our children who were born here should not face like that, right now these children have many difficulty for their future progressing.”

Thailand No Longer the Land of Smiles

December 13th, 2008 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

Thailand tourism slogan is the “Land of Smiles”.

But anti-government protests lead by the People’s Alliance for Democracy or PAD have hit the travel industry hard.

The government said the protestor’s closure of the two major airport for eight days have cost over five billon US dollars.

King Kong Janoi reports of the lasting damage the political stand-off is having on the Thai tourism industry.

For the People’s Alliance for Democracy the airport closure was a victory.

“What we are fighting for is what we say is new politic that people have equal chance to get knowledge and not only rich people have a chance in their life.”

But for the three hundred thousand foreign tourists caught up in their political protest it was the holiday from hell.

“Now there is a few flight and very very expensive and only business class left.”

“It is going to cost us financial problems.”

“I’ve been absent more than nine days in that have been great massive problem there that I am really worry about.”

The Thai government desperately tried to save their tourist industry by providing free health care to the stranded visitors.

In a corner of the airport nurse Araya Netrakom hands out medicine to a man suffering from a headache.

“We come to support to take care of their health. We give something they need like a drink, food something. We try to support all of the tourists who have problem here. We want to make them happy after they’re leaving Thailand. I hope they still want to come back to Thailand.”

But it’s not going to be as easy as that. Richie Lim from Malaysia says he will not return soon.

“People start look at other country like Singapore so far most are politically stable and safe. So it is not good for Thailand and Thailand have to build back that image and stablize the politics.”

But political stability is a long way off. The country is hopelessly divided.

The PAD has vowed to return to the streets if the next government is too close to former Prime Minister Thaksin.

PAD member Art Dejavu says he will fight until death.

“They might order to kill us whatever but if thousand of us died the system will change that is gonna to be cool. I am sure that our people most of us just sit and just waiting for they kill us. We wait for that because if can’t win, we better died.”

For the Thai tourism industry it’s an ongoing nightmare. Due to the airport closure only half the normal amount of tourists are expected to come next year.

It’s already having an impact.

I am here at the popular night market in Bangkok. Usually it’s a very busy place filed with tourists buying traditional Thai products.

But today as you can hear it’s very quite. Shop owners are stilling waiting in empty shops.

One of them is Nyien Chan who sells handicrafts.

“I am not selling anything at the moment because there are no tourists due to the tourist situation. I am going to close my shop next month. Some of my friend’s shops have already closed. We can’t offer the wages of the staff and the building rent.”

Other people are more hopeful. Surasak Phomafuang is a travel agent in Central Bangkok.

“We will be success again because Thailand is very popular destination for tourists. I think we will be a success again in near future.”

But Louis Lozada from Australia says the airport closure is going to hang over Thailand’s tourism industry for a long time.

“In the future, I think it take quite a bit of time before come back because it has been such as experience of desperation and worry. So we will not be coming back in a hurry.”

‘I struggled to carry my gun’- the Child Soldiers of Burma

November 15th, 2008 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

Burma has the largest number of child soldiers in the world.

The overwhelming majority of Burma’s child soldiers are found in the national army, which forcibly recruits children as young as 11, although armed opposition groups use child soldiers as well.

Burma’s army has doubled in size since 1988, and with an estimated 350,000 soldiers is now one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia.

The US based right ground Human Rights Watch says 20 percent or more of Burma’s active duty soldiers may be children under the age of 18.

Army deserters are severely punished so many child soldiers that escape the military flee across the border into refugee camps in Thailand.

At one such camp in Mae Hong Son province north of Thailand, King Kong Janoi met with some former child soldiers and has their story.

Children learn English in a refugee camp in Northern Thailand.

They’re all ethnic Karen and have fled across the border from Burma to escape the civil war.

Amongst them is 18 year old Yae Lay. He is a former child solider.

“They captured me while I was coming back from seeing a movie. They accused me of breaking the night time curfew and told me I had two choices- join the military or go to jail. As I was just a little boy I was afraid of jail so I decided to join the army.”

Yae Lay was just eleven years old when he began serving with the Light Infantry Battalion 135.

He is from Pugo Township in central Burma but he was sent to fight in the Shan State against Shan State Army troops.

“I was just a little boy so I couldn’t carry the gun. At first I was nervous. I was really afraid of all the gun fire around me. I will never forget seeing some of my friends die in front of me. They were my age. The young ones were often send to the front line to get more experience. I was very lucky that I survived and didn’t step on a land mine.”

Human Rigths watch says there are reports of children being used to clear land mines at the frontline.

Way Lin says he lost his foot this way.

He joined the Burmese military when he was 11 and fought against the Karen National Union in Southern Burma for seven years.

He tried to escape many times and finally managed to cross the border into Thailand with the help of Karenni troops.

Way Lin now walks with the help of a plastic foot. He says it still causes him pain.

“I sometime cry because I miss my mom and my family but there is no chance for me to find them. I have to stay calm. When I get refugee status in America or Australia I hope I can contact my family. That’s what the UNHCR has told me. I am waiting to leave this camp.”

While waiting to be granted refugee status in a wealthy nation he helps other disabled children in the camp.

He says it takes time for child soldiers to return to normal life.

Yae Lay says he often gets nightmares that he is back in the military.

“I often dream that they will find me and arrest me. When I wake up I have to calm myself done and tell myself that I am safe now. But I am still nervous all the time. If they find me again my life is over.”

Burma’s army has doubled in size since 1988, and with an estimated 350,000 soldiers is now one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia.

UNHCR Worker in the camp Sayar Tun Tun predicts the recruitment of children will continue.

“The reason they use children is because they can train then do do whatever they want. It’s hard to persuade adults to join the military because the salary is so low so they target young boys.”

Burma consultant Sunai Phasuk from Human Right Watch says while the Burmese military have made promises to end the practice of using child soldiers it’s unlikely they will do it.

“The Burmese government seems to be more sensitive to international pressure because having children in armed forces is so obvious, you cannot hide them from the international scrutiny. So we are seeing more and more responses from the Burmese government at least on papers with orders to units of the ground to stop recruiting children but the problem in Burma is that those orders have not translated into action on the ground. So we are still see children being recruited.

A Day with an Award Winning Thai Rural Doctor

November 8th, 2008 by King Kong Janoi

Asia Calling

This week our profile of an inspiring Asia woman comes from the mountainous province of Mae Hong Son in northern Thailand bordering Burma.

For this is where we find the clinic of a female doctor who has received Thailand’s highest award for rural medicine.

For the last fourteen years Walairat Chaifu has being providing medical care to the hilltribe communities at her Pang Ma Pha hospital.

She once turned down a senior position at the Public Health Ministry because she wanted to continue working in the remote region.

Our correspondent King Kong Janoi spends a day in her.

Doctor Walairat Chaifu asks a mother about her child’s illness in her clinic in Pang Ma Pha.

She has short black hair and is always smiling and laughing.

The hospital is a hive of activity- Doctors and nurses are busy.

About 30 people are waiting for their turn to get treatment. An average wait is half-an-hour.

Mu Shar is one of them.

“We only have this hospital in our district. I always come here when my children are got sick. I come here for ten years ago. Before we only have community health care center, we don’t have any hospital.”

Before he and the rest of the 13,000 people in this district had to travel three hours to the nearest hospital.

Doctor Walairat is passionate about rural medicine.

“I would like to make community to be healthy. To work here and to improve health situation here is not just for funds. Also it is not just for my duty.”

The hospital treats around 2000 patients each month.

But some patients can’t afford to make the trip to the hospital.

So every weekend Dr Walairat makes house calls with her mobile medical team.

They have to travel long distances sometimes two hours on bumpy dirt roads. During the rainy season these roads often become impassable so they have to get out and walk up the steep mountains.

One the mobile teams nurses says at first some of the people from Shan, Karen and Hmong tribes were afraid of coming to the hospital.

She says they have to spend time with them gaining people’s trust.

There is also often a language barrier and Dr Walairat has to use a translator while treating some patients.

Mu Sayy an ethnic Shan says the community is very grateful for the mobile clinic. He says the doctors and nurses never discriminate against them because they can’t speak Thai.

The mobile medical unit also educates communities about good health care to prevent diseases.

Mu Sayy says they learn a lot from them.

“The doctors come to educate us how to prevent ourselves in systematically way. They told us to clean our hand when eat food. When we use chemical for killing virus in our plantation, they suggest us to use mask while we are working to prevent chemical affected. If we feel sick, they ask us to go to hospital. So far we learn a lot from them.”

The mobile clinic also provides at-home treatment of patients with diabetes, a major health problem in the Northeast.

Dr Walairat’s work has been recognized and last month she was the joint-winner of the annual Thai Rural Doctors Society award for outstanding service to the rural poor.

Siriporn Muangsrinon from the Women Lawyers Association of Thailand says she is an inspiring person.

“I hope we will get more doctors like her in other provinces. We would like to see more women like her and she is best example for our community.”

Dr Walairat was offered a senior position at the Public Health Ministry.

But she turned it down.

“I happy to work here because of patients, because of community, because to our staff, I feel there is a lot work to do here. My personality I like rural area. I used to work in public health ministry staying in Bangkok but I don’t like in Bangkok. The rural area is good social relationship.”