‘Not Only Do They [Burma Army] Aim Their Weapons Against Civilians, They Also Rape the Women’: Ah Ze, General Secretary of AKYU — PART 1

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This interview is the first one in Burma Link’s “Youth Voices” series that we will be publishing until further notice. The series is meant to give more in depth understanding into the situation, concerns, and feelings of Burma’s ethnic youth and the work that ethnic youth organisations are conducting.

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Civil War in Kachin State: “We

[Kachin people] lost our natural resources in Kachin State.”

Since Burma Army launched a military offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) outpost along the Kachin State’s Taping River in 2011 – breaking a 17-year ceasefire –Kachin civilians have been suffering systematic horrific violence and human right abuses in the hands of the Burma Army. Amid the fighting, Burma Army is reportedly committing extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate shelling, torture, rape and other form of sexual violence – all with complete impunity. For more than seven years, the resumption of conflict in Kachin state has displaced over 120,000 civilians, many of whom worry whether they will still be able to access their farmlands taken over by Chinese businessmen and the Government.

There are lots of conflicts happening in Kachin State because of the [conflict between] Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the military – Tatmadaw [Burma Army]. The military government [Burma Army] started fighting in Kachin State, so there are civil wars, conflicts and a lot of IDPs. The military plan for the civil war is that they target the youth and the women, turning them into victims. Sometimes, in the civil war, they [Burma Army] target the women. Not only do they aim their weapons against civilians, they also rape the women. That’s the big problem and conflict is also a big problem.

We [Kachin people] have lost our natural resources in Kachin State. We have a lot of jade and natural resources in my native town. However, the government takes the natural resources, and they join with the Chinese businessmen to take all of the forests, jade and amber. They [Burma Army] create the civil wars. The villagers are afraid and flee to the forest, and [leave] their homeland.

Almost 5,000 acres have been sold to Chinese businessmen who use the land to grow banana plants. They [Chinese businessmen] put in chemical fertilizers. Then the businessman call people to work in the banana plantations, and some of the Kachin people come to work but they get sick at the end. Kachin workers cannot move their bodies and get sick because of the chemical fertilizers. Kachin people also cannot grow anything after the banana plantations because they [Chinese businessmen] use a lot of chemical substances and they tie the land contract with the government for 1-2 years. This is also a big problem in Kachin State. After 1-2 years, we cannot grow anything because of the overuse of chemical fertilizers.

Drugs Abuse among Kachin Youth: “They [Burma Army] use two ways [war and drug abuse] to kill the Kachin youth and Kachin people.”

The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT)’s 2014 report “Silent Offensive: How Burma Army Strategies are Fuelling the Kachin Drug Crisis” comprehensively documents how the Burma Army has allowed its Border Guard Forces (BGF) and local militia to promote opium growing and production or trafficking of heroin and methamphetamines. Overturning the KIA anti-drugs campaign, the Burma Government’s policy has fueled existing problems of drug abuse and addiction among Kachin youth. Instead of tackling the drug epidemic, the Burma Army reaps multiple benefits from the drug crisis that provides both an effective weapon of war against ethnic resistance and a lucrative business. Poverty exacerbated by the renewed conflict and forced displacement has driven civilians to turn to opium cultivation and drug dealing as a way to sustain their livelihood.

In addition, we have a lot of drugs in Kachin State. It’s very important to realize that not only many Kachin youth have died in the civil wars, [but] our Kachin youth also use drugs which lead them to lose interest in education, or how the politics work. The youth are not interested in these, so the military government [Burma Army] is very happy because there is a lot of jade and amber in Kachin State. The military government [Burma Army] thinks like this; “If the Kachin people die or are addicted to drugs, we will take them [jade and amber].” If the Kachin youth use drugs, the government has nothing to say, they don’t say anything. However, if the Burman youth use drugs, the government hit and slap them, saying “why do you use drugs?” I don’t know [the reason], but I think that’s their [Burma Army] big plan. When the Kachin youth use drugs, the government just doesn’t want to care about them or help them. If some of the youth didn’t come to join the military [Burma Army] or KIO [Kachin Independence Organization], they just stay at their hometown and they use drugs.  So, in Kachin State, even for the very young Kachin children in the villages, they can use drugs.

At Myikyina University, most of the youth use drugs. We can see the drugs they leave in the toilets. That’s why our Kachin youth, most of the Kachin youth, they can’t complete their education because they just think about using drugs. We can easily get drugs from China, that’s a big issue. On the Chinese border, my uncle lives there. He sees the real situation and he told me what happens right now in China and Kachin State, as well as what the government is doing right now. He always tells me about these. He also spoke and shared [knowledge to] the youth. I must know this, because I work for a youth organization. Sometimes I share knowledge to my youth that we shouldn’t use drugs, this is the government plan, our people must learn and be interested in education.

As the civil war always [involves] fighting, the military government [Burma Army] takes everything, and now we don’t have the chance to grow rice or something [crops]. We cannot grow [crops]. This is why some people left their homeland. That is also why some of the Kachin people don’t have enough food and they just sell drugs. The government allows them to do that [selling drugs]. That’s part of the military government’s [Burma Army] plans, an achievement of the government. They [Burma Army] kill the people and create the civil war, so many of the Kachin men die at the civil war and use drugs. They [Burma Army] use two ways [war and drug abuse] to kill the Kachin youth and Kachin people. That’s my concern.

Kachin Anti-War Youth Movement: “We have a democratic country, but in reality, the military controls the parliament and everyone.”

The fighting has intensified since the beginning of 2018, including the use of heavy artillery and aerial bombings by Burma Army against civilians and IDPs. The Burma Army further stepped up its offensives in April, displacing a further 7,000 civilians. Despite increasing numbers of IDPs who were trapped in the forests, the delivery of humanitarian aid was restricted and churches were pressured to close shelters for IDPs. The Burma Army repeatedly denied aid groups access to the trapped and refused to evacuate them. A report entitled “They Block Everything” released by Fortify Rights in August 2018 exposes how the Burma Government, and particularly the Burma Army, has systematically limited humanitarian access to IDPs in Kachin State by imposing onerous and unnecessary travel restrictions on humanitarian aid organizations and by failing to provide them with the necessary authorizations since 2011.

On April 30, 2018, thousands of Kachin youth staged one of the largest anti-war protests in years in Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital. They urged the Burma Government to rescue the IDPs trapped by the fighting between the Burma Army and the KIA. The protesters called on the government to free the IDPs, to provide them with urgent humanitarian aid and to establish new IDP camps in affected areas. The youth-led protests later sparked solidarity movements in cities across Burma, including Yangon, Bago and Mandalay. Responding to the peace protests, the Burma Government and the Burma Army charged at least 47 young activists for their role in the peaceful protests, mostly under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law (PAPPL). Read the Progressive Voice’s July 2018 briefing paper “Time to Hear Our Voice: Freedom of Assembly and the Youth Peace Movement in Myanmar” to know more about how the PAPPL was used to repress the anti-war protests in Myitkyina and Yangon. 

The AKYU leaders involved in the leading committee of the youth movement, involving the Kachin youth in the movement. Three thousand Kachin youths participated in the youth movement aiming to release the IDPs. Our AKYU leaders were not arrested [by the government], but they were charged under Article 19 [of PAPPL], a law under the 2008 constitution. Being charged under this article, you must either go to jail or if you don’t want to go jail you will be fined 30,000 Kyat [USD 20]. Our leader gave the 30,000 Kyat. Although they gave the 30,000 Kyat, until now they [the government] called the leaders to go the government office for more than ten times after they gave the money. So, I just think, why is a democratic country like that? That’s not true, they just say like that [democracy], but in reality everything is under the control of the military. They [Burma Army] control a lot of things. We have a democratic country, but in reality, the military controls the parliament and everyone.

I think we [youth movement] achieved our goal, because many IDPs now are released from the forest. We can see the IDPs now. If we didn’t do like that [youth movement], the government wouldn’t have cared about anything. When we did the movement, we demanded the government to save the people. However, [they said] “Where? Where? We haven’t heard anything” — the government said like that, the Kachin State chief minister said like that. Before we demanded to save the IDPs’ lives, he said like that. But after we demanded, he said, “We [Burma Government] will save the IDPs,” and he gave his promise. However, in reality he couldn’t do anything, because the senior officials of the government didn’t allow saving the IDPS.

There are a lot of IDPs in Kachin State. After we did the youth movement, the IDPs were moved out from the forest and into churches. After we did the youth movement, there have been more IDPs coming to the churches.  Before that, they were trapped in the forest and they were not allowed to go anywhere. Right now, the IDPs haven’t gone back home, they are still staying in the churches and there are almost 400 IDPs in our village. In other villages, there are a lot more IDPs. The government sometimes spreads news showing how many IDPs there are right now, saying how many IDPs have returned home. But in reality, that’s not real.

Much Needed Support and Possibility to Return: “That’s just a dream [for IDPs to return].”

At that time, we [AKYU] supported the church members, and collected some food and money. Not only the AKYU, we [civilians] organized some clothes and rice for the IDPs. That’s how we supported the IDPs. Before 2011 and 2012, the UNICEF was there, but now the government has cut them off from helping them [IDPs]. The government doesn’t want them [international aid organizations], so we have local donors to help them, some of the local donors, our church leaders, organize [resources] to help them. They [civilians] organize and manage like how much per household to donate to help the IDPs. Right now, they [IDPs] need some clothes, food and medicine. Our camps are very small for them, they don’t have enough toilets and medicine, so they get sick. And also, there is a lot of water [flooding]. A church in our village built a building for the IDPs, but in another village, they [locals] cannot build anything because they do not have enough money, they just cover with plastic [tarpaulin tents]. That’s why the IDPs face lots of problems. Some of the IDPs, they cook in the water and they sleep just near to the water. They [IDPs] face a lot of problems to go to schools.

Although the government [in June] said they would build buildings for the IDPs [and close down IDP camps in Kachin, Arakan/Rakhine, Shan and Karen States], I don’t think the government will close the IDP camps. In the news, the government announces to the international community, “In our Burma, we don’t have IDPs camps, we will build building for them.” But in reality, there is not enough buildings [shelter] for the IDPs. The government wants to show like they are really doing something, but in reality it’s not like that. I think if the IDPs went back to their hometown, the government couldn’t take the natural resources, so they [the government] don’t want to close the IDP [camps]. That’s just a dream [to return in safety and dignity]. The IDPs don’t have the possibility to go back because the military and the KIA fight all the time, every day. I don’t think they can go back, I don’t know, it’s just a dream.

The Burma Government: “In Burma, it is under the control of two sides. One is the democratic [civilian] government, one is the military government [Burma Army].”

For the military government, they are not interested in anything. In June, there was a thief coming in my home and he stole some of my things. So, I caught the thief and I called the government office; “Please come and arrest the thief because he stole some things from my house”. The Kachin village chief came to my house, and then he arrested and tied the thief at the village chief office. At that time, it was already half past 11 pm, and he called me, “Please come to the office, you have to tell the police, you must be involved when we discuss”. So, I went to the office and the village chief called the police. The police official said that they would come but they didn’t come at the end. We waited until half past 1 am. As another example, one day, I saw there was an accident that happened around 1am — I had the police contact number, so I called the police. The police answered, “Really? We don’t have enough police, so we cannot go there, sorry for that.” They said like that. I thought, “Why? We have like 5,000 police in Kachin State, why is it still not enough, where did they go?”

There was a primary school girl who went missing in one of our villages in Kachin State. The primary school girl’s parents and villagers couldn’t find the girl, so they informed the police to make a report; “My child has been missing since yesterday.” However, the government didn’t say anything, they kept silent. They [police] all were silent. The next morning, the parents found out that this girl had died in the water, but they didn’t say anything to the police. However, when the police heard the news, they came and took away the girl’s body and they did an operation [autopsy] on her. But the girl’s parents, they didn’t want to do the operation on this child. The parents just wanted to keep her whole normal body. The police said, “No, we don’t allow like that, we have to do operation [autopsy], that’s our rule.” The villagers didn’t say anything, because they can’t say anything [to object].

In our Kachin State, we have six main ethnic-sub groups, however, most don’t have enough education. Most of the Kachin people live in the forest and villages, so the government can do anything they want [without consent]. There are a lot of problems like that; the government administration in our Kachin State is not good.

In July, around 30 people were buried in a jade [mine] land

, in Hpakan. However, the government [officials] and the police just stood there drinking water, then they stood there looking, just looking. The villagers saved the people and they helped their friends. They [police] didn’t care about anything, they were just looking. In other countries, in Thailand, they saved the children from the cave, all of the countries helped them, but we don’t have [support] like that. We lose a lot of human rights.

That’s so sad for Kachin people. Not only for the Kachin people, also for the Rakhine [Arakan], the Shan and so on. That [protecting citizens] is the government’s duty. We have to question, why our human rights are abused by the government? In Burma, it is under control of two sides.  One is the democratic [civilian] government, one is the military government [Burma Army]. I myself just think that, between the two governments, it is very difficult for the people to survive.

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Burma Link interviewed Ah Ze in English in July, 2018. The interview has been edited for clarity and flow.

READ PART 2 FOCUSES ON THE WORK OF THE AKYU IN EMPOWERING THE YOUTH.