‘You Die with It or You Fight for It’

Whenever they heard news that a monk was teaching Arakanese they arrested him

Khaing Hla Pyaint grew up in a small village in Arakan State, where he lived with his parents and his brothers and sisters. As both of his parents were farmers, Khaing Hla Pyaint says they didn’t have to worry about having enough rice. Children and youth in the village were educated by Arakanese monks, who took great risks delivering education.

At least we always had enough rice and paddies. Most people in the village were struggling a lot more for their lives. At least we didn’t have that kind of difficulties… We could also sell rice and get some money and buy clothes.

Young people who want to study they go to the monasteries and the monks will teach them the Burmese language, so you have Burmese literature and they teach them, but for English, they only know ABC and nothing else. They didn’t teach Arakanese because they are not allowed to teach. Because they all are burmanised. Whenever they heard news that a monk was teaching Arakanese they arrested him. So they don’t want to do that. They were afraid of being caught so they wouldn’t teach.

 

When I was 6 years old, I was forced to work as a porter

When I was young, we usually went together to monasteries. Monastery is the place where people go like girls and boys together to talk about things, so when I was young, I heard the story of the Burmese abusing the Arakanese. So since I was young it has been on my mind that this community is being abused and lots of their rights are abused.

There were also Burmese soldiers near Khaing Hla Pyaint’s village, and sometimes they would come and force the villagers to work as porters.

When I was young, when I was 6 years old, I was forced to work as a porter. My parents couldn’t help me. They had to send me to be a porter.

You have to dig the mountain, the ground of the mountain. You get lots of villagers there and they have to dig the ground. It’s like the government asks you to porter but they won’t even give you any food. You have to take your own food, in a box. So then you have to work there and you have to eat your own food. It’s like… when you are working, for example, my family didn’t need to worry about food, but there were some people who had to work all day with no food. Some people had no money or food to eat. Other villagers who had food gave small amounts of food to other people.

 

I was young, so I had to carry the sand and the stones on my head

Khaing Hla Pyaint explains that sometimes they could come back home overnight.

For example, if the place is near your village you can work there and then you can come back to your village and you can sleep there. But sometimes they ask you to go for a long trip like a month. The people who dig the mountain they are older people. But I was young, so I had to carry the sand and the stones on my head and I had to travel like that. With that, they want to build a military camp. And sometimes they don’t have a proper road to travel so they ask the people to make a road.

When Khaing Hla Pyaint was young forced labor imposed by the Burma Army was common practice.

Not only in that place but everywhere in Arakan State, they would ask the villagers to work. The older people had to dig the mountain, to make a road. So it’s the same thing, the road that we are going from Sittwe to Rangoon, you have to cross the Arakan Roma Range… This is a mountain range that comes from the Everest, and ends in our Arakan State. It’s like the people had to work and they had to find the way. They had to dig lots of mountains to reach Rangoon Division. Older people in the village went there and worked for that road. They all had to work.

People who had money they gave money and they didn’t have to work. But other people who didn’t have money they had to go and work. I had to go two or three times… Right now they don’t have that kind of portering anymore. Maybe they still have but not as much as they had before.

 

… We had to use rice peelings to make a fire

When Khaing Hla Pyaint was young, he studied Burmese literature in the village monastery.

First I learned Burmese literature in the monastery with the monks and then I was teaching others there. Later, when I grew up I went to the city to study more. I studied geography… I studied up to college level, we call it distance university. It’s like part-time, you are not allowed to study full-time. In the system we have two kinds of things, for day university you go to university every day, but for distance, you only go to university one month per year. The people who have money, they study in the day… Other people study with distance, they go to university for one month. Then they take the exams.

Khaing Hla Pyaint studied in the city for three years. He passed the exams and he was about to get the degree, but he didn’t have enough money.

For ethnic groups, you have to go to Rangoon for graduation. So you have to have money to go traveling and then you have to stay there. I couldn’t afford to do that so I couldn’t get the degree.

While Khaing Hla Pyaint was studying, he lived in a room in an apartment, and worked to support himself.

We had no stove to cook with at university so we had to use rice peelings to make a fire for cooking. But it was very difficult because they don’t burn well and you need a lot… It was a difficult time.

 

I realised that if we had our own power… we wouldn’t face these kinds of troubles

When asked why Khaing Hla Pyaint wanted to help his people, he says that Arakan State is colonised by the Burman.

Arakanese people have been colonised by the Burmese, the Burman. They don’t have freedom to do what they want to do. And there is a big lack of job opportunities, also many people are starving and facing lots of difficulties. When you are being colonised by other people… to overcome those kinds of things, you die with it or you fight for it. I realised that… that I should fight for it.

When I was studying, I used to read some of the history books, Arakanese history books. And also with some kind of local leaders, I used to talk about Arakanese history. Then I got very interested in it.

Khaing Hla Pyaint says that after he completed university studies, he went back to his village and worked together with his family.

My younger brother was there, he was working for my family. I felt sorry for him, he’d been working his whole life supporting my parents. So I wanted to help them… We worked in the farm and sometimes looked after the buffaloes. I realised that life in that village was very hard. And I realised I wanted to do something. I wanted to do some business but you need a permission from authorities. So you can’t really do what you want to do. Then I realised that if we had our own power, our own people would control this area, maybe we wouldn’t face these kinds of troubles. So I thought I should fight for it.

 

If you are going to work for your country the government thinks you’re a traitor

After Khaing Hla Pyaint had come back to the village from university, he learned that there was an Arakanese army group on the Bangladesh border.

One of my friends from Bangladesh came and visited the village. So at that point I came to know that there are Arakanese soldiers fighting against the Burmese… I also thought about fighting with them… But then I went to Thailand instead… I also had a fried who came from Thailand. That friend told me that if you want to work for your country, when you go to Thailand, it’s like you can also work for yourself and you can work for your country. So you can have both things. That’s why I decided to go and work in Thailand.

Khaing Hla Pyaint was 24 years old when he left to go to Thailand. His family didn’t know where he was going.

You want live in Thailand to work for your country, and if your parents know about that purpose, they won’t let you. Because it will put them in danger. If you are going to work for your country the government thinks you’re a traitor and you want to go against them, so the whole family would be in danger.

Now they know. I told one of my friends why I’m in Thailand and that friend must have told my parents about it.

 

Aid and the donors help the Burmese government get more arms

Khaing Hla Pyaint says that in his opinion, one reason the Burmese government might have made some changes is because they are afraid of the US government.

There are some countries who don’t work for ceasefires, and the US government will go and invade them. So maybe the Burmese government is afraid that the US army will come and invade them. Maybe because of that they have made some changes. And as the Burmese government is going to be the chair of ASEAN, because of that they are showing some policies, diplomacy, that some changes are happening.

I really don’t think there is hope or much change. Because when they say they have a ceasefire the international governments want to help them more. For example, they say ‘in this place they have a ceasefire, so we’ll go and help the local people more’. So the international actors are also going inside and helping the local people. Now the government gets lots of funds from the international community. That aid and the donors help the Burmese government get more arms. In the jungle, they are getting lots of arms, and they are also giving training to soldiers. So from the outside they

[international governments and donors] see that the government has a ceasefire and there is no fighting anymore but actually those donations and aid go to get them [the Burmese army] more arms and more training.

 

… They don’t want to fight with the government

When the international community want to approach they really have to make sure whether the government is really changing or not. For example, like they say that there is ceasefire. But you need to really see whether there is ceasefire, and if it’s really doing some kind of changes. When you can really trust the government that this government is really doing a good thing, then we have to provide them help. But not before, when they just say they are changing. This will only lead to some kind of negative impact. The ethnic groups, they also don’t want to have bloodshed and they don’t want to fight with the government. So, if the government is changing, they really want to make sure that there is no war and there is no fighting. If these things happen, if they really happen, then they [ethnic groups] really want to appreciate it.

 

If they have peace and harmony then they lose their power

Khaing Hla Pyaint is not sure it’s possible to have peace and harmony between the ethnic groups and the government.

They think that the ethnic groups are poisoned for their future. I used to read a book where they said that the Burmese government thinks this kind of thing, they still have these things in their minds, that the ethnic groups are poisoned for their future. So they don’t want to give them power. If they have peace and harmony then they lose their power. So we can’t really get it.

The difficulties and the misunderstandings then grew more and more because of those written papers. Maybe these papers were written by the Burmese government to spread the news to other Burmese authorities that this is the reason we have to keep our power in our hands. At some point I got this book in my hands, and some ethnic groups also got this book, and they found out that ‘oh this is their strategy, for this reason they don’t want to give away or hand us the power’. Maybe because of this reason the government is still fighting us. Maybe because of this the conflict and the misunderstandings grew more and more, and now they can’t really trust each other.

 

95% of Arakanese people have struggled more in their life than me

Despite everything that Khaing Hla Pyaint has been through, he considers himself lucky.

95% of Arakanese people have struggled more in their life than me. They say that there is no place in the world that is still colonised. But in the Arakan State there is a kind of hidden colony… Arakanese people have been colonised by the Burman… I am happy I came to Thailand… I am working for my country. I’m going to work for my country until I die. That is my dream and I’m going to work for that.

Click here to read Part I and the challenges Khaing Hla Pyaint faced on his way from the Arakan State to Mae Sot.

 

Khaing Hla Pyaint’s story is based on an interview with Burma Link. Written by Burma Link.