Jaloon Htaw : Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 209, based in Kamawet village, in Mon State’s Mudon Township, is preparing to confiscate 80 acres of rice paddy lands from local farmers.
According to IMNA’s field reporter, LIB No. 209 plans to confiscate a total of 50 combined acres of paddy lands from eight farmers in Doemar village, Mudon Township and over 30 combined acres from seven farmers in Kwan Hlar village, Mudon Township. The battalion allegedly wants to turn the confiscated lands into blocked-off sections of military owned lands before the 2010 elections.
Residents of the two villages explained that LIB No. 209 has ordered the headmen of Doemar village and Kwan Hlar village multiple times to inform the farmers in question that their lands will be confiscated; the two headmen in are reportedly unwilling to become agents of the battalion.
“They [the battalion] have told me four or five times [to tell the farmers their lands are being confiscated]. If they want, they can say to the farm owners directly. Now they haven’t said anything to them. I don’t want to do like that” an associate said on behalf of one of the villages’ headmen.
According to a villager from one of the two villages, the paddy lands to be confiscated previously were used to grow both rainy season paddies and summer season paddies on an annual basis. However, at the moment many of these paddy fields have become overgrown with weeds and grasses, and are not being used to grow rice, leading to LIB No. 209’s interest in confiscating the area.
The owner of some of the to-be-confiscated farmland told IMNA’s field reporter that losing any part of his land will deal a huge blow to his livelihood.
“Even if the land is bad, we can’t give it over to the army. Not all of it [the land to be confiscated] is overgrown, and some of it can be used to grow food to eat,” he explained.
A Mudon Township resident speculated that LIB No. 209 plans to confiscate the land before Burma’s November elections, and then later resell it.
According a representative from the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), LIB No. 209 has a long track record of land confiscation and reselling. The battalion is first recorded as having confiscated and resold paddy lands near Mudon town in 2002. Later instances involve confiscating 200 acres of rubber plantations and cashew plantations near Kyiakamoekyi pagoda between 2005 and 2006, and confiscating 70 acres of paddy lands from the area between Kamawet village and Kalort tort village in 2008.
“Paddy land is like lifeblood for the Mon people. If the farmers report [land confiscation] to the Burmese government’s departments, they don’t care, and also the NMSP [New Mon State Party] can’t help [farmers who have lost land]” said Nai Aue Mon, coordinator of HURFOM.
Nai Aue Mon explained that LIB No.209 has been known to confiscate farmland through two different avenues: the battalion has at times confiscated lands on official military business, while at other times individual officers and soldiers have personally confiscated farmlands without official military backing. A third method , thus far not utilized by LIB No. 209, is the route of civil law: under Burmese law, army battalions technically have the right to confiscate viable farmland that has been left to lie fallow.
According to the Moulmein District agricultural report for 2010, Mudon Township contains a total of 86,803 acres of paddy land.
