By MIN RA HTA : A land confiscation conflict remains unresolved in Nie Done village, Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, after some farmers have refused to sign an agreement for land sale with the Zaykabar Construction Company, despite the company maintaining that is has already paid compensation to the farmers.
Speaking to The Independent Mon News Agency on Monday, a farmer in Nie Done village, who wishes to remain anonymous, said, “Even if they pay a lot, we will not sign the agreement because we do not want them to take our land and we do not want to be factory workers. We only want to be farmers.”
“If they force us to sign an agreement on paper, we will send a complaint letter to the International Labour Organization (ILO),” he said.
In October, the Zaykabar Construction Company has confiscated 390 acres of land from the locals of Nie Done village in order to build a cement factory. Villagers have complained that they have received no compensation for their land.
On December 3rd, Zaykabar paid 350,000 kyat (around $350 U.S.) for one acre of land to farmers, after some farmers filed a law suit against the company. The land price for one acre is currently estimated at 1 million kyat.
A source explained that out of 93 farmers, 69 have accepted compensation from the company, while 24 still refuse to sign an agreement.
Aye Myint, who is a lawyer and a leading labor activist with the labor rights organization, Guiding Star, in Pegu, said that Burma has a law which applies to the protection of the property for farmers that was instated in 1963.
The 1963 Safeguarding Peasants’ Rights Law, Section 3, states that “a Civil Court shall not make a decree or order for: a warrant of attachment for or confiscation of agricultural land; neither for employed livestock and implements, harrows and implements, other animate and inanimate implements, nor the produce of agricultural land; prohibition of work upon or entry into agricultural land; prohibition of movement or sale in whole or part or use of employed livestock and implements, harrows and implements, other animate and inanimate implements, or the produce of agricultural land.”
“I want to encourage the farmers to remain tough and not to move away from their land,” explained Aye Myint.
These farmers’ land is a legacy of their parents, working on the land for several decade. After the company confiscated certain areas, farmers are left without jobs.
Land confiscation is a common occurrence in Mon State, where many farmers have experienced confiscation of their land with no payment.
A similar story of over a thousand acres of land confiscated with scattered compensation to the land owners was written in the monthly human rights report from The Mon Forum. Confiscation occurred in Kyaikmayaw Township, Karen State in 2010 where the cement factory Hexa International began construction projects on the land.
