Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Opium cultivation escalates: PaO Youth Organization

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 04:56 AM PDT

Poppy cultivation in areas where PaO, a non-Shan nationality, are dominant, has been steadily climbing since 2010, according to a study by the PaO Youth Organization (PYO).

The PaO, who are concentrated in three southern townships: Hopong, Hsihseng and Panglawng (Pinlaung), but also spread out in other townships, were forced to either quit or reduce their production of opium during the 2006-2010 period. "But following the election campaigns in 2010, the poppy fields returned," said a young surveyor who asked not to be named.

"Vote for us and you'll be free to grow poppies" was one of the campaign promises given by candidates of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). It was also used by other parties affiliated to the Lion Party, as the USDP is popularly known.

Opium cultivation, sporadic in the area before 1991, became widespread following a ceasefire agreement between the PaO National Organization (PNO) led by Aung Kham Hti and the Burmese government in that year, according to PYO that cited several reasons for the increase:
  • Taxation of poppy farmers and traders as well as protection for drug producers
  • Ineffectual drug eradication programs
  • Lack of roads
  • Land confiscations since the 1962 military takeover which became worse following the advent of the nominally-elected government in 2011
  • Widespread corruption and weak law enforcement
  • Illegal taxation ("Every 5 times a farmer's hoe go into the earth, only one is for him," said a 45 year old former village headman in Hsihseng township. "The first one is for the Burma Army, the second for the PMF (People's Militia Force), the third for the rebels and the fourth for the village development funds. Only the fifth is for himself and his family."
  • Lack of markets for agricultural products (which was made worse by floods of cheap tea and garlic into Burmese markets)
  • Suppression of farmers, instead of traders
Other evil consequences, cited by the PYO, include:
  • Environmental damage
  • Decline in public morals
  • Increase in human rights violations
  • Dying of age-old traditions
  • Weakening cohesion in the PaO society
  • Rising corruption and
  • Human trafficking
"There are some 30,000 PaOs from Burma working in Bangkok alone," said the surveyor. "Their families back home are happy because there are less opportunities for their children to become drug addicts there, but they also send money back home."

The two-year study, tentatively titled "Sobs from the opium quagmire", is due to be published before this year's Anti-Drugs Day, 26 June, according to the PYO.

Shan State Women Development Organization

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 10:26 PM PDT

To Hopeland and Back (Part VIII)

Posted: 11 Mar 2014 10:25 PM PDT

Day Five: Hero and Anti-hero on the same day (8 March 2014)

Today I am honored by a former Shan journalist U San Aung, 90. He couldn't walk by himself and was accompanied by his son, a former lecturer from the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT).
u-san-aung
Retired Shan journalist U San Aung, 90, seen at the Ethnic Media Conference, 6 March 2014, in Taunggyi. (Photo: SHAN)
He hails me as a hero and a worthy successor to him, he who had worked with the Myanmar ALin (The Light of Burma) from 1939 to 1962. At that time it was one of the biggest private papers in circulation, "second only to Bama Khit (Burma Times)," according to him.

"You are more than artists, more than missionaries," he tells the journalists gathering for the third and final day of the Conference afterward. "You are crusaders of truth."

He also tells them what he thinks about being a good journalist, not just being a journalist. "The skills can be learned, but not the gift," he says. "It can only come from God."

Well, if to him I'm a hero, a rising one in my old age, to some others, I have become a fallen one. They think I have forsaken my sacred ideals, and have chosen to become a stooge for people who are reaching for the stars by hobnobbing with the powers that be.

Only my Chinese teacher Sun Tzu (BC 551-467) will appreciate what I'm doing. Maybe not even he if everything goes wrong through mishandling. But I'm used to being misunderstood since my early years, and have so far survived the attacks while remaining friends with those who earlier thought I was a turncoat.

One friend asks me pointblank, whether I'm looking for an official position in the government or party. I have assured him I'd rather be a Gandhi than a Nehru, but I'm not sure if I have convinced him. My only hope is that time will do it for me, as it did in the past.

The conference ends by forming a task force entrusted to form an Ethnic Media Network (EMN). A young PaO is elected as a member to represent the Shan State.

This evening I have a good time visiting a friend whom I knew since 1990, instead of joining the farewell dinner party for the conference participants at the hotel.

I'm sure I'm going to meet them again soon.

I spend the next two days visiting old friends: Sao Yunpeng of Zamka, whom I had known in my younger days as Gilbert Hti and Col Sai Lu aka Liang Hsai of Mark Kieng People's Militia Force (PMF) who has been supporting a Shan school project for marginalized youths in Namzang township.

I was back in Thailand on 8 March.
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