DRUNKEN MAJOR BEATS LOCALS ( Kao-Wao ) February 28, 2003

Kao Wao Newsletter

DRUNKEN MAJOR BEATS LOCALS

Ye, February 28 -- According to an eyewitness account, a drunken officer from the LIB No. 586 beat two innocent men and arrested them.

The detained men are to be released only if they agree to pay the Burmese Army officer Kyat 10,000 and hand over three kilos of chicken to him, a villager from Krong Pah said.

The two local men were returning from Jam Sai village in the early evening and had to bypass the Burmese army location on their way home. The drunken soldiers stopped them and beat them for traveling late in the evening and were detained for 24 hours in the army camp.

“I am Major Thaung Htike, I don’t care about any of you!” the drunken officer shouted at villagers of Krong Pah. Kyaw Kyaw, a villager said, “when he’s drunk, he gets out of control, since arriving he harasses and causes trouble for everyone”.

Local villagers appealed to the Commander of the Burmese Army for his wrong doing in the area but no legal action has been taken, local villagers complained.

Local Mon villagers have suffered bitterly, especially in their social life after the Burmese army built a camp in the village a few years ago, said a social worker from the village.