Burmese Stories

…after this short trip to Burma, Maggie (a co-worker of mine) and I went to have a meeting with a couple of missionaries working and living on the Thai-Burma border just about an hour north of where we had crossed. We are planning on setting up a new program in this area, so we went to do a little research and find out more about the area. The people we talked with were amazing people with equally amazing stories. They were originally Australian, but have been living here for about 7 years working with Karen refugees. They told us a lot of stories about the conflict right across the border, which really opened up our eyes to the true situation. I have been learning a lot about Burma and the horrors that have been plaguing the country though out the summer. This issue is very important to me now as I have spent most of the past 3 months right on the Burmese border.

So here it is, the situation that Burma finds itself in. When Burma was released by British colonialism, a man named Aun San took control. Shortly there after he was killed and a military dictator named Ne Win took over the country thereby taking control of all of the separate states and people groups in Burma. Burma is a very diverse country, and as they were becoming free, the plan was to give all of these groups the power to rule over themselves. Ne Win had different plans. He closed off the borders, and planned to take control over all the separate states. Most of the people groups were okay with this, and said they would comply as long as they were left alone and were able to keep their own culture. Some groups however, mainly the Shan and the Karen, decided to fight back. They didn’t want to be controlled by anyone. 60 years later the fighting continues and the Burmese army continues to raid villages, burning them to the ground, in both the Karen and the Shan States. The rebel armies are not aggressive and are just trying to defend their land from the Burmese army. What the Burmese army is doing is trying to do is to break down these people and take control of their lands. These are strong people though, and they will not give up easy.

Back to the Thai border, Karen refugees are flooding the refugee camps along the border. These people have been pushed out of their villages by the Burmese Army and have no place to go. I have several friends who have experienced these attacks in their own villages and have had to flee to Thailand. One friend, Moo, has told me stories about the Burmese army raiding his village and killing everybody in sight. Before the soldiers attacked the village, they would shoot up with heroin so that they could continue fighting even after being shot. These soldiers are like robots fighting. There is no way to defeat them. Once they attack the village, the people must flee into the jungle and find somewhere else to go. Another friend, Dodo, told me that the soldiers came into his village with huge flame-throwers, torching all of the bamboo and teak wood houses. The entire village would be burned down within hours. His family was lucky in that they received early information about the attack and were able to escape. They watched from afar as everything they had was destroyed.

This is a very bad situation that has gone on for a very long time. Back in 1988, students in Burma started a large uprising against the government, but nothing was changed. As the riots continued, the Army shot into the crowd killing many people. In the end, people were dead and the government remained in control. Today, the situation is just as bad as ever, especially in the Karen State. On top of the Burmese attacking villages, the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) is attacking the main group of the Karen because the leader of the KNU (Karen National Union) is a Christian. Because of this, most of the violence occurs in Christian villages. This adds a whole new level to the situation plaguing the Karen people.

Me and the head of the village at Baan Mai

written by  jasonreevesmiller on August 17, 2008 from Mae Sot, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand Summer 2008
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