Daniel Pedersen

Junta details how to assault ethnic minorities, decimate development of Christian church

www.danielpedersen.org

Daniel Pedersen

November 28, 2009

Leaked documents from Burma’s ruling military junta provide shocking insight of the inner workings of a fascist regime bent on eliminating diversity within its own people.

The documents are detailed directives about how to assault ethnic minorities and decimate development of the Christian church in Burma.

Two telling documents have been acquired by ethnic minority organisations, one detailing payment incentives for impregnating ethnic minority women so as to dilute their bloodlines, the other how best to purge Christianity from Burmese society.

Both documents refer to the Burmese “master race” and relate a desperate desire to maintain Burman domination over myriad ethnic minorities who populate much of Burma’s landmass.

The brochure claims the State Peace and Development Council, Burma’s ruling military clique, has set a budget of five million pounds sterling (GBP) annually to fund “Human on Human conquest”.

Monthly incentives being offered to members of the Burman majority are staggered from 500 kyat ($A84 at the official rate) for impregnating a “commoner or ordinary woman” to 2,700 kyat to the “daughter or niece of an educated, wealthy person”.

At the unofficial or black market rate by which everyone in Burma operates – about 1,000 kyat to the US dollar – making a “commoner” pregnant would attract a payment of little more than 50 Australian cents a month.

Currently in Burma rice is retailing for about 1,000 kyat per 2.5kg, enough staple for a person on an extremely lean diet to eat for five days.

Rice prices soar

The Burman majority is thought to constitute about 60 per cent of Burma’s population, the sum of the rest divided among a swathe of ethnic minorities, the two most-populous being Karen and Shan, each thought to make up about seven per cent of the population.

The brochure being distributed in ethnic minority areas is headed “A notice urging Burmese comrades to act” and suggests “Burmese comrades shall assault other ethnic groups of Burma by all possible means; both economic and social”.

It says the main objective of the assault is the “everlasting dominance of the Burman race”.

And it says the easiest way to achieve this is “subjugating non-Burman women through inter-racial breeding”.

It spells out measures that can be employed by Burman men loyal to their “comrades”.

“Typically, ethnic women lack moral principles, and tend to like and envy Burman men. In order to attract ethnic women into Burman society we should exploit these characteristics,” the brochure says.

“Ultimately non-Burman women shall effectively become prostitutes if offered money in an affectionate manner by Burman men,” it says.

“Dear comrades, if we are unable to carry out the above, ethnic people will become a poisonous substance that will harm the Burman race,” says the brochure.

“Oh my dear comrades, there is no time greater than the present to proceed with the above, we shall therefore work to subjugate non-Burman women by offering financial disbursement to encourage sexual relationships.”

It then goes on to list prices for impregnating women of various social levels.

It also deals with the possibility of a forced withdrawal from the ethnic areas in the future and the “benefits” of such a breeding programme in the long-term.

“We must entrench ourselves as firmly as we can in every corner … In case we have to leave the ethnic regions permanently one day, we shall leave our bloodline established,” the brochure says.

It closes with instructions to distribute the brochure – its fourth edition – only to Burmans who can be trusted to keep the matter confidential.

The documents relating to “eradication of Christianity” have supposedly been issued by the “Religious Order of Highest Honored Monks” and are marked “top secret”.

They constitute guidelines issued by a special unit supposedly established by monks to deal with Christianity – it is referred to as the “Cleansing Association”.

Given the Burmese Sangha’s (the monks’ supreme body) current hostility to the junta it seems highly unlikely they would pen such a document, particularly one that flies in the face of Buddhism’s ideals.

Under a heading “annihilate”, its first recommendation is to oppose the development of Christianity and every Christian household.

The Burmese documents suggest multi-faceted discrimination against Christians will be used as an offensive tactic to scupper the religion’s growth.

It also recommends “all means necessary” to defeat the rise of Christianity, “be they violent or peaceful means”.

The documents also suggest attacking the concept of creation with “scientific” theory and exposing what are considered inherent weaknesses of Christianity, such as its “gentleness and politeness”.

It portrays Christianity as narrow-minded, as opposed to Buddhism, which it claims is free of all prejudice.

It also suggested the “indecent apparel of morally bereft Christian youth” could be exposed among laypeople to Buddhism’s advantage.

These violent discriminatory tactics have been well known by ethnic minorities for years now – they have been subjected to racial and religious attacks for decades.

But the acquisition of these documents points to a determined campaign by the military junta to oppress, or even eventually eradicate, ethnic minorities, particularly those who have embraced Christianity.

The Karen have largely adopted Christianity, having always believed in a single god and a single book of his commandments.

Such was their dedication to these beliefs that upon “discovery” by American Baptist missionaries in the mid 1800s it was speculated they might have been a lost tribe of Israel.

From “tribe” to “state”: An official view of Karen identity

New editions of these documents do not augur well for recognition of ethnic minorities’ rights in next year’s planned elections, nor do they bode well for countries that believe the junta’s attitudes can be changed via “engagement”.

These tactics are anything but new.

In 2001 I interviewed a 19-year-old defector from Burma’s Army, Htun Htun, and he recounted religiously inspired attacks on villages.

“We walked into Ka La Ner, a Muslim village.

“First we burned the mosque then told everyone to leave for three days.

“We then began forcibly relocating anyone who refused to leave and seized control of the village and 25 others surrounding it,” he said.

Htun Htun said when the SPDC troops had finished using the village as a base they burned it down, wiping out more than 100 families’ homes.

Or take the case of Ye Ye Aye, whom I interviewed in December 2000 just days after she had arrived at Mae Lae refugee camp, to Mae Sot’s north.

She said in August 2000, soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a militia allied with the SPDC, marched into her home village of Aong Daw.

She said they immediately began terrorising people and grouping at gunpoint those who admitted to being Christian.

They were then marched out of town, never to be seen again.

Ye Ye Aye was at the time 25 years old, is a Christian and a mother of three.

She, like others from her home village all those years ago, lied about being Christian and used to pray only when she knew she would not be discovered.

The soldiers who took control of the village were strict vegetarian Buddhists, she said, and each night searched every house for any evidence of meat or eggs.

Anyone found with such “contraband” was jailed in a bamboo compound.

Ye Ye Aye fled her home village in a moment of opportunity with her husband, 32-year-old Hla Kah Paw and her three children on December 12, 2000.

She still lives in Thailand’s Mae La refugee camp and thanks God that she and her family survived.

ENDS

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