Forgotten People in Burma

Aung Kyaw 

      Boom...Boom!! There was sound of huge explosion! Children and women got panic, men with wide opened eyes shouted at their family members to run to thick jungles. The small village was filled with the sound of children crying and shouting for help. The peaceful sleeping village was now suddenly awake now! "Run, the Armies bomb our nearby village, run..." was the sound coming out from every corner of the village.

     The villagers had never heard such huge sound in the past. It was impossible that the sound of the huge explosion was that of falling trees in summer when people cut big trees down to clear the jungle to cultivate rice and sesame. Sometimes, the heavy tropical rain would uproot big mighty trees during the raining season. They tried to match the sound with any of their past experience, yet they could not get any clue. They have been in living in a big world of theirs without any disturbance for century. They regarded their place as the world of euphoria because there was no crime of thief, murder, adultery, or any crime you can name it!

     As people were running here and there to hide, a Wiseman had to calm down the villagers. "No one is bombing our nearby village. It's the road construction going on on the other side of our border in India. The constructors sometimes have to dynamite rocks to clear for the road."  He was responsible to intervene or solve any problem in the village. He would be referred as Ruathugri or the headmen of the village. He was elected by villagers, and he had his men. In modern term, he was the prime minister and his men were his cabinets. The older people were members of parliament. However, he had no party of his own or his cabinets.

     The people in northern part of Paletwa Township in north western Burma have been living in the world of their own. They live on the Kalakchaung River, a tributary of Kaladan River. They have very limited access to outside of their world. There is no infrastructure to link their place with other places. These people and place had been ignored by every government that came to power at Yangoon. During the British colonial period, the government ignored it as there was no production or cultivation that could add to the wealth of the British. The government had not constructed a single road, school, or hospital because the people were no useful to them. The only thing the government did was adding the place in their map under the sub-division name "Arakan Hill Tracts". The people might not blame the British for not building a single school or a road because they were not as white as British and they could give nothing to them. After the British left Burma, the U Nu, the first parliamentary government in Burma, also did nothing to them. It might not be awful to say that U Nu knew no river named "Kalakchaung" in Burma. Different types of governments were installed in Yangoon ranging from democratic to militarism, yet the place was unknown to them.

     Although they have been forgotten by government in Rangoon and other civil societies,  these people make a beautiful garden of different ethnics. The Khami, Rakhaings, Mro, Chin and Dainak have been living here harmoniously. They would not hesitate to help one another in time of need. The languages cultures would not let them divide the land of their own. In fact, different dresses they wear make the land of diversity in unity. Since they are unknown to the outside world, nobody disturb their peaceful coexistence. They are the sons and daughter of the Kalakchaung.

     On the other side of the border, Lawngltlai District of Mizoram in India, anyone can travel with any mode of surface transportation. There are rural roads that would connect every villages and state highway would connect every town. Anyone can trace a road from New Delhi to Sabualtlang, its remotest village on the end of India from which Burma is twenty minutes walk. The Border Road Task Force, groups of engineers tried their best to make sure that every citizen in the Border States has best of the best roads. If a person wanted to travel around every town and villages in India and Burma, like Mr. Fogg who traveled around the world within eighty days, s/he need to skip villages on the Kalakchaung river because it would take many days to pass through these villages. S/he might be died on the way due to hunger because your money would be useless, and you would not get a decent bowl of rice during the raining season.

     Unlike people in India who live on Indo-Burma border, the people who live in the world of their own have no knowledge or infrastructure to cultivate the land. They have no business. Moreover, nobody would come to this forgotten place to buy anything. During the summer, the water level in Kalakchaung River is very low that it's almost impossible to transport anything. In the raining season, a person might not want to risk his life to travel on a tropical river where nobody knows when the river would get flooded. It rain suddenly and the small river would be flooded with trees, bamboos or anything that water could carry on its way. (I remembered I was almost drowning during monsoon period when I was traveling with lawng, a kind of kayak that is used to travel goods in small rivers).

     Since there is no trade or business, all the people grow paddy and vegetables in jhum. Any male who is fifteen or older would cut down trees, bamboos in January and February. The forest should be unused for any purpose for at least four years for jhumming. After they clear the forest for their desired acres, they would leave it to dry up trees and bamboos or anything they have cut down. Then, after a month or so, they would burn the place they have just cleared a month or so ago. Afterward, every family member would clear the place because many things left unburned. Children would look after their own siblings. It would be not wrong to say that anyone above thirteen would work in jhum. Then, they would put paddy and any seed they wanted to grow on the ground by making a small hole so that birds and other animals would not be able to eat them. It is sure they want to rest for few days after all this hard labor, yet they can not rest for a day. As soon as they finished putting paddy and seeds on the ground, small bamboos, trees and unwanted herbs would sprout up from the ground. These jhummers would cut it down so paddy and vegetables would grow. After clearing unwanted things from their jhums once or twice, paddy is usually ready to be reaped. And it is the month of October and November.

   During reaping period, strong winds with heavy tropical rain would sometimes destroy the whole areas. Moreover, wild animals would come and destroy the paddy fields because these animals usually found the food they want in jhum. Some tropical vegetables and paddy are prey to wild animals such as deer, monkey, wild boar, birds and any animals you can name it. It means unlucky people have to spend without a decent meal the next whole years. The thick forests that surrounded their villages are their only gods and godfathers. They would spend in jungle a whole day to find some edible roots and yams.

     If they were not forgotten by the military government and civil society, these people would have a decent life with a meal every day. They would not need to get their luck everyday. The innocent children would not need to go to bed with empty stomach but laughers and smiles. In the world of information technology and development where people enjoy their life, these people in the land of their own are praying their God to wake up, and the military government to help them.

      It seems that the God would wake up and help them with good harvest, but the military government would never come to help them. Instead of helping these poor forgotten people, the women are prey to hundreds of Burmese armies. By making an excuse of hunting down some people who has been fighting the Yangoon regime, these Burmese would rape many innocent girls and women. With beastly eyes, armies would pick any girl on the streets or houses. The commanders would shut their eyes because there is no entertainment for armies. To the people in Kalakchaung, armies are a human from different space who has more power and know different sort of things to eliminate people on the earth.  The consequence of retaliation is death.  Since there is no electricity, the army can not enjoy watching movies. Their wives and girlfriends are left behind in cities and towns, yet they need to fulfill their carnal desire. Thus, raping is not a crime to armies but fulfilling their carnal desire. However, raping is the first death to these innocent women and girls, and death is just putting them out of misery.

        These people are forgotten by government and the outside world, yet the hardship, hunger and misery are unforgettable to them. Twenty or so minutes walk from the place, people are enjoying their life. They have infrastructure even though New Delhi is farther than Yangoon, because they live in India. The people who live in the world of their own have to suffer misery, hard labor, death, and so on because the military regime in Yangoon forget them, and the New Delhi would not do anything because they are not its people. These innocent girl and women, men and children would surely blame their outside world because the look is the same, having the same kind of heart, yet the people in outside would do not come forward to help them.   

 
 Email: Aung Kyaw