The Salween dams can displace 73,000
people, while the Hut Gyi dam alone can
cause more than 10,000 people to lose their homeland and hope for the future1. The Salween is the longest river in southeast Asia which still flows free. The Salween River flows through Karen State, Shan State, Karenni State, Mon State and forms part of the Thai-Burma border. The Salween River is the life blood of the people who have settled along its banks.
Currently, the Burmese regime, the State Peace and Development Council (“SPDC”) and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (“EGAT”) are proposing to dam the river which millions of people in Burma are depending on. Presently, they are proposing a dam at Hut Gyi which they claim will bring development and prosperity to Burma and Thailand. In fact, the Hut Gyi dam means more human right abuses, war and poverty in Burma and more refugees and risk to Thailand and other neighbouring countries.
The Hut Gyi dam target area is between Pa-an district and Papun district of Karen State in eastern Burma. Dr Thaweewong Sriburi, chairman of the Environment Institute of Thailand said that only 42 families in Burma would need to be relocated because of the dam2. However, the Karen River Watch research group reports that 41 villages from upstream of the dam site are included in the flood area and will be displaced.
Construction of the Hut Gyi dam will bring more human right abuses to ethnic areas. To prepare the dam the SPDC sent many of its military troops to the dam site to guard the location. Following the order of the SPDC, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (“DKBA”) brigade (555) and brigade (2) are setting their camps in Kyaw Sa and Kaw Kla village to guard the dam location. These were reported in July 2007 by a Burma Issues field staff member who observed the situation in Pa-an district.
A place that SPDC soldiers and military camp settle is a place that human right abuses are common. Local villagers are obstructed from freedom of movement and trapped by land mines. “The troop which guards the dam area is forbidding the local villagers from fishing and traveling to the place near to the dam target area. They are laying landmines to threaten the local villagers.”3
Human right violations include forced labour, forced relocation, killing, torture, extortion and rape. The SPDC soldiers persecuting people not only in Pa-an and Papun district, they also doing military operation in Toungoo district for ethnic cleansing. “We have to flee into the jungle; because the SPDC soldiers came and shot us dead and burnt all of our houses in the village if we didn’t flee, and if they caught us we would all be killed,” said Saw Ta Koo, an internally displaced person (IDP) in Toungoo district, Karen State. “I left my home and village because the evil SPDC soldiers are killing us and burning our village,” declared Saw Pah Mu Ha, an IDP from Papun district.
The Thai government is restricting the refugee flow into Thailand, so villagers cannot go to Thailand for refuge and cannot stay on their former lands. These people were born and raised on this earth, but have no space to stay on it. A member of Karen River Watch said that when the Hut Gyi dam is constructed, more than 10,000 local villagers may be displaced and will have no place to find shelter.
These people have no idea of where to go. They are losing their hope and future. As their homelands are flooded, there is no place for them to grow plants and find money for survival. Their lives are the earth on which they have lived. The SPDC development projects are destroying the ethnic people’s lives.
Forced labour, whereby local villagers carry food and heavy materials for the SPDC, is one of the most common human right abuses in Karen State. The SPDC used forced labour to build a number of military camp to secure the dam site. It is anticipated that the SPDC will again use forced labour in building the Hut Gyi Dam. Even children are forced to carry things that are heavier than their own weight. The SPDC are also extorting money through illegal taxation from local villagers in order to fund the activities of the military camp
The SPDC are preparing the Hut Gyi dam without the decision of the grassroots people who are settling near the dam site. A staff member from Karen River Watch, Naw Beau Lah Htoo declared that the benefit of the Hut Gyi dam will be used only for the military and their families. When Children from SPDC families are reading, playing and enjoying their comfortable lives under the light of electricity, ethnic children in the jungle of Karen State are struggling with starvation, sickness and trying to find their ways in the darkness with burning firewood.
The people of Thailand think that the Hut Gyi Dam is completely inside Burma and it will not affect Thai people. Pianporn Deetes, a coordinator for Living River Siam-Southeast Asia Rivers Network (“SEARIN”) said that Hut Gyi was chosen as the first dam construction site because its area would be completely inside Burma, and that consideration of the adverse environmental and social effects of a dam at Hut Gyi has not been a priority for the Thai government, much less the Burmese.4
The Hut Gyi dam has the potential to bring more risks to its neighbouring countries, in particular Thailand. When there is more poverty and scarcity of food and medicine in Burma, most people are likely to seek refuge in the nearest country for them to avoid the disaster. The Hut Gyi dam is in Karen State and it is near to the border with Thailand. Thailand made it more difficult for Burmese people to cross the border but people are still crossing. “I’ll choose the way to take risk and come to Thailand rather than stay in Burma and silently endure the continuous persecution of the military troops,” said a local villager near to the dam project site of Mu Traw district. As more refugees arrive in Thailand, the Thai government has responsibilities to keep them safe.
Thailand is one of the countries that will be impacted by the Hut Gyi Dam. The dam can affect people living upstream on the Thai side of the border. “Therefore, we never believe that the Hut Gyi Dam will not pose a problem to those of us who live upstream,” said a Thai villager in Ban Sob Moei.
The Hut Gyi Dam will bring more opportunity for the SPDC to use profits from the dam project to increase their military force and strengthen their power. Currently, they have 400,000 soldiers5. These are supported by 50 per cent of the nation’s budget. The profits that they get from development projects are being used to buy weapons and fighting equipment. For example, profit from the Yadana gas pipeline project enabled the Burmese army to obtain Mig-29 fighter jets from Russia.6
The Hut Gyi dam has the potential to bring more risks to its neighbouring countries, in particular Thailand
The Thai government must be aware of the SPDC ongoing oppression on the Burmese people. This oppression exposes neighbouring countries not only to the risks outline above, but other non-traditional security threats, such as illegal migration, disease, illicit drugs and increased costs of law enforcement and health.
All of the above demonstrates that the Hut Gyi dam means only disaster and tragedy to Karen ethnic people. There are no positive outcomes. The dam will affect not only the near by area but also the Thai people area from the upstream of the dam site. You can put your feet in the shoes of the people suffering in Burma, especially the ethnic people. Think about how you will feel if you lose all of your property,had no place to take shelter and no one to care about you.
As you have the ability and power in your community and organisation to help these suffering people. You can share this message with other people and you can pressure to Burmese government and EGAT to stop the Hut Gyi Dam project. Grassroots people do not want this project. In order to help grassroots people to have security and a peaceful life, the Hut Gyi Dam should not be built.
Footnotes
The Hut Gyi dam has the potential to bring more risks to its neighbouring countries, in particular Thailand
