Akha Weekly Journal, April 6, 2002
Dear Friends:
Many items in this journal.
1. The long awaited printing press we now
have in hand and are prepping for our first printing of the Akha
Journal Publication. Will let you know when we get the first copies
ready to go.
Subscriptions are $60 per year for individuals.
$90 per year for institutions.
2. Our Akha Nature Conservancy project moves
forward. This project is at the location of one of the embattled
villages where we are doing our best to outrun rather stupid forestry
policy which is destroying the forest and replacing it with pine
in the "plant trees in rows" scheme.
Our goal is to save the existing trees from
cutting, stop wild fires, and halt the hunting of birds.
You may donate to help establish the native
trees nursery and help with the purchase of fruit trees, trail
care, water protection etc.
This is an enormous task. One of the reasons
it is complicated is that when villages were broken up and scattered,
then clustered together again, there were various tribes and if
you can get one to cooperate and not cut, such as the Akha, then
wham, the Lisaw are there cutting the next day and could hardly
care.
Secondly, the forestry and police have an
all or nothing policy. They want no one in the forest because
of cutting they say. But when a reckless cutting event occurs
and is brought to their attention, cutting of big trees and burning
of the forest, they will not act against the individual. This
is as if they want reasons to rid the whole group which is hardly
fair to those who are taking good care of the forest.
3. The Thai Government said it has plans
to relocate 1,115 Hill Tribe villages. This includes most of the
300 Akha villages in Thailand. We have seen what relocations result
in before, a few you can still visit and see what has happened
to the men, to the families, to the children.
4. The Thai government says it is giving
hilltribe people ID cards but in reality it is fighting the process
because there is a deadline in August for deportation of people
without full identity, and the government has not installed a
realisitic process that would have allowed those who didn't have
ID cards to finish the process. Of the 70,000 Akha in Thailand,
approximately 20,000 only have ID cards and 50,000 face deportation
though they were born in the country.
We will be organizing shortly and informing
you how you can become involved to protect the lives of the Akha.
5. The Attack and Burning of Meh Joh Akha:
We now find out that three Thais were involved in planning and
executing the attack on Meh Joh Akha for the purpose of robbery
of cash and methamphetamine tablets stored in the area. Nine civilians
were killed according to the last count that is available. Three
of them also Thais. Of the three Thais involved, one was killed
"mysteriously" according to the army, who deny being
involved themselves or blaming another unit. The fact remains
that the Thai Army knew of the attack, knew of the robbery, and
the other two men are still walking around free. Of course the
Burmese Government is pressuring the Thai Border Committee about
these events since they also have witnesses to how the attack
was carried out. The stolen meth pills were said to be used to
plant on people after they are killed via a secret police connection.
6. We also are in the process of training
our first Akha Language Teacher in a mountain village school.
Getting this established will be a long process but is much requested.
Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage Foundation
Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand
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