One Hundred DKBA Soldiers Defect to KNU
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By SAW YAN NAING |
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 |
More than 100 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers have defected to the Karen National Union (KNU) since June, following fighting and DKBA forced recruitment, according to Karen sources. About a dozen DKBA defectors returned to areas controlled by KNU Brigade 6 and Brigade 7 last week, according to KNU and DKBA sources on the border.  | | DKBA soldiers line up for a ceremony in 2008 (PHOTO: The Irrawaddy) |
Some villagers in DKBA-controlled areas have also fled to KNU-controlled areas to avoid forced recruitment by the DKBA, sources said. Hsa Paw, a member of DKBA Battalion 5, said he was among a group of soldiers who defected to the KNU because they do not want to fight against fellow Karen in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The DKBA, now estimated to have some 6,000 troops, began a recruitment campaign in June to increase the army to 9,000, prior to serving as a border guard force under the military government. Despite the agreement by DKBA leaders to transform into a border guard force, some DKBA battalions have not yet agreed with the order, said Hsa Paw. He said many DKBA soldiers are unhappy about their leaders’ decision to become a border guard force. The DKBA is the largest ethnic cease-fire group to accept the regime’s order to become a border guard force. It signed a cease-fire agreement with the government in 1995. The DKBA’s political wing, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO), has not yet said if it will participate in the 2010 elections. “Once the DKBA split and defected to the Burmese regime, Khin Nyunt [a former prime minister] told them not to become involved in politics. He said politics is complicated,” said a DKBA businessman. He said he believed the DKBA would focus on social development programs and business, while serving as a border guard force. “They [DKBA soldiers] will not all defect to the KNU at the same time,” he said. “But there are many potential defectors.” Meanwhile, the DKBA has increased its troops in Papun District where KNLA Brigade 5 is based. Skirmishes have occurred almost daily, according to Karen relief groups. The Karen Office of Relief and Development (KORD) estimated that some 2,000 Karen villagers from six villages in Papun District have relocated to a makeshift jungle camp known as Thapepan. The DKBA has been recruiting at the camp, sources said, and it does not allow villagers to leave the camp area in an attempt to sever their connection with the KNU. Many villagers want to escape from the camp, said Maw Law, a KORD relief worker.
 COMMENTS (20)
tocharian Wrote: |
30/10/2009 |
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To Garrett,
Well Aung San Su Kyi is also a "Burman" like Kyansittha, so you should blame her and her father too for all the problems that the Karens have with "Burmans."
Perhaps the US and the Western countries should give political asylum to all the Baptist Karens in Burma, because that would definitely make them happier and the poor "Burmans" and the rest: Kachins, Chins, Shans etc. can live happily under Chinese rule, building their dams and their pipelines, prostituting in their gambling casinos where they launder their drug money, etc.
Kyansittha is dead. Long live Hu and Wen and whatever. SPDC will become a puppet regime and the Karen will be free in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Amen! |
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Garrett Wrote: |
30/10/2009 |
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Tocharian, you have a strange view of history, focusing on a brief period when the KNDO was active, or on a period a thousand years earlier. I think history shows that the majority of the innocents being killed and enslaved in either period were likely Karen villagers.
As regards "the main problem in Burma",
the Chinese have become an influence in Burma because of the successive illegal military regimes, not due to "the people of Burma whose ancestors have always lived there fighting over trivial issues".
Strange that you would bring up Kyansittha, who has nothing to do with anything, other than perhaps being the model for the modern Burman concept of conquering and enslaving other ethnicities so that the Burmans could become rich by the labor of their ethnic slaves(hardly trivial).
The SPDC version just doesn't include sharing their spoils with their own people.
The slavemasters,puppeteers,& danglers of carrots in Burma are Burman, and the main problem in Burma is apathy. |
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tocharian Wrote: |
29/10/2009 |
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I lived in Burma in the 50's, when the KNDO and their allies controlled more than 70 percent of the territory of Burma for a few months. Many innocent people died.
As a kid, I had many friends who were Karen, Shan, Chin, Kachin etc. In fact, I always thought they were more honest and sincere than the materialistic half-Chinese "Burmans" who lived in the big cities like Rangoon (and now in Mandalay).
The main problem in Burma today is the Chinese invasion and it happened because the people of Burma whose ancestors have always lived there kept fighting each other about trivial issues, while the Chinese Dragon is exploiting the natural resources and destroying the natural beauty and traditions of the country where my ancestors were born.
In my opinion, the people of Burma, especially the ethnics, are too NAIVE about the global scale of politics. Remember what Kyansittha said to Saw Lu when he tried to rescue him. So be it if that is what Burma deserves.
Become slaves of the Chinese! |
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Garrett Wrote: |
29/10/2009 |
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Quote Tocharian: "100 soldiers here or there, dead or alive, is insignificant in the bigger scale of things. Why is it so important for The Irrawaddy to report this? Because they are Karen?"
I think the more important question is why would you be adverse to The Irrawaddy posting this article? Is it because you are NOT Karen?
If you are a citizen of Burma, do you believe that you are more Burmese than a Burmese citizen who is Karen, Shan, Mon, Karenni,or any other ethnicity?
If you are a Buddhist citizen of Burma, should you be given special rights,freedoms and privileges which are unavailable to Animists, Muslims and Christian citizens of Burma?
Is whatever goes on behind the Burmese bamboo curtain where not only extreme poverty, but extortion,starvation,forced labor and religious persecution are imposed upon the ethnic nationalities unworthy of discussion?
The apathy of the majority of Burmese citizens towards the plight of the ethnic minorities is well represented by your comments. |
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Ehtataw Wrote: |
28/10/2009 |
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Hi Irrawaddy'
Thanks for this Karen news about the Karen situation.
Maybe the people who are not Karen are not interested in this news.
It is fair enough but we can't judge which information is necessary or not in the media.
It must be freedoom of press as well
if we are really want peace and democracy. |
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Free Man Wrote: |
26/10/2009 |
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Tocharian,
This piece of news might not be important for you and some others, but I am sure it is important for the morale of the Karen people.
When you asked if The Irrawaddy is Karen to report this piece of news, it reminds me of some Karens who ask why people make a fuss about reporting about certain political prisoners when they get sick or whatever while hundreds of people are fleeing from the onslaught of the SPDC troops, starving, etc.
Anyway, I would like The Irrawaddy to report anything that is transpiring in every corner of society. |
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Ehtataw Wrote: |
25/10/2009 |
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I personaly believe that the SPDC have the main focus of "ethnic cleaning" strategy in their main goal in Myanmar.
You can see the military brain-washed DKBA against the same Karen. This is the case study of the military regime wanting to control the land.
We are the same humans. Why can't we maintain our own culture and language? We have to respect other culture as well.
This is the main reason of if you want peace and justice with democracy.
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tocharian Wrote: |
24/10/2009 |
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| Big Deal. 100 soldiers is peanuts! Thousands died during Cyclone Nargis and tens of thousands have died over the last 60 years because of all these ethnic conflicts. 100 soldiers here or there, dead or alive, is insignificant in the bigger scale of things. Why is it so important for The Irrawaddy to report his? Because they are Karen? |
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sumyatmoe Wrote: |
24/10/2009 |
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| Buddhism is really a peaceful religion accepted by millions around the world. I believe U Thazana can follow the example of the Tibetans' Dalai Lama if he wants to fight for Karen independence. Commanding a revolutionary army is so inappropriate for a Buddist monk and it give Buddhist monks a bad name. Sorry, no offence. this is just a comment. |
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Eric Johnston Wrote: |
22/10/2009 |
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A similar change of allegiance within the Tatmadaw, while maybe militarily insignificant, could mark a point of departure for the crumbling of a psychological dam-wall.
The West has continued fostering human rights activists in post-communist Russia using clandestine methods considered illegal in the host country. (E.g. see an article in The Nation, Bangkok, 24th January 2006, on British diplomats use of an electronic dead letter-box). Inside Burma, notwithstanding the risks, there is a much greater need of clandestine support.
Change has to be worked for. |
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| I do agree with Saw John Kayinmyo..we need to be careful because the DKBA believed in their leader Monk U Thu Za Na deeply and the propaganda by some Rangoon Karen politicians.... |
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Free Man Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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| I agree with what you said. But we should and will continue working with farsighted, good Burmans who are symathetic to our cause for the sake of peace and harmony. Let our patience and wisdom guide us in our struggle for freedom and justice. |
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They, KNU, DKBA, and KNLA should have done this a long time ago.
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Garrett Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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It is the strategy of the SPDC to divide and conquer. It has worked in the ethnic homelands, and it works in the cities.
In the ethnic homelands, the regime cultivates turncoats by offering them power, drug trafficking concessions, and all of the rice, livestock, personal possessions and lumber they can confiscate.
In the cities, they divide and conquer by convincing the people they are better off living in poverty in the modern world, than to live like slaves, be hunted like animals, and die in persecution with no hope.
As with the Burma army, it is the commanders of the DKBA who are getting rich.
In many areas, there has been an unspoken truce between the DKBA and the KNLA, but the Burma army is now out there making sure the DKBA are earning their pay by following SPDC orders to persecute/murder/extort the civilians and enforce all relocation programs within their area of operations.
I just don't understand the brutality of the Buddhist soldiers of the SPDC and their ethnic proxy forces. |
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Greenland Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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It is sad to see the Karen degenerated to the level that they can not discern right from wrong. They believe and listen to what the SPDC has told and and asked them to do.
It is time for the Karen/DKBA to think for themselves and not just do what everything the SPDC asked to do. The Burmans represented by the SPDC have no good intention for you, not just for you but for all ethnic groups in Burma. Their ultimate goal is to eliminate/annihilate the identity of any ethnic minority in the country by means of Burmanization, which many nationalist Burmans are no longer hiding and openly talking about, cheering and supporting it with a straight face.
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hkunnawng Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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juansword88 Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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| The master of war (Karen fighting against Karen) is the Burma military regime. The DKBA is only the puppet of the Burma military. The DKBA is another branch of the Burma military filled with its Karen followers. How will the DKBA participate in the 2010 election with its army in shape? Will the junta's election allow a political party with an army to enter the election? This is the only special right for the military junta. At least, the DKBA regrets being the pawns of Burma military's chess game. The DKBA deserves nothing. |
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Mr.D.D.Joshua Wrote: |
21/10/2009 |
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Topic: Zomi Revolutionary Army | The Hindu Post News:
A press release issued by the outfit’s assistant secretary of information and publicity Joshua Kuki informed a decision to this effect was adopted by the leaders of the two organisations on October 5.
The main objective of the merger with the ZRA is to serve the greater socio-political interest of the larger family of the concerned communities.
It claimed that the Kukis and Zomis are one and the same family. The UKLA (MC) also appealed to all the non-Naga and non-Meitei based revolutionary organisations to come forward for unification since all belong to the same genealogy and origin.
Source: The Sangai Express (INDIA NEWS)
Mr.D.D JOSHUA (Refugee & Human Right Researcher Asia Pacfic Refugee Consultation on Human Right Forum (APCRR-2)
Mobile Thai Bangkok : 66-860-457 385
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Ngal Hriang Wrote: |
20/10/2009 |
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The split of the KNU was never good news for the Karen or to all ethnic groups in the Union of Burma who fight for democracy and self-determination. The best thing the DKBA can do is keep fighting the military dictatorship even though it cannot fight along with the KNU.
What is the border guard position to the ethnics? Are we dogs to guard Than Shwe? As the citizens of the Union of Burma, we do not deserve to be treated like dogs, as the DKBA seems very satisfied with. Shame on them. |
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Saw Nathaniel John, Kayinmyo C Wrote: |
20/10/2009 |
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DKBA troops defect to KNU. Well the KNU should be wary of what the DKBA will do in the future. It is because of the DKBA that the KNU lost Marneplaw and other strategic points. Just remember that the junta made the Karens fight between themselves and later gave the DKBA leaders like Phado Aung San and his bandits cash and honor which they are now enjoying while other Karen brothers and sisters had to flee the onslaught of the junta.
Never trust the DKBA. It is my sincere advice. It is like putting the viper in your pocket. Brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters--they don't care as long as they have lavish benefits. The junta itself is happy to see the Karens split within their own community. Why now, all of a sudden, has the DKBA defected to the KNU?
Don't forget that Phado Mahn Shah had to die due to the the DKBA, who took the orders from the junta, and was brutally assassinated. The DKBA is the KNU's enemy, favoring the Junta. Don't let them come in. |
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