The Shan Herald Agency for News has reported on a spate of land confiscations recently in Muse Township, near the Chinese border. So far, 175 households have lost about 620 acres of land. By logical deduction, most believe that this land has been taken as part of the 37,000 acres within Muse that have been earmarked for a rubber plantation - as part of the contract farming agreement that was reached last month between Burma and Thailand.

In the December 2 MoU, Burma agreed to reserve 17.5 million acres for Thailand, to be farmed under a contract system managed by Thailand. Burma supplies land and labor, Thailand takes care of infrastructure and ensures workers are underpaid. 17.5 million acres happens to be an area as large as Ireland. Thailand's Agriculture Minister Khun Ying Sudarat Keyuraphan says that it will be a 'win-win' situation. Burma gets jobs and money, Thailand gets cheap labor, sugarcane, oil palm, maize, cassava and rubber, and in theory, a stop-gap to keep so many Shan migrant workers from illegally fleeing to Thailand. And what do the people of Shan State get? Well, they now get the same crappy agricultural jobs they work in Thailand, with the added bonus of still being at the mercy of the Burmese military within their own borders!   more »