15.10.2006
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Two Blind Men from the Railway of Death
_ by David Law
When men profess to do good deeds but ignore evil crimes next door, is it because they are hypocrites or is it because they are blind?
In early August this year, the Japanese newspaper, Kyodo, ran an article about the 61st anniversary of Hiroshima being commemorated in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, praising the Thai Mayor Prasit and Nagase, a Japanese peace activist.
Prasit had just become a member of a group of mayors from 1,400 cities around the world calling for the abolishment of the atomic bomb and he wished to spread the message of peace and to strengthen the ties between his city and Hiroshima. He fervently believes that "War....brings nothing good."
Nagase, an 88 year-old Japanese war veteran, feels ashamed of the inhuman war crimes he witnessed in Kanchanaburi during the construction of the infamous Railway of Death. He wants to prevent further any further cruelty of man against fellow man and feels remorseful for the wartime atrocities committed by his fellow Japanese soldiers. So he is campaigning to make Mayor Prasit's city into a World Heritage site like Hiroshima and link the two cities together.
To quote the Kyodo article: "Nagase, now engaged in anti-war activities, has been offering scholarships to children in Kanchanaburi for more than 20 years funded by a foundation he set up. "I felt ashamed and wanted to do something to make up for the wartime atrocities conducted by the Japanese," Nagase said. Nagase has also proposed that the Thai government have the railway designated as a World Heritage site so it can become a place where people will "renew their hopes of peace," like the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima which is a World Heritage site. Prasit, who is in favor of the plan, talked with Akiba during his visit to Hiroshima and quoted the Hiroshima mayor as saying he would like to offer support to realize the plan." (end of quote)
Each man sounds so noble that they should perhaps be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But do they see what really needs to be done in the name of Peace? The answer is "No, they don't see," because just across the Thai border to the west lies another Roadway of Death for a pipeline that connects the Yadana (meaning treasure, from the Indian word "ratna") offshore gas field in the Andaman Sea traversing southern Burma into Thailand, running parallel to the WW2 Railway of Death bringing many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of natural gas, enriching both the Thai and Burmese governments but devastating the local natives.
Aside: The SPDC generals get about 150 million dollars a year in their 15% cut which is like selling out a national treasure very cheaply, tantamount to an act of national treason. The Thais get about 25 %, the American Unocal about 29%, and the French Total company, about 31%.
During the Second World War, thousands of Allied prisoners of war as well as the local natives: Karen, Mon, Tavoyans, and Burmese were forced to work like slaves until they dropped dead from repeated beatings, exhaustion, malnutrition, or infectious diseases. These slave camps were known as Chway (Sweat) Tat Sakans (Camps) in which inmates lived in squalid camps in poor sanitation, no medical care, and inadequate food. Conditions were horrendous and some of the surviving Allied veterans, to this day, find it extremely difficult to forget and much less forgive their former fascist tormentors. (See the late 1950's movie, "Bridge Over the River Kwai." )
It is highly commendable that the Thais who collaborated during WW2 with fascists are now trying to make amends for these past misdeeds, together with this Nagase, a former fascist soldier, but their sincerity is in serious doubt because of what is going on in the same region today.
During the construction of this notorious gas pipeline in the 1990's, the atrocities committed far outweighed whatever the Japanese did from 1942 to 1943. For over a decade, the Burmese SPDC Army (whose progenitors, by the way, were trained and organized by the same WW2 Japanese fascists) has been capturing local natives at gunpoint and forcing them slave for them. They have to stop their regular farm work and instead, come to work on the pipeline, bringing their own food and tools with no compensation in return. In addition, the natives have to chop wood and bamboo to build barracks and fences for the soldiers to live, plus collect firewood, fetch water, and other day-to-day chores like unpaid servants. The Yadana Gas Field means Treasure, but only for the Burma Army generals, not for the people.
Villages that lay along the path, or too close, were destroyed and its inhabitants forcibly relocated. Soldiers would make the natives chop down acres and acres of virgin jungle not only for the pipeline, but for a wide security corridor stretching far beyond the pipeline --- bringing destruction to pristine rain forests and disrupting irreplaceable natural ecology.
Whenever there was an explosion on the pipeline, rather than blame technical faults such as gas leaks, the soldiers would blame the villagers for failure to guard against sabotage, and make them pay exorbitant fines as well as stay up as night watchmen. Whenever the army needed porters to carry their supplies on jungle patrols, they would order the villagers to carry them like pack-mules and those households that could not "volunteer" had to pay fines.
When faced with minefields, these "volunteers" were forced to walk across the mines, setting them off with their feet in order to clear safe passage for the soldiers. Women, in addition to serving as porters during the daytime would serve as sex slaves at night for the soldiers.
All these crimes are in addition to what roving bands of soldiers routinely commit while patroling the villages, or while merely roaming around -- crimes such as thievery, assault and battery, torture, terrorization, robbery, extortion, rape, murder, and arson. Whatever Japanese fascists or English colonialists committed in the past pales in comparison to the present-day SPDC soldiers, especially their officers who lead the way to set their horrific examples. What is particularly galling is that officials from the foreign companies, for many years, made "Total" denials of war crimes.
How can anyone bear to live under such conditions of Hell? The answer is no, no one can, and as such, many of the natives have chosen to flee east across the border into Thailand and so it is impossible for people in Thailand, especially Mayor Prasit, not to be aware of these horrors occurring daily within the past two decades.
The Japanese Railway of Death went across from Kanchanaburi, Thailand, to enter Burma at Phayathonzu, continues further northwest and ends at Thanbyuzayat for about 6 inches on the map, or about 180 miles. This runs parallel and very close to the present-day Yadana Gas Pipeline which begins in the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields, far out in the sea, and make landfall near Kanbauk on the coast of Tenasserim Division. The gasline heads east about 50 km. or 30 miles across the northern Tenasserim region to Nat Ei Taung, and then crosses the Thai border to go southeast towards Ratchaburi. The land-based portion of the gas line is about 5 inches or 150 miles. The war crimes mentioned earlier occur only inside Burma, of course, and not along the Thai portion of the gasline; nevertheless, Thai activists have often demonstrated against the pipeline, outraged at the disruption of natural ecology (but not at crimes against humanity, most regrettably).
Since Nagase served as an interpreter, he had to be very familiar with the local geography of both nations. And since he is such an ardent peace-loving, violence-loathing activist, he must have surely read about the Burma Army's war crimes occuring in this part of the world which means so much to his heart. So it is also very likely that Nagase is also aware of the Yadana Pipeline of Death. On the map, the two are only about 15 to 20 miles apart and go parallel for about 100 miles.
If Prasit and Nagase are such ardent peaceniks who truly want to prevent any further cruelty of man against man, then why can't they say something about what is going on so close to them in Burma? And if those Thai activists are so passionate about violations against Mother Nature, why can't they include some denunciations against SPDC for violations against human rights? After all, humans are also products of Mother Nature, too.
The least thing the two men could have done was to include in their ceremony a public call for peace in Burma and appeal to the Burma Army to stop mistreating its own people. It is truly incredible how the two old men can cry out for something that happened over 63 years ago (which no one can change) and yet not mention a word about the ongoing tragedies that are occurring in their own backyard (which can be stopped) and so it is difficult to appreciate their sincerity and their motives are questionable. What, then, are they up to, really?
Well, if Kanchanaburi gets to be designated a World Heritage site, then more tourists will come. The Mayor would benefit. Since it was Nagase's brainchild, he, too, would reap rewards. In fact, Nagase has visions to open some sort of a theme park, an open museum, perhaps like a House of Horrors, or a Garden of Evil (as opposed to Eden).
Well, then, why don't they contact the Burma Army dictators and make it a "Double Fascist Theme Park" spanning across the Thai-Burma border since both Pathways of Death are so close to each other? The visitors then would see double their money's worth. One could then see the exhibits of "Japarmy" fascists as well as the ”Bumarmy” fascists and decide which is more unimaginably cruel.
For every sculpture of a Japanese Fascist slapping a POW, there can be a Burmese Fascist slapping, punching, and kicking a native porter. For every Japanese trophy of an decapitated prisoner's head, there can be a similar Burmese trophy of an impaled porter, and the two exhibits should run parallel to each other, and a scoreboard to let visitors mark their preferences.
But of course, the Burma Army dictators would never agree. Well, then have the theme park only on the Thai side of the border. After all, the Burma border is only 50 miles west of Kanchanaburi.
To dedicate a memorial park ONLY to the WW2 atrocities and to totally ignore the modern-day Fascist atrocities occurring so close by, just over the border fence, is a gross hypocrisy, a ridiculous travesty of so-called Peace Activism. Might as well call it Piss, not Peace, especially with all the Singha beer Prasit and Nagase may have been drinking to celebrate their event.
If Nagase's memorial does get built and the Burma atrocities are not mentioned, then -- in the name of True Peeaace, not piss, it should be the target for all Burma activists to go there and demonstrate on a regular basis!!
At the time of this August (but a non-august) event, the Thai PM Thaksin was still in power, and Japan was still opposing any inclusion of Burma in the UN Security Council's agenda. Thai and Japan at that time were aligned with a few other countries which I used to call the CJITtY Neighbors of Burma.
C and J are China and Japan, while I and T are India and Thailand. Y is Yusha, the transliterated Burmese spelling for Russia. C is pronounced like an S in Russian and J is like a Y, so my acronym is pronounced just like the word shxtty. I made up this bitter acronym because these governments have given tremendous support to the Burma Army dictatorship, prolonging the sufferings of all the 60 million Peoples of Burma.
In conclusion, let us turn back to Nagase and Prasit and give them some benefit of doubt. Let us assume they do know what is going on in Burma and they have seen miserable refugees pouring across the border. But maybe they had to pretend to be blind in response to pressure from their respective governments and hence during the August commemorations, they could not mention anything about Burma.
Well, much time has passed since then. The pro-SPDC Premier Thaksin has been kicked out of power, and Japan recently changed its previous policy of blind support for the Burma dictatorship. Now Japan has changed its policy and voted for Burma to be put on the UNSC Agenda. Perhaps Prasit and Nagase will finally get a chance to prove that they are neither hypocrites nor blind nor deaf, but true Peace-lovers. Now that their governments have changed, these men had better include Burma Gasline of Death in their future plans.
References: _
1. http://www.american.edu/ted/burma-pipe-conflict.htm#Map
2. http://www.kaowao.org/FORCED%20SECURITY%20ALONG%20YADANA%20PIPELINE%20ROAD.php
3. http://khrg.org/maps/index.html
4. http://www.rehmonnya.org/report_detail.php?ID=17
¨ Further quotes from the Kyodo article:
"Nagase witnessed Japanese troops torture POWs in Kanchanaburi in the last years of the war. Shortly after the war he was deployed by the Allied Forces on a mission to search for the bodies of Allied soldiers who perished while building the railroad and confirmed the remains of more than 130,000 POWs.
The railway is commonly known as the "Death Railway" as about 16,000 POWs, including British, Dutch and Australian nationals, as well as 80,000 to 100,000 Asians perished while being forced to build it.
The 415-kilometer line was built between June 1942 and October 1943 to carry supplies into Burma where the Japanese were preparing an invasion of India.
But most of it was abandoned due partly to high maintenance costs after the war and currently the railway operates along a portion of only about 130 km in Thailand. "
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