Mon “election working committee,” Min Nwe Soe, was arrested by special police in Mudon Township in Mon State on Wednesday. He was later released with a warning not to work with Mon exile organizations again
Min Nwe Soe is one of 15 Mon community leaders, including former central members of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), who formed an election working committee in June to prepare for the elections to be held by the Burmese junta in 2010.
Several Mon community leaders, including Min Nwe Soe, have participated in joint Mon Affairs Union (MAU) meetings held in Thailand in recent months.
The MAU represents all Mon people, whether they live in Mon State in Burma or in exile.
The meetings are held to discuss current Mon affairs and Burmese politics, especially about how to take part in the planned 2010 election.
MAU sources said Min Nwe Soe was not present at an MAU meeting early in September.
MAU members believe he was targeted by the Burmese authorities because he is a leading committee member as well as a youth leader in Mudon Township. Meanwhile, members of the election working committee have travelled to different areas in Mon State to explain their plans for the elections.
Some NMSP members said that they do not want to lose the benefits brought by the 14 year ceasefire and will take part in the election. But, other members view the process as a sham and say the election will not be free and fair.
Meanwhile, election working committee members said that they are not clear yet whether they will participate in the election because they are waiting for the election law to be announced by the junta.
At a meeting to discuss the border guard force issue in Moulmein on Aug. 28, Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the commander of the military regime’s southeast command, told NMSP leaders to order their members not to take part in political campaigns in Thaton District.
He also told them not to tax people or set up judicial offices in government-controlled areas. The meeting did not produce a resolution on the border guard forces issue, according to the NMSP.
Meanwhile, some NMSP members are explaining future strategies to the people should the Burmese junta resort to force to make them transform their militia into a border guard force before the 2010 elections.
MNSP leaders said they do not want to revoke the ceasefire agreement as long as the junta’s troops maintain it, nor do they want to transform their troops into a border guard force.
The party has until October to accept or reject the junta’s border guard force proposal.
All ethnic armed ceasefire group militias must become part of a border guard force under the control of the regime’s army, which is the sole military force allowed in Burma according to the 2008 constitution.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16882
