REVOLUTION, CEASE-FIRE AND DEMOCRACY IN MONLAND
(By Banya Hongsar)

Bangkok, August 12, 2003—The 56 year old Mon revolution is a short period of
time within 240 years of rule by the Burmese and the British. The Mon Revolution was abruptly introduced when two young men seized a local police station in Moulmein District in 1948. It is an event well remembered within the collective consciousness of the Mon people.

The lunar calendar falls on the 5th month, kha-doi-sei-poiy, and appeared on
August 12 this year. Hundreds of thousands of Mon people gathered to commemorate the start of the Revolution. It was held in the liberated areas
within Mon Territory under the control of the New Mon State Party and its armed wing Mon National Liberation Army to mark the struggle for freedom and of those who have sacrificed their lives for peace.

The party’s official statement released to the public said the organization opposes all forms of terrorist activities as a means to gain political motivation. Furthermore, the NMSP remains loyal to the people of Monland for the cause of self-determination.

Countless men and women have sacrificed their lives for the cause of a Mon
Independent State under the leadership of the Mon Peoples’ Front, New Mon
State Party and other Mon armed organizations. Over fifty years of civil war ended the lives of innocent civilians accused of being rebel supporters. Now the current political trend in Burma is toward peace. The Mon revolution’s struggle for Independence is headed in this direction: from the battlefields to a dialogue of peace, to federalism from secession, and to democracy from autocracy.

The New Mon State Party and its armed wing unit the Mon National Liberation
Army view the “Mon Revolution” as the personal cause of every single man and
woman. The NMSP, however, has achieved limited positive outcomes for the majority of our people for over 40 years. The MNLA is a small well-equipped
armed force that was formed in 1971; at present there are less than two
thousand troops. The army controls small pockets in southern Mon State
especially between the southern Thai-Burma border areas. The MNLA once
launched a remarkable military operation in March 1990 in Ye Town, at the south of Moulmein, capital of Mon State but was defeated after a few hours with a lose of over thirty guerrillas. However, the party’s doctrine remains unchanged for over forty years determined to gain “self-determination” and “equal rights”.

NMSP releases official statements every year on “Revolution Day” often saying something like, “we have fought for equal rights for our homeland while our rights have been denied by the Burman majority nationality. We are no longer able to tolerate oppressors who discriminate against us using the “Burmanization Policy” and “Military Operations”. Hereby, we hold arms to resist”. Lacking skill in media relations, the message isn’t getting out to the community. Since the ceasefire, party members have become more concerned with their own personal interests; they have fallen out of step with the needs of the grassroots community.

A turning point in our revolutionary struggle occurred when the New Mon State Party reached a ceasefire agreement with the Rangoon regime in 1995. Its armed wing, the MNLA remains in military uniforms that control restricted areas. The party has approached the Rangoon Generals for a “political settlement” for over seven years but has failed to bring about any overall improvement in our lives. The Mon National Council in exile questioned the process whether it is a genuine ceasefire for peace or a strategy to weaken the party’s political will.

A new appointed Major General Aung Naing of the MNLA looks at a new opportunity to reform, a source from the party’s circle said. The MNLA is threatened from over 4-5 years of military expansion of Rangoon troops into southern Mon State especially in Ye and Thanphyuzayat. A question still remains whether the MNLA is clever at influencing the Rangoon Generals to turnaround the situation from the battlefield to the dialogue table for peace and self-determination.

The Mon have resisted and fought back Burman rule for centuries. Today, other factors from outside the country, forces like globalization have affected the nature of the revolution; the leadership of the New Mon State Party and the urban-based Mon political parties have sought a new political revolution to build a true political culture based on peace rather than armed resistance. The NMSP party has sought for wider public support in the urban area after the ceasefire talks in 1995.

According to the late President Nai Shwe Kyin in 2001, “the New Mon State Party is a national party. Our revolutionary struggle will not cease unless we gain our independence, we ought to keep our path moving forward to achieve this”. It is clear that the NMSP is not a monopoly seeking organization, it lacks the manpower to do so, but its mandate is to represent the whole Mon population both home and abroad. The Mons do not show moral support in favor of the party’s leadership because the party lacks the bargaining power with the Rangoon regime to achieve political independence.

For federalism and peace in Burma, the New Mon State Party publicly gave support to form a genuine “Federation” in Burma. On the 54th Mon National Revolution Day, an official statement released by the NMSP said, “The United Nations and other superpower nations have pushed for global peace and prosperity in the world. A new era has emerged to bring about lasting peace and development on earth; both political and military organizations (in Burma) have an obligation to promote peace and prosperity”. The official statement was written both in Mon and Burmese for publication.

Mon leaders have concentrated more on political engagement rather than armed
resistance. When the Mon Peoples’ Front reached a ceasefire in 1958, the urban based political leaders wanted to organize politically rather than engage in an armed struggle. When “democracy” was released in the streets of Rangoon in 1988, the Mon revolution itself was a watershed for “democracy and human rights” in Monland. Under the new leadership of President Nai Htin, a man with a down to earth manner in dealing with people who had lived for over thirty years in the jungle, the party under his leadership campaigned to build a strong “unity” among Mon political organizations.

The New Mon State Party is in debt to the whole Mon population who have sacrificed their lives for freedom. Mons in Rangoon, Pegu, Thadhom, Moulmein
and other major cities receive very little news on what the party is doing for the cause of entire Mon people to liberate from suppression. Rural Mon people remain loyal to the cause but thousands have fled as refugees or economic refugees to Thailand for jobs and survival.

The first freedom fighter Bo Pan Tha, a young man who looted the Zarthapying
police station marks the Mon Revolution, deserted the party in 1990 (today he is in his 80s) and lives in the monk-hood in Rangoon for retreat. Nai Pan Tha was the party’s political and military architect for the NMSP and MNLA for over twenty years.

“I have done good and bad things in my revolutionary days but now I am only
doing good things to clear my spirit,” he told friends recently in Moulmein.

The Mon revolution was born on Burma’s Independence. But the Mon people live
with no independence in their homeland.