Q: What’s the on the ground situation with your campaign?

A: In order to compete for the seat in the region, I personally campaigned in the wards in Dawei Township. There aren’t any difficulties in campaigning in terms of administration. Everything goes off without a hitch.

Q: Tell us about changes in the region after the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) has been signed.

A: There are only two ethnic armed groups in the Tanintharyi Region, the KNU and the Mon armed group. As they have signed the ceasefire agreement and the KNU has been removed from the list of unlawful organizations, everything is well in our region. My mind is peaceful when the state is peaceful.

We aren’t interested in who are from what party in the country. We have a peaceful mind when our region becomes peaceful. I like the signing of the NCA because the public feels peaceful. The residents welcome this. Otherwise, we will have to be on the run.

Q: The party didn’t run in the last election so how can the region benefit from your participation in the 2015 Election?

A: Our party had not been formed yet during the last election. . . Our main objective is to get back the rights and losses of our region.

Q: I have heard that the party has been working for the Tanintharyi Region’s residents who suffered losses from the Dawei Deep Seaport project. How will you carry out your activities so local residents can benefit from this project?

A: We have been working for this project even before the establishment of our party. They still haven’t given up and are still going forward. There is no transparency with how they will carry out their work and what benefits the local residents will receive. If a project is to be carried out, they need to negotiate with the local residents. If they don’t do that and are still going to carry it out on their own, we will continue to work for the ethnic residents. We’re not destroying the project. We want the project to be carried out in line with the law. The main problem is the damage of farm land. If the local residents have to relocate to another area, they need plots of land. The government should carry this out. It will only be convenient then.

Q: What challenges does the Dawei Nationalities Party face in running against other opposing parties?

A: We don’t need personal attacks in our campaign. We don’t talk about them at all while we are campaigning. There aren’t any problems since we only said what was necessary.

Q: What are the most important factors in winning the election? What will you carry out
effectively for the local residents and ethnic people if your party wins the election?

A: We can win if the people that believe in us vote for us. We don’t need anything else. If we win, electricity is the main priority. We have to pay 300 kyats per unit here. Some areas have no electricity at all. So, we will work on getting reasonable rates for electricity like in other areas.
Fishery businesses are carried out in the region. I want to demand for the return of the 50-year land grant and land grants for villages that has been earmarked as mining areas. Another thing is that we don’t want to support the coal-fired power projects that are not desired by the public.

So, we will restrict these projects. As for ethnicity, we are written as Bamar in our national ID cards. Among the Shan people, the Inn people get to be Inn on their national ID card and Danu people also get to be Danu. We are losing our ethnic rights as we are being listed as Bamar. That’s why we have work for obtaining official registration.

Brief history

Name: U Aye Min
Date of Birth: 25-12-1960
Age: 55
Race: Dawei
Religion: Buddhist
Education: B.Sc (Chemistry)
Occupation: Teacher
Political experience: None
Social activity: Prior to establishing the party worked to obtain compensation for local residents who have been affected by the Dawei Deep Seaport.