A Mon splinter group has been asking for money from farmers in Mudon township. ?

On August 16th members of the Mon Peace and Defense Front (MPDF) gave out letters to farmers asking them to give money to the MPDF, said a local source.

The general Nai Aung Naing has commanded the MPDF, though he is not known to have had any involvement in the recent request for money.

According to locals, in the recent letter issued by the MPDF, the group demanded 1,500 kyat per acre from farmers. The letter states that the group will come in person and take the money from the farmers.

“As I heard, from the farmers, they do not go and give the money to the group. They [MPDF] will come and take the money on their own,” said one villager. “But they [MPDF] did not say when they come and take the money from the farmers.”

Nai Aung Naing was a former major general of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP). He split from the NMSP in 2008, forming the MPDF but left the group to join the monkhood in 2009.

In June IMNA reported that as a monk Nai Aung Naing was working to organize Senior Monks in Mon state to join the MPDF to support him for a position in the coming 2010 election. At that time MPDF members attempted to organize abbots from different monasteries to support him.

At this time there has yet been no report of MPDF members coming to collect money from farmers, according to sources.

It remains unclear why the MPDF has been asking for money. But according to one local farmer, “As I am heard in Mudon township, why Nai Aung Naing asked money the farmers is because they [MPDF] will buy weapons with this money.”