The junta has changed the name of General Aung San Bridge into Thanlwin Bridge (Chaungzon) in Mon State on May 31st in a move apparently designed to woo Mon people and reward Dr. Banyar Aung Moe, a leading member of the Mon Unity Party (MUP) who controversially joined the military council.
Snr. Gen Min Aung Hlaing attended the renaming ceremony on Tuesday morning, along with his wife Daw Kyu Kyu Hla, two military council members: Mahn Nyein Maung and Dr. Banyar Aung Moe, who is also a central executive committee member of the Mon Unity Party (MUP).
“I saw the heavy police presence since yesterday. I thought more troops were deployed on the bridge as there may be mines. They changed the red background signboard into the green one and the name into Thanlwin Bridge,” said a Mawlamyine local.
The bridge spans the Salween River, linking Mawlamyine and Chaungzon townships. It is a two-lane RC Arch bridge and has 5,203 feet in length and 28 feet in width. It was built at an estimated cost of Ks-59,800 million.
Originally named the General Aung San Bridge (Belu Island), the bridge was retitled the Thanlwin Bridge (Chaungzon) by the junta on Tuesday.
Local residents in Mon State strongly opposed the NLD government’s 2017 decision to name the bridge after independence hero Gen Aung San in late April, activists collected a petition carrying around 150,000 signatures which opposed the designation of General Aung San Bridge (Chaungzon) which had been approved at Lower House Parliament with 217 votes. Local residents in Mon State strongly opposed the NLD government’s 2017 decision, preferring names like Chaungzon Bridge or Yarmanya, which means ‘Mon State’ in the Mon language spoken in the region.
However Dr. Aung Naing Oo, a former leading member of the central executive committee of the MUP and a former deputy speaker of the Mon State Parliament was no impressed. “Changing the name of bridge aims to shift the attention of Mon people, “Dr. Aung Naing Oo said on his Facebook page on Monday. “the goal of the Mon people was not the renaming of the bridge. In building a country, there needs to emerge a reliable and good political system for all ethnic people that show respect and understanding for each other” he said.
However, his former colleague Dr. Banyar Aung Moe, who is a central executive committee member of the Mon Unity Party (MUP) but has joined the military council, may well have persuaded Gen Min Aung Hlaing that renaming the bridge would be a smart move in order to win over the many Mon people who have sided with the CDM movement and the views of Dr. Aung Naing Oo, who resigned from the MUP over its collusion with the junta.
