Sangkhlaburi – The Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) will not severe links with the New Mon State Party (NMSP) if pressured to do so by the Burmese military regime, a senior leader of the Mon Army said.
Colonel Nai Kao Rot, a member of MNLA's Military Commission, told Kaowao during an interview that they will continue to remain the armed wing of the NMSP to support and achieve the political rights of the Mon people.
Like most throughout Burma, the Mon population is dissatisfied with the constitutional referendum which was held in May 2008 and has no faith in the ensuing SPDC's multi-party elections in 2010. The general public wants the ceasefire groups to maintain their armed forces even though they plan to contest the election.
"We will not cut links with the party (NMSP) and will keep our arms until we achieve equal rights and self-determination," said Colonel Kao Rot. He explained to Kaowao that the MNLA, under the leadership of the NMSP, is concerned about the instability that surrendering arms will cause and takes the public's concerns seriously, reiterating its position for self-determination.
MNLA recently marked the 38th anniversary of its founding on August 29, 2008 which was attended by the NMSP President Nai Htaw Mon, Brigadier Seik Htaw and Colonel Nai Layeh Gakao at the Headquarters of the NMSP.
The Mons launched an armed struggle against the central government in August, 1948 in which 27 young men led by Nai Pan Tha and Bo Thein stormed a police station and confiscated three machine guns at Zarthabyin village, eastern Moulmein. However, the MNLA was not formally founded until August 29, 1971 with the new generation who joined the movement. This occurred in the midst of a new alliance formed by late President Nai Shwe Kyin, Mahn Ba Zan of the Karen National Union (KNU) and former Prime Minister U Nu in a bid to herald a period of stability followed by two decades of bloody war.
Established by late President Nai Shwe Kyin in 1958, the NMSP is the only major political party with a military wing, the MNLA. It reached a cease-fire pact with the ruling Burmese junta in 1995. The NMSP occasionally speaks out in support of an open dialogue with the military regime.
