The leader of a Mon splinter group, who is a monk, is trying to woo abbots from Mon state to join his party in a bid to contest the 2010 election.
The leader of the Mon Peace and Defense Front (MPDF), Nai Aung Naing, who was a one time officer of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), but is now a monk, is organizing senior monks in Mon state to join the MPDF to support him in the ensuing 2010 election.
If he participates in the forthcoming 2010 election, the Mon nation and all Mon political parties will be able to remain peaceful. That is the reason he has provided for his group choosing to contest the coming election, according to source close to an abbot from Mudon Township, who spoke with the MPDF leader. Nai Aung Naing suggested that the abbot should emulate him, because he himself is a monk now, and be part of the 2010 election.
Nai Aung Naing is a former Major General in the NMSP and was second-in-command of the party’s armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA). He left in 2008 to form a new group called the Mon Peace and Defense Front. In 2009 after Nai Aung Naing formed the new group, he became a monk and has been living in the Thanphyuzayet Monastery in Mon state.
“As for me, for sure I will contest the in election. If I win the election all Mon people and Mon political parties can remain peaceful,” Nai Aung Naing told an abbot, according to a monk at the monastery.
The abbot did not accept what Nai Aung Naing had to say, but the abbot did not say directly that he would not accept Nai Aung Naing’s proposal.
“I am concerned that the Mon people and other Mon political parties will have to leave this country if you win the election and you become a representative of Mon state,” a monk related to IMNA what he had heard an abbot say.
Nai Aung Naing is travelling from monastery to monastery attempting to mobilize the abbots to join his party to participate in the 2010 election.
According to an eyewitness from Mudon Township, not only is Nai Aung Niang trying to woo monastery abbots, but also his men in the MPDF are travelling to monasteries in Mon State to try and mobilise abbots to join their party. According to an NMSP officer, the Nai Aung Naing group, MPDF, has only 10 men.
“I do not think your group is working for our Mon nation. If you really worked for our nation you will not do what you are doing [contest the election],” a resident from Thanpyuzayet told IMNA what he had heard an abbot from Thanphyuzatet telling Nai Aung Naing’s men.
According to an abbot from Mudon Township, most abbots in Mon state do not like the Nai Aung Nain group and did not accept when Nai Aung Nai told them to join his party for the 2010 election.
The abbot also added that there are fewer Mon people than Burmese people in Nai Aung Naing’s MPDF. He believes these people are not going to work for the Mon nation, and that they will instead just think about themselves.
No concrete declaration has yet been made about when or how the election will be held, other than that it will be in 2010. A few potential participants have announced whether they will be contesting the election. Most appear to be waiting till additional information is available.
