Today the New Mon State Party (NMSP) commemorated the 51st anniversary of its foundation with a celebration at the Thai-Border. Members of the NMSP joined the ceremony and NMSP General- Secretary Nai Hong Sar gave a speech talking about the history of NMSP.
During the ceremony, NMSP officials said that they intend to organize and listen to people’s opinions regarding how to respond as the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) continues to pressure the NMSP to place their armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) under Burmese army control.
“The situation between the NMSP and the SPDC is becoming worse than before because the NMSP can’t accept the SPDC offer to change the MNLA into a Border Guard Force [BGF] or change it into a people’s militia force,” said Nai Hong Sar during an interview with IMNA. “If we can’t accept what the SPDC offers, it will affect our people. Our ceasefire will end and there will again be civil war. “
On June 7, officials from the SPDC met with, and officially requested that, the NMSP reform its armed with, the MNLA, into a border guard force.
Currently the NMSP has made no official statement regarding their response to the SPDC request to turn their armed wing into a border guard force; however they have unofficially rejected the offer.
As 1 of at least 13 ethnic ceasefire groups, the NMSP is not alone in indecision on how to proceed over SPDC demands. As Nai Hon Sar explained, not only can’t the NMSP accept SPDC offer, but also the other ethnic groups can’t accept it due to the importance of what those decisions will mean for the people. The fate of many years of political fighting will be drastically affected in the decisions that the each ethnic group must make regarding the potential outcomes of becoming a BGF.
“We want to solve our political problems over the table; we don’t want to solve them with the army. But our MNLA are prepared in case they need to fight,” said that Nai Hong Sar. According to an IMNA article published on July 14th, the NMSP will hold an emergency meeting on July 25th to reach a conclusion as to what the official response will be in regards to changing the MNLA in to a BGF or peoples militia force.
The NMSP is currently the largest political organization representing the Mon people in Burma. The organization was founded in 1958 after the previously largest Mon group, the Mon People’s Front, surrendered to the Burmese government. The NMSP subsequently engaged in armed resistance for an autonomous ethnic state, against Burma’s military government, but signed a ceasefire with the regime in 1995.
Last year the NMSP’s 50th anniversary of the foundation of New Mon State Party, its “Golden Jubilee” celebration, was held near Ye Town, southern Mon State. Thousands of ethnic Mon people gathered to commemorate the event.
