Mon youth released a traditional hot air balloon that was painted with a statement condemning Burmese government oppression of Mon culture and its pressure on the largest Mon political party to essentially give up its arms.
On September 3rd, during the Buddhist “full-moon” holiday, Mon youth and members of the Young Mon Monks organization launched a large traditional Mon paper lantern filled with hot air, that was pained with a message that stated the organizations stance against the ruling Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
According to group members, the statement on the lantern read, “We don’t want the MNLA [Mon National Liberation Army] to become a border guard force [BGF]. The military has the power now and we don’t want to be slaves. They can do anything. Because of that we are not free.”
According to a young monk from Mon State, this balloon was made on this holiday because the Military government has guaranteed itself 25 % of the parliamentary seats when they rewrote the constitution in 2008. Monks and Mon youth though that after all, they heard that as they know, they want resident know and putting against vote in coming 2010 election.
According to youth in one of the community groups, they are also angry that when the Burmese government made the constitution, no provisions were made for the Mon nation or Mon ethnic rights.
“Now we have released a big lantern and put a message on it because we want to remove [the Burmese government’s] power through a legal government in Burma,” said a source from a Mon youth organization. “And with the 2010 election approaching, it is not legal that they [Burmese government] have made it all themselves. We want residents to know about the 2010 election who don’t know about it yet.”
In 2008 the SPDC conducted a widely criticized constitutional referendum to in conjunction with its 7 step road map to “disciplined democracy”. Among many changes the constitution also required that all armed groups must be under the control of the Burmese army. To that end the SPDC has been pressuring ethnic armed groups to turn their armed wings into BGF’s.
The Burmese government has been applying increased pressure on New Mon State Party (NMSP) senior officials, to reduce the party’s armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), to a BGF of just 326 members with 18 Burmese army officers. After having rejected the SPDC offer on August 5th, NMSP officials again turned the Burmese military government down at a meeting on August 28th. The SPDC has yet to issue a reply.
“We released balloon and also put words on it. We said we don’t want to be slaves to the Burmese Government and that we don’t like border guard force,” explained the young monk. “The military government does not give the Mon Nation independence, [so] Monks and Mon youth are trying hard and are still in opposition until we get it.”
The Mon Young Monks organization was started on October 19th, 2007 after the 2007 “Saffron Revolution” in which monks protesting in Burma where disbursed with violence by the Burmese military government. It is not clear when the Mon youth groups began, as they tend to operate independently of each other within their communities.
