Officers of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) who serve the organization in Karen State have been ordered back to their home villages in order to organize on behalf of Burma’s military government for the upcoming 2010 elections.
A source in Karen State who works closely with the USDA reported to IMNA that for the last 20 days USDA officers from Karen State have been leaving their offices in the cities of Karen State, and are returning to their native villages in Karen State and Mon State. The orders for this mass exodus reportedly came directly from the Burmese military government.
“If USDA members organize in their home-towns, first of all it’s easier to organize the residents of that town, because he knows the town. Also the residents will believe what the USDA member says [if he is from the village]. The USDA is very wise to use this method. The USDA members who are organizing their home towns will be enthusiastic about the government, because the government is giving them authority,” he added.
This USDA insider from Karen State claims that USDA members have gone back to their home villages in both Karen State and Mon State, these villages include Hpa-an, Hlaingbwe, Kyainnseikyi in Karen State and Chaung zone township (Belukyun) in Mon State.
According to the resident from Kyone Pe village in Karen State, for the last month and-a-half, the USDA has been holding meetings in every Mon village in Karen state; at these meetings the USDA has reportedly been organizing local youths, and students who have passed the ten standard high-school examination, to support the Burmese military government in the 2010 elections; these villages include Zartapyin, Kyone-Pe, Kayar and Than-le.
“The USDA came to the village, and then wanted students there to both participate in the USDA and serve under them for their new generation. Then, they announced at the meeting that they [the USDA] will be giving 20000 kyat each to each student” she added.
Sources in Myawaddy informed IMNA that the USDA hopes that its efforts at organizing in villages will result in the USDA’s receiving additional funding and local power under the new constitution that will be written during the 2010 elections.
A trader from Mayawaddy said “the USDA wants as a place while the government makes the constitution. They are organizing not for the people, just for themselves because the military controls the USDA. If they get a place in the constitution, they will be like the government too. Now they want to show the people the good things that they [the government] did, but they are also asking for taxes from us.”
