MRP members break with party, flee to Thailand

Tue 30 Mar 2010, Nai Akka
A total of 7 members of the Monland Restoration Party (MRP), based in Tenasserim Division, have disaffected from the party and fled across the Thailand-Burma border to the Thai province of Surat Thani, were they have reportedly taken refuge in a rubber plantation.

2 members of the breakaway faction, who consented to be interviewed by IMNA from the group’s refuge, explained that the split occurred after the faction became frustrated with the mismanagement of the party by MRP leaders during an operation at the front lines of the group’s ongoing clashes with Burmese military battalions.

“In our party, the people who have high positions, they didn’t know much about party [are very inexperienced], and they can’t managed the party very well. When they talk with MRP soldiers who have low positions, they order the soldiers around and abuse their power. That’s why some of our members resigned,” a former section commander explained to IMNA.

He explained that five of the MRP’s section commanders resigned from the party on March 25th, while two more soldiers left the following day. Immediately afterward, the group fled across the border to Surat Thani.

“When we came back from the operation [at the battleground] we reported to the central officer about the commanders’ [abuse of power] during the operation, but the central officers didn’t listen, so we don’t want to live with them or be in the same group” a second former member explained to IMNA.

He informed IMNA that when the MRP was formed in 2001, the party contained a total of 150 members, but that increasing displeasure with party policies has lead gradual depletion of the group’s membership. Currently, the party can only boast a mere 50 members.

Nai Pan Nyunt, a former colonel from the New Mon State Party’s (NMSP) armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), founded the group after splitting from the NMSP in 2001; the group was originally known as the Hongsartoi Restoration Party [HRP]. The party was soon driven out of NMSP-controlled territory, and eventually the group based itself on the Thailand-Burma border in Tenasserim Division, where Thai authorities tolerated the group’s presence due to the large membership and arm power of the faction.

According to the former group members, the group was forced away from the border region ant 10 kilometers deeper into Tenasserim Division 3 months ago by Thai authorities, after the MRP’s decreased membership made them less threatening.