USDP claims to have “same goals” as Mon political party

July 30th, 2010

Jaloon Htaw : Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) organizer General Ohm Myint has informed audiences that the party shares the same democratic goals as the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP), the only all-Mon political party campaigning in the 2010 elections.

According to witnesses, the statement was made during the first week of July, when General Ohm Myint traveled from Naypyidow to Mudon town to spearhead the party’s ongoing political campaign in the Mudon Township; the General used the allegation of being “the same” as the AMRDP to defend the USDP’s ongoing campaign to register 50 new members from each village in Mon State.

“We are the same like the Mon Party [in goals for democracy]. So you can vote for our party. We will take only 50 people from each village. After that [the rest] can vote for the Mon party,” a member of the USDP in Mudon town quoted Ohm Myint as saying.

The USDP is the official Burmese government-backed political party running in the 2010 elections. According to the Burmese section of the British Broadcasting Corporation on July 6th, the party replaced the former Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a civilian-based social organizing program that was disbanded in early July.

This USDP member informed IMNA that General Ohm Myint traveled from Naypyidow to Mon State in early July, after the USDP’s campaign in Mudon Township proved to be largely unsuccessful.

“When we organized [for the elections], no one was interested. Now that General Ohm Myint has come to organize [the people], we have gotten successful,” he added.

According to this source, the General’s success has been demonstrated by the implementation of a new USDP recruiting program in every village in Mudon Township; in each Mudon village, 5 individuals have been appointed as USDP village leaders, and charged with the task of each recruiting 10 individuals for the party. This is intended to supplement the party’s original recruiting method in Mon State, which involved ordering village headmen themselves to recruit 50 USDP members from their fellow villagers. Village headmen reported in IMNA’s July 8th article that they were struggling to gain interest from community members.

The General’s new recruitment system and ongoing “pro-democracy” campaign is, according to UDSP insiders, expected to be extended throughout Mon State and Mon-controlled areas, competing with other political groups that are already working in the region, including the AMRDP and the Union Development Party (UDP), which plans to campaign in Tenasserim Division.

Phyo Min Thein, chairman of the UDP, complained to IMNA this week that the conversion of the former USDA into the USDP has already left the latter with an unfair boost of finances and government support, making the group’s basis and goals wholly undemocratic:

“We [in Burma] have about 40 political parties. No one gets rights like the USDP. I think, the USDP should not use a power over democracy parties and other political parties. After changing from the USDA to the USDP, now they [the USDP] are using the USDA’s finances. They are not obeying the rules. We are saving up what they are doing [that is] unjust, and will report it to the Election Commission”.