Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members are offering low-income workers and farmers in Rangoon small “loans,” which are seen as support for government-backed political candidates, according to local residents.
In Yankin, Kawmu and Kungyangone townships, USDA members, accompanied by township leaders, made the offers to selected residents.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, residents in Yankin Township said: “Three days ago members of USDA and the head of the quarter offered the loans.”
A youth member of the National League for Democracy in Rangoon said that for a farmer with one acre, the USDA will loan 10,000 kyat (US $10). Many village residents have already received the loans said a resident in Kungyangone Township. -- The Irrawaddy
Not surprisingly, USDA is bribing or controlling farmers with the money. What do you think 'loan' is? In fact, USDA as known as USDP is planning to take over the lands of farmers. Since the farmers cannot reimburse, they will ask for the ballot for the election instead of the land. How can this election be fair?
Despite being disbanded for failing to register for this year's upcoming election, the National League for Democracy (NLD) remains active, sending senior members to branch offices around Burma to discuss strategy.
On Sunday, Win Tin, an NLD executive member, traveled to Karen State to meet with former party members. “I told them not to vote in the election,” he said, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Win Tin, who was accompanied by two other party members from the the NLD's Rangoon headquarters, said he also urged the members in Karen State to boycott the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by Prime Minister Thein Sein, and the National Unity Party, formed from late dictator Ne Win's authoritarian Burma Socialist Programme Party.
“The purpose of the trip was to consolidate party unity and listen to the voices of members who face difficulties since the party decided not to register. We also wanted to tell them that we will not abandon them. We will continue to work more actively in politics,” said Win Tin. -- The Irrawaddy.
What a marvelous work by Mr. Tin, telling former party members not to vote this unfair/unjust 2010 Election. USDP has been incessantly trying to win the election by not only cheating votes, but also forcing people to vote for them. So, we have to dissuade people from voting for those pro-government parties. Moreover, people must show their courage and their feelings by not going to the ballot stations as Burmese Noble Laureate Daw Suu Kyi said.
Khin Maung Swe, the leader of the breakaway National Democratic Force (NDF) party, said on Friday that the leaders of the dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) are prohibiting its former members from dealing with the NDF.
“The NLD prohibits its members from dealing with us [the NDF], saying it has upcoming activities for its members. We found the NLD members in some townships avoid us. They seem to decide that they'll not deal with the NDF,” Khin Maung Swe told The Irrawaddy. -- The Irrawaddy
Has NDF become military dog? If Mr. Swe is confident of himself, he should not be blaming the dissolved NLD even if the leaders of NLD are dissuading the former members to deal with NDF. If he was from NLD, he should respect NLD and its members, the democracy icons since 1988.
It is the time that all the people of Burma must demonstrate the will of anti-military dictatorial system with boycotting the 2010 Election together with elected-parties including the NLD and ethnic parties in order to prevent the military junta from coming up with legitimacy for enduring a military rule.
All the people including students and youths,
We, All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students and All Burma Federation of Student Unions, seriously request for your actions of boycott the 2010 Election by: (a) No voting (b) No advanced voting (c) Making your vote null if being forced to vote.
All Burma Monks’ Alliance 88 Generation Students All Burma Federation of Student Unions
Fighting Peacock Flag is an ABFSU's emblem and was a NLD's flag. It was and must be used solely by students of ABFSU but should not be used for any political purposes: good or bad.
I, as a student activist from ABFSU, condemn both Ye Htun of "FAKE" 88 Generation Student Union of Myanmar (GSUM) and Aye Lwin of Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP). Since both of you are students of 88 Generation, you should have known that it is strongly prohibited to used for any benefit. And I believe both of you have become military dogs after being put behind bars. I also conclude that your intentions of using our emblem is detrimental.
If you believe in yourselves, you can create and use your own. DO NOT USE OUR FIGHTING PEACOCK FLAG AT ANYTIME, YOU IMPOSTORS!!!
Feathers are flying in Burma over the use of the fighting peacock emblem by two newly registered political parties in their election campaigns.
The emblem—famously associated with the now disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD)—has served as a national symbol since the days of the Burmese monarchy and was a rallying image brandished by student activists in colonial times.
“It's not appropriate to use the student movement's flag as the symbol of a political party,” said prominent journalist Ludu Sein Win, one of a group of about 40 people in the Burmese media world who signed a letter of complaint to the Election Commission.
“The fighting peacock symbol is not the property of a certain organization and it is associated with all Burmese nationals,” said Ludu Sein Win.
The Election Commission has ruled that it will accept objections against the use of flags or symbols by registered political parties.
The fighting peacock symbol is being used by two newly registered parties, the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP) and the 88 Generation Student Union of Myanmar (GSUM), led by two brothers who are former political prisoners. The two are the subjects of unsubstantiated suspicions that they are collaborating with the regime.
Objectors point out that the fighting peacock symbol adopted by the two new parties is similar to the one used by the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), which played a key role in Burma's independence movement against British colonial rule.
Since the 1962 military coup, the ABFSU has been viewed by successive regimes as an illegal organization. Its building on the Rangoon University campus was destroyed in a bomb attack in the year of the coup.
The ABFSU objected to the use of the peacock symbol when it was first adopted by the the now-defunct NLD and used in its party flag, but later dropped its objection.
“The ABFSU flag is being used only in the movement led by students, handed down from one generation to another,” said Myo Myint Nyein, of the Rangoon-based weekly journal The Ray of Light. “I don't agree with using it as the image of a party.”
GSUM chairman Ye Tun said his party and the UMFNP were only trying to trying to preserve the image of the fighting peacock.
The group of objectors agreed in their letter to the Election Commission that the symbol was “crucial for the history of the nation” but said “it should not be the property of any political party.”
Among the signatories of the letter of complaint was Maung Wun Tha, a veteran writer and editor who was a member of the ABFSU before 1962.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) will cease to exist as a political movement after the deadline for party registration on May 6, according to NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC) members. The Burmese opposition party refused to re-register for this year's general election, saying the election laws were “unfair and unjust.”
-- Irrawaddy
Unfortunately, NLD had fallen into the dirty tricks of Military Government. With NLD's declaration of refusal to take part in the election, Military Government immediately announced a new rule for the election -- "all parties which took part in 1990 election must register for 2010 election or they will be disbanded".
What an "unfair and unjust" move! Like I speculated, this Military junta has always been craving to wipe out the name "NLD" from the surface of the earth.
Students, monks, and opposing political parties are the only groups which dare to express their beliefs towards everything, and thus are targets of this cruel regime. DON'T FORGET that a lot of students had been massively annihilated since 1988 uprising, monks were beaten to death in September 2008, and politicians, especially from NLD, are still in jail.
Is this what Democracy is? Definitely not!!! This is a pure dictatorship of the suppressive regime which always wants to clear anything in its way.
In the very secure city of Rangoon, my hometown, there was a huge blast this morning, causing 9 casualties and at least 30 wounded people. (according to BBC)
In fact, total of 59 man and 16 woman were injured, according to resources.
Today is the most sacred holiday called Thingyan for Buddhist people. In this water festival, people play water from 13th April to 16th April in order to celebrate this sacred holiday. The purpose of Thingyan is to clear the sins from last year and be a new person with new soul and body.
However, Military government banned building of Pandals ('mandat' in Burmese or 'pavalions') around the city since last 4 years, allowing people to build Pandals in a big road called Inyar Road where most of the higher-ups from military live. Do they not want people to clear their mind and body? May be they don't.
Surprisingly and sadly, Military government banned building of Pandals even in Inyar Road this year. As Thingyan is important for Burmese people, Pandal coordinators decided to build near the Kandawgyi, which is one of the most famous place in Rangoon.
A lot of people went there for celebrating the festival. What did they get? They got bombed. Isn't it too obvious that the military government deliberately moved the festival area to the place where the higer-ups do not live?
And don't forget that in September the military government shot monks, the most sacred persons for Buddhists and for people in Burma. So, it is not a surprise that the junta won't even care about the people under their reign.
But what makes me think this way?
There will be a so called election in October where many political parties will get involved, except NLD which got highly supported by Burmese citizens.
In 1990, NLD won the election by high percentage of support but the military government cheated the ballot counts and made fake ballots of their own. They overruled the election and took the position of the head of the state by force.
Talking about history, there was also bombing before the referendum in 2008. And the bombing was very close to the City Hall which had a very tight security. Who else can get near city hall without permission from the military? Who else can diffuse the bomb near the city hall? I could think of no one, except the military junta.
But why? Why did they want to plant the bomb near the city hall? They just tried to scare people and wanted to win the election in dirty way.
Back to present, IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN!!! They want to get the "Seat at the United Nations" which is taken by NLD by scaring people. Without a doubt, the junta will definitely blame and link these bombings on NLD in a few days.
My guess is there will be more terrorist activities in coming months in order to discredit NLD. And of course, they are using such "control-by-scaring" tactics to baffle the minds of the citizen and hoping to get the reason to disband NLD.
After all, their goal is to wipe out the name, "NLD", from the surface of the earth and rule over the country with the dirtiest tricks.
“The people of Myanmar must have the courage to say no to injustice and yes to the truth. They must also work to correct their own wrongdoing that hurt society.” by — Min Ko Naing, speech at the first 88 Generation meeting in August 2006.
“It's not appropriate to use the student movement's flag as the symbol of a political party.” by -- prominent journalist Ludu Sein Win, one of a group of about 40 people in the Burmese media world who signed a letter of complaint to the Election Commission.
