Thuta Linn — The Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP) has submitted an official letter to the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) to become a permanent member of the ethnic party alliance, the party’s chairman Dr Manam Tu Ja said.
“We submitted this after the election because the party was busy before,” Dr Manam Tu Ja told the BNI Election Newsroom. The UNA currently has eight registered ethnic parties.
Although the KSDP has participated as an ally of the UNA in the past, it is seeking to fully join the grouping in order to carry out what the party claims is more cooperation for ethnic and regional affairs based on the changing political situation.
“The NLD is an ally party of the UNA. It is also the winning party that will form the new government. We have submitted to become permanent members [of the UNA] with the aim to do more cooperation with the new government for the country and the people,” Dr Tu Ja said.
The KSDP has not received any reply from the UNA to its submission which was made on November 27. The delay appears to be because the UNA has been amending its membership rules.
The NLD won the largest number of seats in Kachin State, followed by the military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The KSDP came a distance third winning four seats in the state, three of which came from the same district. Dr Tu Ja, a practicing Catholic and former vice president No. 2 of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), was defeated by the NLD candidate in the Myitkyina state parliament constituency he was contesting.
Shortly after the election Dr Tu Ja sent a letter requesting a meeting with the NLD’s chairperson Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he has yet to hear back from the famed Nobel Prize Winner.
