Mon National Party (MNP) Chairman Nai Ngwe Thein submitted his resignation letter to the party chairing committee and secretarial group, under the belief that they would approve and sign off on the resignation.
The chairman, who is now just over 93 years old, and signed the resignation letter on September 27, requested to resign from the party indefinitely. Mon News Agency has obtained a copy of the chairman’s resignation letter.
The letter included the chairman’s belief that he served the party in order to unify the party. However, the chairman could see that certain party members, who appointed him chairman, are working against the survival of the party. Furthermore, although the chairman requested to resign several times, he was urged to continue serving the party.
“After the election, I submitted my resignation letter. However, due to many reasons, I was not permitted to leave. Now, I am getting old and my vision has become poor. I was [blamed for] my bad vision and I still influence the party with my physical appearance but not my vision,” said Nai Ngwe Thein, in his resignation letter.
The letter also stated that Nai Ngwe Thein’s impaired vision is without a cure. Additionally, the chairman could continue influencing the party with his name and appearance and treat the party purely [as business]. With this considered, the chairman decided to retire from the party forever.
“We have received the chairman’s resignation letter. We will make a decision on this matter at our central committee meeting on October 22,” said Nai Soe Myint, Joint Secretary (1), of the MNP.
Although there were 93 members in the MNP’s central committee, after the party’s last election the committee was reduced to 80 members. This is due to several reasons resulting in members leaving.
The Mon Democracy Party (MDP), led by Nai Ngwe Thein, was officially founded in 2012, and was renamed as the Mon National Party (MNP) in 2014.
It was initially the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF), founded in 1988, and at the time, MNDF’s chairman was Nai Htun Thein and Nai Ngwe Thein was the party’s vice chairman. Soon afterwards, MNDF was changed to the Mon Democracy Party in 2012.
In 1945, Nai Ngwe Thein first began working for the independence of Burma and from 1948 to 1958, he served for the Mon armed resistance group.
