A leading Mon State political party has hemorrhaged staff from its Ye township office after a dispute erupted over a proposed merger with other local parties. Around two-thirds of the members of the All Mon Regions Democracy Party’s (AMDP) Taungpyin chapter quit in a mass resignation this past weekend.
The party leadership has refused to unite with its local rivals, the Mon National Party and the Women’s Party (Mon), in order to help solidify ethnic Mon politics.
Furious that party leadership would not heed their suggestions, 200 members of AMDP’s 290-member Taungpyin branch resigned, citing a lack of trust in the party’s vision, according to former branch chair Nai Mon Seik. On their way out, the exasperated AMDP members tore the signboard and flag from the Taungpyin office.
On April 5, the remaining AMDP members reposted the office signboard, and reiterated their intention to keep working for the benefit of the party and the people.
“We have to re-establish the party (branch) for this village,” said Min Nwe Soe, general secretary of the AMDP.
In March, the AMDP ousted central executive committee member Nai Oak Sar who had been lobbying for the merger.
Nai Mon Seik, the former chair of the AMDP’s Taungpyin office, said the split will not be solved unless the disagreement over the merger is settled.
“Our party did not accept the team negotiating for Mon party merger,” he said. “We want them to be unified. That’s why the party members from this village resigned.”
Translated by Aong Jaeneh
Edited by Laignee Barron for BNI
