Cease-fire groups required to provide security for the referendum

April 29, 2008

Ethnic cease-fire groups have been asked to provide security during the national referendum on a draft constitution, reports a New Mon State Party (NMSP) official.

The cease-fire groups, including representatives of the NMSP, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Karen Peace Front (KPF) were invited to a meeting last week with officers of the SPDC Referendum Commission in Three Pagoda Pass, on the Thai-Burma border.

The commission officers informed the party officials that they would be providing security during the voting process, and that polling boxes would be sent to “liberated areas,” which SPDC officials cannot access without permission from cease-fire groups. It remains unclear, however, whether SPDC officials expect to accompany the polling boxes into liberated areas.

Some within the ceasefire groups are less than excited about helping the regime with the referendum. “This is their job. It isn’t ours. Why should be responsible for their polling security?” said an official within the NMSP, who wished to remain anonymous.

Although the NMSP has announced its opposition to the referendum and the draft constitution, party officials say they will allow polling boxes to be brought into liberated areas. The party and other cease-fire groups seem to have little choice, and one official who attended the meeting reports that the SPDC would tolerate no refusal.

While polling boxes may be available in liberated areas, party officials made sure to caution that they will not guarantee people actually vote. Many Mon people are not keen about voting or going to the polling stations. According to a café owner in Wai Zin, near Ye township, in Southern Burma, Mon State, many people in his area will not be going to polling stations. “And if we have to go, we will vote not,” the man reported.

Unlike much of Burma, the SPDC has not conducted a campaign to lobby for “yes” votes in the liberated area. Neither has their been a coordinated campaign urging “no” votes, and many in the area remain uniformed about the constitution in general.

“People are not interested in the referendum,” said an NMSP colonel. “They do not know anything about the constitution – they only know that their daily lives are a struggle and they are working to survive.”

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News