February 10^th, 2001

The Mon are the oldest among the present various inhabitants of Burma and in the Southeast Asia with the historical backgrounds. The first strong Mon kingdom was well known as Suvannabhumi, which means the Golden Land. It had a port capital Thaton or Sathom (it is still situated in Mon State as a small town). Before the establishment of Burmese’s well-known kingdom Pugan, the Mon both in Thailand and Burma, were politically organized as the confederacy of Ramanya that embraced the three kingdoms of Sathom, Dvaravtoi, and Haripunjaya.

In 1757 U Aung Zeya, a Burmese leader who is better known as King Alaung Phaya defeated the Mon and annexed the Mon kingdom of Hongsawatoi, the lower part of Burma. The Mon has ever since become a people without a country. The conquering Burmese leader U Aung Zeya persecuted the Mon by massacring over 3,000 learned Mon monks near Rangoon. By burning down Holy Scriptures and monasteries, by proscribing Mon language and literature and by genocidal mass execution whereby hundreds of thousands of the Mon people were exterminated in several stocked-inferno holocausts. The Mon historical golden palace in Hongsawatoi was burnt to ashes. By raping, torturing burning alive within three years with no meaning by devil deeds killed over a million of Mon people. They killed every body who spoke Mon. Since that time a nation of great significance in Southeast Asian history was reduced to an ethnic minority and has tended to be forgotten by the modern world. In modern human rights terminology, it was a drastic "ethnic cleansing" process.

After the Burma was fallen under the yoke of the British imperialism, the Mon worked together with other ethnic groups through the anti-colonial struggle for the freedom up to the end of World War II. Mon political forces joined hand in had with Burmese people and other ethnic groups in gaining independence from the British and declared their independence on August 19, 1948. But when independence for Burma from the British was in the offing, the Mon asserted their identity and self-determination right. Some Mon cultural and political organizations such as All Ramanya Mon Association, United Mon Association and Mon Freedom League requested the Burmese leaders to recognize their identity. However, the Burmese leader U Nu, who was the Prime Minister, then, flatly rejected the demand for the creation of a Mon State, which covers lower Burma. The repressive action was also taken against them by the ruling of Burmese leaders. Some Mon leaders were assassinated and many were imprisoned. More than a hundred Mon villages were also burnt down and destroyed by the Burmese Army. Since then, The Mon woke up and continued their struggle and fight against the central Burmese government for the right of self-determination.

In the year 1962, the most ethnic groups woke up to review their agreement called Penglong Agreement but the military denied the agreement then seized the state power. Since then, the Burmese military junta has committed the human rights violations. Like in other areas of Burma, these human rights violations are still taking place in Mon area. Even though the military junta took a lot of credit on reaching the so-called Sham Peace Agreement with the various ethnic minority groups including the New Mon State party, the people in those areas are still being subjected to gross human rights violations. Like most other ethnic minorities, the people in Mon area have been faced to continue violations of human rights including summary executions, rape, torture, forced labor, forced pottering, forced relocations, and dispossession of land and property.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), formally known as SLORC, has opened its doors for foreign investment and economic liberalization. But the profits remain with the military officers and their families. On the contrary, the civilians remain poverty and deprived of any benefits. Many companies have invested in Burma to expect the high profit by using cheap labor. The military government has been taking a lot of credits from those companies and using those credits for keep remaining the military power.

The Mon National Democratic Front, a political party representing Mon people, which took part in the 1990 general election and won seats in Mon populated area was abolished by the Military government. Many of Mon leaders have been sentenced to long terms in prison for their support of the plan to convent the people parliament put forward by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Mon people have struggled for the survival of their culture and language under the massive Burmanization measures taken by the ruling military dictatorship. The Mon people are still severely oppressed under the ruling of dictatorship and had been deprived the fundamental rights of self-determination. However, as enshrine in the charter of the United Nations, The Mons have never given up the struggle for their self-determination right and freedom of Monland.

On the occasion of the 54^th Anniversary of Mon National Day, we, Mon people declared that we want fundamental human rights and freedom of self-determination.

Joint Statement by

Monland Restoration Council (United States of America)

Mon Community of Canada (Vancouver, Canada)

Mon Canadian Association (Toronto, Canada)

Mon Cultural Society (Calgary, Canada)

Mon National Day committee of Australia

Mon National Students Organization (Liberal area, Monland)

Overseas Mon National Students Organization of North America (USA and Canada)

Overseas Mon National Students Organization (Thailand)

Overseas Mon Young Monks Union (Thailand)