Statement on the 61st Mon National Day

 

By

The Convening Committee of the 61st Mon National Day, MRC ( Fort Wayne ), USA

February 23, 2008

 

Today, we, the Mon community of Fort Wayne , observe the 61st Mon National Day.  The Mon National Day is celebrated every year on the 1st waning day of Mãk, the eleventh month of the Mon lunar year, in commemoration of the foundation of Hȧṅsãwatī (Hongsawatoi) Mon kingdom by the two Mon princes, Samala and Vimala, in 573 AD. Hongsawatoi is the Buddha-prophesied and the god Indra-blessed Monland. The Mon National Day was first celebrated at Wã- ḍot village, Koh Khmiuṅ Township , Moulmein District, Monland ( Lower Burma ) 61 years ago. The Mon leaders led by Mon Pho Cho commenced the Mon National Day celebration in order to promote the eternal vigilance of freedom among Mon people who were then being lured by the Burmese politicians not to reclaim the Mon homeland, which covered the whole Lower Burma.

            The last Mon kingdom, Hongsawatoi, was invaded and destroyed by the Burmese king, U Aung Zaya in 1757. Tens of thousands of Mon were massacred and hundreds of thousands fled to Thailand to escape the persecution.  Since then the Mon became a people without a country and has faced various forms of Burmanization, assimilation, torture, and suppression. They have been driven to the corner as the minority in their homeland of thousands of years. Sadly, even the Mon National Day celebration in Burma has been banned or restricted by the Burmese military regime. The leaders of the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) were under the close watch and often sent to the prison for their political opinion, while New Mon State Party (MNSP) is at the impasse of the 13 years of meaningless ceased fire agreement with the SPDC, the current Burmese military regime.

The SPDC could not hide its monopolization in the fundamental principles adopted in the parrot National Convention, which allows neither genuine federalism nor ethnic leaders to present their political views. Due to the SPDC’s brutality against peaceful demonstrators in the Saffron Revolution, September 2007, the international community has realized that the Burmese military regime will sacrifice anything in order to stay in power. The SPDC announcements (No 1/2008 and No 2/2008) of a national referendum in May 2008 and of a multiparty democracy general election in 2010 have affected all the opposition groups and peace-makers in a political stroke.

            The Mon National Day celebration allows us to recall our history. Our history has taught us that giving up the liberty for a temporary safety affords neither liberty nor safety. We see the SPDC constitution as an obstacle to democracy and a genuine federal union. We see no political harmony among the majority Burmese and the ethnic nationalities under the SPDC constitution. We, therefore, strongly urge:

1)      The SPDC to stop immediately the ethnocentric Burma rule and all discrimination against the ethnic non-Burman peoples.

2)      The international community to pressure the SPDC to immediately start a tripartite dialogue for political solutions to establish a genuine Federal Union.

3)      The SPDC to immediately release all political prisoners including Daw Aung Saw Su Kyi and Nai Yekkha.

4)      The US government and UN to send peace-keeping troops and help establish a genuine Democratic Federal Union.

 

Contact Persons: Michael Mon, Nai Ravika.  raejaehtiraat@yahoo.com, pinecak@yahoo.com