NLD Makai Sungpan Kitelna Lutnuamte Muhna (English Version)

How the NLD decision came about:

At the CEC meeting on the 22 March, it was stated that ASSK did not want a split decision. The CEC’s view was that the decision should be left to U Aung Shwe and ASSK (the mandate to do so had been given earlier). This view would be relayed to ASSK on Dr Tin Myo Win’s visit scheduled for 1 April.

However, the next day (23rd) Nyan Win visited ASSK. It is said that he did not divulge the previous day’s CEC decision to ASSK and instead brought back a remark from ASSK that influenced the entire Central Committee. It was ASSK saying that she would not even think of running under these unjust laws. By-passing the party leadership, Nyan Win fed the remark to the media. She did add that however that the decision of the CC on the 29th would be honoured.

But at that meeting, the outcome was already assured by the negative remark. Only a very few members took up courage to state that the party should continue to exist and that it should re-register. (CEC members were prohibited from speaking). Aung Shwe knew what ASSK wanted and so he didn’t oppose it: he merely said he would abide by her wishes. The moderates say bitterly that ASSK’s opinion should not have been announced before the party decision. Another source says that it was the views and the petitions of the youth members that prevented a vote on the matter.

So once again, perhaps for the last time, emotion from the leader prevailed over sober and realistic decision-making.

“After twenty years of hard and bitter work, we are headless now”.

The aftermath:

Last Monday, 5th April, the CEC had another meeting. A number of papers were circulated – one on the apology to the people and another on the reorganization of the party (this was drafted by Ohn Kyaing and Hantha Myint). It said something about replacing the vertical/hierarchical structure with a network or horizontal model but the moderates see it as a cover for underground work and rejected it. They see it as acting as though it had the HQ’s approval. They said the NLD won’t be around after 6 May anyway, and if the proposers can take responsibility they can go ahead on their own.

On the matter of the NLD moving into social work, we agreed that it was inadvisable to do so. There would be negative repercussions on all concerned, not least on the NGOs that are doing real work and their target communities.

The hardliners and their stand:

They are led by what has become known as the “Gang of Four” – Win Tin, Nyan Win, Ohn Kyaing and Hantha Myint. They appear to have gained the upper hand.

Win Tin is proclaiming, “Work with U Tin Oo and ASSK as the central core” and “groups in the provinces should be more active”. But he’s staying put himself. He’s receiving huge amounts of funds from abroad but he doesn’t turn it over to the party. This has been mentioned in one of the indictments of activists charged with funneling money.

WT and has group are about to take a very dangerous path.

ASSK:

For the first time, we have senior NLD members strongly criticizing her. (I myself had seen it coming years ago).

She is taking her house arrest situation too passively as they see it. It’s like implying ‘keep me in that house: I can work through Nyan Win’. She didn’t seek out and use opportunities. Instead she let herself be manipulated by Nyan Win.

Since she is regarded as the central pillar, her views cannot be contradicted.

Comments -

“With this decision, she has abandoned us”.

“She has no platform anymore”.

“We’re going to swim against the current now. We would have to go against ASSK if need be”.

She has placed blind faith in Win Tin and has taken the hardliners under her wing.

She re-entered the SPDC’s trap.

She knew she was going to be released soon and yet she allowed the Yettaw incident to happen. By doing so, she showed no consideration for the Myanmar people.

They are not going to wait expectantly for her anymore.



The Path Ahead

A new party is being considered. There has to be a party. One that will defend the peoples’ rights and interests.

The announcement of a new party will not be made before 6 May, because the NLD will continue to exist till then.

The scope for independent MPs is too limited. Their coordination and synchronization would be weak and they would not be able to carry out the task of such a magnitude as that which lies ahead.

Khin Maung Swe elaborated three options:

* A new party;
* Contesting as independents. This costs less money and many are keen along this line;
* A slim chance that the NLD continues its existence somehow.

A new party could start as a cadre party and contest at least three seats. It doesn’t matter whether ASSK is in the party or not. We won’t be using her name – even if we want to do so, we will be attacked for ‘misusing’ it.

They say that ten central committee members including Dr Win Naing, U Thein Nyunt and others will form a hard core. Financial backing is important, but the decision to form a party has to come first.

It is inconceivable that people will not vote because ASSK is not in the party.

My Comment

I was on a panel hosted by the VOA just that morning. Two participants from the NLD were declaring that their party’s decision not to re-register had shored up their political standing. I said okay, but it also means leaving the people in the lurch, adding that millions had voted for the NLD in 1990.

Well, firstly I am not surprised at the way things happened. Certain NLD leaders are behaving as they have always done, only this time it is their swansong. I would say the really serious people in the NLD have been unburdened of all the negative elements that had hounded them in the past twenty years. In the end, the NLD has decided and so be it. We can devote our attention to the real business from now on.

I believe that a new or reformed NLD party deserves a place in political life (it will probably not use the NLD name but would in effect be the post-ASSK NLD). It would be a vehicle for pro-contestation NLD members and supporters to coalesce and congregate. Its approach would be, ‘just as we acknowledge the rights of those who opted out, they should acknowledge and respect our wishes to contest as a new party’. There would be no negative attitude towards ASSK and her blessing would even be solicited. Nonetheless there would be a distancing from her.

The danger is that ASSK and the hardliners could regard the new party negatively. Thereby everyone continues to lose.

My pitch to international well-wishers is that:

Just as ASSK’s and the NLD’s wishes had been respected, those of the new party should be respected too. On no account should they be branded as traitors to the NLD.

Support is critical at this turning point. This new party can spell the difference between a USDA victory and majority and a more democratic result. It is likely to be the best hope and assurance of sober, reasonable and capable democrats being in the new parliaments, and forming a democratic bloc.

Questions for the SPDC:

The NLD is bowing out, but still the USDA could lose. Than Shwe’s plan is to have a military candidate become president, but if the election does not turn out the way he wants despite the absence of the NLD, will he honour the results? It is felt that Chinese and ASEAN leaders should pose this question to him.

Ultimately democracy has to be re-introduced, the country and its image rebuilt, and the lives of the people improved.