THE NEW MON STATE PAR1Y ANSWER~ TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON MON FREEDOM MOVEMENT BY NEW MON STATE PAR'IY ~tml· ~ ~¥00)~ MON NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ANSWERS TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON MON FREEDOM MOVEMENT 1.Q. Is the ultimate end of your group political independence? A. Our aim is to establish an ~dependent sovereign state unless the Burmese government is willt ng to permit a confederation of free nation­ alities exercising full right of self-determination inclusive of right of secession. z.Q. On What grounds do you base your desires for independence? Ethnic, religion, speech? A. We base our right of self-determination on ethnic, history, territory and culture. Mons though reduced to a minority race in modern times both in Burma and Thailand wield a lot of influence in olden days history of Southeast Asia when they had their homelands. History of any individual country in this region would be incomplete without any mention made of Mon influence.., As answers to the questionnaire were written at a place where refere'ces were far from reach, for further /,. reference on Mon we would like to point out a few books, viz. 'The Talaing' written by Dr. Halliday, an American Baptist Missionary to Moulmein, Burma, published under the auspices of the siam Society, Thailand; 'Mon-English Dictionary' by same author; 'The Peguan L·mguage' by Dr. Haswell,also an American Baptist Missionary, Burma, published by the American Baptist Mission Press in 1901 at Moulmein; 'History of Burma' by G. E. Harvey (London,1925h 'History of Burma' by Arthur P. Phayre (London, 1883) ; 'Burma, by D.G.E. Hall (London, 1956) in the Hutchinson "University Library Series". 'A History of Modern Burma' by John F. Cady (Ithaca, 1958 and 196o); 'Old Burma' by G.H. Luce published in Great Britain, an authority on Far Eastern History; Book entitled meaning 'My Itinerary' by Maurice Collis published in Great Britain, a translation from Portuguese written by a Portuguese envoy Mr. Pinto to Mon court at Martaban; 'Mon-English Dictionary' by H.L. Shorto, Lecturer in Mon, London School of Oriental Studies and African Languages;' The Union of Burma! by Hugh Tinker (Oxford, 1957 &. 1959);' Thailand, Burma, Laos&. Cambodia' by John F. Cady published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. ( 1966), Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; ' Burma' by F.S.V. Donnison, Chief Secretary of British regime in Burma after World War z; 'The Making of Burma', by Dorothy Woodman. 3. Q. What is the proper name of your political group? A. The name of our political group is the New Mon State Party (NMSP). It was formed in July 1958 under the leadership of Nai Shwe Kyin (alias), Nai Ba Lwin just after a big surrender under the leadership of the Mon People's Front (MPE) which took up armed resistance since 1948. Nai Shwe Kyin himself was a Central Committee of the Mon People's Front. There was dissension amongst the Mons on the promise given by U Nu who was Premier of the then Burmese government. U Nu promised that his government would help create an autonomous Mon State if Mons surrender and accept legality. With the lurking political intrigues by the military, few leaders of the MPF who were not convinced of the surrender parted ways with MPF and formed up the New Mon State Party to continue carrying on armed resistance. U Nu's governemnt allowed a yearly display of Mon culture and permitted its revival while it considered the revival of an autonomous Mon State. But General Ne Win shattered these plans after his seizure of power in 1962. The reason given by General Ne Win for annulling whatever facilities given to the Mons by U Nu's government was that' Mons and Burmese are inseparable because most of the Burmese are Mon-blooded and so separate ethnic rights need not be given to the Mons! ' Released after six years of detention, U Nu under pretext of ill health went to India and then around the world pleading for aid from sympathetic supporters to oust General Ne Win. He finally took political asylum in Thailand in 1968. After over two years of secret negotiations agreement was reached betweer. U Nu's P~rliamentary Democracy Party, Mahn BaZan's Karen National Union amd Nai Shwe Kyin's New Mon State Party to form a United National Liberation Front (UNLF) on zsth May, 1970 to fight against General Ne Win's government. A copy each of an appeal to the people of Burma and a joint statement by the three political parties are attached as Appendix A and B. The Shan Patriotic Party and the Chin Democratic Party joined the Front later. U Nu, President of the Parliamentary Democracy Party (later renamed as People's Patriotic Party) became the Patron; Mahn Ba Zan, President of the KNtJ, the Chairman; and Nai Shwe Kyin, President ot the NMSP, the General Secretary of the Front. When the Karens and the Mons pushed for the recognition of right of self-determination inclusive of right of seces­ sion, U Nu backed out and left the Front. Later, dispute on authority in Tavoy district, between the Burmese contigent headed by Bo Yan Naing and the Karen contingent, started a row between the PPP and KNU which finally led to the KNU pull-out from the Front in 1975. Thus the functions of the Front dwindled off. Had there been tolerence on both sides, with the internal situation ripe for change, the Front could have seized power, through violence, from the military dictatorship. But fate was destined the other way. The UNLF decided to create 3 more states in the Union of Burma. namely, the Arakan, the Chin and the Mon states. 4. Q. How old is your political party1 A. The New Mon State Party is now functioning in its twentyseventh year. In 1963 General Ne Win called for peace parley to all political parties up in arms in Burma. The New Mon state Party was represented by Nai Shwe Kyin, Nai Htin and Nai Tet Tun at Rangoon peace negotiations. The peace parley was a farce just to decieve the people as if General Ne Win's government was champion of peace. Thus with the exception of some split faction of the Karens, all political parties that went to the negotiation table went back to the bush to struggle on unconstitution ally. s. Q. How many different political parties among the Mons seek this end1 A. There are only two major political parties among the Mons. Both MPF and NMSP seek this 'end.".MPF was active constitutionally after attaining legality till 1964 when under military dictatorial decree all political parties except General Ne Win's Burma Socialist Programme Party- now officially renamed as Lanzin Party - were banned. Since then most of the rank and file of the MPF have joined hands with NMSP in its overground and underground activities. 6. Q. Is a map available showing the positioning of a Mon State? A. The NMSP is reclaiming part of old Mon State known in history as Rehmonnya or Hongsawatoi or Pegu comprising of five districts, namely, Mergui, Tavoy, Moulmein and Thaton districts in the Tenas­ serim Division (the southeastern coastal strip of Burma) and Pegu district in Pegu Division as Mon State. A miniature sketch map showing the area covering the old Mon State and the area now claimed is herewith attached as Appendix C.The old Monland in Burma covers three Divisions, namely, Tenasserim, Pegu and Irrawaddy Divisions stretching over the whole of Lower Burma. 7. Q. What would this State be called? A. It is up to the modern Mon people to ch-oose an appropriate 'name for the newly created state when it is materialized. Mons had exercised their right of self- determination as a nation possesing a history extending two thousand and five hundred years, a torritory, a rich culture and a prosperous economy before they were finally conquered by the Burmese in 1757. But the Mons did not receive their due rights after independ­ ence from Great Britain in 1948. After over 37 years of bloody resistance the question of naming the state dose not rest on Mons in Burma alone. Decendents of overseas Mons in Thailand and Cambodia who fled Burmese rule since Rehmonnya fell are also interested in the Mon resistance movement and their opinions would have to be respected also. Overseas Mon resi-stanGe-movement and tl:l-0ir opinions-would h2.ve to be respected also. Overseas Mons are intent on reclaiming all Rehmonnya covering the whole of Lower Burma as an independent sovereign state. 8. Q. What is the Mon populatiom A. In a book written on 'Burma' by an Italian Father of the Catholic Mission stationed at Rangoon after the annexation of Burma by the British in 1885 mention was made of Burmese and Mon territories with map illustration. The Burmese territory was shown in the map as Ava and the Mon territory as Pegu. The extent of each teritory was even mentioned in proximity of latitudes and longitudes. ~he population of Burma was then estimated at about 1 million and nu~rically Burmese stood first, Mons second, Karens third with other minorities following the line. (N.B. Regret in inability to give the title 'of the book, name of author and year of publication because it was read over 40 years ago.) Mons as a defeated race suffered much oppression and discrimi­ nation under Burmese rule before the British came. By Burmese royal decree they were made to return themselves as 'Talaing' literally meaning 'Bastard' instead of their true national identity as 'Mon', Thus to avoid discrimination and refusing to be dubbed as bastards most of the Mons returned themselves as Burmese.