IF THE OTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTIES DID WHAT THE JUNTA IS DOING VIA USDA AND
SWAN ARR ****N THEY WILL BE JAILED 7 YEARS FOR GOING AGAINST THE
REFERANDUM.
IS THIS FAIR?. CITIZENS OF BURMA PLEASE CONSIDER. THINK CAREFULLY. DO NOT
SELL YOUR FREEDOM.
March 11, Mizzima News - Junta turns to bribery to bolster ranks - Maung
Dee
In an apparent move to gain popularity with the people, the Burmese junta
backed civil organization, Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA), has begun distributing loans to its members. Local residents in
the
Rangoon suburb of Dagon Myothit said the Town****p USDA office has offered
loans to its members, tempting people with monetary incentives to join its
ranks. A local resident, who spoke to Mizzima on condition of anonymity,
said the USDA has been handing out loans of 30,000 to 50,000 Kyats ($27 to
$45),
with the understanding that only those enlisting with the USDA are
entitled
to such disbursements. "With most people living in poverty, many people
are
starting to accept the loan. It is a kind of lure for those who want to
take
the loan," the resident commented. Meanwhile, sources said the
junta-backed
civil organizations Myanmar
Maternity and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA) and Myanmar Women Affairs
Federation (MWAF) have also begun providing loans to its members. While
providing loans to members in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation may
seem a noble act, critics said the junta's puppet organizations - USDA,
MMCWA and MWAF - might be used to bait people into becoming members and
sup****t the junta's upcoming constitutional referendum in May. A local
resident of Dagon Myothit expressed his concern that the organizations
might
have a hidden agenda - say to sup****t the referendum - behind the
seemingly
noble act. He added that besides providing loans there are instances in
Dagon Myothit where USDA officials threaten people into seeking
member****p.
USDA officials, who control the water supply in the east of Dagon Myothit
Town****p, have threatened local residents with the possibility of losing
their water supply unless they register themselves as members of the
organization, continued the resident. "The officials threatened the
people,
saying that if they are not members of the USDA they will cut off the
water
supply," the local remarked. USDA, MMCWA and MWAF, formed to sup****t the
ruling junta, are the only civil organizations allowed in Burma. And
critics
say these organizations are manipulated by the government and are used as
tools to suppress any dissident movement. Htay Aung, a Thailand based
Burmese analyst and researcher at the Network for Democracy and
Development,
said there have been other instances where the junta-backed organizations
provided loans to its members, but all such offerings came with a hidden
agenda. "This time it could be to gain sup****t for the junta's
referendum,"
Htay Aung told Mizzima. The United Nations as well as much of the
international community
has joined Burmese opposition groups, including Burma's main political
party - National League for democracy, led by detained Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi - in calling the junta's upcoming referendum a
sham, as it lacks independent third party monitoring. But the ruling
junta,
who has plainly rejected the international community's call for
independent
monitoring of the referendum, has indicated it is determined to complete
its
planned roadmap as scheduled. Htay Aung said the junta, as declared, is
using various means to ensure that it gains the necessary votes in the
referendum to sup****t its constitution. "The junta will do everything to
ensure they get what they want. All plans are underway and they will try
to
post a kind of 'free and fair' label on the polling," Htay Aung prospered.
He added that by the actual polling day the junta hopes to have ensured
that
all its sup****ters are voting in favor of the referendum. But in the event
that the requisite number of votes are not secured the junta still will
not
let the referendum fail.
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