Arka : Mon State travelers claim that ‘Tala Mon’, an ethnically Mon-owned corporation that owns cars running from Mon State to Rangoon, is being targeted for stringent investigations by check point authorities.
A passenger who recently traveled from Moulmein to Rangoon on a Tala Mon express car reported “They [government checkpoint authorities] checked other cars only for 10 to 15 minutes, however the Tala Mon car [was checked] about half hour”.
A director of the company explained that checkpoint searches have increased for all vehicles as the time of Burma’s 2010 elections draw near, but explained that Tala Mon cars have been selected for longer, more thorough searches than average.
Members of the company feel that the profiling is the result of ethnic prejudice in Burma; a female director of the company told IMNA that she believes the Tala Mon company is being singled out because the company is Mon owned and operated.
Tala Mon Company Limited is operated by Mon businessmen with Mon investors. A shareholder from Moulmein claimed that Burmese authorities are conducting particularly intense checks on the company’s cars because authorities want to frighten away Tala Mon’s customers.
He added, “The most important point is they detour Mon businessmen [from investing in the company]”.
The Tala Mon Co. Ltd. was established on December 20th 2009 at the Trader Hotel in Rangoon, with the goals of supporting Mon family businesses, to involve the Mon people in Burma’s growing economic network, and and to eventually support philanthropic movements within the Mon community, said General Manager Nai Chit Phay.
As Nai Htun Ohn, the corporation’s Chairman, explained to IMNA this past March, Tala Mon Co. Ltd is the first of its kind; Tala Mon is the only Mon company with all Mon shareholders to exist in Burma. The company is not affiliated with any of Mon State’s ceasefire or political groups.
The company’s first venture was the purchase of four express cars that traveled on the Thanphyuzayart to Rangoon and Moulmein to Rangoon routes; future plans involve expanding into medical services, vehicle upgrades and repairs, and the building equipment trade.
