Dissolution of Research Committee on Mon History refuted

Min Thu Ta – The claim that the Research Committee on Mon History is to be dissolved is incorrect, according to Nai Tala Nye, one of the group’s members and a representative of the executive committee of the New Mon State Party.

“If the Research Committee on Mon History is to be disbanded, all the members must first discuss it and [then] make a decision. Now, the announcement that the Committee will be dissolved was made by [Min Khin Maung Lay, the General Secretary of the Research Committee] alone, and is not an officially recognized [move]. The Committee was not formed by only him.”

Copies of a letter signed by Min Khin Maung Lay were distributed on November 28 to the minister of Mon State and fellow Committee members. The letter stated that the Research Committee on Mon History was founded to object to and prohibit the Monograph Reading Ceremony of Pyu Tribe and Pyu Kingdom, led by Dr. Chit San Win and scheduled for November 30 to December 2. In the wake of a November 25 statement by Parliamentary Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann and Hlutaw government ministers that the ceremony was to be cancelled, Min Khin Maung Lay said the work of the Research Committee was complete and the group could be dissolved.

However, despite the commitment made to cancellation that came as a response to widespread disapproval expressed by the Mon community, the Reading Ceremony went ahead as planned.

After the Monograph Reading Ceremony of Pyu Tribe and Pyu Kingdom was first publicized in October, many ethnic Mon people came out in opposition of the event, alleging that it promoted a fabricated historical theory that the Pyu peoples constituted the earliest tribe in modern-day Burma and were responsible for establishing the Suvarnabhumi Kingdom, traditionally ascribed to the Mon.

“As far as I know, the Monograph Reading Ceremony of Pyu Tribe and Pyu Kingdom will be held. But, it is unsure whether reading the monographs referring to the Mon region as belonging to the Pyu Kingdom will be read or not. It is also not clear if the ceremony will last for three days as initially planned. I heard that the agenda has been somewhat changed,” said Nai Soe Kyi, the general secretary of the Rangoon-based Mon National Day Celebration Committee.

On November 3 and 4, the inaugural “Golden Suvarnabhumi” Monograph Reading Ceremony was held at Mon State Hall in Moulmein. During the event, scholars and historians advanced evidence that Suvarnabhumi is the site of the ancient Mon city Thaton.

The Research Committee on Mon History was formed on October 29, 2011, and has 37 members including Mon Buddhist monks, Mon scholars, historical researchers, and representatives of Mon political parties and civil society organizations.