The New Mon State Party has been facing a variety of pressures even after signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. As a result the NMSP needs to strengthen its armed forces to deal with particular pressures argued , NMSP Vice-chair Nai Hongsar in his speech at the opening ceremony of the 10th Congress of New Mon State Party held on December 25th.
According to Nai Hongsar “even though we have signed the NCA and ceased fire, we still face a lot of pressures. [The Tatmadaw] armed forces are still determining the situation today. Without [our own ethnic] armed forces, there would be no authority, and no potential to reach our goal. Therefore, we need to strengthen our forces,”
He added that if a democracy system is to emerge, it is important to have a large number of parliament representatives to advocate for the national rights of the Mon people through Parliament.
NMSP Chair Nai Htaw Mon also mentioned in his speech, that the Myanmar army has not returned some of the seized assets of NMSP permanent military bases since the signing of the NCA .
“We have signed the NCA, but the [Myanmar army] does not return the See-Na-Bin permanent military base. It needs to be taken seriously. Now, they [Tatmadaw] still has not withdrawn from the Palaing Japan village. This situation needs to be reviewed,” said Nai Htaw Mon.
After the Myanmar army and Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) attempted to enter the NMSP permanent military base in Palaing Japan village in Three Pagoda Pass area on November 27th, the Tatmadaw relocated and established a military presence very near the NMSP base.
The current 10th Congress of the New Mon State Party is being attended by 116 central committee members and delegates, 30 observers, 20 special guests, and 20 technical assistants.
The party conference is held every three years. According to the NMSP, there will be changes in different positions including chairman, general secretary, commander-in-Chief, and Central Committee members.
