In the evening at 6:40 pm on the 23rd of April 2023, the military junta forces including soldiers, police and SB (Special Branch) raided M Hotel in Mawlamyine to arrest a woman who was working at a Mon development organization based in southern Mon State, while she was attending a meeting in capital city in Mon State.
The woman name is Merlar Mon, 34-year-old, from Ye Township and she was staying at M Hotel to join the meeting when the military junta forces came to search for her.
Merlar Mon was invited to join the land issues meeting on the 22nd and 23rd of April, 2023 by the Mon Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). She was also a Director of Mon Area Community Development Organization (MACDO) and one of the Steering Committee members in Mon Land Policy group, which was formed by Mon people, CSOs and local communities, with a main purpose to develop ethnic Mon land tenure policy.
“On the 23rd of April, while having dinner in the room at about 6:40 pm, two strangers knocked on our door and asked my name. I told them repeatedly that they got the wrong person and room. So they were confused and left because they did not have my picture yet at that time. I then urgently contacted my colleagues who invited me to join the meeting and asked for help to leave the hotel immediately.” said Merlar Mon, sharing experience of incidents.
However, she escaped from the capital city of Mawlamyine with assistance by members of an Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO), across the rural area, and then to that EAO controlled area in the border.
“After I left the hotel, one of my colleagues informed me that the military junta with about 30 soldiers came to search for me three times on that night. They also had my picture on their phone this time. I was able to flee to the Thai border through jungle roads with the help of ethnic armed organization in the next two days”, she continued.
She was falsely accused of providing material support to the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), by the military junta authorities. Most of her work have just only focused on humanitarian assistance to displaced persons but has never supported the PDFs, explained by one of her colleagues who do not want to identify her name.
Merlar Mon has been working for the Mon communities on local issues on Socio-Economic Development related to land tenure for ethnic people and involved in helping drug addicted Mon youhts for more than 10 years. After the military coup in February 2021, she and her organization offered their humanitarian assistance to the pro-democracy activists and villagers who fled to the areas under the control of Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs).
