Min Taw Lawi – A ceremony honoring the Mon People’s Front Chairman Nai Aung Htoon was held in Pa-nga village of Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, on the morning of April 29.
“The ceremony commemorated the 42nd anniversary of Nai Aung Htoon’s death, and was led by the Pa-nga Mon Literature and Culture Committee. This is the sixteenth such anniversary ceremony.”
The 500 attendees included Mon senior monks, Mon Democratic Party (MDP) Chairman Nai Ngwe Thein, the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) Chairman Nai Janu Mon (aka Nai Ngwe Thein), other Mon political leaders and the members of Thanbyuzayat Township Mon Literature and Culture Association.
The ceremony started early in the morning with food offerings to the senior monks, after which Nai Ngwe Thein and Nai Janu Mon (Nai Ngwe Thein) gave speeches.
The MDP Chairman Nai Ngwe Thein, who worked alongside Nai Aung Htoon during the 1948-58 era of the Mon People’s Front, said, “In the past, Mon people demanded their indigenous rights with armed revolution. Now, they continue their fight under the rule of law.”
“We have been realizing the three policies developed by the former Mon People’s Front Chairman Nai Aung Htoon and Nai Ngwe Thein: freedom, self-determination, and authentic [federal] union,” said AMDP Chairman Nai Janu Mon (Nai Ngwe Thein).
After that, in 1958, the Mon People’s Front operated in accordance with rule of law, and Nai Aung Htoon swore an oath on April 27, 1961, to become a Mon Affairs Minister in U Nu’s government. He also jointly served as the minister of the Relief and Resettlement Department and worked in the Department of National Union.
Later, together with the Mon National Leader Nai Pho Cho, Nai Aung Htoon contributed to the 33-member Delegation of Presidential Advisers of the Revolutionary Council in Nay Win’s government.
Nai Aung Htoon passed away at the age of 57 in his home in Moulmein at about 7am on April 29, 1970.
