Minister’s stance on Kachin party groundless, Dr. Tuja says

Monday, 19 July 2010 23:06 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Kachin State Progressive Party chairman has called “groundless” recent claims made by Burmese junta minister Aung Thaung that the party was ineligible to register with the electoral watchdog over its connections to the Kachin Independence Organisation.

Dr. Tuja, the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) chairman, was responding to comments made by Minister of Industry No.1 Aung Thaung to Kachin leaders and elders in Myitkyina last week. He told the gathering on July 12 that the Union Election Commission (UEC) would approve the KSPP’s registration as a political party only if Dr. Tuja resigned as party chairman and instead took the role of patron.

“These remarks are groundless. We are not listening to them. What we are doing is in accordance with [UEC] procedure. First I resigned from the KIO, then I joined the KSPP. There is no infringement of any law”, Dr. Tuja told Mizzima.

The KSPP leader found fault in the minister’s interference in party matters over appointments, also implying the minister’s stance was arbitrary and based on a whim.

“They said what they want to happen. The change of chairman in our party is not in accordance with the [our] procedure … So we absolutely reject it”, Dr. Tuja said.

Aung Thaung commented on Dr. Tuja’s role in the meeting he and Communications Minister Thein Zaw – whose brother is on the central executive committee of a rival Kachin party – had with the Kachin Consultative Group in Myitkyina on July 12.

The KIO had also confirmed Dr. Tuja’s resignation from that group.

Dr. Tuja attended the 14-year long National Convention to draft the constitution and he is known as a liberal-minded leader.

Thai-based Burma analyst and observer Aung Thu Nyein said that the junta’s refusal to accept such a man as a party chairman was connected with the Border Guard Force (BGF) issue, whereby the junta was forcing all ceasefire groups to accept their deal to bring their militia under junta control within the Burmese Army.

“The SPDC [junta] is playing a dirty game. They used Dr. Tuja … to [help] draft the constitution. Dr. Tuja handed over the draft constitution to them on the completion of the National Convention,” he said. “They didn’t say anything at that time and didn’t complain about his membership of the KIO. No they raise the KIO issues.”

“It is very shameful for all Burmans and also it is very dangerous for the unity of all ethnic people”, he added.

The KIO has rejected the junta’s BGF offer, which meant its troops would have been placed under the direct control of the commander-in-chief of the junta’s army.

However, UEC Chairman Thein Soe told a high-level five-member KSPP delegation led by Dr. Tuja to the UEC offices in Naypyidaw on Friday that the party could continue its activities while awaiting permission from the commission.

Coincidentally, Kachin elders in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina said that UEC chairman Thein Soe would visit Myitkyina and Tanaing in person to investigate a “complaint letter” it had received against the KSPP.

The complaint reportedly claimed KSPP was connected with ceasefire group KIO.

Among the four ethnic Kachin political parties that applied to the UEC for registration, only the Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State (UDPKS) has received permission. The UDPKS was formed by former pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association members.

The remaining three parties were still awaiting a response from the commission despite having submitted their applications at least three months ago.

UDPKS party chairman Khet Htein Nan said: “Our party will work for the development of education, health and agriculture. And we will also work for the eradication of narcotic drugs phase by phase besides on our [Burmese] literature, language and culture.”

Its 15-member central executive committee includes vice-chairman (1) Khin Maung Hla, sibling and older brother of Communications Minister Thein Zaw; vice-chairman (2), Shan nationality member Sai Aye Kyaw; and secretary Phau La Gam Phan.

The party was still drafting its constitution, policies and rules and it had yet to start start its organisational work, he said.