USDA: ACT LOCALLY AND LIE GLOBALLY
(By Banya Hongsar, Bangkok)
In recent years the Burmese government has organized a Non-Governmental Organization (GONGO) for local teenagers in Mon and Karen State in order to promote employment opportunities in Malaysia, but this is nothing but a facade. It is typical of a Burmese NGO that is often linked to the military elite.
'Show me the money’ is the motto of the western world, but for the ambitious of Burma the real life, though, often comes down to: 'Tell me where the money is'. This is the reality of 40 million people who have to make a difficult choice between questionable alternatives.
Opportunity never knocks twice in Burmese politics though. The Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) took advantage of the young people who pine to migrate to Malaysia and launched a public relations campaign to those interested in going to Malaysia to seek employment in February of this year in Kyeik Ma Yaw Township, Mon State. But isn’t there something sinister to be read into all this?
What happens is that many teenagers in Mon and Karen States are forced into membership with the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and are enticed to foreign countries to seek a better life. The whole scheme is a ploy because there is no potential employment in Malaysia for unskilled labor. Currently, hundreds of thousands of Mon illegal workers have returned home from Malaysia to Thailand and Burma.
According to an official statement released by USDA on 20 February 2002 in Burmese, as an arrangement of the head of the state authority, the USDA plans to select local members of the organization to find employment in Malaysia in order to increase foreign currency and membership of the association.
The statement mentions in its selection criteria that 'a candidate must finish 8th standard and must not be linked to any political parties'. There is more to this than meets the eye—or ear, that the USDA itself is de facto political party of Union Solidarity Party (CH) sponsored by the current military regime. Precisely, according to a mission statement of the organization: ‘a cause of maintaining long life for the Union of Burma' is a prime objective of the organization. If a candidate cannot be a member of political party he/ she then cannot be a member of USDA.
Once they are members, young Mon and others are expected to attend regular monthly meetings and other arranged training courses. According to a mobile reporter of the Independent Mon News Agency, in December 2000 Vice Chief of Police Force Kyin Thein, called USDA members for secret training. The course was designed to train young members to be recruited as military informers and local campaigners for the USDA. The course has focused on psychological warfare attached to opposition groups. This will do nothing but further damage understanding between the ethnic groups.
The role of the USDA in every Mon village is organized according to a planned 'strategy mind mapping' and 'agenda setting'. It’s part of the regime’s propaganda machine, an insidious network that undermines local Mon civil society. The Mon Literature and Cultural Committee, mostly led by Buddhist monks and local scholars, cannot ignore the systematic discrimination toward the Mon population by the Burmese regime that has gone on now for the last three centuries or so. Young Mon boys and girls are forced to become members but are not rewarded for their efforts; they have no access to educational or technological programs but face an uncertain future, while their families struggle to feed themselves.
Now let’s understand what we are talking about. It’s all the same old predictable stuff: the lock ups, the intimidation and harassment. In a special meeting in Mon State in August of 2002, Major General Ohn Myint was highly critical of the current political happenings in Burma. He said: “You all are urged to closely monitor the moves of the NLD, but say nothing about it to anyone. You are to block developments.” The Burmese regime is as crafty as it has always been at fooling the international community, but it doesn’t surprise local politicians. The old dictator (General Ne Win) could not renew his face or style of doing the business of politics. But his successors, his inner circle of military elites, remained to continue to hammer out policies for their own national interests.
The government of Burma, under the control of the current military regime is on the wrong path to transition while giving the message to its citizens and to the world community that Burma is turning a new leaf in nation building and politics. Massive public relations campaigns have been conducted unprofessionally in the country, which will only fuel internal political instability. The regime should be eager to seek confidence building and the transfer of power. Since at least 1962, colossal wastes of human talent have been staples of the Burmese unhealthy political diet. That the potential of these young boys and girls of the Mon population are swept aside for a program that uses them for its own political agenda bodes nothing but ill for the future of the country. Young people are the future. The government should instead prepare for a proper and peaceful transition to ensure power to the younger generation. Further to constructing a social foundation that details democracy to strengthen civil society by including the diversity of cultures of Burma.
In this spirit, perhaps the sane choice is try to live with everyone in peace by understanding them. A climate of tolerance among all groups should be fostered. Blame shouldn’t be directed at any one group. Leaders of the country on all sides have a moral and social obligation to protect and provide sufficient resources for the sustainability of the country.
Old and young generations alike are seeking every opportunity for a better future. The question is who can give the right message to our younger generation to lead the way to a brighter future for Burma.
KaoWao News No. 30, Nov. 1-13, 2002