Shan leader farewelled
August 30 - September 5, 2010
“YOU, U Shwe Ohn, have transferred to next life at 6:12pm on the evening of August 20, 2010,” says the man standing in front of the prostrate body. “Therefore, our Union Democratic Party allows you to resign. As you are no longer connected to the party, you can go wherever you like.”
UDP chairman U Thein Htay folds the letter in his hands. It will later be put into the coffin of the party’s former patron, as per tradition.
Others, including members of the Shan Nationals Democratic Party, veteran politicians and new generation politicians from Shan State, then proceed to read out their condolences for the late Shan leader, who had attended the historic Pinlon Conference.
Staring at the crowd packed into the ceremony to say their farewells to the 89-year-old Shan politician, U Thein Htay said the party would continue to implement the policies that its late founder had laid down.
“His death will have no effect on the party’s direction,” U Thein Htay said.
“I lament that it’s a great loss for the country and the party. He always had a strong belief in the union spirit.”
“He had the idea to work hand-in-hand with anybody inside or outside the country regardless of their nationality who shared the same political view.”
U Thein Htay recalled U Shwe Ohn’s final words were about a meeting with Myanmar’s revered father of independence.
“He had been talking about the time he went to meet General Aung San and he was allowed to discuss his ideas with him. While he was talking about it, his breathing stopped,” he said.
U Shwe Ohn joined his Union Democracy Alliance with U Phyo Min Thein’s People’s Democracy Party on April 1, 2010 to establish the Union Democratic Party.
U Shwe Ohn passed away at his home on August 20 at the age of 89 after suffering from liver cancer.
U Phyo Min Thein, the former UDP chairman who resigned from the party on August 5, told The Myanmar Times last week that U Shwe Ohn’s death marked the loss of a leader who had been working enthusiastically for democracy, human rights and the affairs of ethnic minorities.
“It was testament to his abilities as a politician that he was able to work together with much younger people even though he was in his late 80s,” he said.
U Phyo Min Thein said the party could suffer as a result of losing both its founders in the space of little more than two weeks.
“I think the Union Democratic Party will be weaker in leadership because its two patrons are no longer in the party. And the support from the people might also decrease,” he said. – Shwe Yinn Mar Oo
