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Kayin party seeks end to conflict

LEADERS of a Kayin State-based political party say they hope participation in the November 7 election will help bring about an end to decades of ethnic conflict.

U Khin Maung Myint, chairman of the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, told The Myanmar Times in the Kayin State capital Hpa-an earlier this month that the party would focus on bringing “peace and prosperity” to Kayin State.

“We don’t want war, we only want peace,” U Khin Maung Myint said.
“I think everyone in Kayin State is hoping for peace” as a result of the election, he said.

Ethnic conflict has ravaged the region since Kayin soldiers took up arms up against the government shortly after independence in 1948. The Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, has been one of the few ethnic armies to resist signing a ceasefire agreement with the government.

“A lot of what happens in the future will depend on the new government. An important factor will be ensuring stability during the election period,” U Khin Maung Myint said.

“Under the law we need to form a party if we are to practise politics for the Kayin people,” he said. “We like this approach, rather than armed conflict, to solving problems.”

He said most of the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party’s founding members have a background in non-government organisations and civil society groups and range from 20 to 60 years of age.

The Union Election Commission approved the party’s application to register on June 4 and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party is one of four Kayin parties that will contest the election, along with the Union Kayin League, Kayin People’s Party and Kayin State Democracy and Development Party.

However, both the Kayin People’s Party and Union Kayin League are Yangon-based and expected to focus on constituencies outside of Kayin State with large Kayin populations, like Yangon and Ayeyarwady divisions.

“We started signing up members on June 19 and most of them are from Hpa-an township” where the party is based, U Khin Maung Myint said.

The Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party will contest constituencies in all seven townships of Kayin State, as well as Kyaikmayaw in neighbouring Mon State, and expects to field more than 30 candidates altogether.

“We are targeting to have at least two candidates in each township but we haven’t finalised the list of candidates yet,” he said. “We will mostly target the Kayin State Hluttaw but expect to also contest seats in the national parliament, the Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw.”

Under the 2008 constitution, residents of Kayin State will elect at least 14 representatives – two from each township – to the Kayin State Hluttaw. It will also have seven representatives in the Pyithu Hluttaw and 12 in the Amyotha Hluttaw.
Parties have until August 30 to register candidates for the election.

U Saw Kyi Lin, the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party’s general secretary, said he resigned from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, better known as the DKBA, to take part in the election. “I worked for the DKBA for about 10 years as a business consultant before I resigned in 2008,” he said. “I couldn’t become a member of the Border Guard Force because I’m 54, and you need to be younger than 50, so I decided to take part in politics and join the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party instead.”

 

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