Mandalay NLD set to test junta's rule of law

Mungpi
Mizzima News: 3 November, 2006

To test the Burmese military junta's purported rule of law, members of Burma's main political opposition party, the National League for Democracy, Mandalay branch, will file a complaint regarding the alleged spraying of paint on a party signboard. The branch office was shut down by the junta a few years ago.

On October 31 the night, the signboard of the NLD Mandalay branch, which is one of NLD’s branch offices across Burma, was sprayed with black paint.

Win Mya Mya, a NLD divisional organiser in Mandalay told Mizzima that some of the words on the signboard, which reads: ‘National League for Democracy, Mandalay branch’, was smeared with paint.

"We are preparing to file a complaint to the authorities on Monday [November 6] and we want to see substantial action taken because this is a deliberate ploy to insult the party," said Win Mya Mya.

Meanwhile, Burma's state-run newspaper the New Light of Myanmar, today reported that the NLD Mandalay division has denounced the prayer campaign led by '88 generation students as "meaningless and shameful.'

However, she rejected the report saying that the Mandalay NLD supports the prayer campaign as it is only fair to pray for the welfare of the country.

"No matter who started it, prayers in any religion is good and moreover praying for our country at this juncture is very much necessary,"

According to the report, the Mandalay NLD said the three points of the prayers were inconsistent with the prevailing situation in Burma. The report said the first point of the prayer - for peace to prevail in Burma - is inconsistent as there is no demonstration or civil war going on in the country.

And for the second – to escape from danger and hardship – the government is taking all necessary steps to prevent the country from dreadful diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis.

According to the report, the third point – freedom of the people – is the worst, as there is no country without law and order.

Win Mya Mya said, "The report is a plan to create a misunderstanding between the '88 students and the NLD because we [the NLD] had never denounced the prayer campaign instead our members are joining it."

"We are filing our case to the authorities to see if there is any rule of law, as claimed by the authorities," she added.