Veteran Shan Leaders Plan New Political Party

By MIN LWIN

A group of veteran politicians, some of whom were active in Burmese politics in the late 1940s, has announced plans to found a new national party to contest the 2010 general election.

One of their leaders, Shwe Ohn, now in his late 80s, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the group was waiting for the enactment of the election law before announcing details of the new party’s mission. The new political force would be called the Union Democratic Alliance Party and membership would be open to all of Burma’s nationalities.

Shan ethnic leader Shwe Ohn said he hoped the party would be approved by Burma’s military council and its head, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Shwe Ohn is one of six founding members, who include author Kyaw Win Maung.

Some of them worked for the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, the main political party in Burma after World War II, and the League for Democracy and Peace led by former Prime Minister U Nu in the late 1980s.

Shwe Ohn, a contemporary of Burma’s post-war leader Aung San, was a journalist and observer at the 1947 Panglong conference that created the Union of Burma.

During the regime of dictator Ne Win, Shwe Ohn stayed out of politics, although he kept in touch with the veteran political community.

After the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Shwe Ohn founded the Shan State People’s Freedom League for Democracy, which forged a political alliance with the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The party was later deregistered by the junta.

Shwe Ohn was also a patron of the banned coalition of ethnic political parties known as the United Nationalities League for Democracy.

In 1993, Shwe Ohn was arrested and detained for one year after criticizing the military- sponsored National Convention.

In February 2005, he was arrested at a gathering of Shan leaders in Taunggyi, Shan State, where the formation of a “genuine federal union,” uniting all ethnic groups, was discussed.

Shwe Ohn was released, but several other Shan leaders at the meeting, including Hkun Htun Oo of the Shan National League for Democracy, the second most successful party in the 1990 election, were sentenced to prison terms of between 75 and 106 years. Hkun Htun Oo, 64, was given a 93-year sentence.