Dear Friends and Supporters,

As Burma moves closer to still unannounced election date,
the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is moving
ahead in full force with its electioneering efforts across
the country. Reports of election canvassing and vote buying
arose well in advance of party registration, but USDP’s
registration approval has allowed for even more extensive
electioneering throughout ethnic areas.

In Chin State, the USDA has been forcibly issuing cards to
government employees and others. People have been forced to
pay 3,000 Kyat per card and have been threatened into voting
for USDP candidates. These actions have been accompanied by
an Immigration Department census conducted in Chin State of
adults over 18 years, much like the census conducted in 2008
prior to the constitutional referendum. Residents are worried
that family members who are working abroad will be deleted
from the family registration card, making them no longer
citizens of Burma.

In Tenasserim Division, USDP members have been canvassing
neighborhoods door to door, filling out membership application
forms for residents without explaining the document or their
actions, with civilians too afraid to ask questions. Local
residents noted that this method of forced campaigning also
mirrored SPDC actions before the 2008 constitutional referendum.

In Shan State, USDP is conducting a parallel recruiting campaign,
using USDA members to pressure village leaders to collect household
lists and members for the party. Youths in Kengtung Township above
the age of 15 are being forced to apply for USDA membership or face
blacklisting for high treason. Local residents are far from pleased.
“USDA say we should become PM Thein Sein’s party members because
he had developed our town and built pagodas for us,” a female
resident said. “But we don’t see any development in our town.”
This tight association between the USDP and USDA has raised
many concerns about the legality of the USDP and its political
efforts.

Civilians are growing increasingly cynical as the USDP exercises
its significantly unfair advantage in the election campaigns and
civilians are only being exposed to the USDP’s propaganda. “The
government asks us to vote for them. We have no information about
the elections or other parties,” a farmer in Karenni State noted.
“The election is only for the military regime and not for us. We
don’t want to support it, but when the time comes they will force
us to vote. During the referendum vote I was forced to vote ‘yes’
even though I wanted to vote ‘no’”.

The junta is also noticeably targeting a new voting constituency—the
Rohingya.  The SPDC’s Deputy Home Minister held a meeting in Maungdaw
Township, Arakan State, where there is a dense Rohingya population .
Speaking to over 2,000 people, the Deputy Home Minister declared,
“Rohingya people have the right to vote and to be elected. Other
parties will come for election campaigns to woo the people, but
they should not be believed. I believe that all the Rohingya people
will cast votes for USDP candidates.” The USDP has also nominated
several Rohingya in Arakan State to mobilize the community in Maungdaw
and Buthidaung and is set to open a Regional Development Office that
would provide for social services and develop infrastructure in Rohingya
areas.

While it may appear promising for parties to reach out to the
often-neglected Rohingya community, the USDP’s efforts appear
to be empty promises given the SPDC’s long history of institutionalized
discrimination of the Rohingya population. Only last year, the top SPDC
official in Hong Kong spoke to foreign officials and the media about
the Rohingyas, stating that they were as “ugly as ogres” and therefore
should not be considered to be from Burma.

The USDA has made their motives blatantly clear during the ongoing water
shortage. The organization has ordered volunteer organizations to mark
their vehicles with USDA flags and harrassed aid workers. Most appallingly,
the USDA arranged for posed water distributions only to send vehicles
full of water back to where they came from following photo opportunities.
They have made it extremely clear that the well-being of the people is
not a priority.

The USDA and USDP have been careful not to let any opportunity to court
public favor go by, albeit by force and manipulation. Photo ops, empty
promises and forced memberships are not ingredients for genuinely
democratic elections, but under the current regime, the people of
Burma are unlikely to experience anything better during the military’s
2010 elections.

In Solidarity,

Burma Partnership Secretariat

Picture taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/druidabruxux/2917232044/