Voice of the People Rises at Founding Anniversary of RNDP

Minbya: People in Min Bya Township in Arakan have raised their voice regarding their daily hardships in the township at a public meeting that was held on Wednesday as part of the founding day of the township's Rakhine National Development Party, said party leader U Tha Kyaw.

"We held a public meeting during the founding ceremony of the RNDP in Min Bya where over 100 people attended and shared their problems and bitter difficulties. They also demanded we present their difficulties and problems on a daily basis to the state and central government," U Tha Kyaw said.

Most of the people were from rural villages and gathered in the meeting to raise their voice about their daily difficulties in their respective villages in Min Bya Township.

"The people especially presented to us to get more fertilizer and loans from the government for their farming because the government-provided fertilizers and loans are insufficient. We promised to submit their demand to the government authority step by step," said U Tha.

A young farmer who attended the ceremony said that he submitted two points in the meeting - first to form village administrations in accordance with the present constitution, and second to inquire with the high authority about the issue of leasing creeks and rivers in Arakan State.

He said, "Now the current government authority has appointed village administrators in the villages across our township against the present constitution. In the constitution, the village administration must be appointed with respectable gentlemen in the village, but the government authority in our township has appointed the former village chairman, who were appointed by the military government in 2006, to be the village administrators. All of the people in our township want the village administrator to be appointed in accordance with the present constitution, so we revealed this in the meeting."

Many people who attended the meeting from rural areas demanded they eliminate the system of leasing creeks and rivers out to businessmen because the system is very challenging for the survival of Arakanese people throughout the state.

"Many people presented the issue of creek, river, and ocean leasing to private businesses by the government. Most Arakanese people have not been able to carry out their daily livelihoods in the creeks and rivers since the government began leasing them to businessmen," he said.

The RNDP won a majority of elected seats in Arakan State in the last election but was unable to form as a majority in the Arakanese state because the government reserved more seats for former military personnel who are aligned with the government-backed USDP.

RNDP leaders will present the people's difficulties to the Arakan State government as well as the central government during the next parliamentary sessions, said U Tha Kyaw.