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NLD supporters left in the dark
Irrawaddy - March 9, 2012
On Feb. 23, the residents of Aung Chan Tha village in Zabu Thiri Township in Naypyidaw were informed by local authorities that anyone who went to the NLD campaign rally would be struck off a list of households awaiting electricity. The village currently has no power, and a private fund was established locally a few months ago to pursue access to an electrical supply.
However, the committee overseeing the distribution of power is loyal to the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and it keeps a list of names of families which will qualify for electricity in the near future.
Ahead of Suu Kyi's visit to the capital, committee chiefs threatened the residents that their names would be struck off the list if they attended the rally. Local villagers say a further threat was issued that no one would get electricity if the NLD won the by-election in their constituency.
Ironically, the village of Aung Chan Tha lies immediately to the side of the brightly illuminated highway that leads into the nation's capital.
Sandar Win, an NLD candidate who will contest Zabu Thiri constituency for the April 1 by-election, said that several villagers told her that a representative from the electricity distribution committee had summoned them to explain that the electricity project was partly sponsored by the USDP so it would not supply power to anyone who supports the NLD.
"That electricity committee member told the villagers: 'You can complain about it to anyone you like. I'm here to inform you that someone from the top told me to tell you this,'" said the candidate.
Suu Kyi and the NLD have already complained about restrictions placed on them during this election campaign. They also claim that NLD billboards and posters were destroyed or pulled down in and around Naypyidaw last week. Suu Kyi's party is set to contest four parliamentary seats in the capital.
"One of the NLD billboards was torn down in my Ottara Thiri constituency last month," said Min Thu, the local NLD contestant. "The police would not accept our case – they suggested we take it to the courts. So far, we've had three hearings. Nothing has happened," he said.
Phyo Zeya Thaw, a hip-hop singer turned NLD candidate for Pobba Thiri township in Naypyidaw, said that a party billboard in his district was defaced.
In a strongly worded attack on her rivals, Suu Kyi said that anyone who would do such a thing had "the worst of attitudes." Min Thu also said that when people from surrounding villages travelled to hear Suu Kyi speak in Naypyidaw, their trucks, cars and bikes were diverted.
"The villagers were taken to pagodas or to an amusement park some 16 miles from the rally site," he said.
Last month Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi originally planned a campaign trip to Mandalay, but canceled it after she was denied access to a football stadium to hold a political gathering there. Venue requests for her rallies during her recent political campaign in delta towns were not granted, and she was forced to hold rallies in alternative locations – usually in rice fields.
All of this comes at a time when the international community is pressuring the Burmese government to ensure that a free and fair election takes place.
Suu Kyi issued a terse message to the ruling authorities during her campaign speech in Taungoo, indirectly warning that she had the power to influence the international community. "Any political party that tries to win parliamentary seats by dishonest means will harm the entire country," Suu Kyi told hundreds of supporters on Tuesday.
Back in Aung Chan Tha, Sandar Win said she had urged 20 representatives from the village to gather evidence, draw up a petition among the residents, and report the case to the township administrator.
"It seems that the people who intimidated the villagers don't understand the president's wish for a free and fair election," she said. "The misuse of power by people on the ground is the greatest obstacle we now face."
Meanwhile, NLD spokesman Nyan Win said on Friday that the NLD was told to replace a paragraph from the transcript of a party political broadcast due to be aired later this month. Other parties have told The Irrawaddy that they too were censored.
One of Suu Kyi's aides, Khun Thar Myint, told The Irrawaddy that the censored paragraph concerned the lack of rule of law in Burma.
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