USDP woos voters with free NRC in Kachin State

A clarification card of USDP member which issues in Kachin State. Photo: Kachin News Group

The Burmese military government’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is leaving no stone unturned to mobilize people to vote for it in Burma’s Northern Kachin State. To woo voters it is offering National Registration Cards (NRC) and Family Unit Documents to those, who do not have it, free, if they join the party.

In Burma it is a herculean task and terribly expensive to procure the NRC and Family Unit Documents (Ing-htaung-su in Burmese) by citizens, who are completely under the mercy of the ruling junta, whose hegemony in the country is total and unchallenged.

The USDP is going about mobilizing and persuading people in Namti town saying that those who take party membership will be given the NRC and Family Unit Documents without fees from September 7, local residents said.

“People are loath to give up such an offer, which will not come their way often and are applying for USDP membership cards because it will help them get identity documents. It will be useful for them when they travel, among a host of other things,” said a resident.

The Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) led by junta supremo Senior-Gen Than Shwe was transformed into USDP after the junta announced it was going for elections in the country. The USDP after it was formed is being led by Prime Minister Thein Sein to contest in the ensuing general election.

The USDP is going hammer and tongs encouraging quarter and village administrators in the town to mobilize people for the party. The new USDP card holders are also being told to induct at least four to five people as party members, added residents.

Ironically, local people who do not have a clear understanding about party-politics are taking USDP membership because it is important for them to get hold of the identity documentation free of cost and hassle.

“Local people with little or no understanding political parties, poll campaign and the like, may not get a chance to get ID cards and Family Unit Documents in the next several years. So, they might as well cash in on the USDP’s offer because the party will try to win the polls in different ways. The membership cards will be useful, hence the interest,” said the residents.

The USDP card mentions the holder’s name, has his or her photograph, age and the card number.

USDP plans to continue free distribution of these documents for a month. At present nearly 3,000 residents from Namti village have got their USDP membership cards done.

USDP was floated on March 29, 2010 and become a legal party approved to contest the election on June 8. Before being transformed into a political party the USDA had over 26 million members, which is about half the population of Burma. The USDA, till recently an extension of the State Peace and Development Council, was a cohesive civilian organization of junta’s supporters, which has been used by the regime to its advantage as and when required.

Goons of the USDA were used by the regime for the murderous attack on the Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s entourage in 2003, known as the Depayin massacre, where many supporters of National League for Democracy (NLD) were killed. More recently it was used to crack down on the monk-led saffron revolution in 2007.

The USDP, born of USDA has been targeting to nominate over 1,000 candidates to contest the November 7 election in the country.

Source:http://kachinnews.com/news/1743-usdp-woos-voters-with-free-nrc-in-kachin-state.html