White Tiger making some headway, some tailway

The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, popularly known as the White Tiger party by its logo, is winning support in many townships and meeting indifference in others, as the countdown to the polls displays at 25 today, according to sources from Shan State.

In Shan State South’s Loilem township, many Shan hill villages were seen welcoming the party’s canvassers with drums and gongs. “We don’t know whether or not they are going to set up polling stations here,” said a young supporter from Hsanien, a mountain range overlooking Panglong, the historic town in the township. “But even if we are required to cast our votes in Panglong, we are ready to go there.”

The 4th largest party in Burma will be campaigning in downtown Loilem today. “If it wins the support from Quarter #4, the largest Shan neighborhood in the city,” predicts a local sympathizer, “a seat for it is assured.”

Its main rival, junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), had already conducted a house to house campaign there. “They were forcing the residents to show their household registers and then demanding that they become its members,” said the same source. “Upon hearing this, some people just closed the gates of their homes and went away.”

In Shan State East’s Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai, the situation is somewhat different. “Most people have chosen to stay indoors instead of going to the public gatherings to listen to the campaign speeches by SNDP candidates,” said a party canvasser. “They heard that the Shan State Army (SSA) South members was going to take advantage of the occasion to recruit people to join the armed resistance instead.”

The SSA South announced on 26 May that it was against the upcoming polls and against new parties being set up to contest the elections. At the same time, it would not start any hostilities with the Burma Army “except in defense,” the SSA leader Yawdserk said, apparently aimed at easing concerns expressed by Burma’s neighbors, especially China.

Source:http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3243:white-tiger-making-some-headway-some-tailway&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266