Maungdaw: Township authorities in Maungdaw on the western Burmese border have forced village chairmen to collect funds from their residents to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of Burma's independence, said one village chairman on condition of anonymity.

"Township Chairman U Tin Own summoned all village chairmen in Maungdaw Town to his office on Tuesday and ordered us to collect money from local people to celebrate the Independence Day's ceremony," he said.

The Maungdaw Township authority has plans to do a sport competition on the holiday, but they do not have funds to support the event.

"Our township chairman told us to collect money from people not only for the independence celebration, but also for the prizes for winners in the sport competition," he said.

He also said, "It is is very easy for the high authority talking to us, but very difficult for us to collect money from the public. People in our area do not want to contribute to the collection because they are facing an economic crisis. Even though they are facing this economic crisis, the authority collects money from the people whenever they need. So people are disappointed in such collection for the ceremony."

The military government is not able to allocate budgets for such state level ceremonies, including Union Day, Martyr Day, and Independence Day, so the local authorities collect funds forcibly from local people to celebrate the ceremonies whenever those holidays occur.

According to a local source, a respective ward and village tract in Maungdaw Township will have to contribute at least 100,000 to 200,000 kyats for the Independence Day ceremony.

If any chairman fails to contribute funds for the ceremony, he or she will be dispelled from their posts in the near future on accusations they are unwilling to cooperate with the township authority.

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comments