The Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) led by Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) minister Aung Thaung, is reportedly planning to take over all successful charitable and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) throughout the country.

The organisation has been surreptitiously and secretly collecting lists of the properties of all these charitable organisations through the local authorities and it is planning to seize them by the early 2006, according to someone close to the USDA HQs in Rangoon. These charitable organisations are politically impartial and they are led and patronised by famous religious figures, elders and artists such as renowned author Ludhu Daw Amar and film director Thukka who are respected by all sides of the political divides.

Because of their fair leadership and effective management, many people in the country have been enthusiastically donating their money and labour to the organisations as much as they could, according to a Rangoon resident who volunteers for these organisations. Moreover, these ‘Nar-yay’ independent charitable organisations are trusted and relied on by the majority of the population as they deliver what they are set out for, unlike government-sponsored organisations which are known to be ineffective and corrupt.

The Rangoon resident added that if these charitable organisations are in the hands of thuggish USDA members, they are certainly likely to be destroyed with corruption and mismanagement.

When DVB contacted some of the organisations, the people in charge said that they haven’t heard of the secret plan to takeover their organisations and insisted that the ruling military junta will not carry out this kind of mean action.