Burma’s Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs Brig-General Thura Aung Ko
made an official trip to townships in southern Chin state, western Burma
to campaign for the referendum to approve the constitution in the first
week of April.

On April 4, Thura Aung Ko along with Chin State’s tactical commander
Brigadier Huen Ngai visited villages in Matupi town, southern Chin state
and reportedly encouraged villagers to cast the ‘Yes’ vote in the
referendum to approve the new charter.

“They said that the military will rule the country for another 15 years if
people do not approve the draft constitution,” a villager said.

During the campaign in Thura Aung Ko, around 500 people from Cawngthia,
Phaneng, Ngaleng and Kace villages in Matupi were summoned to attend a
meeting.

Thura Aung Ko told a gathering of villagers to cast their vote to approve
the new constitution so that genuine democracy is restored in Burma soon,
said a villager.

The regime is also planning to have only one ballot box in a village for
casting votes in the referendum scheduled to be held on May 10.

The local authorities in Matupi Township have already set up a committee
with 20 members of the village council to monitor the polling booths,
another villager in Matupi Township said.

The polling booth committee has been tasked to persuade voters by whatever
means to cast a ‘Yes’ vote to approve the constitution drafted by hand
picked men of the junta after a 14 year long national convention.

Similarly, local authorities in Thangtlang Township are pressurizing
locals to cast the ‘Yes’ vote in the ensuing referendum.

“Actually, the people really don’t feel like voting in the referendum. I
don’t know whether they will cast a ‘No’ vote if the authorities keep
pressurisng them,” said a villager in Thangtlang township.

According to a source in Chin state, the authorities might take note of
the voter’s bio-data in the polling booths to identify those who cast the
‘No’ vote.

The new charter is said to be designed to entrench army rule. It also bans
pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting elections because
her husband was a Britisher.

The military regime had scrapped the 1974 constitution after grabbing
power in 1988. Since then, the country has been under military rule.