Resistance groups in Myanmar’s Mon State have been emboldened by the support of an ethnic splinter militia, but political divisions are still holding them back from building a united front.
By FRONTIER
While Kawt Bein village lies in Kayin State’s Kawkareik Township, like some other settlements on the border with Mon State, it boasts a large Mon population.
For months, resistance forces had tried to seize control of the village, strategically located on the banks of the Gyaing River, in between the Asian Highway and the Union Highway 8, and not far from the Mon capital Mawlamyine.
On March 25, a victory photo was finally posted on social media, showing resistance groups celebrating in front of the village’s police station with newly-seized weapons scattered on the ground in front of them. Among the various uniforms and badges in the resistance coalition, one symbol stood out – a red flag featuring a golden Hongsa bird, an ancient symbol of the Mon people.
It’s said that while flying over the ocean, Buddha spotted a pair of Hongsas in the water where Mon would one day emerge and prophesied the creation of a great Buddhist nation there. The Mon Empire was indeed once a mighty regional power, but that glory lies in the distant past. Since the Myanmar military seized control in a 2021 coup, political divisions have left Mon impotent, even as ethnic armed groups elsewhere expel the regime from their traditional homelands.
The main ethnic political party in the state, the Mon Unity Party, split in two following a decision by some senior leaders to collaborate with the military regime. Two state consultative councils have been formed to represent the state’s revolutionary political ambitions, in line with the pre-coup rivalry between the MUP and the National League for Democracy, then in government. Meanwhile, the most powerful Mon armed group, the New Mon State Party, continued observing a 2012 ceasefire with the military, while some disgruntled Mon youths struck off on their own to form new armed resistance groups.
But in February, a faction of the NMSP announced it was entering the fray, giving many hope that a more powerful Mon resistance was on the horizon.
“We are starting to fight the military,” said Nai Banyar Mon, spokesperson for the splinter group, branded the NMSP-Anti Dictatorship. “The battle of Kawt Bein was the first one that we fought in, together with our revolutionary allies.”
In Kawt Bein, the NMSP-AD fought alongside the Karen National Union, the country’s oldest ethnic armed group; the People’s Defence Forces, a nationwide coalition of post-coup militias; and the Mon Liberation Army, formed by Mon youths after the coup.
“We also did some fighting in Mudon Township,” added Banyar Mon, saying that the NMSP-AD fought on its own there.
But the NMSP-AD appears to be just a minor splinter group from the mother organisation, and the divisions that split Mon State run deep. Whether the NMSP-AD joining the uprising will reinvigorate the movement, or deepen those divides, remains an open question.
The Hongsa takes flight
A source close to the NMSP said just one of the group’s eight battalions and one of its five administrative units defected to join the resistance in February. The NMSP-AD troops left with their weapons, the source said, adding they are mainly receiving financial support from Mon diaspora groups.
Before the split, the NMSP was estimated to have around 1,500 active troops with another 5,000 in the reserve, already a minor player compared to some other ethnic armies. Banyar Mon declined to comment on the NMSP-AD’s manpower, but said the group has been inundated with requests from Mon youth to join since it broke away from the NMSP, with a renewed surge after the military enacted a conscription policy.
“Many young people have come to join us, but we can’t say the exact number yet,” he said.
Since the coup, tens of thousands of young people have joined various armed groups opposed to military rule, with new recruits often far outstripping weapons supplies.
“Like other forces, the biggest limitation is the availability of weapons. Finances and weapons are limited for every organisation,” Banyar Mon said.
The NMSP was founded in 1958 and signed a ceasefire with the military during the State Law and Order Restoration Council era in 1995. This was followed by another ceasefire with the pro-military U Thein Sein government in 2012 during Myanmar’s failed democratic transition, and further bolstered by the NMSP joining the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in 2018 after the NLD was elected.
“Our armed movement has been dormant for a very long time,” said Nai Weang Nai, spokesperson for the Mon State Revolutionary Force, a resistance group formed after the coup.
Banyar Mon said the NMSP continued meeting with the military after the coup, hoping to resolve disputes through negotiations rather than violence. The group presented the military with suggestions for federal reforms and called for a more inclusive dialogue that included armed groups formed after the takeover.
“But nothing came out of those discussions,” said Banyar Mon.
After three years, some senior officers felt it was time to give up on dialogue and return to the armed struggle, while others insisted on continuing to honour the ceasefire. The dispute became the central theme of the party congress in December, which culminated in most senior leaders securing reelection and continuing to endorse the ceasefire.
After the election, three of the 11 central executive committee members and six of the 24 central committee members walked out to form the NMSP-AD, including NMSP secretary-general Nai Zeya, and Brigadier-General Saloon Htaw, deputy commander-in-chief of the NMSP’s armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army.
The NMSP-AD enters a landscape already flush with resistance groups, albeit ones that are less well equipped and experienced. Other than the MSRF, other prominent post-coup groups include the Mon Liberation Army, Mon State Defence Force, PDFs and various smaller, localised militias.
“When we started our movement there were only six people and five guns,” said Weang Nai of the MSRF, which was founded in Ye Township in August 2021.
A veteran of the armed struggle, the 60-year-old joined the NMSP during the 1988 uprising against military rule, eventually serving as the group’s head of alliances and foreign relations until 1995. For the first year after its founding, the MSRF bided its time, feeling public opinion in Mon wasn’t yet with the revolution.
“The veteran political organisations in Mon State didn’t participate in the revolutionary movement, and they have a lot of influence, so many people didn’t want to participate in our activities,” said Weang Nai.
But after attacking a police station in Ye and killing two officers in September 2022, people started paying attention. Their growing strength, and the military’s continued battlefield defeats elsewhere in the country began to inspire members of the Mon public to get more involved.
“When Mon people saw the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s successful Operation 1027 [in northern Shan State] and the Arakan Army’s victories in Rakhine, they felt encouraged,” he said, referring to recent major territorial gains by a trio of ethnic armed groups.
“Other ethnic groups were gaining success from fighting and taking their rights, so Mon people wanted to be more like that.”
Weang Nai said even some older revolutionaries in the NMSP began to understand that they would not achieve their goals through following the ceasefire, leading to the splinter.
“That’s why they came out to fight. Our sleeping revolutionary spirit has reawakened.”
Divided we stand
But while many have taken encouragement from the growing revolutionary fervour in Mon State, the political divides are hard to bridge. In addition to the smorgasbord of armed groups, there are also two consultative councils vying for political influence.
“Resistance activities have increased in Mon State,” said Nai Mon Sai, spokesperson for the Mon State Federal Council, a political body comprised of politicians, activists and resistance forces. “This revolution is important for the future federal democracy of our country, so Mon people must join the revolution.”
The MSFC is closely linked to members of the MUP and is more active in the south of the state, while the Mon State Consultative Council was founded by members of the NLD and is more active in the north. Mon was one area where the NLD lost ground in the 2020 election compared to 2015, still winning a majority of seats but by a slimmer margin, with the MUP gaining several seats at its expense.
“There is no alliance between them,” Weang Nai said of the two councils, adding there is some “friction” but no fighting.
He said the MSFC already has a position in the National Unity Consultative Council, an increasingly moribund advisory body to the National Unity Government, a parallel administration appointed by elected lawmakers deposed in the coup. Weang Nai added that MSCC has requested representation in the NUCC, but hasn’t been granted it yet.
A member of a civil society group focused on education in Mawlamyine said MSCC members insist they should have more authority because they won more seats in the 2020 election, while MSFC members say they are the ones doing more on the ground.
“The tensions haven’t risen too much, but we want all Mon political groups to unite for this revolution,” he said.
Another complicating factor is that armed groups are increasingly picking sides. The NMSP-AD, also more active in the south, has formed a working group to cooperate with the MSFC on military operations, politics and social relief services.
“We will achieve more cooperation through this working group. Our various revolutionary groups each have their own weaknesses, so we have to cooperate with each other,” said Mon Sai. “Some groups have weapons, some don’t. Some organisations have funds, some don’t. Some groups can produce their own weapons, some can’t. So, we need to work together.”
He acknowledged that some political agreements still need to be ironed out between NSMP-AD and MSFC.
“We can cooperate on military affairs. But on political issues, the NMSP is an ethnic armed revolutionary group that had a political roadmap before the coup. We were born from the federal democracy charter after the coup, and are following that charter. So some things still need to be thoroughly discussed,” he said.
Last year, the MSRF formally aligned itself with the MSFC, while also forming an alliance with the NUG-affiliated Dawna Column. The MSRF and allies have managed to secure control over a section of the Union Highway running from southern Ye Township to Yebyu Township in Tanintharyi Region.
Many MSCC members, meanwhile, are based in KNU areas, another complicating factor, given historic tensions between the NMSP and KNU due to overlapping territorial claims.
These fractures are not unique to Mon State. In Kayah State, a patchwork of armed groups has managed to come together under one central authority – the Karenni State Interim Executive Council. But on the other side of the country, in Chin State, similar divisions to those in Mon have boiled over into factional fighting between resistance groups.
A member of a human rights group based in Mon’s Mudon Township said she supports the NMSP-AD joining the revolution, but is worried about the risk of exacerbating tensions.
“All ethnic groups are rising up against the military, so we Mons must also revolt to get our freedom,” she said. “But we have too many Mon armed groups. We want them to unite.”
She said she thinks the NMSP-AD will want a senior role in the revolution, with authority over the other Mon armed groups, which might not accept that. Chin provides a cautionary tale; tensions there reached a boiling point when the veteran Chin National Front seized control of the state constitution writing process and vested itself with huge political privileges. This angered some groups formed after the coup, though the schism fell along inter-Chin ethnic rivalries that preceded the military takeover.
In a move that could further marginalise the MSCC, the NMSP-AD also met with the NUG and made a preliminary agreement to cooperate on military affairs, according to Banyar Mon.
As for whether the NMSP will reunify – the outlook is bleak.
Prominent Mon religious leaders and nationalists tried to intervene in the divorce, calling for the factions to reunite. NMSP spokesperson Nai Aung Mangay told local media they would only accept the renegades back if they accepted the results of the party congress and returned to the ceasefire. But Banyar Mon told Frontier the NMSP-AD will continue on the path it has chosen.
“If we want to achieve our goals – which are the right to self-determination, equality and federal democracy – the military dictatorship must fall. So we must join the armed revolution.”
Miles to go
Exactly one month after the NMSP-AD triumphantly entered the conflict by helping to seize the Kawt Bein police station, Myanmar military troops expelled resistance groups and retook the village.
“We tried to withstand the assault, but they had superior firepower and we had to retreat,” a member of the MLA told local media outlet Karen Information Center at the time.
Weang Nai said with the Mon resistance gathering strength, the military response may intensify as well, which could clip its wings before it fully gets off the ground.
Already, sources are saying regime authorities have started conducting more strict searches, particularly of the youth, in big towns like Mawlamyine. Resistance groups said the military is also expending its troop presence and preparing for battle.
“According to the information we have received, military forces are expanding in Ye Township. The battalions there are testing and firing artillery weapons,” said Weang Nai.
He predicted the military will launch an offensive in southeastern Myanmar this year, to try to root out budding insurgencies in Mon and Tanintharyi.
“There will be more battles,” he warned.
Banyar Mon said if Mon groups unify, they can withstand the coming storm.
“If we can’t unite, we will be too weak to fight the military,” he said.
Mon Sai said it won’t be easy to build trust among different groups, and to agree on sharing resources and streamlining the chain of command – which will inevitably result in power struggles.
“We have a dream of forming a large Mon armed force,” said Weang Nai. “It might take a long time but we can only reach our goals if we can cooperate with each other.”
