Student Activists Initiate Vote 'No' Campaign

by Myo Gyi & Maung Dee

Tuesday, 25 March 2008 00:00

In a fresh campaign, student activists in northern Burma's Kachin State on Tuesday urged people in the state's capital of Myitkyina to vote 'No' in the upcoming referendum. Eyewitnesses said A4 size posters carrying the message "vote 'No' to the junta's forced referendum," were pasted in various places around town, including the markets of Zeygyi Wards no. (1) and (2), Dukathaung Ward, Yanggyi Aung Ward, Station Ward and the Myitkyina University Ward. Ma Brang, a member of the student group widely known as the All Kachin Student Union (AKSU), said, "We believe our poster campaign will be successful, because the people are confused as to whether they should vote 'Yes' or 'No' in the upcoming referendum or whether they should run away." "All we want is to let the people know that we should vote 'No' in the referendum," added Ma Brang. Local witnesses said soon after the members of AKSU pasted posters on the walls of Myitkyina University at about 8 a.m. in the morning, ten soldiers accompanied by police came and guarded the university. "Police on motorbikes made rounds inside the university campus. In the university there are correspondent students, so the police are guarding them," a resident near the university told Mizzima. A university student added, "Several soldiers were brought near the university campus. I think they feared that the students might start something after the posters were distributed this morning. Everyone here understands, and most people talked of voting 'No' in the upcoming referendum." Tuesday morning's poster campaign is the second activity that AKSU has conducted this year. AKSU also pasted posters urging the people to vote 'No' in the town of Winemaw, opposite Myitkyina. AKSU is an underground student group formed during last September's Saffron Revolution. While AKSU and a few other activists are campaigning for a 'No' vote in the junta's upcoming referendum, authorities, including Township Chairmen in Shan State, are reportedly gathering local residents and urging them to vote 'Yes'. Meanwhile, local residents in Muse of Shan State said activists on Sunday reportedly also urged the people to vote 'No' in the referendum by distributing pamphlets and pasting posters. < Prev   Next >