Security Tightens Around ‘Vote No’ Campaign

By VIOLET CHO
The Irrawaddy News

April 8, 2008 - The momentum of the “Vote No” campaign against the military-drafted constitution is growing and spreading among the public in urban areas. Meanwhile, the military authorities are tightening security and deploying more security guards in Burma’s main cities.

The “Vote No” campaign started in earnest last week during the country’s Armed Forces Day when more than 30 demonstrators sporting T-shirts declaring “NO” staged a protest in Rangoon urging voters to reject the constitution in the upcoming referendum.

According to a campaign organizer in Burma’s second city, Mandalay, the campaign quickly gained support on April 4 after the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), called on voters to cast a “No” vote in the constitutional referendum next month.

“We have spray-painted “NO” on walls at several locations in the eastern and southern parts of Mandalay,” the campaign organizer said.

The NLD announced last Wednesday that the military-drafted constitution broke the basic principles of democracy and failed to give assurances on democratic values and human rights.

The party, headed by pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, said a “No” vote was necessary because the proposed constitution had not been written by elected representatives of the people, but by “hand-picked puppets” of the regime.

Yesterday, an unknown activist painted “NO” on the entrance sign outside one of Burma’s biggest hotels, the Mya Yeik Nyo Royal Hotel, which is owned by Burmese businessman “Zay Ka Bar” Khin Shwe, a close crony of the military regime in Rangoon.
According to a Rangoon resident, security has been tightening inside Rangoon in the meantime as police take positions in the city and security guards dressed in police uniforms are deployed at each corner of Rangoon’s main streets.

A Burmese woman who recently traveled from Rangoon to Mon State said there are more checkpoints on the route compared to any time before.

According to an article last Saturday in state-run The New Light of Myanmar, there is a possibility of increased “terrorist acts” during the upcoming water festival and the national referendum.

“Terrorist insurgents are active under the pretext of the democracy movements not only in underground areas and border regions but also in above-ground areas and urban areas. They are rising against the government in disguise, and have become audacious to attack and kill the people,” declared The New Light of Myanmar.