The end of this winter will mark the fourth year of the attempted coup by the military State Administration Council. The ongoing brutality, violence and oppression of the SAC are still rampant in different shapes and form every day across the country whilst the winter, summer and rainy seasons have taken their turn. Mon society is also among the populations that are suffering. We have grieved and mourned for over three years already, but the suffering shows no sign of cessation yet. The majority of the people are barely surviving under endless difficulties and hardships. The future is precarious, and hope is nowhere to be found. For ordinary people, the challenges are still ambiguous: “where are we heading and where are we right now?”

We wake up every day with the same questions: when will we get our liberation, when will we get our freedom, why is liberation is still a faraway dream, and why are we trapped with wars and grievance while other countries seem to be moving towards a better future? Who will answer these questions for us? Why is it like a vicious circle? Our days always start and end with these uncertainties. People are facing multiple pressures and crises, although some changes in the dynamics occur from time to time. In general, the crises vary depending on the different locality. 

Mon people are proud to claim themselves Mon. For the first time since the collapse of the Hanthawaddy dynasty of the Mon kingdom, a new dream of a better future recently emerged after centuries of repression and neglect along with the current popular struggle for change. The new dream of the Mon people is to build a future federal democratic union together with other ethnic nationality peoples living across Myanmar. The political forces leading the Mon cause, including the New Mon State Party, have again mobilised with the goal of greater self-determination, national equality and an end to all forms of dictatorship.

In these tasks, the NMSP has historically demonstrated its ability to mobilize sympathetic forces and build alliances, always being involved in political actions and movement. For these reasons, the NMSP has been regarded as a dependable organisation by the Mon people when we talk about the Mon national cause. The question, then, is why the underlying problems have never been solved even though the political dynamics change from time to time?