Burma

Join the USDP Party, Get a Low-interest Loan

By SAI ZOM HSENG Monday, August 9, 2010

COMMENTS (10)

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The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led by Burma's current prime minister is campaigning aggressively by distributing loans at below-market rates, mainly in central Burma and Arakan State, according to the local sources.

A former party member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from Nat Mauk Township in Magway Division told the Irrawaddy, “They [USDP] persuade people to take their loans by discounting their interest for the loans. If someone has to pay 5 to 10 kyat for the interest at other places, they [USDP] just asked the people to pay 2 kyat.”

A local farmer in Nat Mauk Township said, “The people are not forced to take the loans, but many people take it because the interests is cheaper than at other places.”

Under the party's rules, it will only give a loan from party funds to party members; if someone wants a loan, they must be a USDP member or they must join the party, said a local resident.

The party began distributing loans early this month in Taung Twin Gyi, Yaynangyaung, Nat Mauk and Magway townships in Magway Division.

“One household from Nat Mauk Township can get 30,000 kyat (US $30) to 100,000 kyat ($100) depending on the size of their farm,” said a farmer from Nat Mauk township.

The local authorities require people who apply for a loan to provide supporting documents and to sign a contract. They have to repay the loan within 6 to 12 months.

The USDP is authorized to use 8.4 million kyat ($8,400) in loans in Taung Twin Gyi Township, according to an USDP organizer from Magway Township.

In Magway Township, the USDP also offers anti-snake venom because there are so many poisonous snakes in the area.

“If there are emergency cases in our region, many people has passed away because they didn’t get the treatment and anti-snake venom in time,” a local resident told The Irrawaddy.

The USDP is also campaigning in Northern and Eastern Shan State, Irrawaddy Division, Rangoon Division and Arakan State.

In Myay Pone, Minn Pyar and Ann townships in Arakan State, each township is allocated 2 million kyat ($2,000) in loans and five CDMA mobile phones. Only people who have connections with USDP organizers can get the mobile phones, according to a source in Myay Pone Township.

A government employer from Rangoon told The Irrawaddy: “In Rangoon Division, the Rangoon mayor used more than 5 billion kyat ($500,000) to give loans to farmers last year, and he's doing the same thing again this year.”
However, a USDP Rangoon Division organizer said that charge was incorrect.

“We didn’t campaign by offering money or something to the people to be a party member. We are campaigning under the rules of the Union Election Commission,” he said.

The USDP is led by former military general Prime Minister Thein Sein. The party is a proxy for the military government and received its funding from the government.

COMMENTS (10)

plan B Wrote:

18/08/2010

"Sorry. I am just an idiot who sleeps around with soldiers. I decided to die for them."

Seem like The Irrawaddy has finally decided to behave like the very entity it vilifies.
As stated before in my defense of this forum:
No more post until it is retracted.

Garrett Wrote:

17/08/2010

Plan B wrote: "Sorry. I am just an idiot who sleeps around with soldiers. I decided to die for them."

Clearly, it takes a special kind of idiot to make sick comments like those.

The regime must consider you a rare and wonderful flower in their garden.

Plan B Wrote:

12/08/2010

Sorry. I am just an idiot who sleeps around with soldiers. I decided to die for them.

Moe Aung Wrote:

12/08/2010

JHONNY ONG

Right strategy. Take what's given and just do what you think is right.

In the run-up to the 1960 elections, the Stable faction of the AFPFL, backed by Ne Win's Socialist commanders, tried both bribery and intimidation - there was the infamous massacre of the Ngazun Six for which an army major was later convicted.

People took the bribes, and voted with their feet.

Garrett Wrote:

11/08/2010

Plan B wrote: "A page out of western icon Dale Carnegie's "how to make friends and influence people" the SPDC/USDP way. Poverty, this reality created by the government 'and the west' with the government using the reality to its advantage."

It is nice to see that SPDC cheerleader plan B knows the truth, even if he must officially dilute it by adding "and the west" in order to transform the truth into propaganda.

Although plan B blames the actions of the brutal SPDC on the west, the west has nothing to do with the ongoing GREED, REVENGE, Human Rights Atrocities, Political Oppression, Ethnic Persecution, Economic & Ecological RAPE of Burma's natural resources, & CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY which are the standard operating procedures of the SPDC.

The USDP loans are simply a new SPDC divide & conquer tactic to keep Burmese citizens separated by rewarding those who have the wisdom to throw their countrymen under the bus.

What's next, an ethnic slave for anyone who votes for the USDP?

JHONNY ONG Wrote:

10/08/2010

THE LOAN MONEY OFFERED BY THE USDP BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF BURMA. JUST TAKE THE LOAN AND DO NOT RETURN IT. BE BOLD.

Zam Mang Wrote:

10/08/2010

I would prefer hunger over this bloodstained loan which can make me serve Thein Sein's rule.

plan B Wrote:

10/08/2010

A page out of western icon Dale Carnegie's "how to make friends and influence people" the SPDC/USDP way.
Poverty, this reality created by the government and the west with the government using the the reality to its advantage.
The USA and the West have yet to learn from their own Dale Carnegie Bible on influencing the SPDC.

Moe Aung Wrote:

09/08/2010

They made the rules. They can interpret them any way they like to suit themselves. They'll rewrite them if they see fit.

Money's no object. The state treasury is at their disposal.

They see no shame in it. The end justifies the means.

So let's take a leaf out of their book. All's fair in love and war. We must use every resource and means we can muster.

No holds barred in this contest. Let's work hard to win over the army rank and file to the People Power movement.

Let's pull the rug from under them. The higher they rise the harder they fall.

timothy Wrote:

09/08/2010

This is one of the under-hand methods used by junta to woo votes from the public. If the junta have a genuine desire for the welfare of the public, why can't they sit down with the opposition to sort out the huge povery, mismanagement and unfair socio-economic/political problems of Burma?
The poor people got no options but to take the offer of low-interest loans from the liars and crooks. The ruler who takse unfair advantage over the poor and ignores the plight of people for half century would never become a legitimate one.
They are using millions dollars/theft siphoned in the Singaporean banks to bribe opposition members, overseas organizations and individuals, to supply electricity and water to previously forgotten citizens, and to build houses and roads.
But these spendings are only for a limited period and those who have taken the loan will need to pay back moneys within 6 months. These are ingenious dishonesty, theft, misappropriation of funds, abuse of power and money laundering crimes.