A two-day land policy workshop was held in Moulmein from September 4-5. (Photo: Mimin
Nwe / Facebook)

Over 100 civil society representatives from across Mon State participated in a two-day land
policy workshop in the state capital of Moulmein.

The attendees formed a new 15-member acting committee that will draft an updated land
policy for Mon State, in the hope that it will influence future federal law.

The workshop, held from Sept. 4-5, was reportedly the first of its kind hosted by the New Mon
State Party (NMSP) and various Mon State civil society organizations.

Nai Swor Mon, a civil society spokesperson from Mon State said, “We mainly will try to get
voices from the ground first, and then we will draft a policy.” After local consultations, more
workshops will be needed, he explained.

Nai Swor Mon added that the preparation of policies will help the Mon when the country
has a truly federal system.

At that time, he envisions, “there will be different land policies for the people who stay in
the mountains, and those who stay in the lowlands.”

Mon leaders at the recent workshop criticized the current government for using what they
called “centralized democracy,” in which they said that farmers in ethnic states lacked
control over their own land—control that they hope farmers would gain under a more
federal system.

The members of the newly formed committee will collect data about land use throughout
Mon State, document the concerns and experiences of local farmers, and allow this
information to inform a policy draft.