ANP says response to member outreach shows strong party loyalty

By DMG 21 Mar 2022

DMG Newsroom
21 March 2022, Sittwe  

The Arakan National Party (ANP) insists that loyalty to the party remains strong among its membership, after it recently reached out to its cadres to ask whether they intend to continue to serve under the ANP banner. 

All responding members, with the exception of a Central Executive Committee (CEC) member, replied that they will continue to serve in their current positions, according to a party leader. 

A party member from Thandwe has resigned from the CEC, but will remain a party member, explained U Khaing Pyi Soe, the party general secretary. 

The party has been unable to contact nine of its members, and is continuing to reach out to them, he added. 

The ANP also seemingly sought to cut ties with a pair of members who have taken on high-profile roles with other organisations in the recent past. Daw Aye Nu Sein is now a member of the State Administration Council, the military regime’s governing body, after serving as a spokesperson and policy board member for the ANP; and U Oo Hla Saw serves as a political officer for the United League of Arakan, the political wing of the Arakan Army, after previously representing the ANP as the Lower House lawmaker for Mrauk-U Township. 

“Those who are serving in other organisations can no longer serve their party duties. So, we have decided that they no longer have ties with the party,” said U Khaing Pyi Soe, without providing further details or naming anyone specifically. 

He also declined to provide additional information about the nine party members with whom the ANP said it has lost contact.  

The ANP asked its members on March 8 if they are able to continue their party duties, saying at the time that it would disclose that information by March 15.  

The ANP is one of the most powerful political parties in Arakan State, but has struggled to navigate the political terrain of post-coup Myanmar.  

In the weeks following the February 1, 2021, military coup, the ANP was criticised over its decision to work with the junta as Daw Aye Nu Sein took a seat on the junta’s State Administration Council. Multiple party members tendered their resignations in protest of its cooperation with the military government, which the party eventually walked back.