Illegal cars remerge

Fri 20 Jan 2006
Marn, IMNA

Vehicles without license seized by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities in Mon State, last year have begun to reappear on the roads.

The unlicensed cars were hidden among bushes or were being used by ceasefire groups. But with the seizure of the cars having stopped they have slowly begun to emerge.

The SPDC authorities have been observing the political situation. The seizure of the cars would have continued if the political situation was not volatile. But the car owners have to be careful once there is political stability, said, Nai Ah Weng, a member of Mon Literacy and Culture Committee.

After a month of seizures the authorities had directed the villages to send all the cars to the administrative departments. If the owners failed to do so they were to be imprisoned.

However because the unlicensed cars are expensive some owners did not want to part with it so they hid them in the bushes and gave it to cease fire groups when seizures were on.

The authorities seized over 3,000 vehicles in Mon State from local people, abbots and ceasefire groups between December 2004 to March 2005.The authorities then sold the seized cars for about 40,000,000 kyat in Rangoon with an “understanding license.”

People in rural areas have no interest in buying the cars but people in Rangoon seem to buy them, said U Myint from Rangoon . An abbot from Than-phyu-zayart town said that no body dares to buy the cars because the “understanding license” is a tricky affair.

Although local people do not buy these cars, the military authorities sell it to people at auctions. Residents in Rangoon and Pegu bought all the cars, according to a businessman.