First Mon newspaper to be published in Thailand

Mi Loa Htaw, IMNA
January 27, 2006

“Voices of Mon” the first Mon newspaper to be published in Thailand is ready to be distributed from February.

The “Voices of Mon” will be printed both in Mon and in the Thai language and it will cover activities of Mon people in Thailand and Mon state, business culture and news, said the publisher Nai Ong, chairman of Thai Raman Organization.

“We want to see Mon people understand people in Thailand ,” he added. A Mon migrant worker in Thailand Nai Sa Ha Mon also said that it is very important for Mon people to understand people of Thailand because the cultures are quite different.

“I think we will become more united if the newspaper can help us understand each other,” said Nai Sa Ha Mon. “For the first time we will distribute newspapers for free. And we want to invite our people to subscribe to our newspaper at 200 Bath per year. So we can continue publishing” Nai Ong said.

The newspaper will publish one thousand copies, twenty pages in Thai and four pages in Mon language. “Actually we want to have more pages in Mon but the problem is we don't have enough writers who can write the Mon language” added Nai Ong.

Even though it is a newspaper it will be published two months at a time. In Thai-Mon history, it will be the first such newspaper. There have been Thai Mon newspapers before but it was only in Thai language with Mon's born in Thailand publishing it. But now both Mon people in Thailand and Mon people from Mon state will work together to bring out the newspaper.