MThe AFPFL (Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League) government firmly maintained its stance of not granting any new states up until the time the party split in 1958.
From April 7 to 9, 1958, at the Fifth Mon National Affairs Conference held at Mile Ground in Mawlamyine, Prime Minister U Nu personally attended and expressed his position on the issue of establishing a Mon State.
In his speech, U Nu remarked that the concept of a “state” was not a good one. He likened it to someone already owning a large house but then demanding to separate the back kitchen — implying a lack of unity.
He said that, personally, he did not wish to see a small country like Myanmar divided into various states, each with its own group.
He went on to rhetorically ask why the Karen, Kayah, Kachin, and Shan were granted states, answering that at the time of Burma’s independence, due to colonial interference and the threat of fragmentation, some ethnic leaders had insisted that without the granting of statehood, they would rather remain under British rule and not join the Union. It was only due to this pressure that the states were given.
He claimed that these states held no real meaning and that all citizens of the Union of Burma — whether Shan, Chin, Kachin, Kayah, or Mon — had the right to become leaders in the government. Anyone could strive to become the national leader and hold the highest office in the country.
U Nu stated that he himself was an ethnic Mon and encouraged other Mon leaders to also strive to become Prime Minister or President.
Prime Minister U Nu clarified that his remarks should not be taken as denying the right to demand statehood. He said that within a democratic system, no one could prevent such demands.
He described the Mon Affairs Conference then underway as one peacefully held within a democratic framework, addressing Mon culture, economy, and education.
He noted that some accused the Mon Affairs Committee of being powerless, but said that the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of such a body could be judged by the reports of previous conferences.
He emphasized that the Mon Affairs Committee had been the one actively working toward the realization of tangible progress in Mon education, economy, and culture.
(Source: Burmese Political History, Vol. III, 1958–1962. Yangon University Press, 1991. pp. 258–332
