An SNDP parliamentarian’s request to issue license plates to non-licensed cars is voted down in the Shan State legislature.

A proposal put forward by a Shan Nationalities Democratic Party parliamentarian to issue license plates to unlicensed cars was voted down in the Shan State legislature last week.

On Thursday, Mong Pan Township MP Sai Noung asked that the Shan State government report to the Union government the need to register the many cars that lack licensing documents. Of the 118 MPs in attendance, 58 voted against the move, 53 voted in support of it, and 7 abstained.

“People are so worried that the government will take action against non-registered cars,” Sai Noung told SHAN. “If government does this, it’s another way of destroying people’s wellbeing. People will suffer a lot. I don’t want them to lose their property. That’s why the government should issue official licenses as an alternative way of protecting people.”

Shan State transportation minister Khun Ye Htwe disagreed with the proposal, saying it would create problems for cars that are already licensed.

“There will be conflict in the domestic car market, and at the same time, this will empower illegal car importers,” he said. “There is no alternative way to issue official licenses for unlicensed cars,” added, conceding that if the Union government would allow it, the Shan State government would implement it.

Also commenting on the proposal were the MPs for Lawksawk and Langkhur, Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw of the National League for Democracy and Sai Aung Myo Kyaw of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, respectively.

Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw said that while many people rely on unlicensed cars in their daily lives, these cars are also used in illegal activities, like the black market timber trade.

“When authorities try to arrest illegal timber traffickers, [the traffickers] abandoned their unlicensed cars. So it is a big challenge to the rule of law,” he explained.

However, Sai Noung insisted that it is common people who bear the brunt of the crackdowns on car registration.

“There are many unlicensed cars in Shan State but the people are not in the wrong—it is because there has been a lack of rule of law in the country under various consecutive governments,” he said.

The number of unlicensed cars decreased dramatically after Burma’s previous military junta seized these vehicles in large quantities in 2005.