Let’s dissolve the Mongolian Military Union NGO! In general, such military alliances should be banned. Politicians, party officials, and government decision-makers in particular do not need to think about this.

In his statement to disband the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga noted, “The ruling party violated the constitutional requirement for political parties to ‘maintain security of the government and comply with the rule of law’. MPP unlawfully transferred the constitutionally-proclaimed state-oriented governance system to a party-oriented governance system by subverting the government bodies that are required to abide by the law and to operate in an independent manner, and by turning public service into a structure that illegally and obediently fulfills the tasks assigned by the leaders of the party. The party’s actions do not comply with the Constitution and the Law on Political Parties. They attempted to take over the state power by unconstitutional means, and furthermore, to militarize the party’s local offices and local governors, who are responsible for the functions of public administration.”

“Particularly, under the leadership of Leader of the MPP U.Khurelsukh, the Mongolian Military Union (MMU) was established
along with the party structure. He merged the heads of local party branches with the respective governors and the military headquarters of the state administration, creating a militarized party structure. In the future, there is a risk that the party will be able to conduct military operations through its structure.”

The president believes that Articles 4 and 23 of the Law on Political Parties, which to Mongolia’s sovereignty and independence, disintegration of national unity, unconstitutional seizure of state power, aggression and militarization of political parties, were violated by the above-mentioned examples. Therefore, he is demanding to disband the party and has submitted relevant evidences to the Supreme Court.

Two years ago, the MMU became a state organization, and soon after, a large meeting was held at the State Palace, electing then-Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh as head of the organization. At that time, there were a total of 27 non-governmental organizations in the Mongolian military, which were merged. Thus, they declared that they would unite their voices in
society.

The responsibilities of the organization are to educate citizens and the younger generation in patriotism, support for improving the social protection of military personnel and organize training seminars, according to the General Authority for State Registration of Mongolia.

U.Khurelsukh’s friend B.Enkh-Amgalan is the founder of the MMU and registered it with the state. It is well known that he was appointed as a senior adviser and head of the working group before the 2020 parliamentary election, when U.Khurelsukh was the prime minister. In fact, it has been said for several years that although the name on the paper is different, the chairman of MPP initiated and founded this organization.

Even at the time of the establishment of the MMU, MPP had power at all levels. With the exception of one or two provinces, the party gained a majority in all constituencies and elected its respective governors. The governor heads the local party committee. It is the same today.

Governors under the direct supervision of the chairman of MPP have headed the branch of the MMU in their local areas. It means that since then, the activities of the state, political party and non-governmental organizations have been fused.
In accordance with the law, a governor is a state representative responsible for implementing laws, regulations, decisions of the government, higher level governors and the local councils. In connection with the response to disasters, accidents and catastrophes, a governor has the authority to establish temporary regulations in accordance with the relevant laws and
regulations, and to mobilize manpower, transport, communication facilities, and food resources of state and locally-owned enterprises, business entities and other organizations.

At this time of the pandemic, governors are leading emergency commissions throughout their territories. However, as they have a “double deel” (holding dual posts) of party and non-governmental organizations, the state commission is headed by a branch head of the MMU.

Perhaps the law does not prohibit them from joining any union, because a governor is technically not a political official or a civil servant in accordance with the Law on Civil Service. It is prohibited for civil servants to be members of a political party or participate in any form of activity of a party, movement, non-governmental organization or religious organization, except as permitted by the law. Therefore, there is need for a legal regulation to keep governors independent from movements and
non-governmental organizations, especially the military organizations.

Moreover, if a newly-elected lawmaker held an elected position in a non-governmental organization, they must be relieved of their office before taking oath to Parliament. In other words, U.Khurelsukh should have been relieved of his post as head of the MMU.

According to the state registration of legal entities, at the end of October last year, B.Enkh-Amgalan was registered as an official authorized to represent the MMU or chairman of the board. The MMU said in a statement, “U.Khurelsukh is not in the management of the organization. The MMU is similar to the associations of doctors and teachers, and is one of about 20,000 non-governmental organizations that formed voluntarily. The organization united veterans who have retired from military
service in accordance with Article 16.10 of the Constitution.”

It seems that the military veterans’ association is not enough to spread patriotic and national pride, strengthen the country’s independence and security in the minds of citizens, and fulfill the mission of “educating” society. Established with the initiative and support of the head of the government, the ruling party, and the most influential party leader, the MMU will inevitably become political.

When he was the minister of justice and internal affairs, former lawmaker and current Cabinet Secretariat Chief Ts.Nyamdorj said, “Domestic politics does not matter to the military. It is not a matter of simply abandoning the fact that the former chief and deputy chief of the General Staff of Mongolian Armed Forces formed an alliance and wore a general’s uniform. This applies to everyone who wears an epaulette. This also applies to U.Khurelsukh’s MMU NGO.”

In fact, in this case, the MMU led by the MPP chairman is a political party-affiliated non-governmental organization. On the other hand, the resignation of the prime minister will not end the relationship between the organization and U.Khurelsukh. On the contrary, it may get closer in the future, because it is obvious that U.Khurelsukh will be nominated from the MPP in the upcoming presidential election. If U.Khurelsukh is elected as president, he will become the Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces. The “secret lord” of the MMU cannot “command” the Mongolian Armed Forces. Therefore, the necessity to disband of this organization should be clear to everyone.