Shan Herald Agency for News |
- To Hopeland and back (Part IX)
- Bouncing Back, Relapse in the Golden Triangle
- Peace process: Focus on ideology more than terminology
- Peace Process: A lot done, more needs to be done
| To Hopeland and back (Part IX) Posted: 04 Jun 2014 04:14 AM PDT Day Two (22 May 2014) We didn't know it then, but while I was on my way to Taunggyi from Tachilek, opposite Maesai, where I had put up last night, the Royal Thai Army had declared a coup d'état. I remember chatting with a friendly military officer from the Burma Army who said the one thing that is different between the military takeover in the two countries is that in Thailand, it doesn't affect the day-to-day bureaucratic functions of the government. "The bureaucratic machine in Thailand seems to be better established," he remarked. He also talked about the dividends of the ongoing peace process. "In the past, we used to have several checkpoints between Taunggyi and Tachilek (574km) and it would take 2-3 days to travel by car," he said. "But now it took only two days from even Rangoon to reach Tachilek." Nevertheless, he conceded that the transition from absolute dictatorship to a constitutional government was not without problems. "The old system hasn't gone completely and the new system is still groping its way in," he commented, "which results in a sort of limbo. Crimes, especially the drug trade, have become somewhat out of hand."  Naw Kham, suspected of masterminding the murder of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, signs on the arrest warrant in Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2012. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang) Naw Kham, the Shan "Godfather" of the Mekong, was apprehended in Laos and sentenced to death in China last year, after the Chinese court found him guilty of killing 13 Chinese sailors on 5 October 2011. Women's Peace Forum had just concluded when I arrived in Taunggyi in the evening. I was received by youth organizers of the constitutional workshop entitled "Local Government and Decentralization", a joint venture of Euro Burma Office (EBO), Forum of Federations (FOF), Pyidaungsu Institute for Peace and Dialogue (PI) that I have the honor to head and the New Generation Shan State (NGSS). They informed me that the workshop would be held at the Memorial Hall of St. Joseph's Church near the No.3 High School, formerly St Anne's, until the military government "nationalized" it around 1963-64. The 3-day planned workshop, 25-27 May, would be followed by a selection of trainees for TOT (Training of Trainers) by the Canada-based FOF. The trained youth would then organize constitutional awareness workshops in their own localities. It has, at least in the short run, nothing to do with the current calls for constitutional amendments or rewrite, I have informed the organizers. "The problem with our people is that they don't even know what a constitution is," I recall a young CBO member telling me several years earlier. "It isn't unusual to find farmers asking who's bigger between the President and the Prime Minister." I finished the day by visiting my brother-in-law. This time he didn't have any drinks to offer me, because his daughters had confiscated all the bottles and put them away, after he suffered a minor hemorrhage. Good for him — and me. |
| Bouncing Back, Relapse in the Golden Triangle Posted: 04 Jun 2014 04:11 AM PDT Transnational Institute June 2014  Cover of Bouncing Back The illicit drug market in the Golden Triangle – Burma, Thailand and Laos – and in neighbouring India and China has undergone profound changes. This report documents those changes in great detail, based on information gathered on the ground in difficult circumstances by a group of dedicated local researchers. After a decade of decline, opium cultivation has doubled again and there has also been a rise in the production and consumption of ATS – especially methamphetamines. Drug control agencies are under constant pressure to apply policies based on the unachievable goal to make the region drug free by 2015. This report argues for drug policy changes towards a focus on health, development, peace building and human rights. Reforms to decriminalise the most vulnerable people involved could make the region's drug policies far more sustainable and cost-effective. Such measures should include abandoning disproportionate criminal sanctions, rescheduling mild substances, prioritising access to essential medicines, shifting resources from law enforcement to social services, alternative development and harm reduction, and providing evidence-based voluntary treatment services for those who need them. The aspiration of a drug free ASEAN in 2015 is not realistic and the policy goals and resources should be redirected towards a harm reduction strategy for managing – instead of eliminating – the illicit drug market in the least harmful way. In view of all the evidence this report presents about the bouncing back of the opium economy and the expanding ATS market, plus all the negative consequences of the repressive drug control approaches applied so far, making any other choice would be irresponsible. Bouncing Back, Relapse in the Golden Triangle Pressrelease From: drugs@tni.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it TNI, De Wittenstraat 25, Amsterdam http://www.tni.org |
| Peace process: Focus on ideology more than terminology Posted: 04 Jun 2014 04:08 AM PDT While most of the differences that have emerged during the negotiations between the armed resistance movements' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and the government's Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) are about the wordings, the concepts behind them are more important, according to Dr Lian Hmung Sakhong, key NCCT member, who was speaking at the forum held at the Chiangmai University on Friday, 30 May.  Panelist at the Chiangmai University Peace forum, 30 May 2014: Dr Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Harn Yawnghwe, Khuensai Jaiyen, Nyo Ohn Myint and Dr Lian H. Sakhong. (Photo: PI) The military representatives of the UPWC continued to oppose the use of "Federal" in the draft Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), despite the fact that the word has been accepted and used by President Thein Sein and Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann in their speeches. "We finally agree to use 'democracy that guarantees equal rights and (internal) self determination' for the peoples of the Union," he reported. The two sides had also agreed that the country would be a secular state, which may help to dispel concerns that Naypyitaw would adopt a more rigid pro-Buddhist stance. The military also agreed, as proposed by the NCCT, to place the Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration (DDR) of all armed movements after the political settlement instead of before it, as insisted by it earlier, according to Dr Lian. (The second combined draft that came out after the latest round of talks between the two sides, 21-23 May, however still contains the original proposition by the government, that is, DDR must come before political settlement.) "Peace in Burma is important, not only for the people of Burma, but also for the region and the rest of the world," concluded Lian, "because instability in our country has created a lot of problems for you. Peace in Burma is your concern as well. This is our best chance. Please support our efforts to make peace." Other speakers included Nyo Ohn Myint of Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), Harn Yawnghwe of Euro Burma Office (EBO) and Dr Hannes Siebert of Common Space Initiative (CSI). Some 60 participants attended the forum that was jointly organized by the Chiangmai University's Regional Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD), Burma Studies Center (BSC), Pyidaungsu Institute for Peace and Dialogue (PI) and Thai PBS. They include those from diplomatic and academic circles, UNHCR, INGOs and civil society organizations. |
| Peace Process: A lot done, more needs to be done Posted: 04 Jun 2014 04:07 AM PDT Summing up the latest round of talks between the ethnic armed movements' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and Naypyitaw's Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC), during the last weekend, all sources have urged both sides to put more effort and time to the ongoing Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) negotiations.  Dr Sui Khar (Photo: Karennews.org) Dr Hannes Siebert, who has been involved in several peace processes in Colombia, Yemen, Nepal and Lebanon, among others, cautions that one should not expect too much from each round of talks. "Most single text documents, in my experience, have not been finalized after a few drafts," he said. The NCCT and the UPWC, since last November, have met 8 times. The first combined draft was drawn up at the 7th meeting, 5-8 April, and the second at the 8th, 25-23 May. Some of the progresses made include:
 Dr Hannes Siebert (Photo: PI)
The venue, according to the sources, may possibly be Laiza, the Kachin stronghold on the Sino Burma border, as Thailand, under military rule since 22 May, has banned unusual gatherings of more than 5 people. The tentative date is 10-13 June. |
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