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| The Panghsang Summit: Excerpts from a journal Posted: 20 May 2015 03:32 AM PDT The journal, written by a participant, has 53 pages on A-4 type paper plus 99 pages of copies of prepared statements made by leaders of the 12 ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) at the summit conference held in Pang Kham, better known as Panghsang, 1-6 May. The excerpts here are on the whole selected from speeches made by the Wa leaders. 1 May 2015  The conference is opened by Bao Youxiang, Secretary General of United Wa State Party (UWSP); Commander-in-Chief, United Wa State Army (UWSA); and Chairman, Wa State People's Government."The purpose of the summit is the speedy realization of internal peace. It is also to build a common platform among us prior to political dialogue with the union government for a nationwide peace accord. We have also applied for an autonomous state status to the union government. In this respect, we hope there will be sympathy, understanding and support from the leaders participating in the summit. 2 May 2015  He reads out a 21 point prepared statement:
Neither are we afraid when it comes.
He then switches to the following unscripted speech: Dialogue is the only way to achieve peace. If we are able to create a common platform and the neither government nor the military accepts it but uses force to pressure us, then we will have a just cause to defend ourselves against it. The president and the military suspect we are trying to form an alliance to fight against them, which is not true. Our main purpose is to explore ways to resolve the country's problems peacefully. Our domestic problems will be resolved by the nationalities of the country. We will not support foreign powers meddling in our affairs. If we take the examples of Afghanistan and Iraq, we will find that their sufferings have prolonged because of the American interference. Did their interference bring an end to the people's sufferings? No. That's why our internal problems must be settled by ourselves. 4 May 2015   On 15 February, the Burmese units executed more than 100 people, and in March, more than 20 people in Chinshwehaw. Several Kokangs were arrested in Lashio and Rangoon and executed. The Burmese government must take responsibility for these acts.     5 May 2015 One from each group holds meeting "practically" discussing the draft statement prepared by the host. 6 May 2015 Today the summit reviews the draft statement which lasts from 08:55-18:05 until it is approved and the summit concludes. Xiao Minliang Since the conflict is taking place along the Chinese border, the (peace keeping) supervision of China and the UN is necessary. Similarly, if it takes place along the Thai border, it should be the UN and Thailand that are supervising it. Master of Ceremony For statement Point #10, the Chinese version says the UWSP will take the leading role in the political dialogue. It seems to be different from the Burmese version.  Statement of the Panghsang summit:
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| BURMA’S WOES: Two issues that make headlines and caused diplomatic rows Posted: 19 May 2015 08:42 PM PDT It is incredible by all standard that the Burma's Union Solidarity and Development Party-Military (USDP-Military) regime has managed to become center of attraction within a time span of a week or so, due to its domestic issues mismanagement, failed policy implementation and short-sighted political vision, on how to charter the troubled political waters.  Two issues that have grabbed headlines are none other than the decades old "Rohingya" problem, that the regime even refused to recognize the use of its name, and the more than six decades old ongoing ethnic conflicts, now personified by Kokang armed conflict, which has implicated China and caused diplomatic row. Armed ethnic conflict The Kokang conflict, which thrust out as a focal point these days started out in earnest when the Pheng Jaisheng's Myanmar national Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) forcefully re-entered Kokang area to reclaim back its authority from the regime's installed local administration. As the regime sees this as an infringement of its sovereignty, in trying to dislodge its installed administration, an all-out war ensued. The armed conflict that has begun in early February now still goes on unabated, with the Tatmadaw [Burma Army (BA)] waging offensive war, using some 15,000 troops, heavy artillery, rocket batteries, helicopter gunships and even war planes. It is an all out military onslaught to teach the MNDAA a lesson and possibly to conduct area cleansing and wrestle back its influence in the region. And in process, the BA has violated China's territorial integrity at least four times, two of them with human casualties and property damages. Mizzima on 16 May reported that five Chinese villagers were injured, two of them critically, after two artillery shells fired from Myanmar landed in their village in Yunnan province on May 14, China's state broadcaster and other media report on May 15. It is the second incident military incursion from Myanmar in two months resulting in casualties across the border in Yunnan. On March 8, four farmers were killed when a Myanmar government fighter jet dropped a bomb on a sugarcane field near Mengding village, in Yunnan's Lincang district that straddles the border. The May 14 incident occurred in densely populated Wenming village, also in Lincang district, at about 8.30pm, according to China Central Television (CCTV). The five wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital. China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's, during her Regular Press Conference on May 15, 2015, when asked regarding the media reports, two shells fired from Myanmar fell in Zhenkang county, Lincang city of Yunnan Province, on 14 May, causing injuries, to confirm, give more details and if China lodged protest with Myanmar, replied: " We have taken note of the relevant report and are checking on this. Conflicts in the Kokang area of Northern Myanmar have lasted for over three months, during which multiple shells fired by the Myanmar side fell into China and put the life and property security of the Chinese people as well as stability of the China-Myanmar border area in great danger. The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction over this, and has solemnly required the Myanmar side to take effective measures to preclude similar incidents. We urge relevant parties to cool down the situation and restore peace and stability to Northern Myanmar at an early date. China reserves the right to make further response in light of the verification result. " For now, China's response seems to be quite measured, a kind of hand in glove treatment, but the situation could change, once it sees that the Burmese regime wouldn't consider to resolve the armed conflict in a peaceful way, but only for zero-sum game of "total annihilation" of the MNDAA or dislodging it from Kokang area by any means. Already the campaign of saving the Kokangnese population, who are Han Chinese descendants, are on high alert, with many overseas Chinese and mainly from mainland China participating and responding to the call in Chinese Facebook publications. This kind of mass campaign could fuel racial hatred, which won't be beneficial for either conflict parties and could have grave ramification, affecting peaceful co-existence and territorial integrity of both countries – Burma and China. Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hliang met Chinese ambassador Mr. Yang Houlan and stressed that it might be the handiwork of MNDAA to disrupt the friendly relationship between China and Burma. According to Mizzima report of 19 May, the Chinese ambassador told Min Aung Hlaing that since the Chinese government didn't like to hurt the two countries' relationship, the Burmese regime should take measures that no further bombardment occurred again on Chinese soil. Min Aung Hliang told the Chinese ambassador that the situation was quite fishy and precarious, for the geographical location of the enemy, line of fire condition, and the distance of BA location suggested that it couldn't be BA that has fired. Furthermore, he said, on 14 May night, long line of fires from MNDAA positions towards China were seen visibly. During this night BA didn't fire a single shot, when more than 40 artillery were said to be fired. Reportedly, one Chinese was said to be killed during this period. Earlier, on 16 May report of VOA, Tun Myat Lin, spokesman and general secretary of MNDAA, regarding the incident said: "We are defending the enemy with our backs to the borderline. So all our weapons, guns, RPGs will only fall on the west side of the border. That's why only Burmese Tatamadaw's firing could go into China. Besides, we heard that it is 105mm Light Gun, which we don't have in our arsenal." Rohingya migration According to 15 May report of BBC, in the past three years, more than 120,000 Rohingyas have boarded ships to flee abroad, according to the UN refugee agency. It published a report in May saying that 25,000 migrants had left Myanmar and Bangladesh in the first quarter of this year, about double the number over the same period last year. Between 40-60% of the 25,000 are thought to originate from Myanmar's western State of Rakhine. Lately, as thousands of Rohingyas and people from Bangladesh filled rickety boats that have been criss-crossing Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, being pushed back by the said countries into the seas, a regional humanitarian crisis has been created, in what the International Organization for Migration has described as "maritime ping-pong with human lives". An editorial of Bangkok Post, on 18 May, pointed out that the two long plagued problems of the region, Human trafficking and a sudden surge in the flood of boat people from the Myanmar-Bangladesh border region have long been there. Clearly, these twin problems have festered for too long. It is equally evident that solutions are neither simple nor easy. One shining fact, however, is that Myanmar is at once the largest part of the problem, and the key to a lasting resolution. This is not to say the entire regional problem of boat people and human trafficking is Myanmar's fault. An international conference has been called in Bangkok by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on May 29. It probably will feature plenty of finger-pointing. It is noteworthy, when Prime Minister Prayut rightly said that the end of the migration was impossible without cooperation from their home and destination countries. " We need to solve the problem at the upstream and downstream levels," he said, according to the Bangkok Post of 15 May. However, various media reported that Zaw Htay, director of Myanmar's presidential office, said his leaders would not attend if the word "Rohingya" was used in the invitation, as they did not recognise the term. "We are not ignoring the migrant problem, but… we will not accept the allegations by some that Myanmar is the source of the problem," he told the Associated Press news agency. "The problem of the migrant graves is not a Myanmar problem, it's because of the weakness of human trafficking prevention and the rule of law in Thailand," he said in a separate interview with AFP. According to Human Rights Watch report, on 1 May 2015, a joint military-police taskforce discovered at least 30 bodies at an abandoned human trafficking camp in the Sadao district of Songkhla province close to the Thai-Malaysian border. Many were buried in shallow graves, while others were covered with blankets and clothes and left in the open. Police reports indicate the dead are ethnic Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh who starved to death or died of disease while held by traffickers who were awaiting payment of ransoms before smuggling them into Malaysia. While the Burmese regime thinks that human trafficking is the cause of Rohingya's flight, other surrounding countries of south-east Asia are convinced that they are leaving Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, because they are not recognised as citizens and face persecution. Recently, the regime met with foreign diplomats at Myanmar Peace Center, on 18 May, to address the ongoing crisis of human trafficking along the country's western coast, vowing to collaborate with regional governments to combat trafficking while denying that a recent exodus was caused by conflict and discrimination in the country. Minister of Information Ye Htut, however, failed to commit to attending a May 29 multinational summit hosted by Thailand to address the crisis. Denial and policy failure The denial of taking responsibility to resolve the humanitarian and citizenship problems surrounding the Muslim population of Ararkan State, in an internationally accepted norms, won't make the situation any better. And if the USDP-Military regime will make use of the plight of these downtrodden people for political advantage and galvanize ultra-Buddhist extremism, all of us could say good-bye to the half-hearted, reform process, muddling through without real political will to compromise, on an all-inclusive, nationwide consideration. The direct effect of these two issues, Rohingya migration and repeated violation of Chinese territorial integrity could be horrendous. Already a Bangladesh op-Ed suggesting secession of the Rohingya populated area has touched the nerves of the sovereignty conscious regime; and what would happen, if Kokang and Wa would opt for the same thinking of joining China, rather than enduring USDP-Military heavy-handedness, which have time and again being proven by gross human rights violations in recent Kokang conflict and uncountable crime against humanity in all ethnic areas, all these years. If memory have failed to recall all these rights violations, one only needs to go back and look at all the well-documented archives by well-known rights groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and year-in and year-out UN Resolutions until a few years back. Actually, the USDP-Military regime is in a better position to come to grip with the seemingly impossible to solve the problems surrounding the country. For one thing, almost all the non-Burman ethnic nationalities have, time and again, made known that all would like to find a solution within the formation of a federal union and vowed not to secede, which should be a sound basis for reconciliation. The regime and the misled Burman political elite only need to revisit and revitalize the original agreement of Panglong, where equality, rights of self-determination and democracy are enshrined for all ethnic groups of the country. And the place to start is, as repeatedly mentioned, to rewrite the constitution, according to the aspirations of the peoples inhabiting Burma. It wouldn't do to monopolize state power by a privileged class or a majority ethnic group, for it is a multi-ethnic state and has to be governed accordingly, representing the whole political spectrum. Another important point to take heed is that not to lend moral legitimacy to ultra-Buddhist, Burman nationalism, which is neither in line with Buddhist Dharma Teachings nor social justice. For giving a hand to such twisted ideology will only amount to promoting racial supremacy, Nazism that has no place in the world today. |
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