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| Day Three, Sunday, 26 July 2015 Posted: 07 Aug 2015 09:35 PM PDT Today, I'm at the Uniserv, where the conference takes place, before 08: 00, because the first panel is going to begin at that time and one of the speakers is a young Kokang student, Myint Myint Kyu, whom I have known for three years.  Her topic is "The Gambling Industry in Kokang." According to her, it is one of the main activities utilized by the local authorities to solve the problems caused by the opium ban in 2002. "The industry has brought many profits to the region in terms of infrastructure, economy, and livelihoods for local people," she says. But the fact, as she readily admits, is that it comes with a price. "In Kokang, gambling is very normal. If you do not gamble, you will be seen as an abnormal," she quotes a Mr Zhao as saying. To me, there is only one question for her: What happened to the casinos after 9 February, when the Kokang conflict restarted. Having ended her research there in September 2014, 4 months ahead of the war, she isn't quite sure about the situation there.  Next comes the panel on land confiscation. My earlier plan was to move to another room to attend the media panel. But as the speakers here include young activists whom I admire much: Paul Sein Twa, Khun Oo and Nang La, I decide to stay. And I'm not disappointed. What Khun Oo tells us about the Tijit coal mines near Taunggyi reminds me of the Mae Moh coal mine crisis in Lampang which had displaced more than 30,000 people and had been the cause of severe respiratory problems and crop damages for years. Another Mae Moh in the making, I tell myself. What Nang La tells us about the gold mining in Tachilek is no less heart-rending especially when she herself is one of the victims. To Paul, the whole blame must be pointed to the army, particularly its GAD (General Administrative Department) which though structurally under the home ministry, permeates every bureaucratic component in existence, like a spider's web. "It is the brain and the intelligence of the army," he says.  What he doesn't say can be inferred from what he does. The prey of the spider is of course the people. While listening to each and everyone, one thought, unthought, occurs to me, who's an unabashed reader of the American westerns, where the main features are cowboys, land and resources. "Who holds the resources holds the ranges," is the common dictum. Maybe someday in the near future, the people will be given back their country: What those in the lowland calls "democracy" and those in the highlands "right of self determination." But without also giving back their land and resources, it may mean nothing. The struggle therefore will not end with the signing of the Union Peace Accord somewhere in the near (or far) future. I hope I'll be still around by then. |
| Day Two. Saturday, 25 August 2015 Posted: 07 Aug 2015 09:17 PM PDT Today, I miss the panel that I had set my heart on, the one on drugs. Though I have researched and written much about the subject, it (especially opium cultivation) has always fascinated me as it is directly linked to the lives of the people in the rural areas. Unfortunately, my other commitments have kept me away from it.  But, to my delight, I later received a copy of the paper read out by a young Ph.D. candidate John Buchanan. Here are two of the excepts from his presentation:
The panel I'm in is on the peace process, divided into two sessions: Update and The Way Forward. One good thing you can say about it that it is being held a day before the senior leaders are to examine and decide on the draft Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) that had been negotiated with the government yesterday. The audience, more than 100 of them, are eager to know what it should be: To sign or not to sign. But the unfortunate thing about it is that the negotiators are returning from Rangoon only today. As a result, there's no one to present the audience with a different view. To be sure, almost all the panelists, which include representatives from Common Space Initiative, (CSI), Euro-Burma Office (EBO), and Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) as well as a few other academics are for signing it. They have their powerful arguments on their side too:
Harn Yawnghwe, executive director of the EBO, nevertheless draws attention to the concern universal among the armed movements that groups that are not recognized by the government and therefore not eligible to sign it may be militarily wiped out one by one. "There must be adequate guarantees that these groups are not attacked, receive humanitarian assistance and are able to participate in the political negotiations," he says. The reaction, according to an academic attendant, are mixed. "There are those who have become more interested in the peace process, while others seem unable to digest the message from the panelists," he tells me. "Some of their concerns are legitimate. For example, the massive land grabs that are taking place. They fear it will get worse after the NCA is signed." The other is the ever-hard-to-get-rid-of distrust placed against the government-cum-army, especially because of the ongoing offensives in Kachin and Shan states. "How can we trust them to honor it?" is the common question that is being asked. A friend who is an academic and a Christian scoffs at such questions. "Trust should not be in the way of making peace between two people," he told me. "For example, I don't trust my wife though we've been married for more than ten years after making mutual vows in front of God that we would love, cherish and be faithful to each other until death do us part. On the contrary, I think I'll trust her only when death do us part."  Which reminds me of what Lao Zi, who was a Shan (or Tai) sage according to a German scholar, said: Trustworthy people, I trust Untrustworthy people, I trust (Chapter 49) However, the armed resistance leaders seem to think otherwise. "We are now at the stage when we can say, 'Of the whole elephant, only the tail remains stuck,'" Gen Mutu Saypoe, President of the Karen National Union (KNU), says. "I hope the NCA doesn't turn out to be a short-tailed elephant." For myself, I don't know whose prayers are going to come true. But we'll know the answer in the first week of August, when the two sides are scheduled to meet again. |
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