Monday, March 21, 2016

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Sai Ai Pao re-elected as White Tiger Party Chairman

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 06:53 AM PDT

Sai Ai Pao has been re-elected a second term to serve as chairman of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) on Sunday.




A 69-year-old Sai Ai Pao won 52 out of 54 votes which will allow him to lead the party in the next five years.


"Actually, I'm getting very old. I want to retire," he said. "But, so many people still elected me for the position."


Nang Wanu, a newly appointed Taunggyi Township Office's secretary, said that the term for the executive committee already expired so that this meeting was to re-elect all the party's committee.


Sai Sawngsi, the current vice chairman was also re-elected for the second term. Sai Phoo Aung was chosen as the party's general secretary and Sai Aung Myint Kyaing will be served as the party's deputy secretary.


The party's advisors included Saw Than Myint, Sai Htwe Maung, Sai Maung Shwe, Sai Hso Kyaw Nyunt, Nang Than Than Shwe, Sao Yun Peng, Sai Aik Aye, Sai Kyaw Myint, Sai Moe Kyi and Sai Win Kyaing.


Eastern Shan State committee includes Sai Kham San, Sai Tong Jing and Nang Ngwe Mya. Southern Shan State committee includes Sai Naung, Sai Kham Parng, Sai Sar Aye, Nang Wanu, Loong Jarng Kham Aw. Northern Shan State committee includes Sai Sawngsi, Sai Ong Kyaw, Sai Phoo Aung, Nang Ormkham, Nang Kham Yin Aung, Sai Tun Lin, Sai Sarng Koy, Sai Kham Leik and Sai Kham Kyaw. Committee for Yangon includes Sai Hla Kyaw and Sai Aung Myint Kyaing.


Sai Tong Jing, a new executive member, said that there are so many things for the people that needed to be address. Thus, SNDP will be working on those needs.


The SNDP, also known as the White Tiger Party for its logo, was founded in 2010. The party won 57 seats in the 2010 elections and the bi-elections in 2012. In the 2015 elections, it won only one seat.



The SNDP annual meeting was held on 20-21 March, in Taunggyi Township's Kokang Temple. Over 300 party members from 54 Townships participated. 

Can Myanmar emerge as a neutral country?

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 08:55 PM PDT

I'm against most of the 457 articles of the 2008 (also known as Nargis) constitution. I say most because there's one article that I can almost always agree to:

Article 41.       The Union practices independent and non-aligned foreign policy aimed at world peace and friendly relations with nations and upholds the principles of coexistence among nations. (P.11)

Since Burma is squeezed between at least 4 big countries active in the region, namely, China on the one hand and the United States, Japan and India on the other, I think that's a sensible policy.

So, if there is going to be another referendum on the constitution and expatriates like me are allowed to participate, it's one article I would vouch for to hang on.

Maybe, it would be better still if we can make this country not only non-aligned but also a neutral one, with all the rights and duties that come with it. There are, among others:
Most important right
·         Territorial inviolability
Most important obligations
·         Non-participation in war
·         Self defense
·         Impartiality toward belligerents (which concerns export of war material)
·         No mercenaries for belligerents
·         Denial of territory to belligerents

"Without strictly adhering to it, the confederation would have collapsed during the World Wars," said an academic while I was in Switzerland in January. "Because the principal belligerents were French, Germans and Italians and we have all three as our principal nationalities, a partisan policy would have destroyed our unity."

The same result will be for Burma if we are going to choose one of the two blocs. As it is, with a country like us, we can only be friends and "siblings" to both sides and no less to either one, if we really mean business on Naypyitaw's three sacred causes that were agreed on 15 October: Non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity, and perpetuation of national sovereignty.

However, wanting to be a neutral country and being allowed to be one are different things, as the Laotian experience had shown.

In 1962, Laos, a land-locked country like Switzerland (and Shan State), applied for neutrality and 14 countries which included China, US, UK, Thailand, India, France and Burma had pledged to respect it.

The trouble, unfortunately, was that Laos was engaged in a civil war against its rebels who were allied to North Vietnam. Unable to go through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), then commonly known as the 17th parallel, to send supplies and men to South Vietnam, a secret route (which later become known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail)was built by Hanoi engineers through Laos and Cambodia. The end result was the total breakdown of the Laotian neutrality.

The Laotian example certainly is a great lesson for peacemakers in Burma: As long as there are internal conflicts aided-and-abetted by outside powers, and the peace process goes nowhere, it would be extremely difficult to uphold one's neutrality.

Which goes on to show that Burma's peace process and its non-alignment claim can only succeed, if negotiations are conducted not only among internal opponents but also among and with external competitors too.

N.B         Difference between Neutrality and Non-alignment is explained by encyclopedia.com and quora.com as follows:

Neutrality            A legal condition in which a country "permanently" refrains from taking sides in any war between two or more belligerents.
On the other hand, it cannot rely on anyone else coming to its defense if it is attacked. ('Neutral' derives from the Latin 'ne+uter' which means 'neither one nor the other')

Non-alignment A state of non-commitment in the cold war, that between the great powers. When India was attacked by China in 1962, she asked both the US and the USSR for assistance, taking the position that her non-alignment was intact so long as she was willing to accept military assistance from both camps.
A nonaligned country     can also still fight a war by choice, as India did against Pakistan in 1971, the result of which was the birth of Bangladesh.
*Very hard  to understand, these strange terms. But I hope I'll get around to learning them one of these days.


By SAI KHUENSAI / Director of Pyidaungsu Institute and Founder of Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
All views expressed are the author's own

Democratization of Myanmar' release event in New Delhi on Mar. 28

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 08:16 PM PDT

My book titled 'Democratization of Myanmar' published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis) will be formally released at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi at 4:00 PM on March 28, 2016. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General, will be the Chief Guest. Some eminent scholars and former ambassadors will sit in the panel to discuss the book. With a civilian government assuming power on April 1 for the first time after more than five decades of military rule in Myanmar, the event becomes even more significant. You are invited...
--
Nehginpao Kipgen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Director of Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS)
Jindal School of International Affairs
O.P. Jindal Global University
E-mail: nkipgen@jgu.edu.in
            nehginpao@gmail.com
Phone: +91 1304091709 (office)
             +91 8396907457 (mobile)
Faculty Page: http://www.jsia.edu.in/content/nehginpao-kipgen
CSEAS Page: http://www.jsia.edu.in/content/centre-southeast-asian-studies-cseas
My Books:
1. Democratisation of Myanmar (a revised PhD dissertation): https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138119710
2. Democracy Movement in Myanmar: Problems and Challenges: http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00XENZ1IG?keywords=Nehginpao&qid=1454749854&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)