Shan Herald Agency for News |
- NLD should reread its “Election Manifesto“
- To Hopeland and Back (The 19th trip): The long wait
- To Hopeland and Back (The 19th trip) The long wait
| NLD should reread its “Election Manifesto“ Posted: 12 May 2016 01:44 AM PDT  Speculations are rife that back-door political give and take between the NLD and Tatmadaw has been in place, at least where the ethnic armed organizations are concerned. Accordingly, the NLD or Daw Suu is now said to be toeing the military line of non-inclusiveness, which is the side-lining the Kokang of MNDAA, Palaung or Ta~ang's TNLA and Arakan's AA. Arakan National Party's insistence of the Tatmadaw offensives or annihilation of the AA in Arakan State be stopped and include AA in the peace process are not on the military's agenda or its liking. As such, debates that will lead to the clear picture of who is having influence on whom, that would reveal by conducting such debate, needs to be stopped on track. For it would be a lost of face to admit that the military is calling the shots, in the ongoing peace process, and the NLD has to follow its lead. The same goes for the Tatmadaw or military, as it is starting to portray itself as been a Union Army, that is tasked with defending the country besides being representing the whole ethnic spectrum, taking orders from the civilian government and protecting the democratic institution. But the reality could also be that the NLD has either been bullied to accept its policy line of non-inclusiveness on ethnic resistance or willingly join the military, for its survival by forsaking its prior commitment of all-inclusiveness, at the expense of the ethnic armed groups in general. It would be a pity, if the NLD is only looking at the short term gain and survival and abandon its sound peace process policy. Hopefully, Daw Suu and NLD will reread their election manifesto and correct their derailed policy formulation for the benefit of the ethnic nationalities. | ||||||||
| To Hopeland and Back (The 19th trip): The long wait Posted: 11 May 2016 09:30 PM PDT He that sups with the devil must have a long spoon. (Proverb) Today, which is three days after the signatory EAOs met Dr Tin Myo Win, the State Counselor's "contact person," it seems quite clear there won't be a meeting between her and them on 10 May, as stated earlier. "The invitation for the 9 May meeting 'among ourselves' was issued since 2 May," one informed friend explains. "It means if the planned meeting is to be on the 10th, the invitation should be out already." (The meeting 'among ourselves'—with perspective members of the new government's negotiating team— ended with a decision to ensure "the best possible inclusiveness as can be obtained" in the preparation of the 21st century Panglong Conference, according to a report which followed the meeting) Another friend is worried whether "the Lady" is planning to go around the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), as she has done with the 2008 constitution. "No doubt she's smart," he says. "But doing it quite often may amount to courting confrontation. "She has already done some damage to the fragile relationship between her and the military by bringing in people who are closely associated with 'General' Shwe Mann into the new government," he adds. "Why, some have even started to call this administration Shwe Mann's cabinet."  Today I have nothing to do except to flock with birds of a feather to learn from them things which I can't get anywhere else. Naturally, I have learned more than that I have written and will be writing. But telling 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth' doesn't always help with peace and reconciliation. So I'll just pretend I've ever heard them and the reader won't ask me what they are. I later return to my room to write and then to read.  The book I've brought this time is a historical novel, "The Walking Drum," by the late Louis L'Amour, best known for his westerns. I have got almost every book he wrote at home, and this is one of them. I like it because it's the first one that tells me about the world in the 12th century when Christian Europe was still in the Dark Age and the Islamic World was going through its Golden Age. It was a time when books in Christian Europe were thrown out and burned on the theory that if they repeated what the Bible said, they were unnecessary, and if they said what wasn't in the Bible, they were untrue. Meanwhile, the world's greatest libraries were being established in Muslim cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba. Various Muslim states at the time were dynamic superpowers because of learning, tolerance and trade, wrote the Economist. "They need to cast their minds back to the values that once made the Arab world great. At its best, (the Arab world) was a haven for Jews, Christians and Muslims of many sects. They could do so again." Then my thoughts return to the country I'm in. And a thought, unthought, comes to my mind: Yes, we too could do it again. | ||||||||
| To Hopeland and Back (The 19th trip) The long wait Posted: 11 May 2016 07:55 AM PDT Even the fastest-transforming countries in the last century took between 15 and 30 years to raise their institutional performance from the level that prevails in many of today's fragile states. 2015 report, Advisory Group of Experts for reviewing the UN Peace building Architecture Representatives from EU, UN, World Bank and the Swiss embassy are coming to grace the event. Others include representatives from EAOs and political parties plus busybodies like myself. The first speaker is Ulrike, reportedly one of the most published researchers on the concept of infrastructures for peace. As usual, my old brain doesn't catch much of what she has tell to us. Not only hers but also those of the others, as all of them are trying to give us as much as they can within the little time allowed to them. But as always, I manage to absorb a bit from each. Some may of course say, "a little knowledge is dangerous," but they'll find others who see quite differently, saying "a little is better than nothing." Which reminds me of what I read in a book. It goes like this: "Have you heard about the Devil quoting Scriptures for his own ends?" "The Devil survives," I replied. (The Walking Drum, Louis L'Amour) Well, I don't know if I'm a Devil, but I wish I'll be able to learn more so I can share what I've learned with others. All in all, the following are things I think I've gleaned from them. • Peace infrastructures—forms of engagement between conflict parties and other stakeholders—are important. They are symbols of commitment to peace, eg. JICM, JMC, UPDJC, etc. (Ulrike) • Likewise, manifestations also matter: size of buildings, shapes of meeting room tables, flags, statues etc (Ulrike) (In this respect, do the three kingly statues in Naypyitaw manifest the government's commitment to peace?)
Colombia • With Colombia, which I have written one article in December, a few more things are noteworthy, like the formation of several offices like Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, Agency for Re-integration of Ex-combatants and Victims Unit. Moreover, all the functions of each government ministry must converge on the peace process • Colombia is also one country where 90% of the money spent on peace building comes from government coffers (Alejandro) Three countries: Colombia, Nepal and Aceh (Indonesia) share one common feature: DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration) comes first or earlier (Need to find out why they did it and we won't) The Aceh peace process is certainly notable: • Like Burma, the condition was: no secession. The rest was negotiable.
• But unlike Burma, the Aceh rebels must turn over/destroy their weapons in exchange for the reduction of government forces in Aceh • Seven months of hard negotiations brought them into agreement. Here are the reasons given by Dr Kuntoro: 1. Political will 2. Effective precision peace negotiations 3. Committed government and armed forces (government control over armed forces) 4. Speedy legislation and implementation 5. Public acceptance 6. Economic facilitation and welfare 7. The tsunami that devastated the island on 26 December 2004 8. Strong facilitation by Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari
Nepal Indian cooperation was crucial in bringing the peace process to success. "Arguably an India-led process," one researcher had written. "However, (Indian) engagement was subtle, invisible and did not have, direct intervention and participation,' says D.B Subedi. At the same time, it must be remembered that another Nepalese researcher I met in Penang in March had said otherwise.
Sri Lanka The process there, apart from the breakdown of negotiations by both the government and the Tamil Tigers, have been heavily criticized for "over-internationalization." Involvement of superpowers, especially China and India are mentioned but not elaborated. "Peace can mean a big change for everyone," says Karin, summing up quite clearly. "It will happen when they feel comfortable about it." The afternoon session is spent discussing the need to find a new 'center of gravity' to replace the now defunct Myanmar Peace Center (MPC). The MPC, for all its faults, had been a master key that had opened doors both to the government and the military. But now, with its 'DDR' without an on time replacement, the peace process appears to be at a standstill, says one discussant. Another points out to a significant development following the signing of the NCA in October. "Before it was just between the NCCT (Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team formed the EAOs) and the government. But now, it's different. On the EAO side, we have the signatories and non-signatories. (On the government side, we now have different entities: government and military.) The signatories no longer focus on the process but substance. However, the non-signatories are still focusing on the process. It took U Thein Sein more than 4 months after he came into office to extend his invitation to the EAOs. The new government is only a little more than a month old. We should therefore make allowance for that." The seminar concludes at 18:30. Still no news from Dr Tin Myo Win. |
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