Shan Herald Agency for News |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2016 07:35 AM PDT Some people say Panglong is not important. Some say it is a myth. Some say that it is better to use Panglong Spirit instead, since the actual Agreement says so little. While yet others say that what is important is the promises of Panglong.  Who is right? On 14 May 1948, the State of Israel became a nation. They fought neighbouring countries to gain their independence. But the key document that supported their claim for independence was the Balfour Declaration of 1917. What was this document? It was a letter from the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Walter Rothschild, the 2nd Baron Rothschild, stating British intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This letter in effect recognized the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign state. Similarly, the Panglong Agreement of 1947 may say very little. But what it signifies is that on 12 February 1947, four independent sovereign nations signed an agreement to cooperate in the founding of a new nation – the Republic of the Union of Burma. The new nation became independent on 4 January 1948. This means that the peoples of the Chin & Kachin Hills, and the Federated Shan States are equally co-owners of the Republic of the Union of Burma, as much as the peoples of British Burma. Panglong, therefore, is the legal document that recognizes that the co-owners have the same rights which unfortunately, they have been denied since 1948. What the 21st Century Panglong Conference needs to do is to acknowledge that the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was founded by the peoples of the Chin and Kachin Hills; the Federated Shan States; the independent Karenni States; and British Burma. By Harn Yawnghwe Download PDF file : EBO-Briefing-Paper-No.1 Download PDF file :EBO Briefing Paper No.2 Download PDF file :EBO Briefing Paper No.3 Download PDF file :No.1 What is Panglong BUR | ||
| Khun Tun Oo absent from peace talks Posted: 31 Aug 2016 01:10 AM PDT Khun Tun Oo, the chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), has declined to attend the Union Peace Conference, which began today in the Burmese capital Naypyidaw.
"After being invited by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), he [Khun Tun Oo] decided to attend the talks," said Sai Lek. "However, because the government and military did not invite the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Arakan Army, he decided against going." Sai Lek said that Khun Tun Oo has always maintained that all armed groups must be invited to the Union Peace Conference, dubbed the "21st Century Panglong Conference" (21CPC) by its host, Burma's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. The SNLD chairman is arguably the highest profile delegate to boycott the conference. His party won the second largest number of seats in Shan State at last year's general election. Lt-Gen Yawk Serk, the chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State (RCSS/SSA), and Gen. Pang Fa, the leader of the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) are also notable absentees among the 700 other delegates today in Naypyidaw. However, many other ethnic Shan groups are represented at the conference, including members of Shan political parties, armed groups and civil society organizations. Among those present at this morning's opening ceremony was Gen. Hso Ten, a veteran of the SSPP/SSA, which is one of the ethnic armed organizations that declined to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the Thein Sein government on October 15 last year. The delegation of representatives from RCSS/SSA, one of eight armed groups that signed the NCA, was led by Brig-Gen Pong Khur. The 21CPC is already being hailed as a historic event, as Suu Kyi hosts her government's first round of peace talks since taking power. The five-day forum will include representatives of Burma's ethnic groups, the government, parliament, political parties, and some of the top brass from the Burmese military, and their agenda will focus on laying the foundations for political dialogue and what many hope will be a peaceful future. The talks are being named after the Panglong Conference of 1947, when leaders of the Shan, Kachin and Chin met with Gen. Aung San, the father of Suu Kyi, in the Shan town of Panglong, where together they drafted a constitution as part of steps to attain independence from Britain. The agreement reached at Panglong stipulated that the frontier people or ethnic groups had the right to secede 10 years after the formation of the Union. However, Aung San was assassinated shortly after Panglong, and any hopes the ethnic minority peoples had of gaining autonomy were further shattered in 1962 when a military coup was staged by Gen. Ne Win. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) |
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