Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan State govt calls emergency meeting

Posted: 06 Dec 2016 12:15 AM PST

The Shan State government has convened an emergency meeting in state capital Taunggyi following two weeks of intense fighting in northern Shan State between Burmese government forces and a coalition of four ethnic armed groups known as the Northern Alliance.


According to Shan State Chief Minister Dr. Linn Htut, MPs will discuss the circumstances and effects of the ongoing conflict, as well as the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year and development issues.

Speaking at a parliamentary session of the lower house in Naypyidaw on December 2, Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe said that the so-called Northern Alliance – comprising the Arakan Army (AA); Kachin Independence Army (KIA); Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA); and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) – should be classified as a terrorist organization in accordance with the law.
The Shan State assembly has begun the discussions on that issue on Monday. Although parliamentary details are yet to be announced, the debate is scheduled to last four days.
The recent conflict was ignited after the ethnic alliance launched coordinated offensives against Burmese army and police outposts on November 20. Thereafter, clashes have broken out in the Muse Township villages of 105-Mile, Mong Koe and Parng Zai, as well as in Namkham and Kutkai townships.
Hostilities have intensified, particularly in Mong Koe, a town on the Shan-China border. According to a statement published on December 5 by the Northern Alliance, the Burmese military launched offensives using heavy weapons including airstrikes by fighter jets in residential areas. The ethnic militias claim that schools, religious buildings and homes were destroyed in the raids.
"Four people were killed and two others injured," read the statement.
On December 1, Shan Herald reported that a group of 70 people from Mong Koe had reportedly been arrested by Burmese troops while en route to a wedding.
According to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services on Sunday, the Burmese army has now retaken control of Mong Koe town from the ethnic rebels.

Since November 23, about 10,000 people have fled their homes to escape the spreading hostilities. Many sought refuge in makeshift shelters in Muse, while others crossed the border into China. Last week, several hundred villagers returned home, though another 700 remain camped inside religious buildings across Muse Township.
By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)

Is Burma ready for civic nationalism?

Posted: 05 Dec 2016 11:56 PM PST

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first;
Nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), French general and statesman

I never knew the world has different terms for different nationalisms until the 19-25 November issue of The Economist recently reached my hands.

Of course, having been in and out of Thailand for more than 45 years, I know my cousins have their own separate terms: kinship by blood (ñati-thang-sailued) and kinship by principles and laws (ñati-thang-dhamma) accepted within a diverse and broad community. What the Thais call "Chart" (Nation) comprises both kinships.

According to Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician and academic, "Ethnic Nationalism" and "Civic Nationalism" can be compared in the following way:



In addition, says The Economist, civic nationalism unites the country around common values, such as freedom and equality, to accomplish things that people could never manage alone. "It contrasts with ethnic nationalism, which is zero-sum, aggressive and nostalgic and which draws on race or history to set the nation apart. In its darkest hour in the first half of the 20thcentury, ethnic nationalisms led to war."

Our present leaders, as well as their predecessors, perhaps with the exception of Aung San, who started out during British rule with "ethnic nationalism" seem to think they have developed to "civic nationalism", by dumping "Burma" which the pre-Independence legislature had adopted, and restyling the country "Myanmar" without bothering to ask the nation. They should find out the truth about themselves by allowing the non-Bamars (or, non-Burmans, or non-Burmese) to rule for a while, and re-examine their feelings about being civic nationalists under non-Burman's dominance.

The truth that is going to emerge is not what our leaders may anticipate:
·         Whatever they've been saying about "Myanmar" being an all embracing label for the diverse ethnicities of the country, at heart they themselves are still "Bamar"
·         That as long as they are not giving up their own "ethnic nationalism," it will not be fair for them to urge the non-Burmans to get rid of their "narrow minded racism," like they tried to do at the 21st Century Panglong.  Perhaps our leaders still need somebody to remind them a leader only leads by example, not words

Fortunately, our Burmese rulers are not alone. Once again, the world has returned to ethnic nationalisms with leaders like Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the likes.


But unfortunately, this resurgence of ethnic nationalism will not guarantee world peace, let alone peace in Burma, but will only push the whole planet toward war and destruction. 
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