Shan Herald Agency for News |
- Detoxification of Burma Army mindset key to avoid further extra-judicial killings of civilian
- Khun Htun Oo : National reconciliation impossible without amending constitution
- Power Up Myanmar with Green Energy
- Myanmar’s Hydropower Energy Waiting To Be Explored. Are you in?
- Scholar: Why Burma won’t allow Shan secession
- ‘This will not happen again’- army commander says of Lashio murders
- SSPP/SSA asks President Htin Kyaw to release detainees
- Panglong Agreement still casts a long shadow on national reconciliation deliberation
| Detoxification of Burma Army mindset key to avoid further extra-judicial killings of civilian Posted: 05 Jul 2016 02:54 AM PDT  In a documentary movie "Burma Soldier", directed by veteran journalist Nic Dunlop in 2010, which could be downloaded and seen in the internet, the enlightened former Burmese soldier, Myo Myint, narrated that the rank and file of the Burma Army were indoctrinated to hate and treated the ethnic population as enemies. The logic is that the ethnic resistance armies existed for the ethnic population supported them. Thus they also must be oppressed, punished and eliminated. If Maj-Gen Kyaw Kyaw Soe, the vice-commander of Northeast Command really means to make a 180 degree turn from the Burma Army's hate indoctrination, all he has to do is to ask the Commander-in-Chief to employ detoxification program of such inhumane thinking from the mindset of its soldiers. Of course, also coupled with promulgation enforcement law and harsh punishment for perpetrators in committing such extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians. Only the Burmese military must have real political will and a sense of adhering to universal human rights, as accepted by the international community, not just paying lip-service to democratic principles, protect and serve the elected government of the day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Khun Htun Oo : National reconciliation impossible without amending constitution Posted: 05 Jul 2016 02:47 AM PDT Khun Htun Oo, the Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), has said that national reconciliation can only be possible with significant changes being made to Burma's 2008 constitution. Khun Htun Oo, who is also the Chairman of the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), a grouping of ethnic political parties, made the comments at a meeting of the UNA and the Ethnic Nationalities Affairs Center (ENAC), held in Rangoon on June 30th.  "We will not have peace without amending the 2008 Constitution. Also, we will not be able to aim towards national reconciliation. The important thing is that the 2008 Constitution must be fixed," said Khun Htun Oo, during a speech delivered at the opening of the meeting. The veteran politician and former political prisoner was responding to remarks made last month by the Lower House Speaker, U Win Myint of the NLD, indicating that the constitution will only be amended after "internal peace" has been achieved. Khun Htun Oo disagrees with this view and maintains that the constitution needs to be changed first to include democratic standards, in line with the desire of the majority of ethnic people. "This constitution needs to guarantee the right for self-determination for ethnic people and for the Burmese. Trust must be gained first amongst each other, each group, and each race, in order for all citizens to live peacefully under the rule of law without discriminating who is powerful or weak, or which group is bigger or smaller," Khun Htun Oo added. Reached for comment, the SNLD's spokesperson Sai Leik explained that the SNLD leader and his party hold the view that the constitution is the main issue in Burma and it must amended. According to Sai Leik, the meeting was held to prepare for the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference, which is expected to be held in late August. "The workshop was held to discuss what kind of federal system is suitable for the future of Burma and how to obtain ethnic rights and equal standards of all ethnic people," said Sai Leik. The upcoming conference is being organized by the National League for Democracy (NLD) government, and will be closely watched by many ethnic people, as it aims to follow a historic conference convened by Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San and ethnic leaders in 1947. It remains unclear at this point if representatives from all of Burma's various ethnic armed groups will attend the conference or just those that have signed ceasefire agreements with the central government. BY: Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power Up Myanmar with Green Energy Posted: 05 Jul 2016 12:52 AM PDT
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| Myanmar’s Hydropower Energy Waiting To Be Explored. Are you in? Posted: 05 Jul 2016 12:46 AM PDT
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| Scholar: Why Burma won’t allow Shan secession Posted: 05 Jul 2016 12:38 AM PDT  The 4th of July may be Independence Day to the Americans. But to the people of Burma, it is the 4thof January. And on that day in 1958, "the constitutional limitation on the right of a state to secede from the Union" came to an end. The 1947 constitution had laid down 4 conditions in the implementation of the Right of Secession in Chapter 10: 1. Ten years must elapse before the right can be exercised 2. To implement it, two thirds of the State Council must approve a resolution to secede 3. The Head of State must notify the Union President of the vote, and the latter must order a plebiscite held in the state under a commission appointed by himself which is composed of an equal number of members from the Union and the state 4. Only states which are not excluded from using the right may exercise the privilege "In spite of the broad language of the Constitution, only two states —the Shan and Kayah —are eligible to secede. Two others—the Kachin and Karen—are explicitly denied the right, while the remaining two states—the Special Chin Division and Burma proper—are usually considered outside of the discussion because the former is in many ways the appendage of the latter and Burma proper is the nucleus around which all the others cluster. Even though a whole chapter in the Constitution is devoted to describing the conditions which must be fulfilled before a state can withdraw from the Union, in effect, it is applicable only to one of the eligible states—the Shan State. It alone contains a powerful and articulate minority which is seriously considering the question of secession," according to Silverstein. (See the Secession Issue: To Part or Together, Panglong.org, 14 June 2016) But granted that the Shan State plebiscite decided to set up its own independent nation, where would it go? "The answer seems quite clear if one examines a map of the area," says the author. "Because it is landlocked and has no major navigable river to link it to the sea, the state either would have to unify or ally with China, Thailand, or join with another landlocked area—Laos." Among the three, "there seems to be no political or economic reason—historic or current—to warrant the creation of a Laos-Shan union." (The author may not be aware of a Laotian resistance movement, Pathet Lao, led by Prince Souphanouvong, that had taken refuge in Kengtung, adjacent Laos, before 1962.) With the other two countries, the situation is different: "In military terms, it (a merger) would bring China or Thailand into the heartland of the Union, and it would create such an exposed border that defense of Burma would be nearly impossible." The result was the following excerpt from Prime Minister U Nu's speech, delivered on 27 April 1957 in Lashio: "…the reason that the United States today is the strongest and most influential nation in the world is due to the fact that Abraham Lincoln prevented the southern States from seceding and thus consolidated the whole country. If only we are united our future is indeed bright. Therefore, it is my constant prayer that this remarkable episode from American history may serve as a very valuable lesson for all of us." The speech was dubbed "a declaration of war" by many Shan students and politicians. The author concludes his paper this way: "In the end, the right must be viewed in two ways: constitutionally, it is exercisable, politically, it is not. So long as the state has the right in reserve, it will continue to give the people a feeling of having a potential choice of either remaining in or leaving the Union. If it attempts to exercise the right it may provoke the Union to act as Lincoln acted, even though the Union of Burma's Constitution includes the right of secession, while that of the United States does not." Regrettably, Silverstein didn't have anything to say about how the war could be avoided by applying one of the age-old Shan saying: Neither let the lotus blemished or the water turbid (Mo Ya Hai Zam, Nam Ya Hai Khun) But if he had any advice, it was already too late. On 21 May 1958, following the Shan State Council's failure to take a vote (according to still living sources, the Council was warned not to) on the question whether or not to exercise the right of secession, the first Shan armed resistance movement, Noom Seuk Harn, was formed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘This will not happen again’- army commander says of Lashio murders Posted: 05 Jul 2016 03:06 AM PDT Maj-Gen Kyaw Kyaw Soe, the vice-commander of Northeast Command based in Lashio Township, has told families of last week's murder victims from Mong Yaw that "This kind of incident will not happen again."
According to the wife of Sai Zei, one of the seven persons killed, the Burmese army major-general visited her and her children on Sunday. "The vice-commander visited Mong Yaw on Sunday and donated 300,000 kyat [US$250] to each victim's family," she said. "He stated that this payment was not compensation, but was being handed over to express sympathy." She said that she and other victims' families are pleading for public assistance. "We are just simple villagers and don't know how to proceed with this case. We are asking for help," she said. Five of the slain villagers had reportedly been arrested by a unit of Burmese government forces on June 25. Eyewitnesses to the incident claim the government soldiers displayed insignia indicating they were from Northeast Command's Division 33. The soldiers reportedly opened fire on villagers while they were working in a cornfield. Five men were then rounded up and interrogated, accused of being rebels or rebel supporters, sources said. The five men were then herded into a truck and driven away. They were not seen again until their bodies were uncovered from shallow gravesnear a Burmese army encampment on June 29. Two other locals were reportedly killed when soldiers shot at them for running through a makeshift army checkpoint on their motorcycle. On Monday, the parents of two of the dead appealed to local authorities to investigate the case, according to Sai Wan Leng Kham, an Upper House MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy. News of the killings has prompted some response from international Burma watchers. Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, said, "The killing of these civilians by the Burmese army is a war crime and should not be ignored by the international community or the NLD-led government." With regard to the new government's approach to atrocities committed during the civil conflict, Farmaner said, "Aung San Suu Kyi's current approach seems to be to talk about peace, but not mention the war. When people raise human rights violations she says people need to focus on the future, not the past. But for ethnic people, human rights violations are not just a thing of the past, they are continuing. "Aung San Suu Kyi might not have political control over the Burmese army, but she has moral authority and the power to mobilize public opinion, which could influence the Burmese army to stop killings like this." David Mathieson, the senior researcher at the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Shan Herald that HRW was looking into the case and trying to verify it. "It's gruesomely consistent with the patterns of violations being reported out of Shan State, where a multi-sided and decidedly murky conflict has escalated in recent years, displacing thousands of civilians," he said, adding that his group had received "credible reports of a range of abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, forced labor and forced recruitment, and indiscriminate air strikes" from the Shan region. BY: Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SSPP/SSA asks President Htin Kyaw to release detainees Posted: 04 Jul 2016 10:05 PM PDT The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) has sent President U Htin Kyaw and other senior government officials a letter calling for the release of civilians who have been detained by the Burma Army for their association with the group. The SSPP/SSA has also requested that a number of their troops, who were also detained by the army over the past few months, be released as well.
Col Sai Aung, an official stationed at the SSPP/SSA's Wan Hai headquarters, said that in addition to President U Htin Kyaw, the letter calling for the release of the detained soldiers and civilians had also been sent to the armed forces Commander-in-Chief Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, North Eastern Command head Maj Gen Phone Myat, Vice Sen Gen Yar Pyae and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) Chairman U Khun Htun Oo. "As they have detained our people, this affects peace because we have already signed the state-level and union-level ceasefires but they don't recognize us as a peace group. They keep detaining our men," explained Col Sai Aung. His group did not however sign last year's National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). In their letter, the SSPP/SSA stated that they are saddened that these kinds of incidents have continued to take place as the country has been moving towards a nationwide ceasefire, national reconciliation and peace. The group has requested that the president release the both their troops and the civilians in the interests of national reconciliation. "We sent a letter to the Ya Ma Kha (North Easter Command)'s commander Maj Gen Phone Myat on May 13th to release the detained men. He told us not to worry about our men as they were being treated well and held in a secure place. But they have been electroshocked and hit with rifle butts. Their arms were tied up behind their backs and they were interrogated thrice a day for 14 days straight. They were hit at least five times during each interrogation," said an official from the SSPP/SSA. The Burma Army detained one SSPP/SSA soldier in November 2015. In March of this year 20 SSPP/SSA soldiers were arrested by the army. On May 31st 8 civilians were detained by the army. The total number of people detained in connection with the SSPP/SSA appears to be 31. On January 21st the SSPP/SSA released a number of Burma army personal who had been detained during clashes with the Burma Army. The list of released Burma army soldiers includes one colonel, two warrant officers, one sergeant, two corporals, one lance corporal and two privates. Although the SSPP/SSA said that they released the detainees in the spirit of national reconciliation and peace, the Burma Army has yet to reciprocate. BY: Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Panglong Agreement still casts a long shadow on national reconciliation deliberation Posted: 04 Jul 2016 08:11 AM PDT  Meanwhile, Suu Kyi has met the 8 Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) and sent a clear message that she and her party has no hidden agenda in trying to install a federal system of government that would lead to national reconciliation. Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing meeting with the 8 EAOs that followed was also said to be cordial, although he seemed to put the blame on the non-signatory EAOs or UNFC for failing to agree to ink the NCA, aside from dodging the question of 3 excluded EAOs, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) or Kokang, Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA), that he insisted must first surrender to be able to participate in the peace process. Let us ponder on this good will message of Suu Kyi, while trying to read the message of Min Aung Hlaing, whether they are conducive in creating an atmosphere to the peace process. Furthermore, statement of other players like Khu Oo Reh, Hkun Htun Oo , U Aye Thar Aung and Sao Hkun Hseng will be touched on, to reflect the contemporary political development of Panglong-like conference scheduled to be held soon, which is dubbed as the 21 Century Panglong Conference (21CPC) by Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) , made up of 8 EAOs that signed the NCA, held a meeting at the Horizon Lake View Hotel in Naypyitaw, on June 28, and decided to hold the Union Peace Conference (UPC) also known as the 21CPC by August. She said: "We are happy to be able to meet (each other). This is our first meeting and very important to have a good start, so that the ending phase would be also secured. To have a good start, we all need to have a sense of cooperation so that it could be successful. I trust that we have this kind of spirit. Our government has a very simple ambition, without hidden agenda. We only aim to build a federal union where all our citizens could live happily in prosperity. I would like to invite all to help realize this aim." Other than that she talked about the importance of committed political will and that she understood the worries of the ethnic nationalities, which is connected to the transitional change. But pointed out that these worries could be overcome, if there is trust, for trust could negate worries. She went on to say that all valuable things are not easily achieved and called for cooperation to make the formation of federal union happens. She particularly stressed that 70 years of civil strife is far too long and that all must leave a legacy of peace for the generation to come, by making it happen through the culture of "give" rather than "take". Min Aung Hlaing Following the meeting with Suu Kyi, the PPST met with Commander-in- Chief Min Aung Hlaing on the same day, at 2 pm Bayintnaung Parlour, in Naypyitaw. Present at the meeting were Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Commander-in- Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Soe Win, senior military officers of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army), members of the PPST—Chairman of Karen National Union (KNU) Saw Mutu Sae Poe, Sao Pong Khur of Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), Patron Khun Okker of Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), Chairman of Chin National Front (CNF) Pu Zing Cung, Vice Chairman of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) Khine Soe Naing Aung, Naw Kapaw Htoo of Karen National Liberation Army (Peace Council) KNU/KNLA, Chairman U Than Khe of All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), Saw Mo Shae of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and delegation members. According to Min Aung Hlaing's Facebook and recent report of Myawady News, the military mouthpiece, he said that all parities concerned, both NCA signatories and the majority non-signatory EAOs should cooperate according to "the Union spirit" or "Myanmar spirit" without holding on to "dogmatism," only then "victory" will be achieved peacefully and speedily. Among others, he stressed: • His thankfulness of the 8 EAOs for their constructive cooperation in signing the NCA; • The need for all EAOs (signatory and non-signatory) to work in unity towards peace; • The importance of responsibility, accountability and sense of duty to the country; • The invitation for the non-signatory EAOs to sign the NCA; • The UPC or 21CPC participation of the non-signatory EAOs rest on the wishes of government, respective parliaments, political parties, ethnic nationalities' consideration, and not just on the military alone; • The non-signatory EAOs should have confidence, work through the political process and refrain from expanding territories, building strongholds and expanding their forces out of concern; and that • The military honestly, absolutely did not want to fight between national brethren, but it has to protect the respective administrative mechanisms, and lives and property of people from threats and dangers. However, the question of the excluded 3 EAOs – MNDAA, TNLA and AA – that have been delivering running battles with the military, participation in the peace process remains unresolved, as the Commander-in-Chief would not take a concrete stand on it. He has on a lot of occasions insisted that the the 3 EAOs have to surrender first, before they could be part of the peace process. United Nationalities Alliance Meeting The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), which is made up of 12 ethnic political parties, including the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Mon National Party, Kayan National Party, Kayin National Party, Rakhine National Party, Shan State Kokang Democratic Party, Zomi Democracy Federation, Kachin National Democracy Congress Party, Khume (Khami) National Party, Rakhine Patriotic Party, Mro National Democracy Party and Danu Nationalities Democracy Party, met from 30 June to 2 July to prepare for the 21CPC. The gathering was also attended by Naw Zippora Sein, Vice-Chairwoman of Karen National Union (KNU) and Sao Hser Hten, patron of the Shan State Progress party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), which is titled "Drafting Key Principles and Characteristics for Federal Union of Burma/Myanmar". According to RFA video report of 2 July, U Aye Thar Aung of Arakan national Party (ANP), who is also the Deputy Speaker of upper house or Amyotha Hluttaw, said that in order the 21CPC to be successful, it would need to adhere to the principles of tripartite dialogue; sticking to the 1947 Panglong Agreement; and implement all-inclusiveness regarding the EAOs. Firstly, he explained that tripartite dialogue composition should include: 1. EAOs, Ethnic political parties and ethnic leaders; 2. Political parties and democratic forces; 3. Government, the military (Tatmadaw) and the parliament. Secondly, the 21CPC must take into account the treaty of 1947 Panglong Agreement. They are: 1. Equal, voluntary cooperation or fusion of the ethnic states; 2. Rights of self-determination and self-governance; and 3. Rights of secession, when the particular ethnic group so desired. Hkun Htun Oo, Chairperson of the UNA also said during the gathering that 21CPC would only be successful if the 8 constituent units is applied and not 14 units, as preferred by the military, many Bamar politicians and perhaps quite a number of Bamar political parties. He stressed that there could be no check and balance in 14 units configuration, as the Bamar will be holding the majority vote as owner of the 7 Divisions or Regions, as they are now renamed. In addition, Naw Zippora Sein said: " From the part of ethnic nationalities, I see that we need preparations regarding the type and facts on federal union formation, so that when attending political discussions or negotiations the EAOs and ethnic political parties could come out with one voice, as our aspirations are one and the same." She said the result from the meeting should be tabled before the public (and discuss), so that they will be involved, which is crucial. Dr Manam Tu Ja of the Kachin State Democracy Party also told the media that the meeting tried to adjust on the issues of "the three parliaments, central (union) government, state governments and self-administrative zones; union constitution and state constitution; power-sharing between the union and state governments; overlapping powers of federal (union) and state governments; and residual power of the state governments" among the ethnic political parties that were preparing a common draft. He said they were able to bridge the differing views of the issues. Khu Oo Reh Head of the Delegate for Political Negotiation (DPN) and general secretary of the UNFC confirmed that a meeting would take place with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in mid-July. The agreement was reached during a meeting between the UNFC and the government's team led by Dr. Tin Myo Win at an office of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) in Rangoon on 1 July. It was said UNFC leaders including its chairman N' Ban La would be attending the meeting. He, however, said, "It is not time yet to answer whether we will attend it [the Union Peace Conference]. We still have procedures which must be followed, including the Mai Ja Yang summit. We can only decide how we will participate after the summit. We have to find an answer in Mai Ja Yang." The UNFC members and other armed groups – that have signed NCA including non-UNFC armed groups - are planning to meet in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State later this month to discuss on how to go about the Union Peace Conference or 21CPC, slated to be held in August. The UNFC, which is made up of nine ethnic armed groups, did not sign the last year's nationwide ceasefire agreement, while 8 armed groups signed the pact with the ex-president Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government. Sao Hkun Hseng Regarding the 21CPC, what Sao Hkun Hseng, Vice-Chairman of the SSPP/SSA told the DVB on 22 June video interview is particularly noteworthy. He said: " By using the word Panglong, the question arises whether the 1947 Panglong Agreement, signed on 12 February, is being accepted. It must be made clear it this is the case and if not the government should explain and make it clear its reason to all, including the ethnic armed movements, which all are eager to hear." He stressed that the 9 point Panglong Agreement has to be included and the 1947 Union of Burma Constitution also has to be accepted. As the Charter of the United Nations is unchangeable, the Panglong treaty or agreement could not also be changed. He criticized the lower house or Pyithuhluttaw Speaker U Win Myint for wanting to first tackle the national reconciliation, before going for constitutional amendment. He said that it is like putting the cart before the horse, for the country's political strife is due to the unfair and inadequate constitution, which has led to the ongoing ethnic conflict, and has to be addressed first. He urged that the government to declare unilateral ceasefire and all the EAOs would definitely follow suit, further elaborating that the exclusion of the 3 EAOs – MNDAA, TNLA and AA – and asking them to surrender is uncalled for and should be allowed to participate, to show equality. Analysis Looking at the political development of these few days, one could pin point a couple of areas that need emphasizing. Firstly, it is the usage of the "Panglong" by Aung San Suu Kyi, without explaining in depth on how she and her party would like to go about in instilling a national reconciliation atmosphere. Panglong Agreement is connected to 1947 Union of Burma Constitution and they in turn spelled out the federal system of government, although not flawless at that time, that was supposed to be vested with equality, rights of self-determination and democracy. The ethnic nationalities tried to correct the constitutional flaw of 1947, with the Federal Amendment Proposal drawn by all ethnic nationalities in unison in 1961, in Taunggyi, Shan State. The major flaws were inadequate power-sharing and resources-sharing and the proposal seeks to make Bamar ethnic group to be on a par with the other ethnicities, which was usurping the union government power and ruling over the whole country, without having its own state like the others. This trend continue starting from 1962 military coup until today. Suu Kyi and NLD have no blueprint, or keeping it secret, on how to go about this constitutional crisis, other than than just a vague commitment of going to form a federal union. As such, the ethnic nationalities are at lost on how she and her party is positioned on the crucial power-sharing and resources-sharing issues. Hkun Htun Oo even bemoaned recently during the ethnic political parties' meeting that it was frustrating not to know where the NLD stood, regarding the constitutional amendment position, which would be a waste of time in preparing without detailed knowledge of the government's party position for the upcoming conference, from the part of the ethnic nationalities. It is all the more becoming a guessing game as the military now also said that it is for a federal form of government, which it has all along equate it with secession, without elaborating how it envisioned the system should look like. The standard answer from both the NLD and the military camp is that all stakeholders would come around, discuss and make a decision together on how a chosen federal system would look like. But it is not enough for the ethnic nationalities, as most are inclined to stick to the Panglong Agreement, 1947 Union of Burma Constitution and the 1961 Federal Amendment Proposal as their outgoing point to work out a federal constitution with the Bamar political class and as well, the military. While it is clear that the military wants a Bamar-dominated unitary system with some devolution of power for the ethnic states, the NLD position is not clear, as it has no blueprint, never make it known or spelled out its party position. It should be noted that in a matured democracy, a major party of NLD stature needs to have position paper on such crucial issue like constitutional amendment not just wishy-washy. Even if the NLD regime could argue that it has to be broad-minded and allow all stakeholders express their positions first before embarking on a political system, as a party it still must have a program. There is absolutely no excuse on this and should develop its party position, including making it known to the public. Otherwise, it won't be worthy or appropriate to be taken as a nationwide, democratic party that it is striving to portray. Secondly, the UNA, even if it has not yet finished its position paper, has already spelled out on some crucial points as U Aye Thar Aung and Hkun Htun Oo have made it known, during the ethnic political parties gathering. They have touched on the issues of how the 21CPC should be equally represented, the inclusion of the 1947 Panglong Agreement's commitments, 8 constituent units versus 14 units and even the rights of secession. As the national reconciliation deliberations unfold, the question of NLD's clear-cut position on nation-building process becomes more important than ever. And it is now clear that Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD could not dodge this issue by simply saying, "we will all decide on what kind of political system we prefer". As a national party it has to come up with a clear vision and not shy or afraid to spell it out. But this is not to say that the NLD suggestions would be heeded and accepted without question. Of course, all stakeholders will be involved in the negotiation and decision-making. Finally, as the ethnic nationalities have made their point clear on what they expect from the forthcoming Panglong-like convention in building a federal union, the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi also should do likewise and make their point of view known to the public. |
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