Ethnic peace key to Myanmar
reform By Brian McCartan
In her first statement this week as an
elected parliamentarian, Myanmar opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi chose to highlight the plight of
ethnic minorities, underscoring the issue's rising
importance in domestic politics.
Her
speech was delivered amid ongoing fighting between
the government and ethnic insurgents in northern
Shan and Kachin States and communal strife in
western Rakhine State. It also underscored the
need for the government to reach durable political
solutions with ethnic minority groups or risk the
unraveling of democratic and economic reforms.
Suu Kyi made her speech calling for new
laws to protect minority rights to Myanmar's Lower
House of Parliament in the capital
Naypyidaw on Wednesday.
Her call came in support of a proposal to enact
such laws introduced the previous day by Ti Khun
Myat, a representative from Shan State of the
ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP).
Suu Kyi's statement, however,
broadened the issue, noting that protection of
minority rights is a complex issue that goes
beyond the preservation of languages and culture
as called for in the original proposal. Invoking
the "Panglong spirit" she implicitly connected it
to the 1947 Panglong Agreement signed between her
father, independence hero General Aung San, and
ethnic Kachin, Shan and Chin representatives.
That agreement intended to provide for
equality between the country's ethnic
Burman-dominated central regions and ethnic
minority frontier regions by granting autonomy to
peripheral areas. In exchange, the Shan, Kachin
and Chin agreed to join what was then known as the
Union of Burma.
For ethnic minority
leaders, the Panglong Agreement was viewed
positively as a step towards federalism, one that
in historical retrospect was undermined by the
military coup of 1962 and never properly
implemented. Suu Kyi noted that the "spirit" of
that agreement was "based on equality and mutual
respect".
"Keeping this in mind," she
said, "we, all of us parliamentarians, must work
together to amend the laws as necessary to be able
to protect ethnic rights as well as to develop a
truly democratic nation".
Other
parliamentarians, particularly those from ethnic
minority constituencies, have already criticized
Ti Khun Myat's legislative proposal for lacking
provisions on the protection of human rights and
issues of equality and regional autonomy.
Some hope Suu Kyi's speech will help to
break the logjam. Ethnic representatives have
tried in vain to have their concerns addressed
through participation in the 2008 constitution
drafting process, during the 2010 general
elections and in the early phases of this new era
of parliamentary democracy.
During her
acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in
Oslo last month, Suu Kyi said she and her party
"stand ready and willing to play any role in the
process of national reconciliation".
That
call has the potential to expand reforms that have
so far concentrated mainly on economic issues and
the relaxation of past civil liberty curbing
restrictions that due to civil war and lack of
central control in peripheral areas affected
largely only the central region of the country.
Ethnic conflict resolution is crucial for
stability and security, without which economic
development and democratic processes will remain
stunted. Insurgency and government
counter-insurgency operations continue to wreak
havoc in many border areas where much of the
country's trade passes and natural resource wealth
lies.
In one sense, Suu Kyi's speech
echoed a statement made by President Thein Sein on
July 10 to members of the Union Peacemaking
Working Committee, a government created body
seeking resolution to ethnic region conflicts.
During his earlier speech, Thein Sein
said, "In implementing political and economic
reforms, easing of ethnic conflicts needs be
considered. Only when such reforms are carried
out, will national reconciliation be achieved and
ethnic conflicts ended."
A notable
difference, however, is that while Thein Sein's
speech indicated that reconciliation with the
ethnic groups will stem from political and
economic reforms, Suu Kyi's statement emphasized
the importance of achieving political solutions to
ethnic problems as a step toward countrywide
political and economic development. While
Thein Sein has made reconciliation with different
ethnic groups through ceasefire agreements a
policy priority, fighting still rages in the
country's northern Kachin State. A long-standing
ceasefire between the government and Kachin
Independence Organization broke down in 2011 over
issues of ethnic and political rights.
The
Kachins have also raised concern about the
environmental and developmental impact of several
government-backed dam projects in the area. The
conflict has been attended by some of the heaviest
fighting seen in the country in over a decade,
resulting in hundreds of deaths on both sides and
tens of thousands of new refugees.
Fighting has also continued between the
Shan State Army-North in north-central Shan State,
despite a ceasefire agreement signed with the
government in January this year. Both struggles
have cast a shadow over the government's so far
largely successful peace drive in other
insurgency-hit areas of the country. Western
countries, including the United States, have made
it clear to the government that resolution of the
conflicts is necessary for the complete lifting of
their economic sanctions.
A flare up in
communal conflict between ethnic Buddhist Rakhines
against Muslim Rohingyas in western Rakhine State
beginning in early June has left dozens dead and
tens of thousands homeless. While not an
insurgency, the violence between one ethnic
minority - allegedly backed by the security forces
of the majority government - against another
minority group points toward the potential for
continued instability in ethnic relations.
Naypyidaw views the Rohingya as foreigners
and many in Myanmar, including among other ethnic
groups, view them as illegal immigrants from
Bangladesh.
Federal
discussion Civil war between the
Burman-dominated central government and the
country's ethnic minorities has raged since almost
immediately after independence from Great Britain
in 1948. Importantly, these struggles began under
a democratic government system and continued under
decades of military dictatorship.
Indeed,
it was the fear of a breakup of the Union of Burma
that was cited by the coup makers as a major
reason behind their 1962 coup and suspension of
democracy. Harsh counter-insurgency campaigns
characterized by gross human-rights abuses
together with subtler bans on ethnic cultural
practices and language instruction has engendered
deep distrust of central authorities among most
ethnic minorities.
Recent statements by
Aung Min, vice chairman of the Union Peacemaking
Working Committee and Thein Sein's point man for
negotiating with ethnic political organizations,
hint that the government may be willing to
consider discussion of the creation of a federal
system.
To date, Aung Min is believed to
have stood firm on the government's eight-point
guidelines for Union-level ceasefire negotiations
that have so far been used to structure
discussions with armed ethnic organizations. The
eight points require ethnic groups to renounce all
claims to independence, agree to remain in the
Union of Myanmar, and join in mainstream politics
and state-led economic development.
During
a June 22 meeting with representatives from some
14 political parties in the old capital Yangon,
Aung Min said, "The guidelines are not carved in
stone. We can discuss and amend them as necessary.
Right now, we are working hard to hold a
Panglong-like political dialogue before the end of
2014."
His statement was interpreted by
some as a reversal of the government's previous
refusals to discuss federalism, a new
Panglong-style conference, or engage with more
than one ethnic group at a time for discussions on
politics, self-government or autonomy issues.
It also marked an apparent departure from
the government's earlier rigid position that all
political settlements should be worked out in
parliament, a body currently dominated by the
military and Burman majority. This has given new
hope to some ethnic leaders that while the
creation of a federal union is not likely in the
immediate term, it could be achievable in the
long-term.
The Union Peacemaking Working
Committee (UPWC) was reorganized in May, making
Thein Sein the head of its central committee and
giving it more powers to negotiate directly with
armed ethnic organizations. Aung Min, the UPWC's
vice chairman and who now reportedly refers to
himself as the "minister without borders", has in
recent months made frequent trips to neighboring
China and Thailand to hold closed door discussions
with different ethnic group representatives.
The military, however, remains a key
player in the national reconciliation efforts.
While Thein Sein and his supporters rule from
Naypyidaw, the military and its powerful regional
commanders are still the driving central force in
many ethnic minority areas. The UPWC appears to
have little command over the military, whose
operations, including in the Kachin and Shan
States, have sometimes been at odds with the
efforts of its peace negotiators.
Thein
Sein has made several calls on military units to
refrain from offensive actions, but these
executive commands have been ignored in Kachin
State as well as in other ethnic areas. Clashes
continue with the Shan State Army-South, including
a major skirmish on July 25, while rebels in the
neighboring Karen State are worried military
efforts underway to reinforce and resupply army
forward bases signal a possible resumption of
hostilities.
Thein Sein's government may
be genuinely keen to reach political settlements
with ethnic-based insurgent organizations, but
there are still many hardliners in the military
who seek revenge for casualties in fighting
against the Kachin and Shan and still believe they
can crush their resistance through military means.
Many of these officers rose through the ranks with
indoctrination against ethnic armies and served on
the front lines fighting insurgents.
For
Myanmar's reforms to take root they must soon move
beyond emphasis on the country's central region
and begin to address the military's supremacy over
the civilian government's in the border regions
where most ethnic minorities reside. After decades
of civil war, democracy and local autonomy
represent the best hope for alleviating ethnic
minority regions' entrenched poverty and
underdevelopment. Whether Thein Sein's and Suu
Kyi's calls will result in real reconciliation,
however, still depends on the military top brass.
Brian McCartan is a freelance
journalist. He may be reached at
bpmccartan1@gmail.com.
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