ROAD MAP TO DELUSION OR EQUALITY

(By Banya Hongsar)

Bangkok— In a long drawn out speech on August 30, the newly self-appointed Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, formerly the Intelligence Chief of State Peace and Development Council came out with a seven-point plan towards peace, unity and development. The PM’s "Myanmar Road Map" is but another façade set up by the Rangoon regime expecting everyone to fall into line while it maintains its grip on power.

There have been a large number of arguments put out by the media but little coverage is given to the equality of all nationalities in Burma. Some key issues were omitted, but three are vital for peace: To solve the political crisis; equality for all citizens; and, the establishment of a power sharing relationship between the Burman and non-Burman nationalities drafted within a new constitution.

In response to reconvening the old "National Convention" and a call to a new "Election" proposed by the PM, Harn Yawnghwe, Director of the Euro-Burma Office Advisor to the ENSCC immediately released an addition to the PM’s "Road Map" for further consideration. The non-Burman opposition organizations in the country initiated by ENSCC (Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee) promptly responded to the seven point plan further adding six basic principles: Peaceful resolution; political dialogue; respect to the will of the people; and protection of the rights of citizens and all nationalities within a federal arrangement.

Equality for the ethnic nationalities under the law is the cornerstone to democracy in Burma, which unfortunately pushed Burma into five decades of civil war. In the decades past, the Rangoon regime planned to transform the country into a modern state, headed by the "Burmese Democratic Programme Party" in 1970, and then a decade later under the Burmese Socialist Programme Party led by military generals and their high ranking officers. Today the PM’s statement sounds like a recurring nightmare and a broken record.

The generals have blundered modern development and suppressed the ethnic nationalities who challenge their rule and who are viewed as enemies of the state. While the PM extols his government’s efforts with the support of Union Solidarity and Development Union, the SPDC is targeting NLD members by arresting and harassing supporters in Magwe and Tenasserim Divisions.

It is disappointing that Thailand doesn’t pressure enough its ‘friendly neighbor’ to hold talks with the ethnic nationalities and the NLD. The Road Map needs the cease-fire and non-cease-fire leaders, the ethnic peoples have lived in poverty for over 50 years and their participation is vital to form a genuine political culture. The SPDC must abolish its organization and form a "care-taker civilian government" consisting of representatives of the three major stakeholders: the Burma Defense Force; the National League for Democracy; and representatives from the ethnic led parties of the NCUG (National Council of Union of Burma).

Successive Rangoon governments since 1962 loathe the idea of a " Federal Union" while targeting non-Burman leaders for the "disintegration of the union". The policy of Burmanization in politics is the major problem and has been since independence from Britain in 1948 - the Rangoon Generals cannot see the forest for the trees.

The newly appointed PM in his policy address declared, “We cannot directly copy or import a democratic system that is being practiced abroad". Recently, at a hti (golden umbrella) ceremony, Khin Nyunt was seen reverently circling a pagoda, Kate Wheeler a writer for the New York Times who had witnessed the event wished that he'd go to the Pagan Museum to read a 1084 stone inscription: ''After me, whether my son or grandson, or any relation or any other person, if he oppresses the slaves I have offered to this shrine, may he not behold the Buddha Arimittiya.''

The current human rights situation reports government soldiers raping local non-Burman girls, occupying local ethnic land and properties, torturing anti-government activists and abusing the cultures of non-Burman people in the rural areas. The Rangoon dictators continue to kill off the NLD leadership and respected ethnic leaders that challenge their policy and the Burmese Army’s interests to remain in Public Office.

His constitution will not serve the entire people of the country if representatives of all minority nationalities are denied to participate in the constitutional debate. Moreover, with 500,000 troops in the country to feed it is quite clear that the new election is designed to buy time for the troops and their family’s business interests to secure capital control in the country. Thousands of SPDC members and families have maintained a good standard of living for themselves living off the back of the people, while the Rangoon Generals are protesting for the welfare of its members.

Surely 5 decades of civil war and destitution must be turned into something positive and be used to pave the way to a Road Map based on peace, unity and a democratic nation. The SPDC must be totally committed to abolishing the policy of "Burmanization" and work with the ethnic nationalities to introduce equality and build a democratic institution. A nation without sense of humanity and fairness among its native people will not achieve a political victory.