Lashio Trust-building for Peace conference, 20-22 March, has been credited for constructing a good foundation for building relationships not only among ethnic nationalities themselves but between ethnic people and the government, said Sai Leik, spokesperson for the conference organizing committee and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

“The weak point is that although we have informed all the participants to prepare their presentations before coming to the conference, very few representatives had done it. And the organizing committee was unable to make a double check. The papers which were read out in the hall were not up to our satisfaction, as most were incomplete. The strong point is that the conference has brought a closeness and trust between the people of Shan State and Kayah State as well as between ethnic peoples and the government,” he said.



“Moreover, the perspectives of our people based on their experience during the rule by Shan princes and now are somewhat changing,” said Sai Leik.

“It is not that we want to secede from the union. We have high hopes for a genuine federal union. The objectives of this conference is indeed to establish a genuine federal union which is non-sectarian, equality and justice across racial, national and cultural boundaries. Unless this country is well established on this foundation, there will be no peace. If civil war is not stopped, ‘peace’ is only a wishful thinking word. We cannot win the hearts of the people,” said Sai Leik.

The joint statement from a 3-day Lashio conference echoed: to establish a genuine federal union, to amend the 2008 constitution or to re-write a new one; riots, killings among the Buddhist-Muslim sectarian happening in central Burma is a direct challenge to “peace process”; it is also mocking the credibility of ‘rule of law’; thus one who is responsible for the riots should be punished. “This conference, as we think, gives a common good in order for the emergence of a genuine federal union, so well deserved for appraisal,” said Sai Leik.

In the future, whether to hold such a conference in a larger scale in which to include more ethnic nationalities or not, Sai Leik said, “We have yet to assess the outcome of the two conferences which have already convened in Yangon with only Shan and a recent one in Lashio which is between Shan and Kayah.”

The joint statement released on the final day meanwhile promised further meetings in the near future.