Day Six, Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Today we wound up our 6-day marathon meeting with an agreement to continue with our ongoing programs and also launch new ones.

Ongoing programs

• Free Ethnic Voice Radio (FEVR) with The Voice of America (VOA)
• Ethnic Perspective TV with Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)
• Ethnic Women’s Voice FM radio program in Maesot
• Peace Process monitoring

New Programs

• Election Watch
• Census Watch
• Peace Radio Program

The draft charter, meanwhile, will be discussed among each group and is expected to be ratified during the next bi-annual meeting.

All in all, the meeting was a success, thanks to all the participants.

My role, as befitting my age and seniority, was just to be there to encourage, warn and lend a hand when necessary.

This was the first time I realized that it was time things were better left to the next generation. Because they are better equipped to tackle with the new situations with new ways and methods. Only when it comes to the law of nature of things, they may need us to advise them.


The successful conclusion of the meeting was then celebrated at the Golden Duck restaurant not far from the majestic Shwe Dagon. I sat with them for an hour and return to my den.

The next day, the last day of my stay, was spent with my relatives who live in Rangoon. I also bought a few books, one of them a re-print of U Ohn Pe’s “Panglong Review”.

Armed with them, I bravely returned to Chiangmai on the following day.