Day 4. (23 January 2015)

The Conference did not wind up as scheduled yesterday, since the draft NCA needs its approval before the NCCT meets the UPWC on 29 January.

Today it goes through its revised chapters as recommended by yesterday’s session.

The highlight of today’s session is the suggestion by the PaO-Palaung-Wa-Lahu grouping that establishment of new states be incorporated into the draft. “It is not merely aimed at granting states to other non-Burman nationalities,” said Hkun Myint Tun, the grouping’s spokesman. “Since we are demanding that Burmans have a state of their own, its inclusion will be helpful.”

The conference however thinks that the new states issue should not be included at this point and the proposition is put aside for future reference.

But since it is not the first time the Shan State is being confronted with the threat of secession from its own ranks, I would like to discuss how the matter was dealt with by our founding fathers.

• In 1947, the (heir apparent) chief of Kokang Yang Zhensai demanded secession from the state of Hsenwi.

The unhappiness of Kokang with Hsenwi stemmed from the fact that while the former had paid the customary annual tributes to the latter, the latter had failed to come to its assistance when it was under attack by the Japanese force during WWII, forcing the former to fend for itself. (The Prince of Hsenwi Sao Hom Fa, according to the memo produced on 25 August 1947, had explained that he was unable to help as he himself was being declared persona non grata by the Japanese in his home territory.)

The result of the meeting was that Kokang was allowed to secede from Hsenwi, but would be admitted as a new member in the Shan States Council, thereby increasing the membership of the federation from 33 to 34.

• Mongpai (called by Burmans as Moebyay or Mobye) was a different issue. For one thing, unlike Kokang, it was already a member principality of the Shan State federation. For another, it wanted to join with the Karenni/Kayah state.

• The 1947 constitution itself appears to have anticipated the inevitability of new states:

Of course, technical jargons as such was way over my head, so I asked a lawyer friend what it means in lay people’s lingo, and this was his reply: “It means a new state can come into being only by an Act, and such an Act can be adopted only by the approval of the state legislature concerned.”

After reading it, I thought it wasn’t a bad idea to dust off for reuse.

But then again, maybe it’s not a good idea anymore. “Times have changed,” I recall one of my friends saying. “There were times when being identified with Shans was a great honor and pride. Those days have gone.”

Day 5. Back to Bangkok Shutdown

Today we attended the morning session of the conference until the draft NCA had been approved without objection. Then we crossed the Moei back into Thailand.

While stopping at Mae Ramard on the way to Mae Sot, we heard over the radio about the state of emergency being announced in Bangkok two days earlier.

“The two sides won’t even listen to each other, let alone meet,” said the commentator.

I thought, well, at least we in Burma are listening to and meeting each other. While it doesn’t mean an agreement is in the offing, it does mean there’s a real chance for peace.

All we need to do is we don’t stop until and unless it becomes real.