Day Two. Monday 18 August 2014.
It takes us some time to get to MPC because the road is packed with cars big and small, old and new. All of them however possess one common feature: the number plates are all in English. No more are the Burmese characters and numerals. One might say Hopeland has cut ahead of Thailand at least in this respect. Because while motor vehicles in the kingdom have long adopted the Arabic figures, they still retain their Thai characters.

The meeting hall is already jammed with both the participants-observers and the media when we arrive just a few minutes ahead of 09:00, when the meeting is due to start.
The seats and desks have been arranged in a triangle. The base, where there is a screen in the rear, is for the UPWC. (I don’t see any military representatives there). On the left hand side are representatives from 34 parties out of 37 that were invited. (There are 67 registered parties in Hopeland).

On the right hand side of the triangle are the NCCT members. The seat reserved for me is there near the apex, where the two moderators, Aung Naing Oo and Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, are already seated.

Behind us are the technical advisers for the NCCT. All together, according to the self introductions there are about 75 attendees, including Vijay Nambiar, the UN Secretary General’s special representative.

The following is the gist of what takes place throughout the day:

U Aung Min   (opening speech)
At first there were 122 points to be discussed. During the previous two meetings, we were able to reduce them to 31. Now after three days of working together (15-17 August), only 4-5 points remain.

Note
The Irrawaddy reports later that the 5 points that need to be resolved are in the 5 chapters, namely, 2,3,5,6 and 7. It however doesn’t say which points they are.
It should be remembered that the 7 chapters of the draft Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) are:

1. 1.Basic Principles
2. 2.Aim and Objectives
3. 3.Ceasefire matters
4. 4.Strengthening the ceasefire
5. 5.Guarantee for Political Dialogue
6. 6.Future tasks
7. 7.General

It should also be added here that NCCT leader Nai Hong Sa, in response to a question from the media, said that the remaining 3 issues are: How the armed resistance movements are going to subsist during the transition, who are going to participate in the political dialogue and who are going to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). (He adds further details on another occasion, like recruitment).

Hkun Okker, another NCCT member, says what remains are mainly military matters.

Nai Hong Sa
This garden called Union will be ravishingly beautiful, if all varieties of flowers are allowed to bloom.

We’ve been called Hsupu Thaunggyan Thu (Troublemakers), but I would like to point out that our basic rights were denied. And when we had demanded them in peace, we were brutally suppressed, leaving us not choice but to take up arms.


Note
The term “insurgent” is literally “Tha bon” (sounding much like “the bone”) in Burmese. But officially it has been translated as Hsupu Thaunggyan Thu (troublemakers).
U Thein Zaw
Our next step will be for ratification of the NCA by the parliament.



S.Gun Maw
Some have complained that it has taken so long for the NCA to be completed. But I would like to point out that three years are nothing compared to 5 years (and upwards) in other countries.

One of the problems that have consistently dogged us is terminology. I have thought about how the Burmese language will fare after the peace process. Will it become more sophisticated or damaged?



After the opening speeches, the floor is given to the political parties. It should be noted that all of them, without exception, are supportive of the perceived success of the 3 days palaver (“The glimmers of peace have pierced though the darkness, “praised Sai Saw Aung, Vice Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy).

Dr Tuja, Kachin State Democratic Party (KSDP)
We fervently hope our happiness will not again turn to sadness. We don’t mind if it takes time (to complete the NCA). What we are asking is there be no unnecessary delay. (U Khin Maung Swe, National Democratic Force, later seconds by saying, “there must be no shilly-shallying. The momentum must be kept up.”)

My proposition is that there be a tripartite political dialogue afterward. (He is supported by
, leader of the White Tiger Party. Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA) while proposing basically for a tripartite arrangement, suggests other participants should be nominated by the three. Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF) on the other hand, calls for a 5 way dialogue: Democratic Parties, Ethnic Parties, Civil Society, Armed Groups and Government. The UPWC however has recommended on 8-party political dialogue: Government, Parliament, Armed Forces, Armed Resistance Movements, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Business sector and Academics. The NCCT has vehemently spoken against this configuration, fearing many of them will be government proxies).


Other Issues discussed by parties include: land confiscation; assistance for migrants in Thailand returning to Burma, especially the “1.3” million Shans; resettlement and rehabilitation of people affected by war; local government; to invite Kayan New Land Party (KNLP) a group that has been at ceasefire status since 1994 and the ratification of the Law Protecting The Rights of The National Races ASAP, among others.

The bombshell unexpectedly is dropped by a PaO leader, Hkun Soe Myint, chairman of the Union PaO National Organization (UPNO) who wakes up every sleepy attendee, including myself, by proposing that poppy cultivation be legalized if the zero- tolerance policy is to be implemented only half- heartedly, if all groups concerned are taxing the farmers and if no development projects are effectively carried out.

Vijay Nambiar then reads out the UN Secretary General’s message. (attached: see below)

Nai Hong Sa
We gratefully acknowledge the magnanimity of the UPWC for opening up doors for peace. We have now agreed upon the remedy for our malady. We will only need people who will courageously administer this remedy to cure our ills.

UAung Min
Since President Thein Sein took over, he has adopted a new culture: what is agreed upon, we will implement together. What is yet to be agreed, we will continue to discuss.
At 16:00, the meeting ends. Four of the NCCT members, whose organizations are also members of the 12 armed movements alliance, United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), go to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

For myself, no time is given to decide whether I should return to my hotel or visit my relatives. Because I find myself being dragged away to a special room occupied by SkyNet for a talk show conducted by Zaganar. Others who are being invited there to participate are Sai Ai PaO, Dr Tuja and Dr Andrew Ngun Zung Lian (MPC).

The session takes one and a half hour. And since I’m not taking any notes, I remember very little of most of what are being said by my friends. But I certainly won’t forget when Dr Andrew says: Successful negotiations, as Mr Khuensai has noted, are based on relationship-orientation rather than deal-orientation. So I would strongly suggest that a stable foundation is laid down before the 2015 elections.

By the time it is finished, it is already time for the dinner party hosted by U Aung Min at the MPC’s mess hall, where I meet several old friends and new ones.


Thus by the time I arrive at Summer Place, the hotel with the ground floor but no 4^th floor, it is already 21:30, 22:00 by Thai count, well past my bed time.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------