Scotland referendum: Great Britain will likely remain great
Coming back from London where I had stayed for a week
amid the general flurry around today’s upcoming referendum in Scotland, my
feeling is that the United Kingdom will remain united, despite the fact that
opinion polls in the last few days indicate the number of those for Yes
Scotland appear to be closing in and at least 5% of the respondents are
undecided.
Coming from a Shan who had fought for so long the
independence of Shan State (1969-1996) my assertion could be interpreted as a
let-down, indeed a sign of betrayal, by many of my friends. But they should
know I’m not speaking through my hat, at least I don’t think so.
Scotland is a lot like Shan State, according to what I have
learned there:
§ It
wasn’t conquered like Wales and Ireland by England, for one thing. The union
between the two 307 years ago was a voluntary one
§ Following
the unification during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, James VI of Scotland
(and his successors) became King of Great Britain (“Great” was said to have
been added by him and “Britain,” unlike “Myanmar”, is not an alias of “Burma”)
§ There
have also been more than 10 Scots elected as prime ministers of the country
since
§ Scotland
has been gaining increasing powers of autonomy since 1999 when the Scottish
parliament was established (“The Burmese
military may have second thoughts about federalism, if the Yes Scotland camp
wins,” one of my friends warned)
§ Moreover,
the people of Scotland have not been subject to continuous violation of human
rights, confiscation of land, and extrajudicial killing and sexual violence by
the English like the Shans and other non-Burmans are here (“If they were mistreated
like the Shans are, I have nothing but full support for their attempt to
secede,” one English friend told me)
§ There
is also the usual terrible dilemma between choosing the devil you know and the
deep sea you don’t
So I’m betting that the Better
Together will win though it might well be a close shave.
It will show our Burmese brethren that their fear of
secession is groundless, as long as their behavior towards us is proper and
honorable.
My only wish is that a similar referendum for the Shan
State doesn’t come so soon, because nobody, is ready for that yet.
Tags: Opinion