Unlike many non-Burmans (or Bamars), many  of whom SHAN has discussed with agree with U Aung Thaung, the ruling party MP, who proposed that names of states, where non-Burmans are the majority and they used to be territories independent from Burma Proper until independence from the British, should be geographical like Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Magwe, and  so on. Not unlike Texas, California, and so on in the United States.

The logic behind this is simple: when you say Shan State is Shan State, non-Shans might feel left out and their sense of belonging might be at a loss. On the contrary, geographical names may give one a sense of collective belonging. Each state will then be united. And if the states are united, the non-disintegration of the Union, one of the three holy missions of the ruling class, will be guaranteed. It’s as simple as that.

The discussants’ only suggestion, based on the same logic, is why don’t we change the name of the country from Burma/Myanmar to something else. Because, whatever our military leaders say, ‘Myanmar’ is synonymous with Burma or Bamar. As Indian is to Babuji, and Chinese is to Paukhpaw. The eminent Aung San Suu Kyi herself has acknowledged that. (At least the name Burma was adopted by the 1947 Constituent Assembly that was made up of both Burman and non-Burman states’ representatives.)

Actually this story is not new. During the 1993-2007 National Convention, ostensibly held to lay basic constitutional principles, a similar proposal was presented by military representatives. Critics against it said there were two reasons they were against it:
• One, unlike American states, those in Burma have historically been known by the names of their ethnic majority in each state
• Two, racial discrimination and racial assimilation have been an official policy of successive Burmese rulers. There has been little or no human rights, let alone indigenous rights, for these peoples. “The only thing that remains is our ethnic labels,” one said. “And now they are even trying to erase it.”

Nonetheless, the discussants are certain that the non-Burmans won’t have any objection to changing their states’ names, if only our Burman/Bamar/Myanmar leaders are happy to do the same with the country’s name. After all, it belongs not only to the Burman/Bamar/Myanmar people, but also to the non-Burmans as well.

One way to do it is suggested by one of the discussants: That is, to combine all the first letters of each major ethnic group and form them into a word, an acronym. The result of the exercise is quite interesting-and hilarious.

S     - Shan
M  - Myanmar, Mon
A   - Arakan
C   - Chin
K   - Kachin, Karen and Karenni (Kayah)

Accordingly, the country, for unity’s sake, should therefore be re-named “Smack”.

Well, this is just an example and not one that is easy to get used to without getting some sort of smiles from our neighbors.

We are sure there must be names that are better getting used to. If we just try.