Tell’s Land
Day One. Wednesday, 15
January 2016
Every deck of
cards needs a joker.
I’m that.
(Anonymous)
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Map of
Switzerland with the places we visited
|
I don’t want to go. But I want to go.
There are
good reasons why I don’t:
·
The place is six hours time difference from where I’m living. Worse,
it’s winter time and you know how cold it’s there. I’m not sure whether this
already battered body of mine will be able to adapt itself to the rigors of
them.
·
Since the signing of the Nationwide
Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), I had been waiting for the day when political
dialogue would start. And it is already starting, 12-16 January.
On the other
hand, I also have other reasons why I want to:
 |
William Tell shooting the apple off his son's head
|
·
Switzerland has been one of the countries I have always wanted to
visit. Since I had , as a schoolboy, read the story of William Tell, who, under
threat from Gesseler the tyrant, had successfully shot an apple off his son’s
head. Later, as I grew older, I was introduced to the federalism practiced there
by U Tun Myint of Taunggyi, the Shans’ foremost political writer.
·
Battered or not, deep down
in my heart, I know that if I don’t go now, there’ll be no second chance for
me. Moreover, the Union Peace Conference (UPC) doesn’t need me. Besides, it is
not going to go away. There’ll still be UPC#2, UPC#3, and so on. All I need to
do is to stay alive.
·
Switzerland, like Shan State,
is a landlocked country, a multi-national one, to boot. Only a quarter of Shan
State’s size, surrounded by powerful neighbors, and no rich natural resources
worth mentioning , it has managed to overcome all the odds to become one of the
most successful countries in the world. Surely, there’s a lot to learn from it.
Sao Yawd
Serk, Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army
(RCSS/SSA), and head of the delegation, while waiting for our plane at
Suvarnabhumi, says there have been two issues hotly discussed at the UPC:
·
How to reconcile the “one
country, one military” principle and the non-Burmans’ call for “state defense
forces”
·
The demands by PaO, Palaung
(Ta-ang), Wa and Tai Leng (Shan Ni) for separate statehoods
Well, I say
to myself, our trip may be able to find some answers, if not all, to these
questions.
Just before
midnight, we are on the plane. The air hostess offers me a Jack Daniel for a
night cap. With that in my belly, I hope to kill most of the 12 grueling hours
of the flight to Zurich.
Tags: Opinion
