State Counselor’s words: Lost in transmission?
The speech of the Buddha was
without defect:
1.
True, beneficial, and pleasing to others. This speech
the Buddha used on many occasions.
2.
True, beneficial, but not pleasing to others. This
speech the Buddha used whenever it was necessary to correct those who were
deviating from the path.
“How good is his English?”
“It varies. Depends on whether he wants misunderstandings
or not”
Venus with Pistol, Gavin
Lyall( 1932-2003) .
On 28 June 2016, State Counselor
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met leaders of the 8 signatory ethnic armed organizations
(EAOs) in Naypyitaw.
Bitter controversies have
been aroused both among those who were there and those who were not, depending
on how they interpret what she had said.
I have gone through the
transcript several times in order to make sense of her words, most of which
were clear and left no room for second interpretation. But the rest, especially
when she was speaking about Panglong and the right of secession, were spoken as
though her proficiency in Burmese had suddenly taken a plunge and she was groping
frantically for the right words.
The following shoddily
translated excerpts, I hope, may prove my points.
Here are those that are deemed
non-debatable, and indeed praiseworthy :
·
Worry comes from lack of faith. No worry is possible,
if there is faith in success.
·
When we are not on good terms, there is no peace.
Peace is the natural outcome, when we are on good terms.
·
Father said: if the ethnic peoples cannot be convinced
in ten years not to want to secede, it’s because the government’s hopeless. (The
right quote appears to be: If the ethnic peoples cannot be convinced in ten
years not to want to secede, it’s because we Burmans are hopeless.)
·
Federalism protects a country from separatism. It does
not propel a country to separation.
·
When there is sufficient guarantee of citizen’s
rights, no one wants to secede.
·
Whosoever wants to forge peace must avoid words
displeasing to others as best possible.
·
All have ownership to the Peace Conference, whether or
not they have signed( the Nationwide
Ceasefire Agreement )
And here are those that have
been drawing arguments. I have not tried to do a word- for- word translation,
only to paraphrase them. I hope I’m forgiven for taking such liberty.
·
People ask what I mean by using the word “Panglong”
for the Union Peace Conference? Does it mean it should be based on its original
spirit, agreement and promises? What I would like to say is it’s not going to
be based on the Panglong Agreement, which was concluded in order to achieve
independence. On the contrary, I believe it must be based on the spirit of
Panglong, which upholds Unity in Diversity.
·
Secession was part of the promise given at Panglong,
Some people are worried and have asked whether I would allow secession. My
answer is when the decision is made to establish a union, it must be with the
determination that we would make it an enduring one.
Please take a look at world history. Some countries
that are granted the right continue to hold on together, while others that are
not given it are breaking away from each other. Summing up, it all rests on
whether there is genuine unity or not.
I
hope I have not lost in translation the intended meaning of her words, unless
she was deliberately trying to confuse us.
Granted
I haven’t, the reader should now be able to make up her/his mind whether the
peace process will go further under her leadership. At least that’s what I
hope.
Tags: Opinion
