To Hopeland and Back: The 23rd trip
Understanding is much
deeper than trust.
Anonymous
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Photo:
indoess.org)
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My latest trip is about three things:
·
To attend the
drug policy dialogue in Naypyitaw
·
To attend the
meeting on Joint Coordination body (JCB) for peace funding
·
To deliver a
presentation on current peace process to foreign friends
Plus a few others, which I
will report as my journal proceeds.
Day One. Saturday, 5
November 2016
I loved when Bush came
out and said, “We are losing the war against drugs.”
Bill Hicks (1961-1994)
American stand-up
comedian, satirist and social critic
My trip coincides with the
report by Lahu National Development Organization (LNDO)’s Naypyitaw’s Drug
Addiction, which came out on 27 October.
The findings aren’t much
different from what I had reported from 2003 (“Show Business”) to 2012 (“Show
Drug Watch 2012”). The significance is that everything seems to have been
changing for the worst:
·
Despite peace
talks, there are reports of military buildup on both sides
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Photo:
indoess.org)
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·
Involvement of
Tatmadaw supported People’s Milia Forces (PMFs) in the drug business
·
Increase in drug
addiction among youth
·
Token drug programs
that don’t appear to be working
·
Burma Army units still
being paid off by farmers and investors
·
Trade off with farmers in order to win elections
The LNDO, headed by Japhet
Jagui, a former PMF leader, recommends that political resolutions must come
before termination of the drug problem in Burma.
Actually, it
is almost the same message given by Naypyitaw’s Central Committee for Drug
Abuse Control (CCDAC) during this year’s ceremony on 26 June marking the
international day against drugs. “Drug control and peace are interrelated,”
said Police Colonel Zaw Lin Tun, head of planning at the Burma Police anti-drug
squad.
So the first thing I do when I leave the airport is to
visit an old friend, whom I had often sought counsel more than 20 years ago. At
his explicit request, his identity will be kept under wraps for the time being.
Despite being media shy, I
found him forthright with his comments:
·
The standard
government policy has always been blaming the rebels. But in reality it’s not
like regular criminal activities. You catch the guilty person or the gang
involved, and it’s over. However, drugs involve the whole society from the top
to the bottom. Only by reaching a political resolution among its key
stakeholders, will we be able to settle the problem. For this, the government
needs to be broadminded. Talking about unity while pursuing a ‘divide-and-rule’
policy is not the way.
·
The royal project
in Thailand is a success, because there is peace and because the people trusted
the king and his staff. (Here is an excerpt from Ronald D. Renaud’s Opium
Reduction in Thailand, 1970-2000: A Thirty-Year journey:
The
leadership of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, strong political will, national unity,
together with the sound investment of the international community and the Thai
government, were major factors.
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Sai Naw Kham
(Photo: china.org.cm)
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On my way to the hotel,
the driver, who is a Shan from Mongyai tells me he is a relative by marriage to
the late ”druglord” Naw Kham, who was executed by Chinese authorities in 2013.
He confirms to me that Naw Kham came from a princeling family. His father Khun Zeun was a minor prince of Mongpart in the now defunct princedom of Mongyai. Married to Nang Mya Oo, they had 5 children:
·
Nang Nyunt Aye
·
Sai La Harn
(deceased)
·
Sai Naw Kham
(deceased)
·
Sai Oong Kya
·
Nang Kham Hawm
·
Sai Lao Fa
I hope I have time to
write about him before it’s time for me to go, as the car pulls up in front of
one of the hotels near the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.
Tags: Opinion
