NATIONAL-LEVEL POLITICAL DIALOGUE BEGINS: Forum of Karen, Pa-O nationals and federalism conundrum
Federalism has been a taboo theme since 1962 when the Military or Tatmadaw
staged a coup d' etat and replaced the democratically elected government of U
Nu, until the quasi-civilian government of Thein Sein, following the 2009
nationwide election came to power, under the military-drafted constitution.
The term
"federalism" or "federal union" once again after nearly
five forbidden decades was allowed to be openly mentioned by the Thein Sein
regime, which has since gained currency that has always been the main demand of
the non-Bamar ethnic nationalities to resolve the conflict and address their
political grievances.
This call for the establishment of a federal union also has been the cornerstone of the National League for Democracy's (NLD) policy, since its opposition days when it was in league with the ethnic political parties, under the rubric of Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), a main opposition political alliance that had resisted the military dictatorship and seen as a vanguard of the country in those days.
Now once again, the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC), an organ of the NLD regime directing the peace process, recently reiterated it's position again that federalism is the only way to achieve reconciliation and peace.
On January 19, Union Minister for Office of the State
Counselor Kyaw Tint Swe, who is also Vice-Chairman of the NRPC, during the
seminar on “Peace Process Orientation Course” told the audience that political
problems should be solved through political means and the 21st
Century Panglong Conference aimed at fulfilling the long demanded political
dialogue of the ethnic nationalities and federal system would be the only
suitable and appropriate way to end the decades-old armed conflict.
Furthermore, Union Peace Conference - 21st Century Panglong is the
only one where negotiation on federalism that accepted the said mentioned
issues could be conducted.
Karen national-level conference
In the same vein, the national-level political
dialogue conference of the Karen was held
from January 18 to 20, where implementation of federalism was a dominant
topic and intensively discussed.
The Hpa-an political dialogue was attended by the
three Karen armed groups party to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), as
well as five political parties, Karen national representatives from local civil
society groups and individuals across the country, numbering some 600
participants.
The participants diversified into
discussion groups centered around one of the four topics included under the
umbrella of the national-level political dialogues: politics, economics, social
issues and land and environmental issues.
At the end of the conference, on January 20, “Karen National Dialogue Convening Committee”
issued a statement, in order that all-inclusive, meaningful, dignified
political dialogue to emerge called on all concerned:
·
To widely conduct
national-level political discussions according to the national groups, regions
and topics with groups and organizations that are entitled to, in places and
regions ready for the event;
·
To end the armed conflict
with the non-signatory Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and urges the Tatmadaw
to open up more space and opportunity for the non-signatories, in order they
could speedily sign the NCA;
·
Proposes for the continuation of talks, with reference
to the Framework for Political Dialogue, on basic principles concerning
national security and other sectors; and
·
Urges all ethnic
nationalities, including the Karen people, the government, the Tatmadaw and all
those who ought and appropriate to be involved to resolve the political
problems through political means, according to the new political culture.
Karen's idea on federal union
Aside from having a similar basic proposal put forward
at the Mai Ja Yang ethnic leadership conference in Kachin State last year, the
Karen conference idea of federal system further added up more territorial division
for the “sub-national” or “sub-ethnic” groups.
The term, “sub-national” or “sub-ethnic” groups are
used here to differentiate the existing ethnic states dominant groups from
minorities within each ethnic states and is in no way, aimed at discriminating
them but only for clarity sake, in addressing the issue.
Accordingly, a Federal
Union composed of national states and nationalities states has been envisioned,
where national states would be the current existing states, dominated by one
particular ethnic group like Kachin, Shan, Karenni (Kayah), Karen, Mon, Araken
and Chin, the nationalities states would be the Regions like Tanintharyi and
Ayeyarwady, Sagaing and so on, where various sub-ethnic groups inhabited along
side each other.
The Karen national leaders suggested
that every significant minority or sub-ethnic group not big enough for their
own state could occupy autonomous regions called “national areas”.
The participants at the dialogue
forum also discussed and toyed with the idea of forming a “Bamar State” as part
of their idealized Federal Union, which many ethnic nationalities considered to
be able to establish a genuine federalism, the Bamar needs to have their own
state to be on equal-footing with all the ethnic states and not diversified into
seven Regions to have political edge in federal-level decision-making.
Pa-O
national-level dialogue
Shortly after the Karen, the Pa-O
national-level preliminary dialogue conference was also held in Hpa-an on
January 22, where some 200 Pa-O people from around the place attended the
meeting.
The conference discussed about how
its people would like to go about implementing the federalism they envisioned
and openly talked about their wish to be categorized as a national state.
Hkun Myint Htoon Pa-O National Liberation
Organization (PNLO) Chairman said: "Our ultimate aim is the emergence of a
Pa-O national state. We, Pa-O has separate symbol (identity) and fully endowed
with (characteristics) of a people."
In its position paper, during the 21st
Century Panglong Conference initiated by the NLD, PNLO has made known it's
stand that there should be a provision for the creation of new states to be
incorporated into the future constitutional amendments.
Such preliminary conferences have
been held in Shan and Mon States for the Pa-O people and would follow up in
Bago Region is also said to be in the pipeline.
Perspective
As could be seen from the Karen and
Pa-O national-level conferences deliberations, the further creation of new
national states, within the union, and nationalities states are on the agenda
of most ethnic nationalities, if the first 21st Century Panglong
Conference's political position papers delivered by them are to be taken as indications.
While the Wa, Ta'ang, Pa-O and Tai
Leng are openly calling for carving out new national states from the existing
ones, many more are aspiring for national areas or self-rule.
This is a tall order for any
government that has to tackle and accommodate the aspirations of the main seven
ethnic groups and their sub-ethnic groups that inhabited within the existing
ethnic states, plus the assorted various sub-ethnic groups' demands for “national areas”.
Of course, that is not to say that it
is impossible, but only has to be done in a well thought-out sequence and
correct theoretical underpinnings. As it is impossible to spell out or do
brainstorming covering all these issues in this short article, suffice it to
say, criterion for the creation of national state and national area should be
drawn out together by all the stakeholders that aspire to upgrade their
administration status, one way or the other.
For the time being, as has time and
again been urged, the most immediate pressing issues are to end the war in the
northern part of the country; to carry out all encompassing nationwide
ceasefire that would really hold; and to allow all-inclusive and equitable
participation of all warring parties, so that the genuine national
reconciliation peace process could begin in earnest.
Tags: Opinion
