Day Ten, Monday, 23 November 2015
War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.
Thomas Mann
Today, representatives from political parties, EAOs and the government plus technical resource agencies like Beda, EBO and Pyidaungsu Institute hold the ninth—and final—informal consultation on the Framework for Political Dialogue (FPD) at the Inya Lake Hotel in Yangon.
It is due to the initiative of four EAOs: Karen National Union (KNU), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the Karen Peace Council (KPC). Together with the government, parliament, the armed forces and 55 political parties they co-initiated and co-signed the still-controversial Deed of Commitment for Peace and Reconciliation (DoC) on February 12, Union Day.
In May, they called for informal consultations to combine the existing FPD drafts, merge what is common among them, and suggest options for dealing with differences.
The six-month consultations have discovered 14 common headings, which include: Agenda and Issues, Mandate, Composition for Participation and Decision-making. The purpose is to submit these to the official FPD drafting body to be formed in the wake of the NCA signing. They hoped that, in this way, the FPD drafting could be completed within the 60-day deadline.
Two questions arise during this last unofficial but solemn gathering:
- Whether the government or the EAOs, or both, are trying to stampede the political parties, many of which are newcomers, into accepting their FPD terms
- Whether the NCA should be amended to extend the 60-day deadline to a 180-day one. “What is sacred is the substance,” says a participant who has, since the beginning, been a great asset to the process. “This should not be changed. But what is not sacred is that timeline. You know the 60-day deadline is more inspirational than realistic.”
The first question is dealt with easily enough. Veteran participants are quick to point out that it isn’t their fault that the FPD should be drafted within 60 days of the NCA signing (which is by 14 December), but that the pressure comes from the NCA itself, specifically Paragraph 21-b.
The second question is more delicate, as there are those that tend to agree with the participant who has made the suggestion. However, in the end, the final conclusion is that the risk outweighs the advantages that the extension may offer. The following arguments were made against it:
- The NCA has been signed under the eyes of the world only a month ago. If we rush to amend it now, who will trust us to pursue the mission to the end?
- Amending it will only serve to devalue it
- Amending it will hurt the mutual trust that we have managed to build within the last few years. Which appears to go in line with what “Mahogany Silver Rain” had said: Peace and trust take years to build and seconds to shatter.
- The NCA is the common ground between the signatories and (most of) the non-signatories. We can win them over by implementing it, not by amending it. Or else we will have to start from scratch again.
The day ends with news from the grapevine that a delegation from the embattled Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) is meeting its government counterpart. And that the progress is such that the latter is dispatching a plane to pick up the group’s deputy-in-command for further negotiations tomorrow.
Well, I sincerely hope it works. The latest Burma Army offensive against the SSPP/SSA-N which has displaced more than 10,000 people, if nothing else, has only served to unite the squabbling Shans were they left to themselves. More so than the “Four Cuts” campaign against the RCSS/SSA-S that made more than 300,000 people in 11 townships homeless in 1996. Thanks to the Open Door policy of U Thein Sein government and the social media that it has allowed to thrive.
Day Eleven, Tuesday, 24 November 2015
Peace is not something you wish for.
It is something you make, something you are, something you do, and something you give away.
Robert Fulghum
The day, despite initial and needless fears that the NLD might not play ball, ends with smiles all around from the attendees at the enlarged UPDJC No. 2 meeting.
The fear is not unfounded. Some of the NLD leading members had earlier objected to the inclusion of representatives from parties that were not elected.
To everyone’s relief, the party’s representatives, U Win Htein and U Myo Yan Naung Thein, graciously decide not to push the issue.
The result is the approval of the 16 representatives of political parties (NLD-2, USDP-2, SNLD-1, ANP-1, UNA-1, FDA-1, and NBF-1 were appointed and seven others were elected three days earlier).
The meeting also passes the following resolution, among others:
- Election of U Thu Way (Vice Chair for political parties)
Sai Kyaw Nyunt (Secretary for political parties)
- Appointment of 24 drafters for the Framework for Political Dialogue Drafting Committee (FPDDC)—eight from each category: government, EAOs and political parties)
- The FPD drafting will begin on 27 November
I leave for Chiang Mai the next day. On the way to Mingladon Airport, I’m told that the negotiations between the SSPP/SSA-N delegation led by Maj. Gen. Kherh Tai and the government delegation led by Lt. Gen. Ya Pyae went well, and the former is returning today to hold an ad-hoc session of its Central Committee (another source gives me a contradictory view).
Meanwhile, The Lady appears to have set in motion her national reconciliation programs by proposing that her upcoming administration be made up of not only members from her own party but also other winning parties too. And the response seems to be positive, if cautious.
The only people who may have different views—and rightly so—will be the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war who still cannot return to their homes.
By SAI KHUENSAI / Director of Pyidaungsu Institute and Founder of Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
All views expressed are the author’s own.
