Day Two, Thursday, 3 March 2016

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.

Dale Carnegie

MiCasa (My Home) hotel is where we are meeting today. It is the 5th bi-annual meeting since the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) was formed over two years ago. A belated one, you may say, because previously scheduled for August 2015, the nationwide campaigns for the November elections had intervened.

It is also the first time  it is being held inside the country, as pointed out by Sao Yawdserk, the outgoing annual chair of the alliance, during his opening address.

Among the high profile participants, apart from him, are Hkun Tun Oo, Gen Hso Ten, Sao Gaifa, Sai Nyunt Lwin aka Sai Nood, Sai Leik aka Sai La and Peun Kham Payakwong,  the CSSU’s outgoing secretary. Also obvious by his absence is Sai Ai Pao, leader of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), although he is reported to be in Rangoon.

The reason for his non- attendance is spelled  out by an explanatory note from the party which is read out by Peun Kham:

The Central Committee’s tenure ended on 31 January and the party has fixed 20 March for its new election. In the meanwhile, there are no CC members to represent the party, it says.

Then comes the report by the Secretary General. The crowning success of the CSSU, according to him, is marked by the agreement on the 12 guiding principles for Shan State constitution and the 23 basic principles for the future federal union.  ( See attachment)

It has also begun coordination with non- Shan groups, notably, PaO, Intha and Danu, with the aim to invite them for membership during the upcoming bi-annual conferences.

The cardinal aim of CSSU is to put forward a common proposal to the Union Peace Conference.

Below are the excerpted comments on the report by the other participants:

• The report has little or no analysis of current world and internal situation. This needs to be improved in future conferences.
• The world used to have a Yugoslavia Today it is gone. Shan State is in danger of undergoing the same fate.

Next on the item is the relinquishment of the chair to the conference that has to elect a new successor.

According to Peun Kham, the SNDP is next in line. Moreover, it had already agreed last year to take over from the RCSS. However, due to its non-attendance and the CSSU can’t go forward without a chair, the meeting, after a debate, passes a resolution to hand over the chair to the next, next in line, the SSJAC. Hkun Tun Oo himself rises up to accept the office, saying, “ I’m already chairing the SNLD, SSJAC, UNA (United  Nationalities Alliance) and the 1990 winning parties coalition. What’s more, our party is likely to lose some of our hardworking leading members to the new government to be formed. But I had never sidestepped duty when it was given. And I’m not going to do that now.”

The burly Hkun Tun Oo receives a huge applause from the meeting.

Before the meeting adjourns for the day, there is an unexpected visit, in the form of problem. An official directive says the conference cannot continue without  permission.

I accompany Sai Nood, Sai La and Sai Kyaw Nyunt (SNLD member and secretary to the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee) to the Western District GAD (General Administrative Department).

The GAD, as most readers informed about the country, permeates the whole administrative system up from the President’s Office down to the village level.

Takes us half an hour to get there and another hour to meet the officer, who’s assigned the job of explaining why it can’t grant permission. At least he is polite and patient, even if he is practically saying no to his visitors:

• The application (which was written two hours ago) is not in order. No letters of recommendation from the ward and the township police concerned.
• In any case, the district GAD’s job is to submit the application upstairs. It is only the regional chief minister’s office that is empowered to give a decision.

The organizing committee’s initial reaction is to go ahead with the conference at the hotel (tomorrow, it will be at Summit Parkview). “And if there is a showdown,” one of the organizers says, “everyone will know democracy in this country is but the emperor’s new clothes.”

However, sometime toward the evening, the hotel management informs the committee that it has been warned by the authorities not to allow the conference to be held within its premises.

Everything thus seems to be in limbo when I get back to the hotel.

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

Download PDF file: 12 guiding principles for Shan State