U Win Myint’s annoyance is understandable, when he blasted at Daw Khin Saw Wai of Arakan National Party (ANP) for making public the house speaker’s rejection of her proposal to help the Arakan IDPs, for he is just part of Daw Suu’s front-line team. And as such, has to be a party’s loyal soldier.
Speculations are rife that back-door political give and take between the NLD and Tatmadaw has been in place, at least where the ethnic armed organizations are concerned.
Accordingly, the NLD or Daw Suu is now said to be toeing the military line of non-inclusiveness, which is the side-lining the Kokang of MNDAA, Palaung or Ta~ang’s TNLA and Arakan’s AA.
Arakan National Party’s insistence of the Tatmadaw offensives or annihilation of the AA in Arakan State be stopped and include AA in the peace process are not on the military’s agenda or its liking. As such, debates that will lead to the clear picture of who is having influence on whom, that would reveal by conducting such debate, needs to be stopped on track.
For it would be a lost of face to admit that the military is calling the shots, in the ongoing peace process, and the NLD has to follow its lead. The same goes for the Tatmadaw or military, as it is starting to portray itself as been a Union Army, that is tasked with defending the country besides being representing the whole ethnic spectrum, taking orders from the civilian government and protecting the democratic institution. But the reality could also be that the NLD has either been bullied to accept its policy line of non-inclusiveness on ethnic resistance or willingly join the military, for its survival by forsaking its prior commitment of all-inclusiveness, at the expense of the ethnic armed groups in general.
It would be a pity, if the NLD is only looking at the short term gain and survival and abandon its sound peace process policy. Hopefully, Daw Suu and NLD will reread their election manifesto and correct their derailed policy formulation for the benefit of the ethnic nationalities.
