For the umpteenth time since the peace process began in 2011, experts, domestic and foreign alike, have urged both ethnic political parties and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) to decide for themselves what they want for a federal democracy. The foreign academic on a visit to Chiangmai on 30 April-2 May was no exception.

The scholar, who has requested anonymity, told his 20-plus strong audience, made up of leaders from Karen National Union (KNU) and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) that they had 27 models to choose from, “because each of them is different from the other.”

The workshop was led by Gen Mutu Saypoe, President of KNU, and his RCSS counterpart, Lt-Gen Yawd Serk.

“Unless you have a clear idea of what you want, there’s no point entering a dialogue with the government,” he says.

Nevertheless, the world’s 27 federal unions have 6 generally common features, according to him, which are:

• Each constituent state has its own constitution
• Each constituent state has its own independent judiciary
• There are at least two levels, union and state, of elections
• The powers of the Union come from the states
• The relationship between the Union and states are not only vertical but also horizontal
• Equitable share of wealth

On the question of new states that had been one of the most hotly debated topics during the Union Peace Conference #1 (UPC-1) in January, his counsel was to establish criteria for aspirants to satisfy, instead of knee-jerk acceptance or refusal.

Undoubtedly with a view to this, the draft constitution formed by Aung San’s Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) in 1947 contains the following criteria:

1. A defined geographical area
2. A single language different from Burmese
3. A single culture
4. A community of a single historical tradition
5. A community of economic interests and a measure of economic self-sufficiency
6. A fairly large population
7. A desire to maintain its distinct identity as a separate unit of the union

(The 1942 Constitution and the Nationalities, Volume 2)

Asked why only two of them and not the remaining 6 EAOs that are co-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) were meeting, Gen Mutu Saypoe had replied:

“It is simple. For one thing, the two of us have been allies for 2 decades and we’ve been meeting regularly. For another, both of us have been appointed as leader and deputy leader of the 8 EAOs Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) at the Second Summit in March to lead the political negotiations with the government. We therefore need to discuss how to go about it.”

The result of the workshop is expected to be discussed at the planned Third Summit of the 8EAOs, the date of which has yet to be set.

State Counselor Daw Sung San Suu Kyi, during her meeting with EAO and military leaders on 27 April in Naypyitaw, had expressed her wish to hold a 21^st Century Panglong Conference, generally assumed to be a continuation of the UPC#1, in 1-2 months.