Day Three, Friday, 5 August 2016

When you take refuge with the elephant

You need to be afraid of the buffalo

When you take refuge with the civet

You need to be afraid of the otter

(Shan proverb)

Today, the participants are on their own. Apart from one of their own people taking over the job of a facilitator, they no longer have a resource person.

And the main topic they discuss is about the ‘low hanging fruits’. Which reminds me of what U Aung Min, the former chief negotiator from the government’s side, had said in Lashio, in 2013, to Shan politicians:

“You can try to take from what you’re not offered. But, first, please try to find out what you can take from what’s being offered.”

What he meant was clear enough: that opposition politicians, instead of focusing only on amending and redrafting the 2008 constitution, should also try to make the best of what it had to offer.

That exactly appeared to be how Daw Suu had maneuvered herself to become the State Counselor. The 2008 constitution forbids her to become a President. At the same time, it doesn’t have anything to say about her becoming a State Counselor. Moreover, she only needed a simple majority of votes to install herself into the position. Unlike other provisions which calls for either approval by the military representatives in the legislature, or military representatives’ approval plus referendum. (One remark at the time was: “She had outgeneraled the generals in the particular case.”)

“We would need to explore how we can take advantage of the present constitution in order to empower the states, hence make it more federal,” says a discussant.

For instance, the President is empowered to select and appoint a state legislative representative as Chief Minister. “What should be is, of course, the state/region legislature elects its chief minister,” he says. “But the President may also appoint a candidate selected by the state legislature too, without having to amend the constitution.”

The long and short of today’s discussions is that the amendment/redrafting of the constitution may take years. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore everything else that can help more the going easy.

At least that is what I have been able to gather today.