(November 7, 2016)
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a pleasure for me to see all of you again today and speak about what we have done together during the past four or five years. I may not be the easiest boss to work under, especially considering the type of work we do, but I am thankful to Ko Aung Naing Oo for publishing his book, and of course, for still remembering to invite me to speak at his book launch.
It has been quite a journey and I think all of you will agree with me when I say that we have tried our hardest in the time we have been given. All of us knew when we started that achieving peace in Myanmar would be a long and winding road. We had to overcome many challenges between each other and sometimes within ourselves. We have also helped each other and worked together to get through what seemed at the time to be our darkest hours. So, despite the recent outbreak of fighting in the north, and even if peace seems to be further away than what we all envisioned, we must not give up working on peace.
I have been asked to speak about peace to many different stakeholders in many different surroundings. And I have spoken about the technical aspects of the Myanmar peace process, what we have tried to do, how we have tried to do it, who tried to help us and who tried their best to hinder it, and whether we were successful in what we wanted to achieve. But these grand endeavors, overreaching goals and promises of the future are not possible without the dedicated people who worked on the process. Like any other process, a successful peace process requires the right people to do the right things at the right time. These human connections, both with friends across the table as well as with colleagues sitting next to me, are the ones I will remember most.
I have been lucky to work with many dedicated individuals on our common journey towards peace. I have become friends, and in some cases even brothers, with those who I once considered to be enemies. From General Mutu Sae Poe to General Yawd Serk, and U David Taw who is no longer with us, I am honored to have learned from them the courage it takes to want peace. I do not want to imply that every meeting was easy or that every negotiation was successful. I remember our earliest meetings where the air hung heavy from all the tension inside the room. But little by little, we rolled up our sleeves to do the work, leaned on each other during tough times and learned to trust one another. These relationships will stay with me and remind me of what we tried to do together against all odds.
To tell you a story, I remember a quiet conversation I shared with General Mutu Sae Poe many months back. It was right after the ceremony to open part of the Asia highway connecting Kawkareik to Myawaddy. We were looking at a nearby hilltop when General Mutu told me that he was commanding his troops many years back when the Army was trying to take that location. I leaned over slowly and told him that I was the Army commander who was trying to take that particular hilltop. We shared a laugh at first and then a silence of remembrance afterwards. There are moments that the words don’t reach and we may never be able to explain to each other what we carry with us. But during that very personal moment, the two of us came close to understanding our joint purpose to end war. And I continue to be amazed by the threads that bind us, both seen and unseen, in war as well as in peace.
Even though I may have received most of the spotlight for what we were able to accomplish during the past four years, all of you will agree with me that my own journey for peace was travelled in the company of my comrades from the Myanmar Peace Center. They need no introduction and you know who they are. And they are sitting next to you today. I, who demanded, know how hard they worked and what they have given up. We were a band of brothers, a collection of misfits from different walks of life, who fit together at a critical moment in time when Myanmar decided to chart a new course. We were at our best when everything seems most hopeless. We were at our greatest when we worked as a team.
One of them, Ko Aung Naing Oo, has put out a book recording what we have done together. When he came to me and told me he was writing an insider account of the Myanmar Peace Process, I told him that he cannot write everything he knows. But of what he writes, I asked him to be honest, sincere and truthful. And Ko Aung Naing Oo has done us proud. I am also thankful that he put pen to paper and write down an account of our common journey. And we are here to celebrate it.
All the best.
