Make Burma safe for and against ethnicity

Make Burma safe for and against ethnicity, says non-Burman leader

Paraphrasing an American politician and writer, a Pa-o leader warned a gathering of youth on Friday (21 September) that unless there is a new political order that all major ethnic groups in Burma, including Burmans, can accept, continued strife and suffering in the country is inevitable.

"The challenge is to make Burma safe for and against ethnicity," Hkun Okker said during the 5-day long Nationalities Youth Seminar that ended yesterday (22 September), rewording Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who wrote: The challenge is to make the world safe for and against ethnicity.

Khun Markoban, MP (Pekon), Shan State, agreed. "The myth of 135 races fighting for independence is the invention of the military dictatorship to vindicate its refusal to hard over power," he said. "On the contrary, the 53 Chin groups (or 'races' as the regime prefers) have been calling for no more than a single autonomous state for themselves. So have the others."
Both of them were speaking as invited guests at the seminar held by the Nationalities Youth Development Committee. Among others were Sao Sengsuk (Shan Democratic Union), Hkun Teddy Buri (Members of Parliament Union), Dr Naing Aung (Network for Democracy and Development) and Peter Mortensen of Danish Burma Committee.

The 72 participants of the meeting were from 12 ethnic groups including Burman. Among the group was Aung Moe Zaw, president of the Democratic Party for New Society.

The seminar examined presentations on youth development and politics submitted by the participants and discussed how best all could cooperate. The resolution was to set up the United Nationalities Youth League with 2 representatives, preferably but not compulsorily 1 male and 1 female, from each ethnic group.

The seminar also agreed on the draft statement, to be issued today, that welcomed the ongoing talks in Rangoon between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the military authorities and promised "to push for Tripartite Dialogue."