Exiled Shans hold meeting

Politics

Exiled Shans hold meeting

Veteran fighter becomes acting chair

A two-day meeting was held by the Shan Democratic Union, formed in 1996 by expatriate Shans, in Chiangmai, 10-11 July. S.H.A.N. correspondent reports from the meeting:

Sao Sengsuk

The meeting, the first major one since its last congress in 2000, elected the group's spokesman Sao Sengsuk a.k.a Hkun Kya Nu, 69, as Acting President, to fill up the vacancy created by the unexpected resignation of Sao Hso Hom, Prince of Mongpawn, in 2002, and the death of Sai Htun, his vice-president, last year.

Sao Hso Hom

"Sao Hso Hom was pressured by Rangoon to withdraw," said Sao Sengsuk, the co-founder of the SDU and retired commander-in-chief of the Shan State Army, who also doubles as Chairman of the Shan State Constitution Drafting Commission. "We have but total understanding and sympathy for him. The SDU eagerly awaits his return to leadership of the movement, for which he had provided such a truly great constitution."

Sao Hso Hom, 69, who resides in Australia, is a son of Sao Sam Htun, who was assassinated on 19 July 1947 together with Gen Aung San. His younger brother, Sao Kai Fah, is the president of Rangoon-based Foreign Correspondents Club.

Chao Tzang Yawnghwe

The meeting also resolved to hold the next elections in 2005. Among the likely candidates are, apart from Sao Sengsuk, Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, who has been recovering from his long illness at his home in Canada, and Gen Phon Wanakamon, a retired Thai general of Shan descent, who currently heads the Bangkok-based Tai Union.

Gen Phon Wanakamon

According to Wansai, 54, General Secretary, the SDU, together with the Karen National Union, had, during the past three years of intensive lobbying trips to almost all the countries within the European Union, successfully "convinced the EU and put the non-Burman ethnic nationalities as a viable stakeholder and formidable third force in Burma's area." It had also taken a leading role in forming the Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee, later renamed Ethnic Nationalities Council, a non-Burman policy making body, "to coordinate efforts by the ethnic nationalities inside and outside Burma to achieve a Tripartite Dialogue as called for by the UN."

Sao Kai Fah

Concerning the recently adjourned Rangoon-sponsored National Convention, charged with the job of laying down basic principle for Burma's future constitution, the SDU does not appear to place much hope. "We see only three likely and unlikely scenarios:

• The military sticking to its declared 6 objectives and 104 principles

• The military trying to buy more time by not resuming the convention as soon as possible

• The military loosening itself up to open its doors for an all-inclusive participation," said Sao Sengsuk.

• "The two preceding scenarios mean the generals are not ready to budge and the stand-off continues," explained Wansai, 54. "They also call for a complete reassessment of the opposition's strategy.

"As for the third scenario, unlikely as it may seem, we should be ready for it also."

The meeting's participants, especially from the youth sector, however, are of the opinion that the SDU could not afford to rest on its laurels. "There are still many things to be done, such as lobbying not only the western nations but also our most immediate neighbors and dealing with the question of succession and continuity," said one young member. "After all, nobody's going to live forever."

The SDU, according to its constitution, is committed to "explore all political solutions, including the creation of a new federal union based on mutual respect, equality and justice for all."