Junta plays dirty game, claims convention delegate

Politics

Junta plays dirty game, claims convention delegate

The military government's agents in the still ongoing National Convention have been busy playing one delegation against another throughout, according a participant from Shan State.

"Each one of the 13 delegations that had jointly submitted a paper (proposing that most legislative powers remain in each constituent state) has been met and lectured on the benefits of presenting separate proposals," said the representative from the Other Invited Delegates group, one of the eight Convention groupings as classified by the conveners.

The group consists of 90 delegates from 28 armed organizations that have either concluded truce pacts with or surrendered to Rangoon and 15 individuals. The remaining seven groups are Political parties, Representatives-elect, National races, Peasants, Workers, Intellectuals-intelligentsia and state service personnel.

He claimed that none of the 13 delegations had been swayed by the officials' "sweet words," though it had succeeded in convincing Kokang, Wa and Mongla delegations to put together a separate set of proposals. "Their main proposition is to deal with them as Union Territories, thus coming under direct control of central government instead of state," explained the delegate. "Their rationale is that all the three regions border with China, thus requiring a high security attention from the center."

He however was not sure if the three entertained ulterior motives as well. In the past, two principalities had applied for secession to the Shan States Council. As a result, Kokang was allowed to secede from Hsenwi but remained in the Shan federation, while Mongpai's application was left pending a referendum and response in favor by the Karenni-Kayah state which Mongpai aspired to join. (The prince of Mongpai, called Mobyay by Burmese, nevertheless, failed to realize his dream, as he was unable to resolve existing disputes with the Karennis.)

To no none's wonder, he said, Aung Kham Hti's Pa-O National Organization expressed its total endorsement for the government's 6 objectives and 104 constitutional guidelines. "The rest, many of whom had initially sided with the 'Band of 13', later backed off saying they could not afford to offend Rangoon," he complained. "What they do now is to speak in words that are accommodating, if not out rightly approving, of the government's stance."

One of the diversions offered by the National Convention Convening Commission was allowing the delegates to watch the late night European football tournament that began on 12 June and has just entered the quarter-finals. "Everyday you see hundreds of delegates asleep in their seats in the air-conditioned hall, while the speaker reads out his paper," he laughed, "although compulsory meeting hours are just between 09:00 - 12:00."

The rest of the day was for group discussions, to which most of the groups had reportedly not taken much seriously.

He also thought that the Convention had already run its course. "It's time all of us, including the generals, take a break," he said.

The delegates would begin their 7th week on Monday at Nyaunghnapin camp where the convention is being held.

This historic step towards democracy, as hailed by Rangoon, has been disparaged by the junta's critics as "sham", as it was boycotted by the majority of representatives elected in 1990.