Shans call for state pact against junta

No.07 - 5/2007
22 May 2007
Politics
 
Shans call for state pact against junta
 
Not for the first time in decades, different Shans groups came together last weekend to set out on the creation of a state council that will speak for the diverse racial groups inhabiting Burma's largest state.
 
The meeting, held at an unspecified venue along the Thai-Burma border, 18-19 May, and attended by 54 representatives and specially invited individuals from both at home and abroad, did not stipulate how much power the said council, expected to be formed within a year, should be delegated to.
 
Some of the participants thought the new setup should be modeled after the Shan State Technical Advisory Council, formed by Shan State politicians and ceasefire groups inside in December 2004 and became defunct when its founders and leaders were jailed two months later. "I fear it will be a waste of our time and efforts if it can only operate in the advisory role," voiced a representative from eastern Shan State.
 
Others meanwhile opted for an all-powerful configuration.
 
"For myself," said Col Yawdserk, Chairman of the Shan State Army's political wing Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), who hosted the get-together, "the council should be fully empowered. It must be supreme above all political and military groups. If, for instance, the decision is out to dissolve the RCSS, we will promptly do so."
 
Accordingly, a coordinator was named by the meeting to work with the Shan Representative Committee (SRC) and Shan State Coordinating Committee (SSCC) that have been formed under the aegis of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), a state-based alliance founded three years ago.
 
Asked why there is a need for approaching Shan groups first, Yawdserk replied with a rhetorical question: "Who will take the Shan proposal seriously if they are not united?"
 
A united state council will be a first major step towards forming a union with other anti-junta states against the Burma Army that has held power since 1962, he added.
 
Other issues discussed by the meeting included Shan migrants in Thailand, the need to build up human resources, state and federal constitutions, Tripartite Dialogue and the drafting of a national strategy, among others. The meeting also denounced the junta-organized National Convention and its Six Objectives (one of which is for the military to continue to play a key role in Burma's politics) and 104 constitutional principles, while confirming full support for the proposals of 13 ceasefire groups in 2004 for a federal system.