THE PANGLONG AGREEMENT AND THE PANGLONG SPIRIT

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION

THE PANGLONG AGREEMENT AND THE PANGLONG SPIRIT

Fifty-three years ago, an agreement was reached at Panglong on this day -- February 12th -- between Shan and other leaders of the Frontier Areas with U Aung San and other Burman leaders to unite and to jointly fight for independence, and to establish a sovereign country, the Union of Burma, composed of co-independent, equal states, in accordance with the principle of national Self-determination.

However, the constitution of the Union of Burma which was born a year later, on 4 January 1948, did not reflect the aspirations of the Shan and other Nationalities leaders. That is, the Union Constitution put in place an arrangement that was colonial in structure wherein one state, the Burman State, was constituted as the central Mother-State, and the non-Burman Nationalities States were transformed into satellites of the Burma State.

Nonetheless, Shan and other Nationalities leaders, being rational and modern men, attempted to work within the democratic parliamentary system to reform the constitution. However, the rational attempts by modern Shan and Nationalities leaders to bring about peaceful, constitutional change was rudely terminated in 1962, when Burman-chauvinist-fascistic elements within the armed forces led by General Ne Win, staged a coup -- in effect, usurping power at gunpoint.

The current junta of ruling generals in Rangoon now claims, as had the previous dictator, that they and their armed followers -- the so-called Tatmadaw -- is keeping the country together, safeguarding and building national solidarity, and so on. The ruling generals are also engaged in fear-mongering, raising the spectre of a dismembered nation-state, to frighten other fragile and non-democratic states (and their respective governments and leaders) into supporting them.

Notwithstanding the claims made by the junta in Rangoon, the central fact in Burma is that military leaders have by their unilateral and illegal abrogation of the Union Constitution, destroyed the Union of Burma, and with it, all basis for national solidarity as well.

Furthermore, the populace of Shan States and other Nationalities states have been treated by the previous military dictator and the current junta as enemy population, and their land or country have been ruled as occupied territory. The crimes committed and state-terror practiced by the racist-facist Burman elements in Shan States and other Nationalities areas have been well-documented not only by credible human rights organizations, but as well by the United Nations, and the Government of the United States, among other governments and institutions.

There is nothing of substance -- in short -- to bind the people of the Shan States and other Nationalities peoples to a government that has not treated them as human beings, much less as citizens.

The Shan Democratic Union would therefore like to point out that the "balkanization" potential -- the possible dismemberment of Burma -- is owed entirely to military despotism and its chauvinistic or racist-facist orientation and policies, especially widespread crimes and atrocities.

The SDU therefore appeal to the international community, the United States, and other governments and states -- especially those that fear "balkanization" -- to take into consideration the measures that have necessarily to be undertaken by them to restore the faith of the Shan and other Nationalities peoples in the benefits of living together under one flag, within a single border. It is clear that the people of Shan and other nationalities states cannot afford to trust the military in Burma.

The people of the Shan States are not opposed to the notion of a democratic, federal union of co-independent and equal states in Burma. The SDU supports the notion of peaceful settlements and peaceful transition to democracy through a Tripartite Dialogue as called for by the United Nations.

However, the SDU firmly holds that the international community, the United Nations, international organizations, and national governments must clearly recognize the central reality in Burma: this being, that the Burman-dominated military and its ruling junta have not only destroyed the Union of Burma, but that they have also destroyed all bonds that bind peoples as citizens to a nation-state.

The fear-mongering of the brutal regime should not be rewarded. The SDU calls upon those who are concerned with the "balkanization" of Burma to participate in resolving this problem as part of the solution.

Executive Committee
SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION
February 12, 2000.