The new government in Burma (Myanmar) led by President Thein Sein is very similar to former Lt. Gen. Thein Sein’s government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The union and all state/division governments are controlled by the majority-winning party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and could be called ‘USDP governments’ at all levels.
The recent spates of civil war in the ethnic regions, particularly in Kachin State and Shan State, have led to numerous calls for peace dialogues between the government and ethnic armed opposition groups. However, there will always be different definitions of ‘peace’ between the past and current ruling regimes and the ethnic groups.
The previous SPDC government defined ‘peace’ as ‘an end of fighting or ceasefire between Burmese Army troops and ethnic armed forces’. In a recent speech, Col. Than Aung, a peace talk delegate to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), equated ‘ceasefire’ with ‘peace’.
But KIO leaders do not define ‘peace’ as ‘ceasefire’, as there never was lasting peace with the SLORC/SPDC regimes in Burma during the past 15-year ceasefire. KIO leaders could agree to have another ceasefire in their area, but they say the government needs to arrange for unified peace talks with all ethnic groups in order to achieve true ‘peace’. They would prefer the USDP talk with the alliance of ethnic armed oppositions groups – the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).
But the government’s ‘peace delegate’ to the KIO said the government wishes to talk to ethnic groups individually, refusing to talk to the groups together as an alliance. This is a clear sign that the union government is insincere toward ethnic nationalities, and is planning to again use ‘divide and rule’ policies towards the different ethnic groups.
President Thein Sein has said that each ethnic armed group should go and deal with its respective local state government individually to reach agreements for peace or ceasefire. Every ethnic political organization understands that the first step for peace is ceasefire. However, to discuss ceasefires only with state governments would be ineffectual and pointless as the local state governments have no power over the Burmese Army’s military commands.
Recently, twenty-three Burman and ethnic representatives from the Nationalities Parliament (Upper House) and the People’s Parliament (Lower House) sent an open letter to the KIO, referring to the KIO a ‘terrorist organization’. This was another tactic of the USDP government to cause a split among the ethnic leaders in parliament and those who continue to use the tactics of armed fighting.
The USDP Government is clearly worried about any coordination between ethnic groups, even the ethnic political parties that contested the 2010 elections. Five ethnic political parties, the Chin National Party (CNP), All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), Salon-sawor Democratic Party (SDP), the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), and the Arakan National Progressive Party (ANPP), recently formed a ‘brotherhood of ethnic parties’, and demanded the government initiate a ‘peace dialogue’ with all ethnic armed groups. Following the group’s statement, the parties received pressure from the government to resign from the ethnic alliance. The MPs of the ethnic parties who have been appointed as ministers in state governments were encouraged to tell their mother parties to quit from the ‘brotherhood’. This is just one more of the USDP government’s attempts to use ‘divide and rule’ tactics with the ethnic groups.
The ethnic political groups must continue to be very cautious as there have been no signs that the USDP government has plans to use anything other than more ‘divide and rule’ policies in its dealings with the ethnic groups.
