By. Nai Banya Hongsar, Mon Writer Club, – An election is but a small step toward institutionalized democracy on the long road to peace, development, and national unity in Burma. The country’s process of reform must also include such fundamental tasks as achieving unconditional ceasefires in the civil war, restoring peace, and fostering national solidarity. Winning a vote in an election is the art of the politician, but winning the public’s hearts and minds by ensuring peace, national cohesion, and civil rights demands art beyond the ballot box. After the Mon National Liberation Army, led by members of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), reached a second ceasefire in early January of this year, they proved that Mon State is ideally situated on the quest for peace, consensus, and national development. In recent days, established and newly minted local Mon leaders exhibited political savvy that was “beyond the ballot box.” Unified Mon political leadership is being prioritized by new and veteran circles alike, and registering the new party while retaining allegiance to the old is the right move for a Mon national league that covers all demographics.
Mon leaders have a daunting task ahead at the 2015 polling booths. Recently elected and long-established Mon political camps have two potential frontlines on this new battleground: securing seats in the upcoming election, and fostering intrastate unity among their party. Progressive groups in the New Mon State Party are seeking a “win-win” position in Burma’s new political crossroads by agreeing to the ceasefire but remaining cautious about whether to contest or allow community based leaders and former party members to run in 2015.
The current Mon State Government, led by U Own Myint, is also pursuing a win-win solution by building alliances with the newly elected Mon MPs in his cabinet and reaching out to key leaders in the NMSP ceasefire process. According to a source in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, Chief Minister Mr Myint emphasizes that national unity is a priority, but with a policy of Mon State assimilation under his leadership. For his masterstroke, he visited all local villages and met with old friends and former colleagues who are now key Mon community leaders.
During Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s March campaign tour through Moulmein, a racially and ethnically diverse group rallied together and showed mass support by displaying the National League for Democracy’s red and yellow colors across the city. The second largest commercial city in Burma and the premiere hub for regional 21st century commercial transport, the political and economic stakes for Moulmein are high.
Achieving national unity between the Mon and Burmese (ethnic Burman) populations is the most challenging element of the democratization process for both political camps. Mon and Burman kings alternated between states of war and peace from the 11th to 17th centuries, and the brutal history has never been adequately addressed or reconciled by modern programs encouraging unification or common goals. New leadership is well aware of the ancestral conflict, but must recognize that disunity will be the death of their political end goals, and has conclusively proven to keep populations poor and suffering.
The notion of unconditional peace has been a controversial subject amongst Mon and other ethnic circles in recent years. Some may never be able to forgive the violence wrought by the Burmese soldiers and officials, but optimists argue that armed struggle and violence will clearly never lead to a peaceful political settlement.
Traditional and progressive Mon leaders have one route to take in the post by-election period prior to the country’s 2015 general election. Only a united team with a smart policy agenda aimed at lasting peace and national unity can foster the necessary local and popular support. A unified Mon State is the only sensible approach in the era of modern politics. The diverse populations of Mon State and its regions will be best served only if all local politicians and national leaders uphold the principles of togetherness and a common discourse on peace and local development in education, health and the economy.
The survival of a successful Mon political agenda is reliant upon mastering the art of politics beyond the ballot box. Local Mon and other ethnic populations will be empowered by uniting their same voices that forced the military junta out of the parliamentary system. Local action groups for improved education and better healthcare must unite. Local school and other education sectors shall be given full, non-military authority. Activists will examine the laws that banned public participation in local and national affairs, including writing political books, making posters that advocated for democracy, and other forms of human rights violations.
Additionally, the Mon National Authority for education, health, and cultural affairs must be an independent body outside the control of the Mon State government. This will be a long process that requires Mon and other ethnic leaders to overlook injuries from previous wounds, but it ensures building Mon national unity under the principle of a “free and fair” society.
Burma is a land of diverse races and people, and the country does not solely belong to the ethnic Burmese. Discriminatory and other biased laws targeting racial and cultural identity must be abolished under the new legal regulations. Civic education should receive greater authority while also being accountable to a system of checks and balances in their service distribution, and civil education projects designed to empower all communities should be offered in local languages as well as Burmese. The role of the military and men in uniform must go beyond the military barrack. Local Mons and other ethnicities should all be given a copy of the Mon State Constitution, written by Mon leaders, and published by the Mon Affairs Union in 2006.
Mon national leadership is vital in the coming years leading up to the next election. New and veteran Mon leaders will struggle for political survival unless their message to the public is clear. Mon cannot rule only Mons–the art of effective rule transcends race, borders, and ethnicity.
The two leadership camps cannot afford to fail this test. A mission of national unity, designed and amended by the people, is in the best interest of all.
Winning votes at the polling booth is easy, but the true art of politics is creating something where there previously was nothing. Mon leaders have a crucial role to play in the present and future of Mon State governance. However, politics that go “beyond the ballot box,” and leadership that goes beyond race and borders, must be the priority. Time is on our side, but the journey toward unity for all is long and arduous. Optimism rules the world.
