In the 50-year period before the 2010 election in Myanmar, successive governments equated the term ‘federalism’ to mean ‘separatism’. Writers who offered a critique of this type of political manipulation suffered harsh imprisonment.
Today terms like “democracy and federal union” or “federal democratic union” are frequently heard and passionately discussed in political circles.
For more than 70 years, since Burma’s independence from Britain, the principles of the current Panglong Agreement have been ignored and its place as a customized administration has been established.
Many ethnic groups have taken up arms because governments have failed to establish a federal union under the Panglong Agreement, which to this day is in competition with independence.
The current political situation in Burma will not be able to end the civil war without the establishment of a federal state. With on-going challenges for national reconciliation between the elected government and the military government, the peace process will continue to take a long time.
Although the NLD won a landslide victory in the 2020 election, in the realm of politics, they could not amend the 2008 constitution in parliament.
Top leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) have made it clear the interests of ethnic nationalities will only be considered after the democratization process is concluded.
In the first five years of the last NLD government term, issues like the General Aung San Bridge and the bronze statue of General Aung San were priorities and demonstrated what was a federal issue.
Yet following the 2020 election the NLD has issued a statement urging 48 ethnic parties to work together for the common cause of a democratic federal union.
The Mon News Agency urges ethnic leaders to realize that the soon-to-be-formed National Unity Government (NUG) has no plans to focus on the notion of a federal union as envisioned by ethnic nationalities.
Rather we call for all stakeholders in the peace process to prioritize their work outside of the controlled constraints of parliament.
