(14-18 December 2017)

Every man is my superior in some way

In that I learn from him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The NCA signatories’ meeting to prepare for the upcoming Union Peace Conference (UPC#4), according to the NCA, or the Union Peace Conference 21^st Century Panglong (UPC21CP) #3, according to the government, was held in Chiangmai, 14-18 December.

As I was away in Chiang Saen on the Golden Triangle to attend the 9^th Asian Informal Drug Policy Dialogue, 12-15 December, I was in time only for the last two days, 17-18 December.

Generals Mutu Saypoe and Yawdserk presiding over the meeting, 14-18 December 2017. (Photo: Mizzima)

Day Four. Sunday, 17 December 2017

Tatmadaw must fully protect the ethnic minorities in Rakhine region from genocide.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, speaking to 59^th intake of the Defense Services Academy (DSA), 2 December 2017, Eleven/Irrawaddy

Today, the meeting discusses on prepared draft papers for the 5 dialogue topics: Politics, Security, Economy, Social, and Land and Natural Resources Management.

The following are extracts from the discussions of the participants:

On Political Sector

• If the proposals in the draft paper is approved by the UPC, we can expect non-signatories to come on board
• The draft will need endorsement from each EAO and each ethnic group
  Note:
  There are 10 “basic federal principles” to be proposed:
  1. Basic political principles for the establishment of a Union based on Democracy and Federal System
  2. Sovereign power
  3. National equality
  4. Right of Self Determination
  5. Form of Union and formation of federal units
  6. Division of power between Union and states
  7. State constitutions
  8. Safeguarding minority rights
  9. State police forces
  10. Multi-party democratic system
• One question is asked: Since we still have disagreements on some points in the Framework for Political Dialogue (FPD), could we hold the UPC21CP? The answer is, “Yes, as the JICM has approved everything except for those that require renegotiation.”

On Security sector

• We can negotiate on SSR/DDR (Security Sector Reform/Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration), but as long as the political agreement is not yet in place, the implementation (on SSR/DDR) should wait.
• We still have a bridge to pass first, before negotiating on the draft paper: a common interpretation of the relevant points in the NCA.

Note The relevant points are:

1. Paragraph 1.(c) Discuss matters concerning Pyidaungsu Tatmadaw (Union Armed Forces) made up of all ethnic nationalities during political dialogue
2. Paragraph 20. The 7 step Political Roadmap (c) Holding National political dialogue based on the adopted Framework for Political Dialogue, and negotiating security reintegration matters and undertaking other necessary tasks that both parties agree can be carried out in advance.
3. Decision # 14 (which is among the 36 decisions made during the NCA negotiations to be referred to and included in its implementation) specifies that:
   Paragraph 20(g) the two parties will continue to confer on concepts related to “Security reintegration matters”
   • The words “security reintegration matters” mean SSR-DDR programs
     Accordingly, EAO team has been selected to hold an informal with the Tatmadaw “soon”
   • There has been media reports that “we have agreed to DDR,” when actually what we had said was “we have agreed to confer on DDR.” As a result, they have been causing cracks within some EAOs that have to be immediately sealed up. We cannot allow that to happen again.

Other sectors

The prepared paper on economic sector is approved without lengthy discussion. The same goes for social and land and natural resources management sectors.

Some of the remarks made by the participants I find to be noteworthy are:

• Land is life, not just a tool
• For every point that we have agreed, the Tatmadaw has learned by rote to add “in accordance with the law”
• Land laws must aim for peace, not for popular dissent and war

During the last session, the meeting discusses who is going to be what in each of the working committees for the 5 dialogue topics. It is inconclusive. The participants decide to continue the discussion tomorrow.

Padoh Ta Do Moo presenting his paper to the meeting, 14-18 December 2017. (Photo: Irrawaddy)

During the day, an unexpected report is given by the RCSS representative:

• On 11-15 December, the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU), whose rotating chair is the RCSS, held a preparatory meeting in Taunggyi. The decision was to hold public consultations, 17-25 December, in preparation for the National Dialogue (ND), to be held in Langkher, 12-14 January.
• However, the first Public Consultation in Panglong to be held today was stopped by armed troops under the command of Central Eastern Region Commander Maj Gen Than Hlaing. The raiding party’s commander Col Aung Tay reported quoted him as saying, the JMC has not been informed of the planned consultation. (To which an EAO leader who is a member of the JMC responds that meddling with political activities isn’t in the JMC’s ToR).
• We are going to send a protest-cum-inquiry letter to the government.
• If our planned public consultations continue to be obstructed, it will be no longer possible for us to join the next UPC 21CP.

The meeting adjourns at 17:00.

On my way back, I’m told that the Burmese delegation led by U Thein Zaw had met the Wa delegation led by U Sein Win, better known to the world as Wei Xuegang, on 15 December in Kunming. The meeting went well, though no details are disclosed. Except that both sides had agreed to meet again.

Note:

A scholar has noted that out of the 35 points proposed by the Wa-led FPNCC, 23 of them are already comparable to what are in the NCA. Only 12 of them require negotiation.

Another is a meeting between the DPN delegation and the government’s Peace Commission members in Yangon to brainstorm on how the former’s proposed meeting with the State Counselor and the Commander-in-Chief could be arranged. Again, no details.

I sincerely hope both turn out well.

Day Five. Monday, 18 December 2017

This (assigning ex-military officers to run the peace process) is like getting a fox to guard the hen-house.

Maj Gen Tun Mrat Naing, AA Commander, reported by Irrawaddy, 15 December 2017

Today’s session begins with greetings for the Karen New Year, which falls today (By the Shan calendar, it is the 1^st  Waxing Moon of the Second Lunar Month.)

The Karen Year 2757, is counted beginning with the year Karen tribes were believed to have entered Burma, according to Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, Vice Chairman of the KNU. It became an official holiday in 1937, during the British days. Other than the Karen, no other ethnic nationalities’ New Years are official holidays. Perhaps the government thinks we already have too many official holidays.

Five days of preliminary talks are held ahead of the third meeting of Union Peace Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand on December 14. (Photo-KNU)

Coming next is the report from the RCSS that an official complaint has been lodged with the government with copies to the Commander-in-Chief and the UPDJC. “Public consultations will be held in Muse and Langkher at 10:00 (10:30 Thai time). We hope there is no repetition of what happened yesterday. But if there is, we may need to demand an emergency UPDJC meeting or an emergency JICM. (Later it is reported that the meetings went well without disturbances.)

Other signatories are also concerned that what happened to the RCSS-led public consultations will serve as a forerunner to their own similar plans.

The decision, not a surprise, is to write to the UPDJC, chaired by the State Counselor herself to see to it that political dialogues at all levels at all locations proceed in peace.

One leader however warns that political dialogues should not be held in an atmosphere of debates, where one says, “We’re right and they are wrong.” Instead, one should explain one’s position, the government’s position, and let the people decide.

The next item is to continue with yesterday’s unfinished job of selecting members for different working committees. The criteria is two-fold: unity of the 8 signatories and capacity. The meeting’s responsibility is to find a balance between them.

It takes more than two hours (counting yesterday’s session) to reach agreement on them.

I also find out that I get more information on the sidelines—during breaks. “More than that,” one leader says. “Some decisions are also reached outside. When you return to the meeting, you only need to announce the result.”

For instance, he explains, there is something called “toilet diplomacy.” When presidents Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines and Magawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia were at loggerheads at one of the Asean conferences, they went into the ladies’ restroom to sort it out. It was the same when the Myanmar representative to Asean got tongue tight about turning down the Asean’s annual chair. He discussed with the Secretary General Ong Keng Yong about his predicament also in men’s restroom. The Secretary General then took the burden away from the Burmese representative to announce Burma’s inability to accept the chair and proposed the next country in line which accepted.

The meeting ends at 18:00 with 20 resolutions, some of which are as follows:

• The main objective for democracy is civilian supremacy
• The main objectives for the federal system are right of self-determination and state constitutions
• The political sector paper and the security sector paper will be used as working documents until we have consulted with relevant stakeholders
• Papers for the economic, social, and land and natural resources management sectors are adopted
• The following representatives are appointed as spokespersons:
  • PPST
    - Padoh Kwe Htoo Win (provisional)
  • PPWT
    - Padoh Ta Do Moo
    - Salai Thla Hei
  • UPDJC
    - Dr Lian Hmung Sakhong
    - Col Sai Ngeun
  • JMC
    - Dr Sui Khar -Sai Laeng

The meeting ends with an address from Gen Mutu Saypoe, the meeting’s chairman:

• We want the kind of peace that all can co-exist together (“where eggs don’t crack and the nest does not fall apart” is the expression he uses)
• Let no one think of us as “making a living out of the peace process”

A dinner party is held in honor of the successful conclusion of the meeting, the Karen New Year, and of the upcoming Christmas and New Year in the evening.

I’m not sure when the party breaks up. Because I’m already heading for home at 21:00.