Bertil Lintner said that forming federal army is unrealistic. I am not really sure how he defines the federal army. For me, federal army is defined: 1. the army is controlled federal government. 2. The army should be represented by ethnic nationalities, not dominated by Burman ethnic group. 3. The army should serve and protect federal constitution and defend territory, not protecting old Burman king empires and ideologies. Current Burma army is protecting old Burman king empires’ territories and ideologies under the name of Union army. Erecting three statues of Burman kings in Naypyi are evident. 4. In federal system, not only political power should be shared between central and state governments but also military power, especially when federal system is in premature stage. That is, military power should also be shared between central government and state (check and balance military power). In this case, state can form their state defense forces or state National Guards. In the case of United States, State guards are controlled by governors, but they can be called to serve for federal duties. The words “Federal Army” may be too sensitive to Burmese army. However, the name is not very important. The structure is important. Ethnic leaders should concentrate on future structuring of federal union army such as forming an inclusive army if Burmese army becomes so resistant to the name of “Federal Army’. Another issue is how can ethnic armies be integrated into future Burma army? Disarmament is out of question. Since ethnic armies do not trust Burmese army and Burmese army does not trust ethnic army, a full integration between the two armies may not be possible in near future. A full integration could happen only when federal political system becomes more matured and when ethnic nationalities become more trustful to the political system. It may not happen in next two or three decades. Thus, till political system becomes more matured, military power should be shared between state and central governments. irrawaddy.org/burma/question-federal-army-looms-burmas-peace-process.html
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 18:39:00 +0000
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