When Naypyidaw Bulls Lock Horns By Pangmu Shayi Saturday, July 27, 2013 Bawk Ja, Khin Than Myint and Zarganar together with Aung Din of US Campaign for Burma met State Secretary Hillary Clinton on Feb 8, 2012 The Myanmar political scene is abuzz with speculations of an intense power struggle being played out in the parliamentary halls of Naypyidaw. If the rumor mill is to be believed, the key protagonists are Presidential aspirants Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann and Nobelist parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi on one side, pitted against President Thein Sein and loyalists like chief peace negotiator Aung Min. There is always the possibility of course, of the allies turning upon each other. Talks of a rift at the top gained traction when the legislative branch under the leadership of Shwe Mann, challenged the President’s executive branch on matters ranging from the peace negotiation process with armed ethnic groups to the awarding of telecoms licenses to foreign companies. Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who had seemed cozy enough with the President in the early days of house arrest release, has also come out publicly to criticize him, saying his government’s reform agenda has shown no “tangible changes”. Added to this mix is the dark horse, the powerful armed forces chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who observers say is becoming increasingly assertive. He could be the power broker or power grabber, depending on how strong the specter of a military coup looms in the background. What seems to be the case is that the army under Min Aung Hlaing, is doing its best to undermine the President’s authority and credibility at every turn -from the height of the 2011 Kachin war when it refused to follow the President’s orders to stand down, to the clashes that continue with ethnic armed groups like the Shan and the Mon who have signed ceasefire agreements with the government. The President must have been deeply embarrassed by these attacks, given his proclamation in London this month that lasting peace is within reach, that there could be a nationwide ceasefire “over the coming weeks”. Still, there are those who think that former dictator Than Shwe, having handpicked his successors, is pulling strings from behind, and that the former generals all have the same agenda of holding on to the power and wealth they have enjoyed exclusively for so long. There is much hand wringing in some quarters that this wrangling for power at the top does not bode well for the “democratic” path the country is on. Although it is quite impossible to tell, at this stage at least, who or which faction will come out on top, or if all this is just dysfunction as usual at the Center, it is not difficult to figure out who will suffer the most from it. There is a popular Burmese saying that when bulls lock horns, it is the grass or “myezar” that gets trampled on. When Naypyidaw bulls lock horns, however, it is the common people, the grassroots,that are sure to get crushed. It follows then that the ethnic minorities, at the very bottom of the food chain,will be the ones that get trampled the most. The Kachins in particular, feel they are being made pawns in the Naypyidaw power play. Consider these recent events from the Kachin perspective: • Lahtaw Brang Shawng, a simple Kachin farmer taking shelter at a church run IDP camp in Myitkyina, was arrested in 2012, wrongly accused of being a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldier. There was public outcry against the case and an appeal for his release was made to U Aung Min, while in Myitkyina leading the government delegation in talks with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in May. He promised Brang Shawng’s release within days of his court date. However on July 18 2013, just 3 days after President Thein Sein announced in London that all political prisoners were to be freed before the end of the year, Brang Shawng was summarily sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. This was done evidently to embarrass the President. The ball was again in the President’s court when on July 23, he announced amnesty for 73 political prisoners, including Brang Shawng. U Aung Min, who just happened to be in Myitkyina attending the opening ceremony of the KIO Technical Advisory Team office, had a perfect photo-op moment with Brang Shawng, when he was released from prison that day. • Then there is Lum Nyoi Bawk Ja, land rights activist and member of the National Democratic Force party, who was arrested July 18 for negligent homicide, a charge she and her party say is politically motivated. Bawk Ja and 2 other prominent activists visited the US in February 2012 as guests of the National Endowment for Democracy and met with then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In June 2013, she and 9 lawyers spent 2 weeks in Belgrade, Serbia, to study issues related to human rights and rule of law. The visit was organized by Civil Rights Defenders, in support of legal work in Myanmar. Bawk Ja, representing farmers in Hugawng whose lands had been confiscated, had fought valiantly in and out of court against the Yuzana Company owned by parliamentarian Htay Myint.It is hardly coincidental that her arrest comes at a time when the land grab issue is heating up in Parliament, amid growing protests by farmers and other landowners who had lost their property to the military and crony companies. Apparently Bawk Ja, Kachin woman, is considered a soft target, and her arrest is meant to be a warning to all who dare act on behalf of land rights. Her case could be complicated as the nature of the charges rules her out as a political prisoner, but the Kachin public, her party, and Legal Aid Network (Burma) are all solidly behind her. • Kachin observers note that army encroachment on KIO territory takes place every time the President’s peace negotiation team seemingly makes some kind of progress with the KIO. In fact, on the very day that U Aung Min was shaking hands with KIO leaders at the opening ceremony of the KIO Technical Advisory Team office in Myitkyina, the army waged a 30-minute battle against KIA troops in northern Shan state. It seems the army is challenging the President’s peace process and trying to take control of as much territory as possible before any ceasefire agreement with the KIO is inked. Whatever the machinations at the top, it is just “same old, same old” for the Kachin and other ethnic co-founders of the union: domination, persecution and exploitation from the Center, as has been since the days of independence in 1948. kachinlandnews/?p=23528
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 05:53:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015