Suu Kyi talks peace and Panglong on Kachin State trip

BURMA'S PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER AUNG SAN SUU KYI TOOK A PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN MYITKYINA, THE CAPITAL OF KACHIN STATE, NORTHERN BURMA.

MYITKYINA, Burma — During a visit to the capital of war-torn Kachin state on Friday, Burma's famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke about peace and an unimplemented agreement which her late father, General Aung San, concluded with ethnic leaders just before the country's independence.

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was in Myitkyina as part of a National League for Democracy (NLD) campaign tour ahead of April 1 parliamentary by-elections.  The first elections her party will contest since the NLD's overwhelming May 1990 victory was annulled by the military.

“Equal political rights between the Burman majority and ethnic nationalities will come to the country if there is a genuine peace and political solutions based on the Panglong spirit,” she told the large crowd, referring to the February 1947 agreement her father reached with leader's from the Shan, Kachin and Chin communities just months before his assassination.

Speaking about the ongoing conflict in northern Burma which broke out last June when a 17-year ceasefire ended, Aung San Suu Kyi said that a new ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the central government is needed first before genuine peace can be achieved through negotiation.  She added however that the root cause of the current conflict in Kachin and northern Shan states stem from the unresolved struggle for ethnic rights.

For many Kachin say the failure of General Aung San's successors to follow through on the Panglong agreement, which granted certain rights and a fair amount of autonomy to the country's non-Burman nationalities, lies at the heart of the 52-year long Kachin armed uprising.

Lah Nan, Vice-general Secretary No.2 of the KIO, the last major armed ethnic group fighting against the Burmese army has frequently repeated his group's desire that talks with the central government be based on the Panglong agreement not the controversial May 2008 constitution.  Often referred to by its critics as the only constitution in the world that gives the army the right to officially seize power whenever it sees fit.

Despite recent changes in the country including the release of many political prisoners and the loosening of some press restrictions, the mere mention of the Panglong agreement in public remains a bold gesture, thanks to a steady stream of years of military propaganda which claimed that ethnic rights would bring about the breakup of the country.

Usually when Burma's most famous political dissident mentions Panglong to reporters or in speeches, she is quickly rebuked in Burma's state controlled media in an extremely undiplomatic nature.

Suu Kyi and her NLD party are seeking to build with support from the mostly Christian Kachin population ahead of the coming elections in which 46 seats will be contested. Even if her party makes a strong performance during these polls, the overwhelmingly majority of seats in the both houses of parliament will remain in the hands of the military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Many observers say that Suu Kyi remains the only person in the entire country who commands the respect of a cross section of people from both the Burman majority and ethnic nationalities. Despite her national popularity however, herself described goal of building a more democratic country will be very difficult to achieve.

Once in parliament the prospect that the NLD and a few like-minded opposition parties will be able reform the constitution and limit the role of the armed forces in the country's affairs remains a far off dream.

Draconian rules written into May 2008 constitution require a ¾ majority to be reached before any change can be implemented, the fact that 25% of the seats in the lower house are reserved for sitting members of the army makes this extremely unlikely.  In addition the solid majority that the USDP and a smaller pro military party has in parliament likely means that the generals will dominate the national budget for many years to come.