The world too often sums up the Burmese issue as a bipartisan clash: pro-democracy movement versus the military. However, as early as 1994, the United Nations General Assembly resolutions have been calling for a tripartite dialogue that includes Burma’s minority groups. Embracing 40 per cent of the total population of Burma spread over 60 per cent of its territory, ethnic groups put together are far more than a simple minority. Today, as a dialogue process seems about to take shape under the paternalising leadership of the UN, one should be concerned about their inclusion in the democratic transition.The Burmese military junta, or SPDC, lauds itself for the signature of ceasefire agreements with rebel groups, agreements of which former Prime Minister Lt Gen Khin Nyunt was the architect. True enough, by the mid-1990s, most of the 20 armed ethnic groups had come under a ceasefire. However, China’s sudden pulling out of its funding to the Communist Party of Burma and the ethnic insurgents in 1989 mitigates the generals’ achievement: ethnic groups simply lacked resources - 15 years later, the ethnic groups’ dissatisfaction is no less acute. As the junta announced in June 2007 the winding up of the National Convention, implying the total disarmament of armed ethnic groups, the latter threatened to revert back to the jungle. Shans conveyed their fear of a bleak future. Talking about the Eastern Military Commander General Thaug Aye, the general secretary of the Shan Nationalities People’s Liberation Organisation said: “His words made us feel unsafe and we had to act urgently.” So the military’s necessity to maintain national unity does not rank as high as it claims. Many even point out that the army’s centralised control fuels the insurgency by denying autonomy to ethnic groups.Nonetheless, unlike the army and the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic groups totally lack unity, reflecting Burma’s manifold society. According to the CIA World Factbook, the main ethnic groups are the Shan (9 per cent of the total population), Karen (7 per cent), Arakan (4 per cent), Chinese (3 per cent), Indian (2 per cent) and Mon (2 per cent). However, Burmese society is also divided along religious lines: while the majority of the population is Buddhist, about 3 per cent is Muslim, 4 per cent Christian (three quarters of which are Baptist, the rest Roman Catholic), and 3 per cent Hindu.To overcome these multiple divisions, the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), since its creation in 2001, works on uniting the ethnic groups in order to prepare them for a tripartite dialogue with the military and the National League for Democracy. Bringing ethnic groups together enables them to speak as one strong voice and ensures that, as a constituted group, they will not be kept out of a transitional process.The ENC’s historical referent is the February 1947 Panglong Conference, convened by General Aung San in order to define an all-inclusive political framework for an independent Burma on the following three principles: equality, voluntary association, democracy. The non-respect of the Panglong agreement — which guaranteed federalism — undoubtedly constitutes one of the main grievances of ethnic groups, as it sparked the insurgency in 1948.Thus, the ENC describes the Burmese crisis as a constitutional one and aims at building a federal and democratic state. Unlike the NLD, the ENC does not give primacy to democracy over federalism. Democracy cannot be dissociated from federalism, since a centralised political system imposing decisions on minorities cannot be democratic.But differences between the pro-democracy movement and ethnic groups shouldn’t be exaggerated. Asked about the relations between the ENC and the Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, ENC General Secretary Lian H. Sakhong replied: “We struggle side by side, as our ultimate goal is similar.” Indeed, Suu Kyi recently placed emphasis on the need for the inclusion of “ethnic nationality races” while calling for national reconciliation. Are ethnic groups going to be a full-fledged tripartite dialogue partner, or the fifth wheel lagging behind five party talks? The latter would certainly cause the Burmese transition to fail. Therefore, the international community should pay attention to Burmese ethnic groups, well represented by the ENC.The writer is a research intern, IPCS jullevesque@gmail.com
