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STORIES OF PEACEMAKING
#1. Shan State Story
#1. Shan State Story Friends inside Burma related the following story to me. This story happened 5 years ago in the Shan State. The Burmese military always uses porters to carry their weapons and supplies. Every village house must provide porters for the military, or if they can not provide a porter, the SPDC (Burmese military) will demand money as a substitute. Also, when the soldiers march in a column to front line areas, the SPDC always requests rice and curry for the soldiers as well as porters from the villagers. The villagers have land enough to grow rice and vegetables for themselves to eat. But the soldiers take that from them, so they people do not have sufficient to eat. One day the leader of a village called a meeting. He discussed with the villagers how to solve this problem and how to protect themselves from having this problem in the future. After much discussion, they decided that when they cook rice, they would cook only broken rice which is usually only used for animal feed. The curry would be cooked the same as before. Later, when the villagers had to give rice to the SPDC, the soldiers did not want to eat it because it was very bad rice usually used only for the pigs and chickens. They stopped requesting rice and curry from this village. The above story happened in the Karen State too.
#2. Karen State Story About twenty years ago in the Karen State, the SPDC demanded to buy rice from the villagers. But the SPDC paid a very low price to the villagers, so the villagers did not have enough rice for themselves or enough money to buy other things. Every time the soldiers came to buy the rice, they also demanded that the villagers feed them a good meal. One day the SPDC came to the village to buy rice. This time the villagers cooked only the curry, but they didn't cook rice. When the SPDC saw the table, they asked where the rice was. The villagers said they would explain after the soldiers finished eating. The soldiers didn't enjoy the meal because they had only curry without rice. When the meal was finished, the villagers said that because the soldiers took so much of their rice, they didn't have anymore, and even they had to buy rice from other villages for themselves. The soldiers understood and didn't demand so much from the villagers anymore.
#3. Chin Friend Story Another story I heard from a Kachin woman. She explained about her experience. One day she met a Chin man from the Chin State. In Burmese language, "Chin" means either the ethnic Chin people or basket. The sound is the same but when written in Burmese it is slightly different. The Kachin woman asked him, "Are you Chin?" (The question could mean, are you a basket.) He became very angry with her. She tried to explain, "I am only asking where you come from." And he said, "Next time you don't ask like that. When you want to ask Chin people where they are from, you need to ask what part of the Chin State do they stay in." She apologized to him again and she learned from this experience more about the Chin people and how to be more sensitive to them. Also I now understand more about the Chin people too. Sometime we aren't careful about what we say. Sometime we make a mistake to other people and do not respect other people. I think this is a very sensitive issue in Burma. When the Chin people stay in Burma the Burman people often make jokes about them and refer to them as baskets. This is disrespectful to them and angers them. That is why they are so sensitive about this kind of question. They feel they are being made fun of In my opinion, whenever we face a misunderstanding or conflict, we need to talk face to face and we need to share openly our feelings and opinions. We need to explain why we have the feelings and opinions we have. Then we can more easily understand each other. This is the way to find the peaceful solution. But the practical way is so very difficult to do. When the other side is not ready we can not solve the problem easily or quickly. Then we need to wait for the right time.
#4. Dispossessed in Shan State In early January 1996, Khun Sa surrendered to the Burmese military regime. Khun Sa is one of the most famous opium warlords. Beginning in March, 1996 the Burmese military troops ordered village after village in eight townships - Larng Kher, Murng Nai, Nam Zarny, Lai Kha, Murng Kerng, Kun Hing, Ke See and Murng Su - to move, turning once thriving farming communities into depopulated "free-fire" zones. In most cases the villagers were given only 3-5 days to move and were threatened to be shot if they did not comply. Those villagers with ox-carts could carry some supplies with them, but those walking on foot could carry almost nothing. The relocation sites were often a day's walk away. Nearly all farmers, they were forced to leave behind their crops and most of their animals, many of which were stolen immediately by the SLORC troops. During the relocation, villagers were beaten, burned alive and shot dead. No assistance was provided for the villagers at the relocation sites, which were just empty areas along the sides of roads. Those lucky enough to have relatives in towns moved in to stay with them; the rest had to build makeshift huts in the sites. Living conditions were crude and unsanitary, and many died of malnourishment and illness. Children were seen begging at the side of the roads. As well as depriving the villagers of their homes and livelihood, the SLORC troops also used them as forced labor. Villagers were made to stand guard along the roads and clear trees and bushes along the roads so that rebel soldiers could not hide there. They were also made to work at SLORC military camps and on road-building projects. In March 1997, SLORC began relocating previously untouched villages in seven out of the eight townships already affected by the 1996 relocations, as well as moving already existing relocation sites closer to the towns, to bring the villagers further under their control. The only exception was Murng Su Township, where relocations were not continued after 1996. In May 1997, the relocation program spread southeast to the township of Murng Pan. Then in December 1997, relocations began to the east of the Salween to Murng Paeng, and in January-February 1998, the area of relocation spread to the west in the townships of Loi Lem and Ho Pong. During the relocations, the villagers were usually given only 3-7 days to move, but in some cases, the villagers were given no warning whatsoever, and houses were burned down with people still in them. The SPDC continues to provide nothing to the relocated villagers, and to use them for forced labor. The people are used for portering, road-construction, and work on nearby army camps such as building of barracks and fences. During 1996-2000 the situation in Shan State was very bad. The villagers can not stay in the village and they stayed ion caves and hid in the jungle. But when they stayed in the jungle they never stayed in one place long and they hide their rice in the ground. They moved about once every 3 weeks in order to avoid the military. Some people stayed in the trees. That is the situation in Shan Sate during 1996-1998. At that time the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) tried to publish "Forced Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in Shan State" in book and video format. Also the SHRF have a monthly newsletter in English and Shan languages. This information was used by BBC and CNN to inform the world about SPDC activities. Later, because of this information, the SPDC controlled their violence in Shan State a little. However, the violence continues and the people's resistance to it also continues.
#5. Writing a Constitution I want to share about how our group is participating in the Constitution Drafting Commission Shan State (CDC-S) and promoting grassroots participation in the CDC-S. The CDC-S was formed in September 2000 and they have worked hard to be acceptable to the majority of the people, to get wide participation of all sectors of society and to get consensus on methods of drafting and approving the constitution. First of all I want to share about the brief background history of Shan State. The Federated Shan States came into being in 1922 as a protectorate through agreement under the British Empire. The Shan Federation existed up to the end of the Second World War. Respective traditional Chieftains, called Sao Hpa, ruled the Shan States for centuries and carried on under the British. The Sao Hpas's Council or Shan States' Council ruled the Shan Federation after the Federation was formed. The Council members were elected among the Sao Hpas by the Sao Hpas themselves. After the Second World War, to show their desire for independence from Britain, a Shan States' Council was formed. Half of its members were representatives of the people nominated by the people and half represented by Sao Hpas elected by the Sao Hpas themselves. The Council did not allow the British Governor's representative to chair the Council's meeting or participate in the meeting against the Governor's request. This Council was formed on February 7, 1947. This action became a symbol of defiance against the British colonial overlords. Hence, in recognition of the action of defiance and the aspiration of the people of Shan State, February 7 was decided as Shan National Day. It was also a day that the Shan States' Council decided to jointly take independence, with other states, from Britain. The Pang Long Agreement was signed on February 12, 1947. The initiative for the genuine democratic federalism was born. To develop a democratic system in which the rights of the Ethnic Nationalities, the Shan leaders suggested that each ethnic group draw up a constitution that would enshrine the rights that that ethnic group was most concerned about. Then these various constitutions could be combined into one, giving each Ethnic Nationality assurance that they would have free and true participation in the federal state system in Burma. To carry out this work, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) was established. Each ethnic member of the CDC is working on a constitution in their own way. The CDC of Shan State (CDC-SS) has established the following aims:
For these reasons we, as Shan members of Burma Issues, joined with the CDC-SS group and at that time we can work with community organizing too. We believe writing a good constitution requires a good process because the new constitution must have the support and respect of all the grassroots people. This is very important because a constitution can only survive if it is protected and enforced by the grassroots. We organized a survey of the grassroots to find out what rights they want protected. A survey of the people to find out what ideology and vision they have for the State. Each State must have a special form of government and a special constitution to respond to the special culture, traditions, and history of that group. A constitution, or a form of government, can not be successfully copied from one country to the next. A constitution in Burma should not begin by studying the constitutions of other countries, but by first studying the special needs of the grassroots people of Burma. If the grassroots can't understand the political and economic structures, they can't participate, and so they will not be able to control these systems. Soon, they will be oppressed by these systems. That is why the political and economic systems must come from the experiences of the grassroots people, and from the culture and traditions of the people. We must design a political and an economic system that will support the protection of the human rights the grassroots have identified. Our group's work with CDC-S and Community Organizing is effect for the grassroots in Shan State. We believed one day we can go back to our country with the grassroots empowered in a society of peace and justice in Burma.
#6. Karenni State I heard about the current situation of a Hydroelectric Power project in the Karenni State. The Japanese government and the SPDC started in Sep, 2000 to do develop hydroelectric power in Karenni State. The financial inputs amount to about 29 million dollars. But the Karenni Ever Green people (Karenni environment group) went inside and collected information from the community area and sent a protest statement and letter to the Japanese government to stop their action. On July 2001 the Japanese government sent an investigation commission to Burma. Last month the Japanese Prime Minister vetoed the plan. But when the SPDC released Aung San Suu Kyi again in April, the Japanese government decided on 26 April 2002 to support the SPDC again.
#7. Overcoming Anger in Karenni State One evening when it was almost dark, my friend and I were coming back to our village from the jungle each with a bullock cart that was carrying logs. One Burmese soldier suddenly came out of the underbrush and stopped us when we were very close to our village. He ordered to turn our carts to another way toward the military base. My friend got angry with him because we were very tired. He yelled at the soldier that he couldn't do as the soldier ordered and tried to continue moving in the same way The soldier also got angry and ordered my friend again to come down from his cart. The soldier was so angry that he cocked his gun ready to shoot because my friend defied everything that he had ordered. The situation turned into a crisis. I was so afraid and realized that something would happen to my friend. I came down from my bullock cart and tried to explain our situation; how hard it was to get these logs from the jungle. We had to wake up at 3:00 AM and it took seven hours to get to the jungle. Then we had to spend around three hours finding and cutting the logs. It had taken the whole time until now to come back. Even though it was very difficult to do this work, we had to work because our families were very poor and we had no other work. We were also students and had no money to buy books. After I shared our story he began to understand us and told my friend, "You should have told me that before". Then he allowed us to continue on our way The most difficult thing to kill is our anger, more difficult than killing people. We cannot really solve any problem if we respond with our anger. Acting in anger we are already 80 percent of the way to making a mistake. We are already on the losing path. But the problem might be easy for us to solve if we really understand the essence of smiling and love. We also have to be optimistic about every problem. That means we have to listen well to others.
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