CC: of SDU - SSA Joint Committee Ap

[shan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Date: 23 January 1998

To: 

                Secretary General of The United Nations
                Heads of Governments of ASEAN Countries
                Leaders of Political Parties, Oppositions of ASEAN Countries
                General Secretary of ASEAN
                General Secretary of European Council and parliament
                Heads of Governments of EU Countries
                H.E. President Bill Clinton, USA
                Mrs. Albright, Secretary of State, USA
                Sympathetic Senators and Congressmen, USA
                Heads of Governments of U.K, Canada, Australia, China,
India, Japan
                Leaders of Oppositions, Political Parties, Senators, MPs,
Politicians of U.K, Canada, Australia, China, India, japan

Your Excellency / Dear Sir / Dear madam,

	Permit me, on behalf of the Joint Committee of the Shan Democratic Union
(SDU) and the Shan State Army (SSA), and by extension, the people of Shan
State, to present you with a copy of our 50th Anniversary Independence Day
Message.   

	As stated in our message, our goal is simple: to get the parties and
leaders concerned to seriously consider working hand in hand to bring
lasting peace, democracy, human rights, and racial harmony.  

	The key to getting the parties concerned to work together, we believe, is
amnesty. There is a consensus among leaders, parties, and segments that
amnesty is a political necessity. We also have reasons to believe that the
parties concerned are at least aware of the need to move away from the
present stalemate which has caused the people greater hardship and
unnecessary suffering. All parties, we believe, are at this point beginning
to realize the sea change occurring in the configuration of global
relationship and new power alignment in this respect.  

	However, all parties concerned are locked into positions from which a
retreat would involve a loss of face, which threaten their survival as
viable political forces in the tangled and tense politics of Burma.  The
ruling junta and the military as a whole, we have good reasons to believe,
feel especially threatened, and they are gripped by fear and have thus been
extremely wary of any change in what they realize is a untenable status-quo.  

	There is therefore a need to reduce tension and assuage the fear of all
parties concerned, especially the military.  We feel that the provision of
amnesty -- the enactment and passage of an amnesty law -- will go a long way
to ease tensions, assuage fear, and change the way the parties concerned
interact with each other.  

	The fact however is that amnesty cannot be granted unilaterally by any of
the parties concerned.  Only the parliament elected in 1990 possesses the
authority and legitimacy to grant amnesty.  Then, and only then, will
amnesty be binding and accepted by all segments of society of the country.
In other words, there is no avoiding the fact that parliament is the only
body that can grant amnesty that is binding and legitimate.

	We therefore appeal to you, as a concerned friend of Burma and of the
Burmese people, to use your influence to persuade the parties concerned that
the sitting of parliament to pass an Amnesty Law is at present the most
viable option.      

	We believe that without your assistance, the political impasse in Burma
will continue indefinitely, with unthinkable consequence for the country and
the people of Burma. Your constructive intervention in support of our
amnesty-parliament proposal will be pivotal in breaking the current
untenable stalemate. It will strengthen the hands of reasonable, rational
leaders who are not opposed to working with other like-minded leaders in
seeking a way out. We believe that your constructive intervention in favor
of the amnesty-parliament formula  will serve as a catalyst for the breaking
of the political logjam in Burma.  

	The sitting of parliament and the enactment and passage of an amnesty law
will, we believe, be welcomed by the majority of the people of Burma, and
will be welcomed by the parties concerned.  All that is now needed for a
political breakthrough in Burma is for friends of the parties concerned to
provide them with a "face-saving" formula such as the one we proposed on the
50th Anniversary of Independence Day.  

	We believe and hope that you will not turn down what we believe is a
golden opportunity to put Burma back on its feet, enabling it to rejoin the
community as a legitimate and valued member -- as Burma once proudly was.  

	Yours sincerely, 

Khamzam Payakwong
for
Joint Committee
Shan Democratic Union-Shan State Army

------------------------------ Attachment -------------------------------

Message
On  the  occasion  of
the  50th  anniversary  of  independence  DAY
( 4 January 1998 )

1 .	Today should be appropriate for all the parties concerned, including the
State Peace and Development Council, the National League for Democracy and
the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, to seriously consider working
hand in hand to bring good tidings to our long suffering people.

	The piece of news that our people have been longing for urgently day and
night is peace, reconciliation and the end to human rights abuses which
include endless forced labor, forced relocations, plunders, rapes and
killings. If this cannot be conveyed, the extravagant celebrations would
mark nothing other than a meaningless independence which has plunged our
people into an endless living hell.

2 .	Therefore, for the sake of our people, we would like to present the
following proposal for consideration.

( a )	A nationwide dialogue for reconciliation is an absolute necessity. To
be able to convene a nationwide dialogue, we firmly believe that an Amnesty
Law must be promulgated. We the Shans who have suffered very grievously from
military atrocities and ethnic cleansing actions nonetheless support the
offer of amnesty, in the interest of lasting peace, democracy, human rights
and racial harmony.

( b )	We believe that the democratically elected Parliament has the
legitimacy and authority to pass an Amnesty Act. No other body has this right.

( c )	We believe that professional leaders within the military desire
dialogue and genuine national reconciliation as all other ethnic
nationalities do.

( d )	We therefore call upon the State Peace and Development Council to
allow parliament into session with the purpose of ( 1 ) passing an Amnesty
Act and ( 2 ) sanctioning an assembly to be participated in by all ethnic
elected and nonelected leaders, leaders of all social sectors, military and
civil servants as a preparatory body leading to nonviolent national conflict
resolution under the rule of law.

( e )	We appeal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy,
the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma and all grassroot
leaders of democratic groups to support our appeal for calling parliament
into session for this stated purpose.

3 .	We also appeal to world leaders, national governments, the UN, the EU
and ASEAN governments and leaders to constructively engage by assisting the
process of reconciliation leading to Lasting Peace in Burma.

Joint Executive Committee,
Shan Democratic Union - Shan States Army

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