[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON
- Subject: SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON
- From: shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 21:54:00
Subject: SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON UNION DAY:
11 February 1999
PRESS RELEASE
SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON UNION DAY
On this day, February 12, fifty-two years ago, leaders of the Shan States
and other nationalities leaders signed an accord at Panglong in the Shan
States with U Aung San and AFPFL (Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League),
wherein an agreement was reached between these leaders to establish a new
nation-state -- the Union of Burma -- made up of equal and co-independent
nations or member states.
On March 2, 1962, the armed force (the tatmadaw), dominated by Burman
ultranationalist officers, unilaterally abrogated the 1947 Union
constitution, a document founded on the historic accord reached at
Panglong in 1947. In doing so, the military has destroyed the Union. The
Union is no more.
A number of Burmans at the time of the 1962 coup were misled by the
military. They believed that the military had to strike, to seize -- or
rather, usurp -- political power in order to prevent the break up of the
Union. Since then, having experienced long years of brutal military
misrule and mismanagement, the majority Burman have come to realize that
the real reason for the 1962 coup was none other than to impose and
perpetuate the monopolistic control over the country of men in uniform.
The Burman have themselves lost their freedom and all their dignity and
rights as human beings.
Successive military juntas have claimed that they have kept the Union
together and have preserved and strengthened national solidarity. This
claim is empty rhetorics.
It is a historical fact that the Union of Burma was built by civilian
leaders, not by military officers. We also believe that the majority of
men and women serving in the armed force likewise accept the fact that
only leaders who enjoy the support of the people and are accountable to
them can rebuild the Union and restore national unity.
We call upon men and women serving in the tatmadaw to honestly examine
their conscience therefore: to ask themselves whether those who have
destroyed the Union and waged war against the people, will be able to
rebuild what they have destroyed.
We believe that for the Union to be rebuilt and national unity and
solidarity restored, men and women serving in the tatmadaw must do their
duty as patriotic sons and daughters of the country -- their foremost
duty being, to transform the armed force: from being a self-interested
class that rules at gunpoint and in lawlessness, into a genuine armed
force composed of honorable, law-abiding men and women in the service of
a government chosen or elected by the people.
We call upon personal of the tamadaw to urge their leaders to hold dialogue
in a constructive and responsible manner with Daw aung San Suukyi and
leaders of the Nationalities, as resolved by the United Nations General
Assembly, and proposed at Mae Tha Raw Hta in 1997 by all nationalities
leaders and organizations. We also hope that military leaders will not view
a tripartite dialogue as a threat, but as a constructive step to rebuilding
the Union and building national accord.
SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION
February 12, 1999