from Shan Democratic Union

[m.win@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF THAILAND


H.E.Chuan Leekpai
Prime Minister
The Secretariat of the Prime Minister
Government House, Phitsanulok Road
Bangkok 10300, THAILAND
e-mail: govspkmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    		

dated: March 7, 1999

Dear Sir:

On the eve of your meeting with General Than Shwe, we would like to restate
and remind you of the importance of "the denial of right to
self-determination" to all the non-Burman ethnic groups and the whole
population of Burma. It is this root cause that has let us to all the woes
and problems encompassing Burma today. The human rights violations, refugee
and drug related problems are just few examples which have created a spill
over effect into Thailand.

The Burmese military regime has been waging a "total elimination" war on
all non-Burman resistance movements, when the solution should be a
political one. This has been coupled with its vision of "nation-building"
which runs contrary to the notion of "Unity in Diversity". And as such, the
Burmese military has embarked on a path of "Burmanization" and "forced
assimilation" to create a monlithic, unitary "Burmese Nation", at the
expense of all the non-Burman nationalities and ethnic groups. This
"zero-sum" conflict resolution, "win - lose"  approach has gone on for
almost five decades without even a hint of positive result, and the
continued deterioration of the country which has turn from bad to worst is
there for all to see.

We would, therefore, like to appeal to you to make use of your good office
in instilling a "win - win" conflict resolution approach, when meeting the
Genaral and his delegation. 

We are convinced that the addressing of the crux of the problem would
definitely contribute to the long term settlement of all the woes and
problems inflicting Burma and the spill over effect which Thailand has to
endure.

Furthermore, we would like you to bring up the United nation's endorsement
of the "tripatite dailogue" between the Burmese military, the National
League for Democracy and all the non-Burman nationalities, including all
the ethnic groups.


Wishing you a success and fruitful meeting

Respectfully,

Sai Wansai
Shan Democratic Union
Europe Coordination Office
Germany

******************************************************************

PRESS RELEASE


March 7, 1999


ETHNIC SELF-DETERMINATION AND DRUG RELATED PROBLEMS

The country we all know as Burma or Myanmar, as termed by the Burmese
military regime, is a country made up of at least three countries, namely:
Burma Proper, Karenni State and Shan States. The Shan and the Karenni
joined Burma in their struggle for self-determination from the British and
jointly attained independence on January 4, 1948.

However,  in 1962 the Burmese military sized state power in a coup and
declared the Union Constitution abolished. In so doing, the Burmese
terminated the only existing legal bond between them and the other ethnic
nationalities. The declaration of the suspension of the Constitution was in
effect a self denunciation that Burma had overnight become an
aggressor-nation instead of partner. Thus, in a legal-constitutional sense,
the Union of Burma ceased to exist. 


The Burmese military regime has been attempting to hold the defunct union
together by sheer military force, whilst the real and only solution is
political. The Shan and the Karenni on their part have been waging a war of
resistance to free themselves from the yoke of Burmese domination. This is
also true for all the other non-Burman ethnic groups, who are being
subjected to the Burmese military's Burmanization and forced assimilation.
The significant difference is that  the Shan and Karenni conflict with the
Burmese military could be argued as "international", due to the fact that
the Shan and Karenni joined the Union of Burma on an equal political
footing, whereby both nations were constitutionally granted or enjoyed the
right to secede after a trial period of ten years following the attainment
of joint-independence from the British. 

The denial of the right to self-determination is the crux of all the
problems encompassing Burma today. All along the Burmese military has been
implementing its own version of "nation-building" without tolerence to the
notion of "Unity in Diversity". Its "win - lose" oriented conflict
resolution has not produce positive result during the last five decades and
it won't possibily do for the future. It is astonishing that the ruling
military clique has not given a thought to embrace the approach of "win -
win" outcome to manage the conflict.

Since the forthcoming highest- level meeting between Burma and Thailand
would center around drug related problems, which  stems from the denial of
right to self-determination, it would be more appropriate to examine the
conflict in this context. It would serve all of us well if we could see
that the drug related problems in the Shan States is basically a political
one - the two issues must be solved together and not separately. The drug
problems could only be solved by the Shan people and the organizations that
represent them and not through the Burmese occupation forces.

It would be beneficial for all parties concerned if the Thai government
would consider the resolving of the drug related problems in Burma in the

light of political settelment and advocate a policy of accomodation where
ethnic self-determination is concerned.

Sai Wansai
Shan Democratic Union
Europe Coordination Office
Germany

*****************************************************************