15 May 2003
The Burma Alert is published by the Associates
to Develop Democratic Burma Inc,
THE
BURMESE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
The Burmese military led by Ne Win first seized power in March 1962. Ne Win ruled under various guises until 1988 when General
Saw Maung and the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) took over.
Saw Maung was replaced by General Than Shwe in 1995. The junta changed its name to the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997.
The democracy movement in
general can be viewed as having 2 major components:
The two distinct components
were first brought together organizationally in the Democratic Alliance of
Burma (DAB) in 1988. This was to a large extent the brain-child of the late Tin
Maung Win, a veteran of U Nu's democracy army and
co-founder of the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in
The alliance between the
democracy movement and the ethnic nationalities was further strengthened when
the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) joined forces
with the DAB, the ethnic nationalities-based National Democratic Front (NDF)
and the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA) to form the
National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB).
The Manerplaw
Agreement of 1992 signed by the four organizations was a landmark agreement
officially binding all parties to the establishment of democracy and a federal
system of government.
THE ETHNIC NATIONALITIES
The ethnic nationalities
have in general always been referred to as 'minorities'. This has given rise in
In February 1947, Aung San
(father of Aung San Suu Kyi) attended the 2nd Panglong
Conference convened by the Supreme Council of the United Hill Peoples (SCOUHP).
As a Member of the Executive Council of the British Governor of Burma, Aung San
came to the Conference to persuade the gathered Chin, Kachin
and Shan leaders to join the 'Frontier Areas' to 'Ministerial Burma' and
together seek early independence from Britain. The Aung San-Atlee Agreement,
reached earlier in
The 1947 Panglong
Agreement became the basis for the new Republic of the Union of Burma. The
Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry to determine 'the best method of
associating the Frontier peoples with the working out of the new constitution
for
"The importance of
the Agreement lies not only in the fact that it settles the form of association
during the interim period, but also in its enunciation of certain principles,
notably that the frontier peoples should be entitled to fundamental democratic
rights, that they should have the right to full autonomy in the internal
sphere, and that they should be entitled to receive a measure of assistance
from revenues of Ministerial Burma, which are relevant to decision of the
ultimate form of association."
Since then, all Burmese
constitutions from 1947 (amended to allow for the creation of the Arakan, Mon and
The following Frontier Areas
were incorporated into Ministerial Burma:
While each state is named
after the major ethnic group in the state, it is recognized that each state is
multi-ethnic as is 'Burma Proper' or 'Ministerial Burma'. The basis for the
states is historical rather than racial.
The seven ethnic states make
up 57% of
The ethnic nationalities can
be categorized today into three political components:
The first armed 'uprising'
in Arakan was against the British in 1946 by U Sein Da, a Buddhist monk. His Arakan
Peoples Liberation Party continued fighting for an Arakan
state after independence. The Muslim 'Mujahids' also
took up arms in December 1947, just before independence, in a bid to establish
an Islamic state in Arakan.
Later, other Rakhaing groups took up arms to preserve Rakhaing identity and rights. In 1991-92, the Burmese
military expelled hundreds of thousands of 'Rohingya'
Muslims from Arakan claiming they were illegal
migrants from
The main political groups
today are:
Political Parties
Ceasefire Groups
Non-Ceasefire Groups
The Chin people are one of
the most loyal to the concept of the Union of Burma. Of the ten battalions in
the original Burma Army formed in September 1945, two battalions were made up
entirely of Chins. Many are still serving in the Burma Army today. The first
uprising only took place in 1961 and gained strength in 1963 after General Ne Win seized power and arrested Chin leaders who advocated
federalism. The main political groups today are:
Political Parties
Non-Ceasefire Groups
The Kachins
also contributed two battalions to the original Burma Army. Faith in the
loyalty of the Kachins was, however, shaken when in
February 1949, Naw Seng
commanding the 1st Kachin Rifles refused
to attack the 1st Karen Rifles who had taken Toungoo.
He instead joined the rebels and after failing to take
The Kachin Independence
Army was set up in February 1961 by Zau Seng in northern
The main political groups today are:
Political Parties
Ceasefire Groups
The Karen also contributed
two battalions to the original Burma Army. In fact, Karen leader Saw Ba U Gyi participated in
negotiations with Lord Mountbatten in
The Karen had originally
wanted a separate Karen state covering all the areas where Karens
lived including Insein and Hanthawaddy Districts, Nyaunglebin subdivision of Pegu
District, Irrawaddy Division, and Tenessarim
Division. Negotiations broke down as chaos engulfed the newly formed government
of U Nu in 1948. The Communist Party of Burma
attempted to seize control of the country; Aung San's private army, the
People's Volunteer Organization - (veterans from the Japanese war) went
underground; the paramilitary Union Military Police, Special Police Reservists,
and three of the four Burma Rifle battalions mutinied; and 80 Karens celebrating Christmas in the Tavoy
District were massacred by government troops. Fighting broke out in 1949 and
the KNDO took over large areas of the country. Saw Ba
U Gyi was assassinated by government troops in August
1950. A much smaller
The main political groups
today are:
Political Parties
Ceasefire Group
Non-Ceasefire Groups
Karenni is made up of the western States of Bawlake and Kyebogyi and the
eastern State of
This was not accepted by the
United Karenni Independent States which was
established in September 1946 to preserve the 'independent' status of Bawlake, Kyebogyi and Kantarawaddy. In August 1948, Karenni
leader Bee Tu Reh, who
founded the UKIS was arrested and murdered by government troops. An armed
rebellion broke out led by Saw Maw Reh and when the
KNDO occupied Loikaw, the capital of
Political Parties
Ceasefire Groups
Non-Ceasefire Groups
NEXT ISSUE - The Ethnic Nationalities:
Mon and
Other Sources: