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Perspective
on the 9th anniversary of cease-fire agreement
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CHALLENGING
THE 9-YEAR OLD CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT
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(By Sunthorn
Sripanngern; June 29, 2004)
The obscure
cease-fire agreement between NMSP and SPDC has lasted for 9 years. Some
veteran Mon leaders in exile in reviewing this agreement view it as a complete
failure having no advantage at all for both the Mon people and the NMSP
itself. But the NMSP leaders claim that there has been some progress, such as
the expansion of Mon national schools; the freedom of party members to travel
freely; and having access to the Mon population. General Khin Nyunt, when he
first met the NMSP leaders in
Moulmein
in 1995 said, "within 3 years the
Mon
State will be modernized". The local Mon people were happy and hoped there
would be some job security created in
Mon
State and an increase the living standards. Instead, the situation became worse and
killed our hopes of any progress.
Many thousands of
acres of Mon farmlands have been and continue to be forcibly confiscated by
the military. As a result the local people are unemployed and have to flee
from their homes seeking jobs with the poor in neighboring countries. The
remaining people in the village, unable to flee due to poor health and family,
are forced to work for military purposes. The military authority without any
sense of future considerations forcibly extorts money and properties from the
local people. They behave as they did centuries ago; no idea of modernity
exists in the minds of the Burmese authorities.
Apart from the right
of free expression, the rights in living according to Mon traditional and
cultural rights are consistently violated. For the NMSP, after the cease- fire
there was disunity among the party members. Some party members grabbed at the
opportunity as a cash cow, to advance their personal business interests. After
they were successful in their ventures they left the party. Also within the
party's military force, some soldiers were not satisfied with the cease-fire
and split the force into groups and left the party. These are only some
of the situations which have led to the disadvantages caused by the
cease-fire, destruction to the environment and loss of our heritage has
changed the picture. We respected the goodwill and political decisions of the
NMSP leaders who advocated for their people and their country. But they
had no choice at that time because of internal problems and strong external
pressure from the Thai government and other groups that made the NMSP fall
into the trap of agreeing to a cease-fire agreement. There was no choice; it
was something they couldn’t get away from.
Also in the latest
situation of
Burma
, a delegation from NMSP is attending the SPDC's national convention. This
time again the NMSP has no alternative, since all of cease fire groups must
attend the national convention. They were the last group that decided to
attend the NC. I believed it was not out of fear of SPDC, but a concern about
the unity of the cease-fire groups.
According to the Mon
saying “Chot Mooa Kataing, Kyaing Mooa Sako" to die in the one grave or
alive together on the one mat—so they are dancing to the same tune. NMSP and
their cease-fire alliances are in a small boat relying on their own rowers,
trying their best at rowing toward the goal of Federal Democratic Country. Now
they are in the middle of ocean, they cannot see the shore; they are preparing
to face a rough sea and a severe storm that is developing around them.
I deeply hope that the
NMSP along with the other ethnic nationality parties do their best to achieve
their goal of democracy and independence for our country.
KAOWAO NEWS GROUP
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ABOUT US
Kaowao Newsgroup is committed to social justice,
peace, and democracy in Burma. We hope to be
able to provide more of an in-depth analysis
that will help to promote lasting peace and
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Editors, reporters, writers, and overseas
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