This article is dedicated to the Mon people, my native people, and other ethnic minorities working for their national self-determination in Burma.

Enough has happened and enough human beings have already suffered from the oppression of military dictators in Burma. It is now mind-numbing to hear the horrible stories of crises in Burma. Thousands of ethnic minority refugees escape forced labor and human rights violations. Production of methamphetamine pills increases as the number of HIV-infected people grows. Ordinary people live in conditions below the poverty level while the ruling generals live like kings. Former drug lords are now in state-to-state level meetings while elected MPs are in prisons and the 1990 general elections’ results are ignored. Teaching of the Mon language and other ethnic languages is a crime against the state and walking peacefully in a group of five is illegal. Posting a "Closed on 9-9-99" sign in front of a teashop receives a long-term imprisonment because dissident groups have called for a peaceful demonstration on 9-9-99. Thailand is now in a war against various illicit drugs produced in Burma. And Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, her party’s members, and other parties’ members are constantly threatened and intimidated, and so on. For those sympathetic to the victims of Burma, the task of finding a solution has begun a long time ago.

For the majority of those finding a solution, democracy seems the one and only solution. Democracy will prevail. But, will it last? For ethnic minorities, who constitute some 45 percent of the country’s nearly 50 million population, a democratic Burma that denies political equality and ethnic nationalities’ rights to self-determination will not last. It will again bring Burma back to confusion, anarchy, and turmoil. The Burman often argue that now is not the right time to debate about ethnic nationalities’ rights to self-determination and that it is time to debate about the way to overthrow the current military regime. They say that in a free and democratic Burma, any kind of debate will be welcome. Unfortunately, this sort of argument is not accepted any longer by the national minorities.

Minorities, on the other hand, claim that they had heard this argument before, accepted it, and trusted the Burman. In fact, they believe that it was this type of argument that brought Burman rule to their areas and led to the present situation of oppression in the country. They point out that Aung San, Burman national hero, used this same argument followed by U Nu, Burma’s former Prime Minister ousted by the military coup of 1962, during his fight against Ne Win, 1962 coup’s leader, from ethnic minorities’ bases along Thailand-Burma border. Ethnic minorities still believe that the assassination of Aung San in 1947 created a chance for Burman to break the Panglong agreement, which their leaders signed with minority leaders in 1947 and which guaranteed the right to secession. Taking advantages of the assassination of Aung San, the Burman military forcefully dissolved a democratic constitution in 1962 and formed successive military regimes up to the present day. Also, U Nu finally gave up his fight against Ne Win, surrendered, and went back home, irritating minorities. Now and again, the Burman are attempting to make this same argument of "unite now and talk later." For minorities, the modern history of Burma repeatedly shows that they shall not entrust the fate of their people into the hands of the Burman. They also believe that the safety and prosperity of their people shall not depend on sympathy of the Burman.

More important, the conflict is often seen as a conflict between only two groups: the Burman and a few dictators, the so-called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). An almost forgotten group in the picture is ethnic minorities. In fact, the true root of the conflict is among three groups: the ethnic minorities, who struggle for national self-determination; the Burman, who fight for democracy; and a few dictators, who strive to put the entire country into their pockets. The military regime claims to save the country from disintegration while accusing minorities of seeking separation or secession from the union. Minorities assert to fight for political equality and national self-determination while in return accusing the military of implementing "Burmanization" through ethnic cleansings. The Mon, Karen, Kachin, Chin, Arankanese, Shan, and many other ethnic nationalities have been fighting against the predominantly Burman military government long before the Burman started. Although their fight has now been over half a century, these ethnic minorities claim that they have never demanded any right to separation or secession from the union. All they have been fighting for is political equality and national self-determination for their people. They want to progress politically shoulder-to-shoulder with Burman. They want to possess executive power, legislative power, and judicial power of their people while remaining within the union. In short, the ethnic minorities assert that they do not want to live in a country where Burman to ethnic minorities relationship is that of master to slave. "You don’t want democracy?" A Burman friend asked a Karen friend in a recent meeting in Washington, D.C. "We do. But we don’t want your people to rule our people."

"Can trust be built between Burman and minorities after this military is gone?" asked an American activist during a recent protest in front of the SPDC’s embassy in Washington, D.C. A Mon friend answered with another question: "How many times had we built trust with Burman without success?" Many ethnic minorities believed and still believe that several agreements their founding fathers intermittently had entered with Burman were never honored. From Aung San to Panglong agreement in 1947; from U Nu to the so-called "exchanging weapons with democracy" of mass-surrender in 1958; and from Ne Win to recent ceasefire agreements, they saw no promises were honored, resulting in frustration and distrust of Burman among minorities. Ethnic minorities feel that Burman have repeatedly cheated them with such paper-agreements.

Building trust between two different groups without a trustworthy background of each group, or when both groups distrust each other, and without necessary means to obtain such trust is not an easy task, especially when the "small group" feels the "big group" has repeatedly broken promises. Besides, the powerful and predominantly Burman military, whose expenditure is almost half of the national government’s budget, is seen as the biggest obstacle to the road to building trust. Also, in minority areas, Burman troops are seen as foreign occupying troops, so building trust with Burman is seen as building trust with foreigners. Minorities believe that as long as their military forces are incomparable with SPDC’s forces and as long as SPDC’s forces remain predominantly Burman, they cannot trust Burman. The majority of Burman will have a hard time gaining minorities’ trust even after the current military regime is gone.

More than 12 years have passed since the 1988 nationwide prodemocracy uprising when thousands of lives were sacrificed for democracy. The 10^th anniversary of the 1990 general elections just passed. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory, was not allowed to convene a parliament. Instead, the regime commemorated this anniversary with another round of arrests while refusing to enter into a genuine dialogue with elected representatives and minority leaders.

Enough has happened and enough human beings have already suffered. But the solution is still far away and invisible. For those who work for democracy in Burma, democracy will prevail. For a lasting democracy and peace, Burma still needs to begin a long process of uniting the Burman, ethnic minorities, and military dictators by consensus, not by force.

Nai Ong Mon

Monland Restoration Council

USA

Email: Naiongmon@yahoo.com

Nai Ong Mon was one of Mon student activists during the 1988 nationwide prodemocracy uprising in Burma and is now exiled in the United States and working for National Self-determination of the Mon people. This article reflects his personal opinions, not those of the Monland Restoration Council.

This article is distributed at the First International Conference on the Right to Self-determination and the United Nations: From Minority Rights to Political Independence and Democratizing the International System held from 11 to 13 August in Geneva, Switzerland.