Why Do Non-Myanmar Ethnic Nationalities Choose To Die With Their Boots On? – OpEd
By Kanbawza Win
A clarion call for the non-Myanmar youths is silently echoing through, the non-Myanmar areas of Shan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni (Kayah), Mon and Arakan youths now, as there is no other choice left but to fight the imperialistic Myanmar forces, with whatever weapons available, for after a quarter century (to be exact since 2nd Feb.1947) to date, there is no other choice left. These non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities had patiently waited, hoping against hope that the NLD, construed as a potential ally, has just rode a Covid 19 horse and have implemented the not so fair elections with a landslide with a clear mandate of Myanmarnization of the non-Myanmar ethnic nationals infidel who doesn’t speak Burmese especially who are not Buddhist.
They clearly witnessed that all these half a decade, to be exact since 2015 the NLD had treated them as adversaries and has not only failed to consult them but sided with the Tatmadaw in implementing the Myanmar nationalist agenda of making one race (Myanmar), one religion (Buddhist) and one country (Myanmar). What more prove is wanted, such as erecting the statue of a Myanmar hero in the Karenni State, which has been independent since the days of Burmese monarchs up to the British colonial days and have resolutely fought against the Fascist Japanese in the 2ndWorld War, with the help of the allies. Even in the declaration of independence from Britain Karenni was given a special status and now the daughter of the Myanmar imperialist forces had put the last nail in the Karenni coffin.
In Mon state where the Myanmar Monarch U Aung Zeya had implemented the ethnic cleansing of the Mons not only the people but also the Mon Buddhist monks so much so that that they had to flee to Thailand for their survival, the NLD named a major bridge of connecting the mainland and a Balugyun island was also named after her father. All these episodes including several minor things had definitely prove, that she is more Myanmar than for the Union of the country. Perhaps, Power Corrupts as define in her writings of “Freedom from Fear, “and could not comprehend the Pyidaungsu Seikdat (the Union spirit).
What more is wanted when she indirectly encouraged the marauding Myanmar Tatmadaw to indiscriminately killed the Arakanese women and children as witnessed by the Arakanese and often highlighted by the Burma Rangers so much so that the Arakanese people, like their Rohingyas counter parts are more afraid of the marauding Tatmadaw than Covid 19. In Kachin area, she never uttered a word of the unhuman atrocities of the marauding Tatmadaw especially when its air force are indiscriminately bombing the Kachin nationalities including women and children. Perhaps she has taken a leave out of “The Prince” of Niccolo Machiavelli that ‘The end justifies the means’ This winner takes all philosophy left the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities to continue to survive as before, the second class citizens with an unwritten motto “Live on your knees.” Hence the only choice left is to resort to arms rather than electoral politics. Hence, the majority of the non- Myanmar ethnics nationalities youths will choose to die and be killed with their boots on as they cannot agreed like the Karen leader Mu Tu Say Po and his gang did to the Karen people compelling them to live on their knees.
In fact Daw Su’s campaign during 2015 election was to end the civil war and to meet some of the reasonable demands of the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities but actions speaks louder than words. As Richard Horsay has said “In the absence of strong political will and dedication to fundamentally rethink and reinvigorate the cease fire process especially, Kachin and Arakan states there is little hope for peace.” This is not to mention the Tatmadaw philosophy of “I am the monarch of all I survey” as exhibited in the Rohingya Crisis. Lamentably one can foresee, just as usual that the head of the ethnic state will be a Burman either an ex brass or a person that could not comprehend that particular ethnic language or customs. Hence how can the Myanmar comprehend the sentiments of the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities? So with another landslide victory of the NLD, the seal of the Myanmar colonial boss over the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities will evidently goes on.
Raison d’être is Daw Suu, herself has never been brought up in Burma and could not comprehend the sensitivities of the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities, while the core think tank of the NLD is exclusively Myanmar who construe that they have inherited the former British Burma empire while the existing few non Myanmar think tanks in diaspora, the NLD never attempts to recruit except the Harvard mafia group. However, the crowning event of the irony is they could not comprehend the contemporary history of the country, of why was there a Taunggyi Conference of 1959 with a genuine Federal proposal that prompted the Military to implement a coup in 1962, followed by the killing and jailing of non-Myanmar think tanks. This clearly painted the picture that the core problem of Burma is not democracy but federalism and that the two cannot be separated as they are of the same coin. Now, all the NLD comprehend was that there was an 8888 pro-democracy uprisings followed by another dictator Than Shwe, that still pull the strings from behind serving as the power instilling the serpentine idea of Myanmarnization and perpetual controlling the country from behind by the military academies. Luckily the WA has seen the overall picture and since the Myanmar race only understand the law of the jungle, they have set up a military academy and every ethnic youths should attend to survive in the Myanmar law of the Jungle. Even today Human Rights Watch has denounced the Myanmar Tatmadaw for allegedly using civilians, particularly children, as “human shields” while fighting guerrillas in the western state of Rakhine The Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is now considering to put Burma back in the list of shame as previously done before because of a long history of perpetuating human rights violations against children in armed conflict and that an impartial and independent investigation had never been done because, “Lying the very concept of Truth is the unwritten motto of the Myanmar.”
Witnessing all these, the step father of the Burmese Tatmadaw is now all smiles, as not only the fast track railway but also the oil pipe line from the Middle East flowing regularly without passing the narrow strait of Malacca and who can say that in the near future, some Chinese Warships may soon be stationed in Burma’s west coast, that can easily threatened India and take on the US 6th fleet in Diego Garcia knowing full well that the 7th fleet stationed in the straits of Taiwan has no chance for the PLA. With the completion of the Bridge between Rangoon and the other side across the Hlaing river in a couple of years, the Myanmar may no longer have to wish each other “Mingalaba” but rather “Ni How Mar” and eat more bean curd, what in Burmese called “Wut Lait”, a sort of a tit for tat. For the ethnic youths, either you die with your boots on or survive in the malaria infested jungles of the peripherals and before the end of the 21st century, the existence of the non- Myanmar ethnic nationalities will be only be in the history books, just like what the Myanmar has done to the Pyu, thousands of years ago as the archives in the
“Prome” area witnessed. No doubt, Myanmar will earned its proud title of “A Hundred Years of Civil War.”
