‘The NLD Government Should Be More Proactive’: Twan Zaw, ANC

Burma Link | July 10, 2017

Twan Zaw has been working with the Arakan National Council (ANC) since 2004, and as the General Secretary since 2010. Twan Zaw joined the ANC as one of the representatives of the All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC) to meet their ultimate goal, “establishing the Federal Union.” He has been involved in the peace process both under the previous U Thein Sein administration as well as the NLD (National League for Democracy)-led Government headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Previously the Joint General Secretary (1) of the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council), Twan Zaw is now a CEC (Central Executive Committee) member and Head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the armed alliance. In this exclusive interview with Burma Link, Twan Zaw discusses the ANC’s approach to the peace process and how to move forward to find sustainable solutions. Peace process, he says, is an entry point for finding the political solution to meet their ultimate political goal. The ANC strives to solve the political problems by political means, and collaborates with other organisations through the UNFC bilaterally and multilaterally. Twan Zaw also emphasises that the international community should not consider the ethnic nationalities only as a minority when striving to find solutions to the 70-year-old conflict.

Q: What differences do you see in the peace process under U Thein Sein’s government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government?

The differences in the peace process between under U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s governments are the negotiation bodies and working mechanisms only. Under U Thein Sein’s government, there were the Union Peace Central Committee (UPCC), which reflected the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) in the 2008-constitution, and Union Peace Making Work Committee (UPWC) and its technical body, Myanmar Peace Centre (MPC). Under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, there are the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC) and Peace Commission (PC), which have been directly controlled by the Ministry of the State Counselor Office. However, the principles of the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) are the same while the NLD government is trying to be reacting with the flexibility. Six-point peace principles of the Commander-in-chief of the Burmese Army are the blockage to reach the fair compromises in negotiations. The peace commission, led by Dr. Tin Myo Win, has been set up by the representatives from the three governmental institutions such as the executive, parliament and army. The NLD government has the policy that everything is negotiable. However, the Burmese Army firmly vested in the NCA, which is being improperly implemented by the agreed parties now. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also has to be encountering the challenges to change the constitution even though she won the majority seats in the parliaments through the November Election in 2015 under the supervision of the military drawn 2008 Constitution.

Q: What kind of approach would you like the government to take towards the peace process?

The NLD government should be more proactive and initiative in the peace process with more outreach to the ethnic armed organizations. The government peace negotiation bodies and mechanisms should be more strengthened than in the current situation.

Q: What do you see as the main remaining challenges to the peace process and how to tackle them?

The main remaining challenges to the peace process are the rigidity from the Burmese Army in positioning to be compromised with the policy and principle matters, which reflect the constitutional or structural changes. If we really target the Win-Win solution, the old mind-set has to be changed. The NLD government and the Burmese Army have different interests. The military is benefiting from the 2008 Constitution so that they must protect it with sacrifices. The NLD government is to change it because they have promised the people during their election campaigns and it

[constitutional change] reflects the desire of the entire people.

Q: Why hasn’t ANC (and other UNFC members) signed the NCA and what is your current position regarding the NCA?

We jointly developed the NCA to produce the nationwide ceasefire for the sustainable peace. We expected the NCA to create the meaningful political dialogue under the stable and secured environment to sustain the peace throughout the nationwide ceasefire. However, the Burmese Army didn’t have the willingness to make the nationwide ceasefire after the single text development for the NCA. Finally, U Thein Sein government didn’t accept all of the ethnic armed organizations, which involved in jointly drafting the nationwide ceasefire agreement, signing the NCA. Therefore, it has become an exclusive and bumpy peace process.

Q: How do you envision moving forward in the peace process?

Most of the ethnic armed organizations have ceasefire experiences with the different Burmese rulers. The only thing we need is to have the meaningful political dialogue that equitably conducts the power and resource sharing. We have the historical lessons learned from the past. If the Burmese rulers, who are armed or unarmed, really want to do that, it is easy to move forward. At the moment, the Burmese rulers do not have the true political willingness to change the political system. We have been fighting for the Federal Democratic Union, which can prevail the national equality and self-determination among the diverse ethnic nationalities, in different generations. As long as there is a lack of establishment for Federal Democratic system, no sustainable peace would be gained in the country.

Q: KIO and WNO have recently resigned from the UNFC whilst other membership applications are pending UNFC’s approval. In your view, how do you think the new membership dynamics will affect the work of the UNFC?

The UNFC was established in 2011 with the twelve member organizations, which represent the different ethnic nationalities. At the moment, it has the five member organizations because the northern-based organizations gathered in the northern part of the country to meet their own military strategy. The new membership to the UNFC is still under consideration and it may take a certain time. The UNFC has the policy to cooperate with the NCA signatories and the northern alliance. We must work together to do nation building.

Q: Regarding the UNFC’s nine-point proposal, to what extent has the government accepted it? And what does it mean that they have agreed on it “in principle”?

After the NLD has taken the offices in early 2016, the UNFC formed the Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) as the negotiating body to engage with the further talks for peace and political dialogues. We seriously considered about the negotiation with the NLD government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We decided to develop the nine-point proposal to reach the NCA, which has been followed by the State Counselor inevitably. In fact, our proposal is not a new one, but it’s reflected the original draft texts, which could not be achieved during the previous government, seeking the political and military guarantees. Therefore, the Burmese Army doesn’t agree to it until the negotiations has been over one year under the NLD administration. There has been a progress in mutual understanding on the nine-point proposal. However, no formal agreement has been made so far. The agreement in principle in last March was that both sides would submit the results to their superiors and come back to the negotiations. Unfortunately, we are unable to conclude the nine-point proposal factually because of the lack of legal bindings to the agreement and the negative consequences of the consistently military offensives on the ground by the Burmese Army.

Q: China is actively involved in the peace process. What do you think China’s role is?

The northern based organizations, especially the KIO/KIA, UWSP/UWSA, NDAA and MNDAA are bordering to China. If there has been wars and instability along the China-Burma borders, it directly affects the interest of China. The communities live in both sides and they share their sufferings when the wars happen. Therefore, they must come and try to get involved in the peace process for their interests. Sometimes, the domestic politics of China affects the dynamics of the positions of northern alliances.

Q: What does a Federal Union in Burma mean to you?

We formally adopted the term “Federal Democratic Union” which is in line with the present situation. It means to me that the democracy in the federalism and federalization and democratization are in priority. It’s also mentioned in the NLD’s manifesto during the November-elections in 2015. We officially submitted its policy and principles at the First Meeting of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong in August 2016 already. It will be based on the national equality and self-determination.

Q: Is there any message you would like to send to the international community?

The international community should not consider the role of the ethnic nationalities only as the minorities when they approach to find the solutions for 70-year civil war. The different Burmese rulers propagated that the Burmese or Bama [Burman] are majority in the country. In fact, it isn’t correct. After the British colony, they left their own military data on the national races in Burma. The Burmese chauvinists have been misusing such data to minimize the role of the ethnic nationalities as the minority. No one can prove it so far! The latest census in 2014 could not produce the actual figures on the ethnic nationalities.

Q: Anything else you would like to say?

No federalization, no peace and democracy in Burma.