Speech of KNU President Gen. Saw Mutu Say Po on 64th Anniversary of Karen National Martyrs’ Day

OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS KAREN NATIONAL UNION KAWTHOOLEI

www.knuhq.org

Speech of KNU President Gen. Saw Mutu Say Po on 64th Anniversary of Karen National Martyrs’ Day

Lahkut Waning Moon 2, 2753 (K.E.)

August 12, 2014

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

Today is the 64th Anniversary of our Karen nation’s Martyrs Day. It is the day we commemorate the martyrs ‐ President Saw Ba U Gyi, patriotic leaders, comrades in arms and the Karen people, who have fallen in the struggle. It is a special day in our nation’s voyage through history and we always have to commemorate and honor the day, in our life. This day is a sad day for the entire Karen nation, but we also take pride for having such national martyrs.

On this Karen national Martyrs Day, I wish all of our people, who are related to the martyrs, to have full mental and physical vigor, and take pride in the sacrifice of life by their beloved to become martyrs of the Karen nation. They are to be our parents, family members, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends we love.

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

In the 65 years of Karen revolutionary armed struggle, many patriotic leaders, comrades and ordinary people have sacrificed their lives, limbs and blood. They made the sacrifices in the hope and belief for the Karen nation to be free from oppression, to live in freedom, to have the right to decide its own destiny, to continue as a nation, to have a life of progress like other peoples and lead a life of happiness and prosperity.

Our national martyrs had hoped and given up the most precious thing for a human being – life – for the wellbeing of the Karen nation and those of us who are alive. As a result of their sacrifice, the Karen national movement is able to remain strong up to this day. The hopes they had sacrificed for are still not yet realized. The task to realize the hopes the Karen national martyrs had sacrificed for are in the hands of the Karen people, who are still alive.

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

The Karen National Union (KNU) maintains the position that the Karen people’s movement is a political question and it has to be resolved politically. The KNU has consistently called on the past governments to ceasefire and hold dialogue for resolving the political problem. Previously, as the governments did not comply with the demand, we had never reached a condition for ceasefire.

Now, the government led by U Thein Sein, after assuming the country’s power, invited the armed ethnic organizations for ceasefire and political dialogue. The KNU accepted dialogue with the government and the talks reached a ceasefire agreement on January 12, 2012. This ceasefire is the first ceasefire agreement between the KNU and the government in its 63 years of movement. This ceasefire is neither defeat nor victory. It is a ceasefire for the political dialogue to go smoothly.

At the same time, as this movement has to do with all the fellow ethnic nationalities, which have to face the same fate as the Karen nation, the ethnic armed organizations are working together for a nationwide ceasefire in order to bring about nationwide political dialogue for resolving political problems that have caused civil war in the country. The ethnic armed organizations got together and held the “Ethnic Armed Organizations Conference”, where the stand of the ethnic armed organizations for nationwide ceasefire was laid down. The Conference formed the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team (NCCT), which is to hold talks with the government for obtaining a “Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)”, for the emergence of political dialogue. The team has been negotiating with representatives of the government, step by step, and now it has reached the stage of having the second draft of NCA. However, it is still not a final agreement. There is still need for negotiation to get terms and conditions that will fully guarantee for durable ceasefire, for the status of ethnic armed organizations after the ceasefire and during the time of political dialogue, a frame work for political dialogue to resolve the really difficult political problems, and for laying down principles and programs for establishing together a “Federal Union” of peace and progress.

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

The Karen national movement and the sacrifice of life by the martyrs are not for a group or an organization, but for the aspirations of the entire Karen nation. Just as the KNU has the duty to strive for fulfillment of aspirations of the Karen nation, the Karen nation must also get together to support, act and cooperate in its own corner absolutely. At the same time, we must uphold, for our future movement, the pronouncement and principles of President Saw Ba U Gyi being:

 

(1) Surrender is Out of the Question;

(2) We Shall Retain Our Arms;

(3) Recognition of Karen State Must be Complete;

(4) We Shall Decide Our Own Political Destiny.

 

The pronouncement and guideline are to shield us from defeatism, to advise us to uphold the right to self‐defense, to have a land of our own where we can live and develop ourselves and to retain the right to decide the political destiny of our own people.

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

In order to realize the aspirations of our nation and its interest, and hopes of the martyrs, who have sacrificed their lives, there is need for us to know the real aspirations and needs of our nation. We must analyze the situation from all angles, make decisions and lay down our programs in consonant with the situation we are in. Our analysis and programs, laid down according to our feelings and desire but not in accordance with the objective condition, cannot realize our aims. In the 60 years of our revolution, our nationals have struggled in many ways and in their own corners. However, we have not realized the aspirations of our nation, for various reasons.

Nowadays, the political change taking place in Burma is not complete and not the best change in accordance with the expectations of the people. The real importance is, depending on the changes, to lay down the best work plan in consonant with the current situation and changes, and act for the benefit of our nation and the people. In the KNU and the future political program of the Karen nation, there is a need for us to have a look for the future and stand up for the interest of the Karen nation, the people and the communities in the country we live in.

 

Dear All the Karen Nationals,
Dear All Patriotic Leasers and Comrades,

Finally, on the day when we commemorate and honor the martyrs, let us all the Karen nationals commemorate and make a pledge to the patriotic leader, comrade and people martyrs that we will institute within our hearts the spirit of martyrs and realize their hopes and the meaning of their sacrifices by establishing unity within our own organization, nation and with other nationalities and other communities, and work together in our own corners until we achieve fulfillment.

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