THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

MCKK 2016 PEACE CONFERENCE

HOW TO ACHIEVE
PEACE THROUGH
ETHNIC EQUALITY?
NAME: 1. EMIR MYQAL BIN
SAMSUDIN HO
2. JEYAGANESH S/O RAVI
3. MANOO S/O JEYAKUMAR
INSTITUTION: ROYAL MILITARY
COLLEGE

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

ABSTRACT

Throughout history, nations have struggled in achieving peace. There are many
problems that prevent peace from being achieved. This paper will discuss the
conflict between the dominant ethnic group and minor ethnic groups within a
country. In most situations, this conflict turns into violence, claiming millions of lives
all around the world and displacing countless more.
In Myanmar, there are 53.26 million people who consist of many ethnic groups and
racial backgrounds.The largest ethnic group is the Burman or Bamar people,
distantly related to the Tibetans and Chinese. Burman dominance over Karen, Shan,
Rakhine, Mon, Rohingya, Chin, Kachin and other minorities has been the source of
considerable ethnic tension and has fuelled intermittent protests and separatist
rebellions since its independence. The lives that have been claimed in the conflict
for political power and ethical rights are by the hundreds of thousands with nearly a
million displaced.
In October 2015 after two years of negotiations with major insurgent groups, the
central government signed a ceasefire agreement with only 8 out of 15 notable
insurgent groups within the country. Although Myanmar has becoming increasingly
closer to achieving political stability in recent years, there is still a possibility that
there can be another rebellion.

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

HOW TO ACHIEVE PEACE THROUGH ETHNIC EQUALITY

What is peace? For many of us peace is being free of oppression and being in state
of happiness where humanity thrives. For some, peace is not being controlled by an
external force and for others peace is not having anything to worry about. If that is
the case then why, despite the world being at a state of peace, 200 wars were
waged since the end of the world wars? Total peace is made unobtainable to us by
us. It all begins with the core values that we have been thought about growing up,
our beliefs and what we hold dear to our hearts. When these beliefs are challenged
we rise to meet the threat and we attempt to destroy it. Peace begins with the
simplest act of acceptance. Let us look at Burma, a nation divided by religion and
different beliefs.
Back in 1947, before the British forces pulled out of Myanmar, they attempted to
unite the various ethnic groups. These ethnic groups signed the Panglong agreement
which guarantees the ethnic rights and self-determination and the inclusion of the
minorities in the democratisation of this nation. Under the leadership of Aung San
who was the Burman ethnic group leader and the non-Burmese leaders of Shan,
Kachin and Chin the agreement was negotiated.
After his assassination, for over 60 years this agreement has never been honoured
until his daughter Sun Kyi leader of the National League for Democracy won the
elective and the hopes of reviving the Panglong spirit have been renewed.
After Burma was granted independence from the British, newly formed government
attempted to make Buddhism the state religion by creating policies of centralisation
despite the protest from the Communist Party of Burma and the Karen National

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

Union. By the year 1958, ethnic minorities realised that they would not be allowed to
secede from the union or be granted autonomous rights as provided for in the 1947
constitution. This had caused them to take up arms which unintentionally marked
the beginning of the Myanmars civil war which is currently the longest in the world.
In 1962, General Ne Win led a coup d tat which ousted the previous government.
Throughout Myanmar, accusations of human rights violations and abuses had
followed which resulted in the incarceration of many of the cabinet of the
parliamentary government and the insurgent leaders.This was also the time when
many of the ethnic minority groups started to form larger rebel factions such as the
Kachin Independence Army in response to the new governments refusal to adopt a
federal government structure.
Despite the peace talks with the rebel factions and the opposition groups in 1972,
both the government and the ethnic groups failed to come to an agreement as it
rejected the proposal to form a multi-party system of government. Following this
event the rebel soldiers return to their bases and the government confiscated
private properties and the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) was formed.
For 26 years under General Ne Wins dictatorship Myanmar descends into a state of
isolation and it was one of the least developed nations in the world.
After a long time, trouble brewed in Myanmar and in 1988, massive protests against
the government and nationwide student demonstrations were conducted against the
socialist regime. Increasing number of casualties were reported on both sides, some
3000 people were killed, and finally the government agreed to sign separate peace
treaties with the certain insurgent groups. Since the 1988 protest were mostly
political, the ethnic groups did not receive much support and the Tatmadaw, which is
the Myanmars national army, had severely weakened rebel groups by destroying
most of their bases and strongholds in 1990.

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

Since then, Myanmar has been in a continuous state of conflict between the
Tatmadaw and the rebel groups. From 2006 till 2015, the Tatmadaw has assaulted
the Karen National Union which displaced over half a million people due to armed
conflict. In 2007 160,000 refugees fled to the Thailand borders. In 2011, the
Tatmadaw led a massive offensive against the Shan state for their refusal to join the
governments One Nation, One Army policy.

From this, we can clearly see that the peace here is a combination of good of
justice and equality. Justice and equality among the ethnic groups is the only
way to achieve peace in the country. From the economical point of view, the
civil war in Myanmar, however, did not stop the flow of foreign investments
between 2010 and 2013. This in fact has tripled the foreign investments, a
rate exceeding that of any other ASEAN country. The drawbacks that we have
seen during war times in other countries are not quite similar when it comes
to Myanmar. This is because Myanmar is located between the markets of the
two most populated countries in the world, which are China and India.
Besides its strategic location, Myanmar abounds in natural resources that any
country in the world would fight for. It has natural resources, including gold,
jade, timber, rubies, oil and natural gas.
All these resources lie in various territories controlled by the ethnic armies
throughout Myanmar. A particular ethnic which has a certain resource, will
make profit out of it and keep it to themselves. Most ethnics are kleptocratic
in Myanmar; being kleptocratic itself can lead to civil war. The money does
not flow to the entire nation, making certain ethnics rich. If this situation
prolongs, the rich will become richer and the poor will become even poorer.

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

This is where ethnic equality plays its role and Myanmar should be come to
be known as a nation of equal people with equal rights and not a country
made up of islands of different people. The wealth of the country has to be
share by the country as a whole entity, not by whoever controls the
enterprise. There is also one other reason why the economy tripled. Its
because of the workforce in the neighbouring county, Thailand. Thailand is a
manufacturing powerhouse, is ageing and growing more expensive compared
to Myanmar.

Political discontent on the other hand, has led some rebel factions, such as
the Karen National Union, in to war. They have been fighting for
independence from Myanmar since 1949. Other rebel factions have fought for
regional autonomy, or a federal style government, in which every province
would receive some level of provincial government. Past ceasefire
agreements and treaties have failed to recognise rebel demands for political
freedom and self-determination, resulting in most, of the ceasefires being
temporary. During the 1988 uprising, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a
national symbol for democracy that resolved this fight, after leading the
largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). From this
we can see that the political stability of a county can avoid civil war and
fights.

The communal tensions in Myanmar had been made as a main example in

our paper as it is one of the lesser concerned conflicts in modern times. While
the world has set their eyes on the

Middle East conflicts, the racial

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discrimination in the United States, as well as the uncontrolled number of
immigrants in European countries like France, few were urging the solution to
the conflict in Myanmar. Although the discrimination of the Rohingyas from
the central government of Myanmar is taken as a concern in countries such
as Malaysia, not many people know about other communal conflicts that
Myanmar is having. Sadly, this internal conflict in Myanmar which has been
stated earlier on is also the longest running civil war in the world.

The main solution for this conflict truly relies on the reformation within the
country itself. The same thing goes to many other countries that are
experiencing ethical conflict. If foreign countries were to get involved directly,
this will cause even more turmoil. The reasons being that foreign countries
could not identify problems faced by the local community in detail when it
comes to communal understanding. Foreign countries should, in all cases of
ethical conflicts, play only a supporting role.

The people of the country should start by educating the youth about the
equality of rights between all kinds of people who are all human beings.
Although this process will take generations to perfect, it will lay a great
foundation to make a country more prosperous and peaceful. The Japanese
for example, have mutual respect among its entire people without regarding
age, occupation, beliefs and gender. This is one of the main foundations that
led to the success of Japan.
Political point of views has also been the main problem that lead to civil wars
all around the world. According to James Fearon, a scholar of civil wars at

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

Stanford University, defines a civil war as "a violent conflict within a country
fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a
region, or to change government policies. Civil wars in the 19th and early
20th centuries were fought for control of the state, to become politically
stable with more power and men to fight. The other two major global
ideologies which are monarchism and democracy, have also led to several
civil wars. Some in a country would want to practice democracy and some
would want monarchism. Politics in a country have to be fair to all the ethnics
to avoid any conflict. This is how a country can achieve its peace among its
ethnics though politics.
In conclusion, a country must put ethnical equality as its highest priority in
order to achieve peace. This is also the main formula to achieve global peace,
as the saying goes, united we stand, divided we fall.

THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE

References
1. THE DATA TEAM, MYANMAR IN GRAPHICS:AN UNFINISHED PEACE,16TH
NOVEMBER 2015,
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/11/myanmar-graphics, 31
DECEMBER 2015.
2. INTERNAL CONFLICT IN MYANMAR." Wikipedia. Accessed December 31, 2015.
https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_conflict_in_Myanmar.
3. "INTERNAL CONFLICT IN MYANMAR." Wikipedia. Accessed December 31, 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_conflict_in_Myanmar.
4."Briefing: Myanmar's Ethnic Problems." IRINnews. Accessed December 31, 2015.
http://www.irinnews.org/report/95195/briefing-myanmar-s-ethnic-problems.
5. Vandenbrink, Rachael. "Solution to Myanmar Violence Lies in Local Community,

Experts Say." Radio Free Asia. April 25, 2014. Accessed December 29, 2015.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/sectarian-violence-04252014162034.html.