RFA
An alliance of 15 of Myanmar’s ethnic political parties said Monday after its second major meeting in weeks that it will submit to parliament constitutional amendments that give greater rights and representation in government for their minority groups.
Representatives from all of the parties in the Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF) gathered Sunday with legal experts in the capital Naypyidaw to discuss amendments to the country’s 2008 constitution, which was written under military junta rule.
Zo Zam, chairman of the Chin National Party, one of the parties in the alliance, said the discussions revolved around how to guarantee greater protection for ethnic minority rights.
“Ethnic people have a responsibility to protect their rights,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service after the meeting.
“I think our recommendations for amendments to the 2008 constitution will be useful. We will submit some guidelines from the ethnic groups [to parliament].”
Federal system
The NBF, which at its last major meeting in June made plans to form a joint political party called the Federated Union Party ahead of the country’s 2015 general elections, supports changing Myanmar’s political system to a federal system that would give ethnic states greater autonomy.
The group discussed how to amend the constitution to propose a federal political system, constitutional expert and conference attendee Salai Ngon Kyone Lywan said.
“People are afraid of implementing a federal system because they often misunderstand a federation as secession from the union, though the two are not the same,” he said after the meeting.
The alliance is made up of the Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP), the All Mon Regions Democracy Party, Phalon-Sawal Democratic Party, the Inn National Development Party (INDP), and The Tai-Leng Nationalities Development Party, among others. It does not include some of the country’s major ethnic groups, such as the Kachin and Karen, who have fought bitterly with the military for decades.
This week’s NBF conference follows a meeting last month of a separate coalition of five other ethnic parties—the United Nationalities Alliance—with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last month to discuss working toward adopting a federal political system that would give more autonomy to ethnic states.
Many of Myanmar's ethnic minority groups have long aspired for a federal system of administration, citing a 1947 agreement in which Aung San Suu Kyi's father, independence hero General Aung San, pledged to devolve power to some of the larger ethnic groups.
A military coup in 1962 however scuttled their hopes, with the army concerned that federalism would lead to secession by the mostly resource-rich ethnic minority regions.
Reported by Win Naung Toe for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
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