“Stating that any territorial division of the Union shall never secede from the Union is totally against the Panglong Agreement, the Panglong Pledge, and the Panglong spirit. It is against the Union policy of Bogyoke Aung San, the father of the independent Union,” SNLD representative Sai Htin Kyaw said during political discussions at the peace talks in Nay Pyi Taw.

The SNLD’s joint secretary Sai Kyaw Nyunt added that the ethnic people gave up their rights to establish their own countries by signing the 1947 Panglong Agreement.

“Without this agreement, the Shan may already have established their own country. It’s the same for other ethnic people. We gave up the right to establish our own countries and joined this union. We established this Union under this agreement. Just think about how important this agreement is. The important thing is to implement the Panglong Pledge,” he said.

U Aung Htoo, a human rights lawyer who founded the Legal Aid Network, said that arguing in favor or against secession is secondary, as the focus should be on ethnic autonomy.

 “The NLD government and the Burma Army need to decide whether they can accept unity, which is the basic of Panglong, and if they accept the importance of Panglong, they need to review whether or not full autonomy was promised to ethnic states,” said U Aung Htoo.

He added that if they fail to guarantee democratic rights and recognize the Panglong Agreement, secession is no longer an issue since the Union will dissolve.

The second session of the Union Peace Conference – also dubbed the 21st-Century Panglong – is focusing on conceptions of a federal Union with input from ethnic groups collected during national-level dialogues.

Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by Laignee Barron