So I am back in Chiang Mai, which is the town that I have been in and out of since 1971, and where I have lived and worked since 1996, I have returned from an 8-day sojourn, 9-12 June, to Burma.

I have come to call the country Hopeland, as it is a place full of hopes and dreams after more than 60 years of nightmares.

Translated by KP

It has been reported in the media that sectarian violence broke out and escalated on a wide scale, when a Muslim man doused a Buddhist woman with gasoline and set her alight in northern Shan State’s Lashio on 28 May. The current situation in the city has been normalized after the authorities worked hard to stabilize violence and get it under the control.

INTRODUCTION

As the Thein Sein Government’s peace process with its armed ethnic minorities continues, concerns remain in relation to Burma Army activities in Shan State amid claims that the UWSA has increased its arsenal and is seeking an autonomous Wa State. Although armed ethnic groups, like the RCSS-SSA, have continually attempted to minimalize the impact of various clashes with the Burma Army, the continuing offensive in Northern Shan State, the on-going conflict in Kachin State, and reports of a possible offensive against the Wa further threatens peace in the area and could result in both the RCSS/SSA and the UWSA being drawn into a much wider conflict.

Tuesday, 04 June 2013

The peace talk held in Myitkyina, from 28 to 30 May, between the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/KIA) and Thein Sein government stopped short of reaching a cease-fire agreement and has to make do with only a tentative deal to de-escalate fighting and understanding to continue on a future political dialogue.

Last evening I was reading a book, when I ran across one of the characters named Capistrano. Without thinking, the words of the long forgotten song sung by Pat Boone flowed in:

When the swallows come back to Capistrano
That’s the day you’d promised to come back to me ……..

A few weeks ago I wrote 'Women in Burma must act as an Agent of Change' but I don't mean to say that women are more able than men. As we require many points of view to recreate new ways of moving into a better future, we need the opinion and experience of both men and women. Women will bring different perspectives not because women are more warm hearted and care, naturally, but because women have different life experience.

Over the last year and a half, this has been the uppermost question in everybody’s mind regarding the Government of Myanmar’s ceasefire negotiations with the ethnic armed groups. This question became especially acute at the beginning of the year when President Thein Sein ordered a ceasefire but the Tatmadaw seemingly ignored the order and continued to press forward using heavy artillery to seize key Kachin Independence Army positions.

One thing that did not fail to fascinate me while I was in Shan State was seeing Buddhist monks driving.

I was on my way from Lashio to Wanhai, headquarters of the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army, 100 miles south of Lashio, when I ran into them: some driving cars and others motorcycles, with the tails of their saffron robes flying and flapping behind them in the wind.