ုုkarens and karen state

ႏုိ၀င္ဘာလ ရ ရက္ က်ေရာက္ေတာ့မည့္ (၅၄) ႏွစ္ေေၿမာက္ ကရင္ၿပည္နယ္ေန့ အထိမ္းအမွတ္ လွဳိက္လွဲစြာ ၾကဳိဆုိပါ၏
ေဖၚၿပခဲ့ေသာ ေဆာင္းပါးေကာင္းတစ္ပုဒ္ၿဖစ္သည့္အတြက္ ၿပန္လည္ေရြးခ်ယ္ေဖၚၿပၿခင္းၿဖစ္သည္။

Karens and karen state

It would not be difficult to understand the real nature of the Karen and Burman. They are in fact different and distinct genuses and it is a dream that Karen and Burman can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one homogeneous Burmese Nation has gone far beyond the limits and is the cause of most of the troubles and will lead Burma to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. Originally, Karen and Burman belong to two different racial origins (Mongolian, and Tibeto-Burma), religions, philosophies (Animism and Buddhism), social customs and literature. They belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different.

It is quite clear that the Karen and Burman derive their inspiration from difference sources of history. They have different epics, (e.g. pastoral Phumawtaw-Htawmepah and Burmanised Rama King), different heroes and different episodes. To yoke together two such nations under a single State, one in numerical minority and other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be built up for the Government of such a State. It would be no wisdom to proceed to build for Burma a constitution on the assumption that these differences did not exist. Karens, a nation not a minority Karens came to Burma as first settlers and spread throughout the length and breadth of the “Golden Chersonese” – the Indonesian peninsulas between the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, and right down to Borneo today the millions of Karen in both Burma and Siam represent the largest compact body of Karen population in any single part of the world. It has always been taken for granted mistakenly that the Karens are a minority and of course we have got used to it for such a long time that these settled notions sometimes are very difficult to remove, Karens are a nation according to any definition of a nation. We (the Karens) are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language, literature, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, customary laws and moral codes, aptitudes and ambitions; in short we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all Canons of International Law we are a nation.Burma problem The Problem in Burma is not [of] an inter-communal character but manifestly of an international one, and it must be treated as such. So long as this basic and fundamental truth is not realized, any constitution that may be built will result in disaster and will prove destructive and harmful not only to the Karens but to the British and the Burmans also. If the British Government are really in earnest and sincere to secure peace and happiness of the peoples in Burma, the only course to us all is to allow the major nations separate “homelands” by dividing Burma into “Autonomous National States”. There is no reason why theses States should be antagonistic to each other. On the other hand the rivalry and the national desire and efforts on the part of one to dominate the social order and establish political supremacy over the other if the Government of the country will disappear. It will lead more towards national goodwill by international pacts between them, and they can live in complete harmony with their neighbors. This will lead further to a friendly settlement all the more easily with regard to minorities by reciprocal arrangements and adjustments between Karen-Burma and Burmese-Burma, which will far more adequately and effectively safeguard the rights and interests of the Karens and other minorities.Democracy in Burma Western Parliamentary Democracy System is unsuitable for Burma. Such Democracy as exists in Western Countries is understandable and possible only there, as there exists [there] a single homogeneous nation and a single cultural and social organized society, but in Burma conditions are entirely different. Here there are two nations and talk of democracy and a single unit is impossible. The meaning of democracy in this country can only be, and an electoral system can only result in, the permanent domination of a Burmese majority over a Karen Society in minority, antagonistic to each other and different in everything that is essential to life, the Barmans and the Karens differ fundamentally.One central government It would be impossible to have a Unitary Central Government in Burma. Such an arrangement would mean that for every eight representatives in Government, there would be one Karen, or in other words the Burman’s will will be forced on the Karens.Right of self-determination The Karens claim a right of self-determination because they are a national group on a given territory which is their homeland and in the zones where they are in a majority. In constitutional language they cannot be characterized as a sub-national group who cannot expect anything more than what is due from a civilized government to a minority.Our goal Great Britain wants to rule Burma, the Burmans want to rule Burma and the Karens say that they will not let either the British or the Burmans rule the Karens. We want to be free. We have to define and define beyond doubt, what our goal is. There are many people who either do not understand or misunderstand or do not want to understand, there are ignorant people and it is really amazing how our decisions or resolutions are misinterpreted or misrepresented, in order that there should be no room left for misunderstanding and that no doubt should be left in that mind of any intelligent and sensible people, our position with regards to our goal must be clarified. What is the goal of the All Burma Karen National Union [the main Karen political organization]? What is the ideology and what is its policy? The goal of the All Burma Karen National Union is this – we want the establishment of a completely independent State in the South Eastern Zone of Burma with full control finally of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Communications, Customs, currency and Exchange, etc, we do not want in any at the centre. We will never agree to that. If we once agree to that, the Karens will be absolutely wiped out of existence. We will never be tributaries of any power or any Government at the centre so far as the South Eastern Zone of our free national homeland is concerned.Karen state government Our Government will be the people’s Government. You may get it either by force or by agreement. But until you get it, the question of constitution making and the form and the system of Government do not arise. Let us first agree that there shall be two Burmas. Then the constitution making body will be elected by some system from the people, and it is the people who will choose their representatives to go to the constitution making body. The constitution and the Government shall be democratic.Minorities in the Karen State Safeguard for minorities must be provided for wherever there are minorities. No Government will ever succeed without creating a sense of security and confidence in the minorities. Mons and the Karen State Naturally the Karens always have for the Mons a soft corner in their heart. We have absolutely no designs on our Mon friends. The Mons will get from their traditional Sister - the Karen – inspiration and help for preservation of their race, culture, literature etc. Their zone would be an autonomous unit of the Karen State.Karenni principalities The Karenni combined principalities may or may not choose either to federate or confederate with the Karen State. Their first consideration should be whether our status is compatible with theirs.No vivisection Burma is composed of nationalities and surely today she is divided and partitioned by Nature… Burma is being held by the British power and that is the hand that holds and gives the impression of United Burma and United Government. [A] Burmese nation and Central Government do not exist in as much as the various nationalities in Burma are not homogeneous.There are no genuine arguments advanced against the Karen State scheme. The Karen National Union wants the two odd millions Karens in Burma to secure and settle in zones which they could justifiably claim as their homelands and develop their own culture and live in a manner suited to their genius. There is nothing unusual in the demand for partition. When two brothers born of the same parents find it difficult to get on with each other the only effective solution lies in partition.Economical aspect It is argued that a Karen State is not a practical proposition on grounds of economy having regard to the revenue yield of some districts in the eastern borderland. You cannot expect to get handsome revenue unless your taxed area, though rich in resources, is properly developed. Let us not build on sands but let us face facts and figures. Kindly take stock of the revenues of the South Eastern Zone of Burma where revenues are drawn from multifarious sources, e.g lands, rice, timber, salt, rubber, minerals, sea and land customs, fisheries, income-tax, excise, etc. further increase of revenues is depended on the extent of development of the resources and on the security and stability in that country. There is not much to bother about [the] economy so long as we are sensible to cut our coat according to our cloth.Acceptance of the principle The principle of partitioning Burma must be agreed upon at first, then would come the question as to what ways and means should be adopted to give effect to that decision. The question of details will then arise and with good-will. Understanding and statesmanship, we (all the indigenous races) shall, let us hope, settle among ourselves. Where there is a will, there is a way…