CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Ethnic minorities in Myanmar are concerned their decades-old struggle against the Yangon government is being eclipsed by the more visible ethnically Burman pro-democracy forces, interviews here and elsewhere in Thailand with representatives of two of the groups that are still fighting the government indicate.
The interviews were conducted during the last two weeks of July, prior to U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail's current visit to Myanmar.
Non-Burman ethnic groups have been fighting the government to varying degrees for more than 50 years. Although the Myanmar junta has signed cease-fires with a number of the ethnic groups, some opposition armies continue to fight against the ruling State Peace and Development Council. The groups worry that pro- democracy forces they are allied with now may forget them if political change comes to Myanmar, according to interviews here, in Bangkok and Mae Sot, and elsewhere in Thailand.
Although they support pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, they distrust some other leaders of the opposition National League for Democracy because of past ties to the army, as do some Burmans in the pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi has said she envisions a federalist nation, although not one in which individual states could secede. It seems that the ethnic group support for the pro-democracy forces -- including provision of most of the opposition's military muscle -- depends on whether the groups believe they will have a real role in a new Myanmar.
Representatives of two ethnic groups, the Karens and Shans, expressed similar worries about being sidelined, including concern over Burman pro-democracy opposition members' domination of the Western view of the Myanmar opposition.
Karen National Union leader General Bo Mya said the Burmans get more international help than the minority ethnic groups.The outside world does not know about killing, rape and other human rights violations in the minority ethnic areas, he said, and when the opposition lobbies overseas, the Burman pro-democracy activists talk about democracy, political prisoners and similar issues, not about the problems faced by the ethnic groups.
Bo Mya, who is also president of both the Democratic Alliance of Burma, an alliance of ethnic groups and pro-democracy activists, and the National Council of the Union of Burma, which also includes the NLD, said there was no change for the ethnic groups after Suu Kyi was released. He said looting, killing and gang rapes continued as part of government "ethnic cleansing" efforts.
Similar sentiments came from General Shwe Hser, president of the National Democratic Front, an alliance of ethnic groups, who said Suu Kyi's release has had no impact on the political situation from the ethnic groups' point of view.
Khaing Soe Naing Aung, the NDF's general secretary, said the world noticed the country in 1988, the year pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed, but the ethnic groups lost their democracy in 1947.
Mahn Nyein Maung of the NDF Central Executive Committee cited the continued burning and forced relocation of villages in May, the month Suu Kyi was released. According to Karen Refugee Committee Chairman Pastor Robert Htwe and Secretary Tay Tay, Myanmar's army wants to rid the border region of people, and in one district, 28 villages were ordered to relocate, part of a policy begun in the 1970s to subjugate ethnic groups.
Shan sources also expressed reservations about the NLD, with two saying the NLD does not represent the ethnic groups. One source suggested that Suu Kyi has respect because of her father Aung San, an independence hero who was assassinated in 1947, but some ethnic leaders believe she may not know what is on the mind of non-Burmans.
This source also complained about Burman domination of the opposition, saying that the NLD is more well-known to the outside world than the ethnic groups. At the same time, though, he said talks will have to proceed among the government, NLD and ethnic opposition because the SPDC knows how to play the two components of the opposition off each other.
Suu Kyi Seen As Positive Force
This source said Suu Kyi is sincere about wanting a federation, saying that since she was educated in the West she has seen federations work.
Bo Mya described Suu Kyi as very important to the struggle for democracy in Burma and said most ethnic groups will benefit if she becomes Myanmar's leader. At the same time, he said, Suu Kyi, cannot do much alone.
Shwe Hser described Suu Kyi as the only NLD leader the ethnic groups can trust. Other NLD leaders, he said, were generals and have the blood of ethnic minorities on their hands.
Other Karen sources voiced similar sentiments, saying that although they were still assessing Suu Kyi, she seems to sincerely believe in democracy and is the best choice to lead both the Burmans and other ethnic groups.
Tern Sarng and Khur Hsen of the Restoration Council of Shan State said that Suu Kyi must prove her commitment to a federation, and while she might be fair, her colleagues are mostly nationalists.
The NLD swept 1990 elections, which the junta ignored, but Tern Sarng and Khur Hsen said those elections were not representative because most hill tribe members did not vote. They called for a five-year interim period to train people after any change in government so they could decide their own fate, followed by a referendum on secession.
Like many of those interviewed for this series, although Khur Hsen said she had misgivings about many in the NLD leadership, she said if left to her own devices, Suu Kyi would propose a fair federation.
Maung Maung Aye, health and education minister for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, said the pro-democracy opposition and the ethnic groups will not be split.
Although before 1988 he said the Burman opposition was not aware of the suffering of the ethnic groups, that situation has now changed, he said, and the pro-democracy opposition "cannot forget their suffering."
Khon Manko Ban, the NCGUB foreign affairs minister, said that if the NLD wins and forgets the ethnic groups there will be no peace. He said he hopes the NLD will not forget the ethnic groups' problems and that the organization has learned many lessons from 50 years of civil war.