An interview with Aung San Myint, Chair of Karenni State, about its 3-year activities.
Aung San Myint, chairman of the Karenni State Consultative Council (KSCC), said that the KSCC will continue to strive for the participation of all forces in the KSCC.
Currently, the KSCC consists of three Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs), one political party, elected MPs of the 2020 election, youth group, women’s group, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).
However, some political groups and the EROs in Karenni State are not included in the KSCC. He talked about the participation of all those forces.
The KSCC was established on 9 April, 2021 after the military coup. The Kantarawaddy Times (KT) interviewed Aung San Myint, chairman of the KSCC about its three-year activities.
Q: How was the KSCC established?
A: The KSCC was established on 9 April 2021. At that time, the KSCC was unable to draft and enact its organizational set-up and duties precisely and clearly. At that time, the fighting was intense. The people were in trouble at that time, we met the safety and needs of the people to the best of our ability. These are the working committees under the KSCC. After forming the committees, the safety and needs of the public were fulfilled. For example, we fulfilled the needs of the public by forming the health committee, education committee, humanitarian committee, Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) committee, strike committee and security committee. But after two years, we started with 37 members.
Q: Which tasks did the KSCC mainly perform during the three years after its establishment?
A: The KSCC has come to find some weaknesses in the implementation of its tasks during two years as it has no clear-cut organization setup. The sectors pertaining to authority, accountability and responsibility are found to be weak. In May 2022, we drew up our interim plan. In 2023, we expounded it to the involved organizations and then sought agreements from them. Then, the first conference of the KSCC was held on 17-20 January 2023. The KSCC was reorganized after the conference.
Now, the KSCC has 13 members. They are three EROs, one political party, 2020 elected members of parliament, youth, women, CBOs and CSOs. Under the newly-formed KSCC, we have formed three more sectors for the implementation of this work. They are interim parliament, Interim Executive Council (IEC) and interim judiciary. We are implementing three sectors simultaneously. We have formed four working committees under the KSCC. The first is international relations committee, the second, the policy formulation committee, the third is the political discussion committee. The reason is that we have to hold political talks with all the groups in Karenni State, as well as with forces outside Karenni State, in order to get political common agreements for the building of our future federal democracy. For that, we have formed a political discussion committee.
The last one is the transitional constitutional drafting committee. Four committees have been formed.
For the interim period, we are implementing our work based on the interim plan. For the transitional period, we have started drafting the transitional constitution. We have started drafting it chapter by chapter after learning from scholars. So, this is what the KSCC is doing.
Q: What are the next steps?
A: We have been making efforts to achieve the KSCC’s goal of inclusiveness and the participation of all forces in the state. The KSCC is also working with international organizations and international donor organizations to get education, health and humanitarian aid required for the public. This is our outline of the KSCC’s work. Under the interim plan, we have formed three implementation sectors.
Currently, the interim parliament was formed with 15 elected members from the 2020 Election. Five working committees were formed under the interim parliament. They are the international relations committee, public affairs committee, financial vetting and monitoring committee, bill drafting committee and the MPs Vetting Committee. The parliament is also doing parliamentary work. During this year, the Karenni State Judicial Law was approved by the parliament. In addition, we were able to approve our procedures and bylaws. This is the process of the Interim Parliament. Another one is the Interim Executive Council.
Under the interim plan, the KSCC first selected two presidents of the IEC. Then, two presidents again selected the members of the council. Now the IEC has six members—two presidents, General Secretary, Joint Secretary-1, Joint Secretary-2 and financial officer. There are eight departments under the IEC. They are the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Women and Child Welfare, the Department of Humanitarian Aid and Rehabilitation and the Department of Judiciary, the Department of Planning, Finance, and Customs, the Department of Commerce and Investment and Department of Transportation. For judicial work, the KSCC formed the State Judge Selection Commission.
The Judge Selection Commission selected and approved Chief Justice of the State and three state judges. Our Karenni State has the state court. We call it the state supreme court. It is the highest court of the state. Two district courts have been built. Five township courts have been built. We implemented it under the KSCC during three years. These are the activities of three working committees and implementation mechanisms.
Q: How does the KSCC coordinate with the newly-formed IEC?
A: According to our interim plan, the KSCC has a duty to direct the IEC to follow the provisions of the interim plan in implementing the interim parliament, interim executive council and the interim judiciary pillars. In addition, the KSCC has a duty to draft and approve the necessary policies for interim parliament and judiciary. For instance, it is required to seek the KSCC’s approval and coordination although the enactment of the state interim law calls for the approval of the interim parliament.
As our KSCC represents all the groups in Karenni State, the law is approved and enacted at the interim parliament only after seeking our approval. Then, the IEC announced it. We coordinate with them through this process. We collaborate on political and Karenni affairs although the departments under the IEC are operating separately. We have to coordinate with other groups, donors and embassies when we carry out information-sharing, implementation of their projects and fund-raising.
Another point is we have to jointly publicize our undertakings together with the KSCC and the IEC in terms of either our policy or the current political and military affairs.
Q: Does the KSCC start implementing local governance in controlled territories as Karenni armed forces have gained some territorial controls in Karenni State? For instance, how do you implement local administration in the place like Mese, where many EAOs are active?
A: It depends on territorial conditions. The provisions have been enshrined not only in our democracy charter but also in our interim plan. The provision says it is required to coordinate with the constitution and administrative mechanism of the existing armed revolutionary forces for the operation of executive, legislative and judicial work in Karenni State. Some regions have already had their own administration. At that time, we have to coordinate with the executive body of the IEC.
Another point is that we can implement a collective administration system in places like Mese as the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), Karenni Army (KA) and other groups are active there. We are working on the co-governance form with the inclusion of leaders of the KNPP, the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF) and other groups. We have formed it. We are walking on it.
Q: More and more people have been hit by landmines. How do you deal with this problem?
A: Landmines are used in conflict-affected areas. For this reason, we are disseminating the knowledge about landmines as much as possible. However, due to the ongoing fighting in these areas, we have not yet been able to carry out systematic implementation. That’s why we warn the public about it. Some people don’t pay heed to our warnings. We always warn the public not to return to the village to get their property back and to avoid using some roads. However, some people who returned home were hit by landmines. Demining projects are part of our rehabilitation program. In the middle of the war, we couldn’t do it systematically.
Q: What is the situation of cross-border humanitarian aid for the Karenni people?
A: We have made requests to international organizations regarding this humanitarian aid, and we have made announcements. These are cross-border aid programs. The delivery of grants through the terrorist military groups in the country will not go directly to the public. In the meantime, aid become the military’s equipment. Because of this, there are demands for the delivery of aid after crossing the border.
For three years, we have been providing aid for the public through the cross-border program. We continue working on it by affiliating with international organizations and donors. We have also expressed our opinion on the humanitarian assistance project being implemented by Thailand.
We called on them to coordinate with ethnic organizations on our border. Because all IDPs are in the areas controlled by revolutionary forces. We will not practically implement their policies. According to the policy, we have to make coordination and agreement. We have told them to implement it through third parties such as CBOs and CSOs.
Q: What else would you like to add?
A: This year, we have achieved more than 80 and 90 territorial control in Karenni State. As I said earlier, we are doing our executive, legislative and judiciary work in our state. This is the exercise of self-determination that we have always demanded. Because of this, the entire people from our state are suffering the consequences of the ongoing fighting. We would like to encourage the public that the people from other regions and states like Chin State, Karen State, Sagaing Region and Magway Region are facing similar problems. The current public protest aims to fight a political system.
So, we have been fighting against the junta for more than 70 years. We must completely eliminate the military dictatorship in order to change the unjust oppression of the terrorist military group. Because of this, we know the plights of our people. We will remain in a vicious cycle if we can’t shift to the new system. Therefore, the public needs to understand it. The public’s cooperation is needed. So we are trying to be in oneness with the public. We are trying to fulfill the public’s needs while preparing the best for the public. For this reason, we would like to ask the public to play their part as much as they can.
Sent by Kantarawaddy Times