CNI Interview
22 August 2022
On 2021 On February 1st, after the army seized power, armed conflicts broke out along with counter-protests.
After that, as SAC and NUG competed to be recognized as legitimate governments, the country's mechanisms such as politics, economy, and health have also been facing crisis.
Due to these conditions, there are reviews that the country is heading towards complete demise.
CNI news agency has contacted Dr. Aye Maung, Chairman of the Arakan Front Party (AFP) about the situation.
Q ။ ။ What do you think about political parties being restricted from meeting with foreign organizations? Why are they being restricted?
A ။ ။ I think only UEC can answer why. But when we look at the current situation, we see that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly objected to the Malaysian Foreign Minister.
Another thing is that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing also announced his intention to take the five ASEAN consensus points seriously when he presented to Kalon concerning with current six months. And I have also heard that ASEAN’s special envoy will be coming to Yangon around coming September 15. We can think of it related to each other. There is also a thing called political registration law. In that law, there is a provision as they have announced. It is also in the constitution as well.
The main reason behind that text is for international organizations, international governments, and foreign forces to not have any influence over the political parties. We assume that the crux here is the financial relationship. I think that there is no such restriction to the exchange of diplomatic opinions, meeting, knowledge sharing, etc. This is what we review. In the meantime, it is up to the Election Commission to decide whether the Election Commission needs to be this strict or not.
From our point of view, as you know these days, there is a lot of conflicts between the armed forces. There are also some armed forces that negotiated with each other to reach a settlement. For example, even if the most elite forces meet up, the political parties are prone to be put on the back burner. After meeting with the top political organizations, they take a political and military solution.
Dr. Aye Maung and political party leaders meeting with the ASEAN Special Representative
That's where the military in Myanmar came to the front. There are many aspects of solving the political problems of the armed forces through armed means. Of course, the political sector was pushed off further and further. Everyone said that the political sector needs to be enhanced again, that we need to find a solution through political dialogue.
We also need to analyze the so-called international opinion about Myanmar when it comes to considering the political problem in Myanmar. In addition to the opinion of my fellow armed organizations, we also need the public opinion. The political parties have become more interested in public opinion.
An objective and a purpose of a political party might be concerned with the ethnic regions, ideologies and many other things. So, the political parties can learn more from the voice of the public and the will of the public. Because of this, limiting the political parties sector needs special attention in times like these.
That's what I want to happen, even if it is stipulated in such laws. Even if we are facing this period of political, military and diplomatic crisis, we need to open the sector of political parties. Rather than having to report it before seeing it, if possible, I should be allowed to see it freely. International aid, financial aid, etc., must be opened according to the laws and regulations.
During the meeting between ethnic armed leaders and the ASEAN Special Representative
One thing is that in the case of political and military diplomacy, after the meeting, every political party that meets, the person that is met, the content that they met for, and the situation that is unique, should be submitted to the Election Commission as an instruction that is stricter than the current instruction. In this period, the UEC side should approach this way.
First meet and then present it to political parties, foreign governments, foreign government organizations, foreign parties, etc. As for the financial relationship, There is an instruction to stay clean according to the statutory law. If so, would it be more convenient? As much as that.
Q ။ ။ Yes sir. Now, with their strict instructions, aren't they contradicting the democratic system they are talking about?
A ။ ။ It's the opposite. As for the finance they say, they may need to ban it according to the law. When communicating with an international organization as a government, it is a kind of thing. It may be necessary for political parties to have no international communication.
After the government comes to power, it will be concerned with the nation. There is a possibility that these provisions are stipulated in order to no let a political party groomed by a foreign government or an organization that would attempt to rule and meddle in Myanmar's politics.
But now is the time to speak openly. If it is necessary to open the political sector during the period when the war is the main thing, the political sector is broad. We have to keep our ears peeled for the voice of the public as well as the military. We also have to take up a habit of listening to international diplomatic communications.
At the moment, political parties are seriously recognized as the parties that will carry out the work of the next government. That's the law that requires political parties to practice. Meeting with the envoy, our political views, his political views, their goodwill towards Myanmar, what do you call them Goodwill can also turn out to be harmful, etc? Good and bad need to be studied from the side of political parties.
During the meeting with the UN Special Representative and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
Things to do and to avoid. That is why we are going towards a multi-party democracy, a federal democracy, and as political parties, we should not limit the meeting, discussion, and exchange with foreign organizations and foreign diplomats. As I said just now, it has been determined that there is a distinct provision stipulated to ensure that there will be no manipulation of finance and power-grooming. For now, yes.
Q ။ ။ Yes. Another thing is whether the next election that will be held by SAC will be a political outlet for this country. Some analyze that it is a political outlet only for SAC and will be of no use to the country. May I ask what is your take on this issue?
A ။ ။ We have to make an exit that is beneficial for both sides. We have to make it a good exit for both SAC and the entire public. Behind the work public, there is also the role of political parties that represent the public to do political campaigns. We must try to build a good exit that will benefit both sides. This is about the need.
We have to think broadly when it comes to the the upcoming election. So, let’s think based on a little bit of information. If the upcoming election is the exit for SAC as provided by the 2008 Constitution, then we need to think about whether all current conflicts, military and political conflicts can be turned into an exit for the whole Myanmar. Then we need to create a good exit.
And other people also say it like this. The next month marks our 75 years of independence. 75 is the last phase of age in terms of human life. It is considered a very old age. It is one thing whether we will try hard to solve the problem that Myanmar is currently facing until the next election, or will they continue to cycle this same issue again and again for ten years, centuries or decades later? In this current time, we need to think about whether this exit can be created as an exit for all of us. That’s why we say to most people.
We say it like this when we meet with others and answer this way when we meet with media. We think that we need to try to create and build the exit that will benefit all of us. There is a provision in the 2008 Constitution. Because of this, after the 2020 election crisis, SAC has become a part of the constitution that is responsible for governing for a period of 2 years.
If you think about all the current political and military problems in Myanmar, almost everyone accepts that it is a constitutional problem. Will we try to maintain Myanmar’s existence, or will we deliberately push ourselves to pursue its disintegration? Considering these two sides, I believe almost everyone will not want to see its disintegration.
How will we establish it? If we think about the general election and the aftermath of the general election, the first thing is that the constitutional issues in the system of armed conflicts have entailed the lack of national equality. First of all, to say this frankly, how will we solve this long-term problem of Myanmar.
Those who demand democracy (Frontier Myanmar)
One answer is to solve this in accords with the act of constitutional issues under the constitution. So, if we look back at NUG, CRPH, and PDF that appeared about a year and a half ago, it is the current state-related power issue.
So there followed the power struggles basing on the line that one side took the power that the other had taken. There’s an identity tug-of-war. When the current situation is between the two, we need to solve this situation constitutionally in order to create a good exit just like we were saying earlier. It needs to be created according to the current power issue.
According to the provision of 2008, SAC is responsible for carrying out in accordance with the 2008 constitution during the 2-year term of SAC. That’s why the election may or may not be the exit of 2008, the election of SAC and the exit of the power issue. It may or may not be the solution to the problem of power.
This is how power-concerned people would think about. That’s why big countries such as US have said that they only recognize the 2020 election and that they will not recognize the upcoming election. Many Western countries also said the same way. Therefore, the election is not a way out for some. And there is a sense of power struggle that is out for banning the election. This is the current situation.
In resolving the constitutional issue, either rewriting the constitution or creating a new one will solve the chronic political problem that has been going on for 75 years. It is a problem that has existed since the beginning. Now, the power of problem is that the election must not happen. It is also a force that states that there is a need to recognize the previous election to prevent the upcoming election from happening.
So, if you mull these two things over, when I was saying that we need to create an exit that is beneficial for both sides, SAC will make this exit according to the 2008 constitution no matter what. This exit will pave the way for the election.
So, this is a gap between the time before the election and the coming constitution, causing a forced constitutional crisis. So the court must ask. They do this election. But if the election falls apart, will SAC, in other words, the Commander-in-Chief of Defense continue to be given power under the constitution or not.
Whether or not it will be handed over will be a scene that will happen in the aftermath or even before the election. If the exit is closed because of the forces that do not want to give the exit like this, what will SAC do? Will it be renewed for another year or two years? This will be a scene before the election where the constitutional court will determine how far the constitution can go without being abolished. This is one thing to go.
So, I told you about the case again just to make you understand well. If we consider what I just said to be a constitutional problem, to be a chronic political problem, this election is a way out to solve this. For the parliament and government which will be formed as a result of that election, SAC must create an environment where this election is fair and square, everyone can and should participate starting from this duration.
SAC should make a soft approach and the Election Commission also needs to align the political parties role with the soft approach.
Only after discussing and negotiating with all revolutionary organizations that are under military tension, the political package which shows the steps how to build the Union in coming period and what to do next beyond the election period.
The law needs to be able to get that. Only after taking that, the parliament and the government will be formed. For the circumstance beyond the election, if the public political parties, armed organizations can be shown in advance what will happen during the upcoming situation, in other words, if the solution can be shown after making a political negotiation according to the law, the upcoming election will be an exit that the armed organizations and political parties can willingly accept.
Those who demand democracy (Frontier Myanmar)
We need to try to make it since now. SAC also needs to try. This is the political package. It is important to build a political covenant before this election. For that to happen, SAC needs to have a moderate attitude and needs to think ahead and see ahead.
What we think is that, in the beyond-election period, after analyzing all the issues Myanmar has faced for 75 years, understanding the tight-corner of the constitution of 2008, understanding the national equality and the right to self-determination that the armed organizations want, the ability to resolve is a new constitution.
That is what we understand. SAC needs to make a statement before the election about one-by-one agreements made with the EAOs and political parties regarding the new constitution which can be drawn up by the next government and parliament for the upcoming 5-year term of the government beyond the election. There, only after analyzing the rigid nature of the current constitution of 2008, a new constitution will be issued, considering that all can accept, by the coming parliament in the short term, then will be confirmed publishing.
It will be like the military retreats from politics and all the EAOs gave up their weapons to end the armed conflicts. So, that is the package of how to build the Union of Myanmar. From this period onwards, if an agreement about all the information which can be negotiated, can be made with SAC before the election and they can be made known to the public and the world, the election will be the exit for SAC according to the 2008 Constitution and 2008 Constitution will also be a foundation for the entire union.
According to the new Constitution, if we can all try to build the new union of the new country, Federal Union and create a way out of the conflict, Tatmadaw can retreat from the mire of the armed way. Followed by this, The political leadership of the Tatmadaw may also leave behind.
Concerning the right of national equality and self-governance of all the armed revolutionary organizations that build the politics through the use of war and conflict, they can lay down their arms only after the drafting and enforcing a new constitution. If that situation can be created from now on, it will be a good way out for both sides in the election and beyond election.
It could be the exit for SAC as well as the exit of 2008 Constitution. And it could also be the exit for the armed resistance organizations, political parties, and the entire union. So, as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, he should believe that the only thing that will end all the conflicts regarding the whole union in the coming period is a new constitution that is accepted by all and if drafted, it will be the fourth constitution.
If this can end the 75-year long civil war, can make everyone enjoy the taste of freedom and the taste of democratic federalism, it will be a good thing for everyone. This is my comment.
