In Loving Memory of Uncle
Eugene
In February 2002, at NRP
(National Reconciliation Program) office in
Interview:
AN EVENING WITH DR. CHAO TZANG
YAWNGHWE
Kao Wao recently requested Dr. Chao Tzang Yawnghwe,
the Advisory Board member of the United Nationalities League for Democracy-Liberated
Area, to take time out from his busy schedule to talk about his life
experiences as an activist and freedom fighter. Graduated with a Bachelor’s
Degree from Rangoon University and tutored English from 1960-63, when General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962, Chao Tzang became one of the
leading founders and served in the Shan resistance movement of the Shan State
Army from 1963-1977.
When resettled in
Today he works with the Ethnic
Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee (ENSCC), the Strategy
Planning Committee (SPC), and also heads the Program Team of the NRP (National
Reconciliation Program).
Question: Your experience being
an ethnic nationality in
CTY: Personally I have had
no problem. I am not obsessed with ethnic identity although I am a Shan
nationalist in the sense that I consider it my duty to fight for the Shan
people. The Shan people are cultured, peaceful, pious, humble, and aspire only
to live quietly as dignified human beings, not subject to oppression by
anyone. They have been unable to do so for more than fifty years.
Ethnic nationalism is by
definition narrow. It is like racism. It is ugly. I believe that everyone must
fight against ethnic nationalism, especially chauvinism or ethnic-racism. The
Burma Army and its leaders are ethnic-chauvinists. This is why the whole
country is suffering in so many ways for so many years.
Some of us choose to fight Burman
ethnic-chauvinism with ethnic-patriotism. It is necessary to do so. But one
must be careful because the politics of ethnicity can lead to confusion and
result in chaotic conflict - and when this happens, the ordinary and decent
folks suffer. In chaotic conflict, the people do not win.
Most likely the oppressor regime
will win because it will manipulate all the chaos and confusion, and it will
create and encourage conflicts, the more the better.
It is a duty of everyone to love
his people, to treasure his ethnic identity. But one should be able to think
strategically, to see the big picture of any situation and/or the struggle. It
is not useful in any way to be obsessed only with ethnic patriotism.
In addition, one has to consider
the fact that ethnic patriotism is a useful ideological weapon for politicians
and leaders aspiring to be an autocrat or dictator. Slobodan Milosovik was such a leader, as was Adolf
Hitler. Ne Win is also of this type. He used Burman
ethnic chauvinism to take away the rights and freedom of everyone and to make
himself an autocratic de-facto king - thereon destroying the lives of the
people of
Q: Your experiences in the Shan
armed movement?
CTY: My experience in the
Shan State Army/SSA was very eventful. This is more so because we operated in
the interior, in the frontlines - far away from all borders. The SSA did not
have any border bases, unlike other resistance armies. We were always
surrounded by the enemy.
We - I and my comrades - built up
quite successfully an armed movement and organization that was not wholly
dominated by military officers and men. They had to respect those serving in
the civil administrative capacity, and were not allowed to interfere in
administrative matters. Also, the people were organized into political, youth, women, self-help groups and organizations, and they
were also responsible for local security.
Discipline in the SSA at that
time was very strict. Soldiers and officers were not regarded as superior to
the people, or as more patriotic than others. They were not above the law. An
army that thinks of itself as a national vanguard, as the savior of the nation,
as more patriotic than anyone - this kind of army is a threat to everyone.
Q: How you handle the differences
between armed struggle and non-violence?
CTY: As noted by many
thinkers and democratic leaders - including Daw Aung San Suukyi
- if you win by violent means, you will rule with the same violence-prone
mind-set when you win.
If we look at successful armed
and violent revolutions all over the world and throughout history, such
revolutions "eat their own sons and daughters", and the best and the
brightest are among the first to be eliminated by the revolution. Because the
brightest and the best are no longer around, the revolution invariably becomes
corrupt, tyrannical, and self-serving.
Armed struggle is a science.
Shooting up and killing lowly or low-ranking enemy (government) soldiers is not
science. It is also not armed struggle. It is shooting and killing without
strategic thrust.
For example, the Burmese
communist, CPB, waged this kind of "armed struggle". It said its aim
is to kill a lot of Ne Win's soldier - as many as
possible. The CPB did kill a lot of lowly enemy soldiers, but it was
directionless fighting, a war without strategy and direction. In the end the
CPB was defeated.
Therefore to wage an armed
struggle, the first requirement is to have the ability to fight strategically, ie., to
use one's army - and brain power --to change the strategic situation, to
immobilize the enemy.
As a negative example, I would
like to point out to the way war was waged by the CPB. They concentrated on
storming government garrisons mainly in the jungles and mountains. It was successful
and the CPB killed a lot of lowly soldiers. But there was no strategic value to
their victories. Ne Win had a lot of low-ranking
soldiers to waste.
The CPB almost never staged
effective ambushes on army convoys on the roads, near towns - the nearer the
better. When a large convoy is ambushed and destroyed near a town, this shakes
up the enemy's morale very badly. Fear grips the top officers, and they can’t
hide their defeat from the public.
Fighting strategically therefore
is the key. War is not about killing. War is about brainpower, and it is won
firstly up here, in the head. War is about psychology, making the enemy feeling
weak although they may be many times stronger, more numerous.
As many philosophers of warfare
say, war is politics. At the heart of war is politics. If one loses the
political war, the armed might that one possess, no matter how mighty, becomes
useless. Ten, twenty battlefield victories can be neutralized, cancelled-out,
by one political move.
Q: What motivated you to carry on
the movement?
CTY: I don’t like what the
military has done to the country and the people. Military rule is a cancer. And
military rule was not necessary, and it is still not necessary. In fact,
military rule is never needed nor necessary in any
country.
It is the responsibility of
everyone - every good sons and daughters of all ethnic segments in
I believe we can do this. This is
why I am still in the fight. If I did not believe that this putrid cancer can
be removed, I would not be doing what I am doing now.
Q: Why is the State Constitution
so important for the future of
CTY: State constitutions
are at the heart of any federal arrangement. Federalism means the
de-centralization of power so that power is distributed to the people, the
local communities, through power structures that empower the people.
No one can dispute the fact that
the
The Panglong
vision - shared by all non-Burman leaders and by U Aung San -was to establish a
democratic, federal Pyidaungzu based on federalism:
an arrangement based on the equality of states and their self-determination.
Further, no one state was envisioned as being the mother-state (Pyi-Ma), superior to or above other states.
One goal of the state
constitution drafting (SDC) process is to make leaders, activists,
intellectuals, and politicians, etc., examine and explore their own future,
their goals, visions, and to work out among themselves the kind of state they
would like to live in.
When they begin the exercise of
actually drafting their state constitutions, they will not only begin to
understand federalism, democracy, etc., but to also understand how the people
can be empowered to govern themselves through their local governments, their
state governments, and the federal government. They will also be compelled to
think seriously about ethnic self-determination and will also be compelled to
think about how to incorporate this legitimate aspiration of all ethnic groups
in their state constitution.
In short, the state constitution
drafting process is both learning and a working process, and it is needed if
the political slogans are to be translated into concrete and rational reality.
The
I think the Shan drafting
commission is on the right track. Consulting with the people (bottom-up),
consulting among leaders and political parties, consulting between activists
and cadres, discussions on constitutional matters - they are very crucial. The
next stage will be discussions between the different drafting committees about
the articles, clauses, provisions, etc. of the drafts (or "model" constitutions).
Q: Why do you think the Panglong spirit is important? What are the challenges
ahead?
CTY: As indicated above,
the Panglong Accord gave birth to the Union/Pyidaungzu, and it also led to the obtaining of
independence. That is why Panglong is important.
The Panglong
spirit is important because it provides a solid and historical basis for
democracy, peace, and real people's power. It is because our leaders aspired to
these goals in 1947 - fifty five years ago - that they met at Panglong. The goals they aspired to, and which the people
also wanted, is not fulfilled up till now, today. This is sad.
The challenges are many -
basically because the military and successive military regimes have done much violence
to the Panglong spirit, although they pay shallow
lip-service to Panglong and the Panglong
spirit - every year without fail since 1962. Very
hypocritical.
It is most likely that the Panglong spirit will be a very hotly contested in the
dialogue, if dialogue happens. The military camp will oppose federalism because
it is opposed to the idea of equal status for all states.
Furthermore, there are still a
lot of people, Burmans and non-Burmans
alike, who do not understand federalism. Some non-Burmans
like to equate federalism with Burmanization or being
dominated by the Burman or by the Burman mother-state (Pyi-Ma).
Some Burmans equate federalism with separatism,
secession, balkanization, and so on. These elements can cause a lot of problems
and also inflame emotions. This would be dangerous.
Q: How do you want to see the
future of
CTY: Like everyone, I would
like to see a Union of Burma as a peaceful and prosperous place: a country
where the people of all ethnic-belonging can live in freedom under the
protection of the law and the constitution - of both the
I would like to believe that the
future of the Shan people is bright and hopeful. If
On the other hand, if Shan
leaders are witless, emotion-driven, hot-headed, and do not know or understand
politics, ie., if they are politically illiterate and
intellectually infantile, I fear life will be worse. It will be an endless
hell, a slide down an endless slippery slope.
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