ANC leader urges reimagining of federalism

By DMG 28 Jan 2022

DMG Newsroom
28 January 2022, Sittwe

The leader of the Arakan National Council (ANC) says ethnic leaders in Myanmar need to lay out a new vision of federalism.

The ANC leader made the remarks at the first-ever People’s Conference convened by the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) on January 27.

Colonel Min Tun, chairman of the ANC and the chief of its armed group, the Kayin State-based Arakan Army, said the current political turmoil in Myanmar was due to widely held misconceptions about the term federalism.

“Federalism is Burmese ideology. The idea that you are not allowed to create your own destiny is re-emerging. It is only when these two ideas are mutually beneficial that they greatly hinder the efforts of our oppressed ethnic people. Ethnic leaders need to spread the message of what federal democracy is all about,” he said.

The People’s Conference is being held from January 27-30, with the participation of eight ethnic armed organisations, members of the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), political parties, striking civil servants, labour unions, protest leaders, youths and women representatives, ethnic minority groups and civil society organisations (CSO), among others.

Duwa Lashi La, acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), said he hoped the conference would be able to review and approve strategies drafted for the abolition of the 2008 Constitution and the establishment of a federal democratic union.