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UNITED NATIONALITIES LEAGUE FOR
DEMOCRACY
(UNLD – LA)
Background History
The UNLD was established in 1988 as an
umbrella political organization for the non-Burman
nationalities in Burma. From the very beginning, the UNLD
adopted a policy aimed at the establishment of a genuine
federal union based on democratic rights for all citizens,
political equality for all nationalities and the rights of
self-determination for all member states of the Union. It
declared that democracy without federalism could not solve
the political crisis in Burma, including the civil war,
which had already been fought for four decades.
The member parties of the UNLD contested
the 1990 general election under the slogan of "democracy and
equality" and won 35% of the popular vote and 16% of
parliamentary seats (67 seats) in the national parliament of
the Union of Burma. The election results established the
UNLD as the second largest political party in Burma.
Organized democratic opposition in Burma
has been difficult to sustain in the face of the military
regime's tactics of terror, torture, intimidation, and
censorship. Like many other opposition political parties,
the UNLD has suffered from the regime's tactics of
harassment. After the 1990 general election, the military
government targeted the UNLD as a most dangerous opponent,
second only to NLD. The UNLD was banned and declared illegal
in 1992.
Although the UNLD and seventeen of its
member parties had been declared dissolved and illegal, the
UNLD is still very much alive. It continues to operate both
inside Burma and in liberated areas. Inside Burma, the UNLD
and its member parties are operating in close coordination
with the NLD under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The cooperation between the UNLD and NLD is especially
effective in "the Committee Representing the People
Parliament" (CRPP) in which Dr. Saw Mra Aung, one of the
most prominent leaders of the UNLD, is serving as a
chairperson.
UNLD-LA Aims and Objectives
The UNLD in exile was officially
re-established in the liberated areas on the Thai-Burma
border in 1998. Its inaugural conference was held in January
2001. At the conference, the UNLD (LA) reconfirmed its
original aims and objectives, which read as follows:
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To establish a genuine federal union.
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To guarantee democratic rights,
political equality and self- determination for all
nationalities of the Union.
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To build a firm unity of all
nationalities in the Union based the principles of
equality and justice.
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To promote the development of all
member states of the Union.
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To abolish all types totalitarianism
in Burma.
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To establish internal peace and
tranquility through dialogue.
The UNLD Inaugural conference
re-confirmed the seven principles of federalism for the
future constitution of the Union of Burma, which had been
adopted by the UNLD conference held in 1990 at the YMCA Hall
in Rangoon.
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These seven
principles are: |
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(1) |
The constitution
of the Federal Union of Burma shall be formed in
accordance with the principles of federalism and
democratic decentralization; |
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(2) |
The Union
Constitution shall guarantee the democratic rights
of all citizens of Burma including the principles
contain in the United Nation's declaration of
universal human rights; |
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(3) |
The Union
Constitution shall guarantee political equality
among all ethnic national states of the Federal
Union of Burma; |
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(4) |
The Federal Union
of Burma shall be composed of National States; and
all National States of the Union shall be
constituted in terms of ethnicity, rather than
geographical areas. There must be at least eight
National States, namely, Chin State, Kachin State,
Karen State, Kaya (Karenni) State, Mon State,
Myanmar or Burman State, Rakhine (Arakan) State, and
Shan State; |
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(5) |
The Union Assembly
shall consist of two legislative chambers: the
Chamber of Nationalities (Upper House) and the
Chamber of Deputies (Lower House). |
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(i) |
The Chamber of
Nationalities (Upper House) shall be composed of
equal numbers of elected representatives from the
respective National States; and |
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(ii) |
The Chamber of
Deputies (Lower House) shall be composed of elected
representatives from the respective constituencies
of the peoples. |
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The creation of
Chamber of Nationalities based on equal
representation of the member states of the Union is
intended to safeguard the rights of National States
and minorities in the Union government. It is also
intended as a symbol of equality among all the
nationalities of the Union. All National States of
the Union of Burma shall be represented equally in
the Chamber of Nationalities at the Union Assembly. |
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(6) |
In addition to the
Union Assembly, all member states of the Union shall
form Legislative Assemblies for their own respective
National States. There must be a clear separation of
Union Assembly, or Federal Parliament, from the
Legislative Assemblies of the member states of the
Union. The residual powers, that is, all powers,
except those given by member states to the federal
center, or the Union, must be vested in the
Legislative Assembly of each National State. In this
way, the Union Constitution automatically allocates
political authority of legislative, judiciary, and
administrative powers to the Legislative Assembly of
each National State. Thus, all member states of the
Union can freely exercise the right of
self-determination through the right of
self-government within their respective National
States. |
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(7) |
The sovereignty of
the Union shall be vested in the people of the Union
of Burma, and which shall be exercised by the Union
Assembly. Moreover, the federal government shall
have authority to decide on action for: |
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(i) |
monetary policy, |
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(ii) |
defense, |
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(iii) |
foreign relation,
and |
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(iv) |
Such other
authorities as may be temporarily vested in the
federal government of the Union by member states of
the Union. |
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