While the text of the Panglong Agreement does not mention the words “federal” or “federalism”, it has left many in Myanmar’s body politic with the lasting notion that the country should be independent, democratic, and federal. Nevertheless, it remains the foundation on which both ethnic nationalities and, more recently, the NLD and now the CRPH/NUG would build a federal system. The storied Panglong Agreement signed by Aung San and “representatives of the Shan States, Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills” on 12 February 1947-a date still celebrated as Union Day in contemporary Myanmar-is probably more relevant for the much-discussed but elusive “Panglong Spirit” that it inspires than for its actual content. These demands have been and remain a contentious issue in relations between these organizations and the central state, which is widely seen as being dominated by the country’s Buddhist Bamar majority. Political and armed organizations claiming to represent the interests of ethnic nationalities have demanded greater levels of autonomy, and the adoption of a federal system. These were published on 31 March.Ĭonstitutions, and the vexing issue of federalism, have long been at the center of Burmese politics. The three most important “decisions” made by the CRPH, beyond denouncing the SAC, were to lift the status of terrorist organizations from all EAOs, to symbolically abolish the 2008 Constitution, and to produce a Federal Democracy Charter. Two and half months later, on 16 April, the CRPH appointed a National Unity Government (NUG) consisting of members of the NLD, ethnic political parties, civil society organizations and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). On 3 February, elected members of parliament from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) formed in response a Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). While the coup amounted to the de facto suspension of the 2008 Constitution, the military insisted that its assumption of power was in fact constitutional, stating that its objective was to protect and maintain the constitutional order and to organize fresh elections once more accurate voters’ lists had been produced. This ended an experience of limited, and yet very real, democratization, that lasted exactly ten years. On 1 February 2021, the Burmese military staged a coup d’état, and assumed power under the State Administration Council (SAC). His research project is supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). *Mael Raynaud is a political analyst specializing in decentralization, federalism and education reform in Myanmar. Asymmetrical federalism in Myanmar will thus be a system where a modern Mandala system and the Weberian state co-exist.Any future federal system in Myanmar is therefore likely to be “asymmetrical” in nature, though it is highly unlikely that Myanmar will do away with the modern Weberian state.
The 2008 Constitution itself enshrined the existence of six “Self-Administered Zones” for ethnic nationalities that were not granted the status of “state”. Ethnic demands for federalism include asymmetric territorial arrangements, involving terms such as “Reserved Territories” or “Autonomous Regions”.Today, Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups have developed “proto-states” that deliver services and other forms of governance independently of the central state.Pre-colonial Burma, like much of the rest of the region, was defined by shifting power relations that have been described as a “Mandala” system. before the imposition of the Weberian state. This federal future is largely inspired by Myanmar’s political organization in the precolonial era, i.e.It is now working towards developing, and adopting, a federal system of government for the country. Following the coup, Myanmar’s democratic opposition, which had long opposed the constitution, announced its abolition.The military coup that took place in Myanmar on 1 February 2021 amounted to a de facto suspension of the country’s 2008 Constitution.Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on 10 November 2021, AFP.
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