The Future Dimension
The following submission was written by a member of the National Unity Government. For safety reasons the author has requested anonymity. This is the latest essay in a series of reflections, and the first submission can be read here.
“Each crime committed by revolutionary forces must be investigated and dealt with before Myanmar can truly take her rightful place on the world stage as a fellow democracy and state-of-law.”
First, the objectives of the revolution must not be forgotten. The junta fight only to preserve their strangle-hold on the people, but the people fight not only to defeat the military, but also to establish a modern democratic state. One with the rule of law, and one which respects the international customs and laws of war. As such, the NUG have repeatedly called for Myanmar to become a party to the International Criminal Court, and have stated that all war crimes will be investigated and punished once the revolution is over. The prevalence of these violations of the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute, and the NUG's own Code of Conduct are not only an embarrassment for the revolution and the NUG, but pose a serious impediment to the establishment of the future Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar. Each crime committed by revolutionary forces must be investigated and dealt with before Myanmar can truly take her rightful place on the world stage as a fellow democracy and state-of-law. Those who fight for victory over the military
By engaging in these criminal actions must reckon with the fact that they are either fighting for the victory of a democratic government which has sworn to arrest, try, and sentence them for their crimes after victory, or else these fighters intend to live as outlaws after victory, fighting against the very democratic government they are ostensibly supporting today. Such thinking is nonsensical.
They may hope that their service to the cause of victory will grant them pardons for their crimes, but to think this is to spit in the face of the very principles of democracy, accountability, and justice for which these and all other revolutionary groups claim to be fighting. Indeed, some PDF groups have taken a very public stance against those PDF's and ERO's which engage in criminal actions. This is causing rifts and tension between groups which should be allied, standing shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy. Instead, we see revolutionary groups diverting valuable resources to controlling other revolutionary groups which have passed beyond the bounds of honourable and lawful conduct in a time of war.