This Matters to Us: Informal Local Governance Case Studies in Myanmar’S Rural Areas

This Matters To Us: Informal Local Governance Case Studies in Myanmar’s Rural Areas This Matters To Us: Informal Local Governance Case Studies in Myanmar’s Rural Areas Printing Record ထုတ္ေဝသည့္ကာလ- ၂ဝ၁၈ ခုႏွစ္၊ မတ္လ (ပထမအႀကိမ္) အုပ္ေရ- ၁၅ဝဝ မ်က္ႏွာဖုံးႏွင့္ အတြင္းဒီဇိုင္း- နန္းေပါင္းဟြမ္ ထုတ္ေဝျဖန္႔ခ်ိသူ- Pyidaungsu Institute Press Publication Series- P0318PI05-A Author: Pauline Eloff Copyreader: Michèle De Aquino Research Assistants: May Zin Thaw Nang Nom Kham Myint Mo Chit Editor/Advisor: Leintje A De Visser Research Director: Dr. Sai Oo Translator: Myanmar Knowledge Society Acknowledgement We would like to express our thankfulness to the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung Ltd. for funding this publication and the Euro-Burma Office – Myanmar for funding our researchers. We also would like to specially thank the interviewees from different communities, Civil Society Organizations and the local authorities/officials who collaborated in this project. ISBN: 978-99971-0-476-2 ii Preface Most public as well as academic debates regarding the future of Myanmar in the 21st century are characterized by an almost inflationary use of the term federalism. Both domestic and foreign ex- perts have been continuously teaching nearly every target group in Myanmar, be it governmental or non-governmental, on the pros and cons of this concept. And yet we cannot help but noticing that despite these enormous efforts most people in this country do not seem to have a clear idea what federalism actually would mean for their daily lives, for the cohesion of their communities and their position in a structured system of state organization based on federalist principles. While the existing executive powers of Myanmar have not expressed any wish or intention to contribute to the change of the current unitary state (and probably will not do so in the near future) the proponents of a federalist future of Myanmar have to avoid getting lost in the maze of ideas surrounding their vision. Obviously, the most important prerequisite for a well-functioning federalism would be the principal willingness of the population to support unity in the framework of one state for all. Such willingness had led to the formation of states which have become general examples of successful federalism, i.e., the United States of America, Switzerland and Germany. In all these cases smaller and independent units voluntarily decided to form a bigger unit. The wish for unity within one state, therefore, is a necessary condition for functioning federalism. But, at the same time, federalist systems depend on the ability and willingness of their populations to fill this form of state organization with vibrant life. Hence, healthy regional self-confidence would be another important requirement for good federalism. Much has been written in recent years on the success and failure of federation. And yet, there is no single recipe for Myanmar which has been tested and that can be applied without risk at any time. What we can say for sure is that the people of Myanmar need support in terms of giving shape to previously nebulous terms and concepts. They should be offered a chance to know how federalism could look like in their neighborhood. This study by the Pyidaungsu Institute which was commissioned by the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) offers a well-researched contribution in the very first stage of Myanmar’s long way to a new state structure. It focuses on the local level and informal local governance institutions and, thereby, taking into consideration what is most important in a transition process like the one Myanmar is undergoing now: Democracy grows from the bottom. KAS Myanmar is very grateful to all researchers at the Pyidaungsu Institute for their hard work in this project. We cordially thank Dr. Sai Oo for his conceptual groundwork and leadership throughout the process of completing this study. iii It is hoped that this publication serves as inspiration and guidance to all with a desire for Myanmar’s good future at heart. Yangon, December 2017 Dr. Norbert Eschborn Authorized Representative Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung Ltd. Myanmar Representative Office iv Foreword “Less centralized government promises to be better government” The Economist, 6 January Since 2015, when the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed, the country has been marching toward a “Union based on democracy and a federal system.” The need to fulfil its multi-racial calls for self-government has also been on the rise. Calls for separate statehood and self-administra- tive status have become louder. The obvious answer is to develop a third-tier government, known as the local government system, where different communities independently manage their own affairs. As the Economist says, the system works better, because “more voters get more of what they want for most of the time.” Equally obvious are the questions: Are we ready for this, when even existing states and regions are still lavishing under heavy centralization from the central government? What should they do while this devolutionary process is moving at a snail’s space? To these questions, this research paper on the case studies of informal local governance institutions (ILGI) has provided a highly encouraging answer. In 2017, PI teams went on a survey inside 9 localities in 4 ethnic states, where they interviewed the local people on their ILGIs. In the end, following groups were included in the case study: ■ Campaign for Unity Preservation (UP) Shan State ■ Lweyin Mingalar Shan State ■ Nyo Mee Shan State ■ Kayan New Generation Youth (KNGY) Kayah State ■ Mon Area Community Development Organization (MACDO) Mon State All these Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are found to have been making life easier not only for the local people, but also the local authorities, in coping with their day-to-day necessities, such as: ■ How to navigate land regulation process under the 2012 Farmland Law ■ Advocating authorities for return of confiscated land ■ Resolution of local disputes ■ Providing local transport ■ Garbage collection ■ Education, health and sport support ■ Organizing events v ■ Overseeing local development ■ Providing information ■ And many others Their greatest contribution is being intermediaries between the communities and the local authorities (whether they be civil, Tatmadaw, business companies, or armed resistance movements). Indeed, as the country progresses toward a healthy decentralized society, services rendered by the ILGIs will be indispensable, just as lubricants are to motor vehicles. No doubt there are other ILGIs across the country that have been volunteering services just as selfless and effective, if not more, to each locality concerned. The government should honor them and be grateful that at this time of great need for their services, they are there. Pyidaungsu Institute vi Executive Summary The introduction of various reforms in Myanmar in the last few years impacted governance on different state levels (Union, state, regional and local) and led to the creation of state and regional parliaments and some local governance mechanism (Section II). There are, for exam- ple, the indirect election of ward and village-track administrators and the creation of advisory committees that can include some community representation. In addition, Development Affairs Organisations at township level provide a significant range of services and conduct some over- sight functions. However, the reforms have not yet been translated into (broader) competencies for the lower levels, especially below the state/regional government levels, or to the creation of an independent third tier of government. A decentralised government, where the many ethnic minorities spread across the different regions, the states, and regions receive some autonomous decision-making and self-determining powers, is a widely favoured form of government for Myanmar. Despite the efforts of various actors influencing Myanmar’s institutional reforms to introduce federalist elements, the country’s governance is still very centralised: Union ministries continue to dominate and there is a limited or shallow community representation in the local sphere. The combined desire of local communities to govern and the lack of effective formal local governance led to numerous informal local governance actors providing governance-like services and influencing local communities. Conceptual Framework (Section I) The present study fills part of the existing research-gap on informal local governance actors, provides an initial insight on informal local government institutions (ILGIs) and analyses a sample of ILGIs in rural Myanmar. It focuses on what ILGIs do and how their actions can be translated into state function, what power resources they mobilise, what the basis of their legitimacy is (i.e. what legitimises them to carry out said functions), and what motivates their decisions and actions. Although viewed as extra-legal, unofficial, or unsanctioned by official authorities, ILGIs often work with the knowledge and help of the Union Government and its sub-agencies, and frequently act as mediators between them and the local population. The analytical framework applied to analyse the ILGIs1 structured the research and helped produce a comprehensive analysis of these institutions. The research identifies (1) the relevant institutions; analyses (2) their functions and how these can be articulated in state functions and (3) the power resources they mobilise (and when and where they exert power); studies

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