Part IV — Can We Still Live Together?
And if you truly have decided to divorce me, my dear, then please think carefully before marrying again.
Once a person enters another difficult marriage, it becomes even harder to separate and begin anew. I hope you still remember the old saying about two kinds of socially rejected people:
- The young monk who changes monasteries three times.
- The woman who changes husbands three times.
Lately, you have also spoken about other possibilities.
You mentioned moving into a condominium together with a group of young men — forming either:
(1) a “United Family of Southeast Asia” together with Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karenni, Mon, and Karen brothers;
or perhaps
(2) creating an EU-style partnership called the “Southeast Asian Ethnic Union.”
Or perhaps something else entirely.
Please stop hurting me, dear Nan Sai Kham.
If you are willing to live and cooperate with all my other ethnic brothers, why must you exclude only me? If I am absent while you move in with my brothers alone, rumours and gossip will inevitably spread throughout the village.
Even if you no longer wish to continue as husband and wife, surely we can still remain partners and companions — living and working together peacefully for the sake of our children and future generations.
Sometimes I still hope you are only provoking me, trying to force me into taking urgent action to solve our family problems before it is too late.
I also wish to tell you something important.
At our latest ASEAN village meeting, we agreed to draft a new Charter so that all of us could cooperate more closely. We discussed joint ventures, shared economic projects, and regional cooperation. Together we could modernize our farms, orchards, fisheries, and animal husbandry. We could build factories, expand trade, and strengthen our economic future together.
But our discussions did not stop there.
We also agreed that cooperation must include social and political responsibilities.
In fact, many of us wish to learn from the rules and institutions created by the EU villages. We no longer want arbitrary authority from household chiefs, ward leaders, or village bosses alone. We want genuine law and order — not rule by law, but rule of law.
Every person must respect basic human rights.
Even parents must acknowledge the rights of their children. Our village should establish laws against domestic violence. Husbands should never abuse wives or children. Of course, justice must apply fairly to everyone, in both directions.
Dear Nan Sai, just look around our neighbourhood.
The suffering is not limited to our own household alone. Almost every family in the village is struggling with domestic conflicts, mistrust, fear, and instability.
That is why all of us must work together if we truly wish to overcome these problems.
