So you see, my dear, we are not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost every family throughout the village is facing its own struggles and divisions. You already know about the suffering of Daw Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And look at Ko Kalar\u2019s children \u2014 Ma Ni Pur, Ko Nagar, and Ko Ah Than. They too are unhappy and caught between complicated family identities. In many ways, they are also half-brothers of our Kachin, Chin, and Naga relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is why Amagyi Daw Su and all of us have agreed that cooperation is the only realistic path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are willing to work together not only with your ethnic brothers and sisters of every race and religion, but also with the Myanmar military, ASEAN neighbours, and even the troubled children of the surrounding villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps one day even U Ta Yoke would not object if his eldest son, Ko Yunan, together with Daw Tibet, joined us in forming a loose union similar to the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In such a union, all of us could work, travel, trade, and live peacefully with dignity. Our rights would be protected by clear laws and fair regulations. Every person would be treated equally and lawfully under the same system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But before making your final decision, dear Nan Sai, there is one last thing I wish to remind you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although you are Shan, you were born in Mandalay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And although I am Bamar, I was born in Taunggyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can either of us truly cut the umbilical cord connecting us to the places of our birth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that I still love Taunggyi deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I believe you could never truly forget Mandalay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then think about our five children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of our government service, they were born in different states across Burma. Today they are scattered throughout the country. Three remain in government service, while the others have built businesses and families of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have already married into different ethnic communities and settled in their spouses\u2019 states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if the Union of Burma were someday divided into many separate countries, what would become of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would mixed-blood children \u2014 Shan and Bamar, born in one state, raised in another, married into a third \u2014 suddenly require passports, visas, and work permits just to visit relatives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what about our grandchildren?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I dare not think too deeply about their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes I almost wish for amnesia \u2014 or even Alzheimer\u2019s disease \u2014 so I would not have to imagine such painful possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Otherwise, I fear my heart itself may finally break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Part VI \u2014 What Will Happen to Our Children? So you see, my dear, we are not alone. Almost every family throughout the village is facing its own struggles and divisions. You already know about the suffering of Daw Tibet. And look at Ko Kalar\u2019s children \u2014 Ma Ni Pur, Ko Nagar, and Ko Ah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7,6,133,10,16,132,21,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-racism","category-articles","category-history","category-human-rights-constitution-federal-democracy-social-nets-minority-rights","category-news","category-opinion","category-satire","category-song","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5691,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690\/revisions\/5691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}