KNU President Gen. Mutu Say Poe’s Letter of Felicitation on Karen New Year Day Dear All the Karen Nationals, Today, the first of waxing moon of Thalay month of the year 2754 (Karen Era), which falls on December 21, 2014 A. D., is the New Year Day of the Karen people. On this Karen New Year Day, I wish all the Karen nationals and all the people of the country, in addition to unity, peace and prosperity, to have the health of mind and body. Karen New Year Day is the invaluable heritage from the Karen people’s forefathers and, it has been celebrated throughout the ages. The Karen New Year Day is one of the marks of the customs, traditions and culture of the Karen people. It is the result of the Karen people’s historical and life experience, and study of weathers, trees and flowers, naming of years, months and days, and designating the beginning and final months of a year. The Karen people started numbering the years from 739 B. C., at the time when the second wave of Karen migration arrived at the land where the Karen people are living currently, and as a result, today is the New Year Day of the year 2754. Designation of the first month of the year by the Karen people is based on eking out a living by hill farming. Dear All the Karen Nationals Being a nationality, the Karen people desire to stand and develop as a nationality. Similarly, being human beings of the world, we want to live together peacefully with other nationalities in our own country, recognizing and respecting the differences, and to make progress in all areas, in consonant with time. In order to be able to develop and thrive as a nationality, it is the duty of our every Karen. In order to develop and thrive as a nationality, every Karen needs to band together and to value and uphold our own culture, customs, traditions and national characteristics, and each and every one of us need to value, promote and practice them every day. Similarly, in order to be able to develop and thrive as a nationality, it is necessary for each and every one of that nationality to make the effort and have capacity to carry out mutually beneficial activities, cooperatively. In the same way, in writing and ratifying a State Constitution, it is especially necessary to have the capability to recognize and guarantee fully the characteristics and rights of all the diverse nationalities. Moreover, it is necessary for the government in power to lay down concrete programs and promote them. However, today, as the said rights are not provided for in the State Constitution and in addition, as the government in power does not have the programs to promote them, we see that the characteristics of the Karen people are fading among the Karen people. Dear All the Karen Nationals, Due to lack of recognition and respect for the diverse cultures, traits and national characteristics, human rights and the rights of every citizen of the nationalities living today in the Union of Burma, suppression, repression and injustices are prevailing between one nationality and another. Due to the existence of such grounds, conflict and complications have arisen between one nationality and another, and between the people of the country and the ruling government. However, as the conflict and complications have not been addressed by peaceful and just means for finding and formulating an appropriate and fair solution, the conflict and complications have developed into the civil war, since the time of independence, between the governments representing a major nationality and the other nationalities. Dear All the Karen Nationals, The Karen National Union (KNU) was founded, because of the Karen people’s historical experience and demand. The KNU was founded with the aim to give national leadership by organizing the Karen people, and to strive for achieving the Karen people’s demands, with unity. The KNU was founded in accordance with the hope and aspirations of the Karen people and, in accordance with the historical tasks entrusted by the Karen people, the KNU had started the struggle by peaceful means and striven until having to reach the level of armed struggle, and now the struggle has been more than 65 years. The KNU has to exercise the policy of armed struggle in order to protect the political demands and stand of the Karen people and to achieve the political rights, as the ruling regimes, based on Burman supremacism, besides refusing to address justly the Karen people’s aspirations and demands, and resorting to vilifying the KNU and Karen national leaders, have used armed violence against the Karen people. The root cause of armed conflict has been rejection of the KNU’s repeated calls for resolving the political problems politically, by the ruling regimes of successive eras. As the conflict and war have prolonged, the ruling regimes’ administrative mechanism has become chaotic. The majority of the people and the ethnic nationalities have been shoved deeper into the pit of poverty, due also to the special privileges the ruling circles have taken for themselves and corruptions. Dear All the Karen Nationals, It is the political situation of today where the government is calling on the armed ethnic organizations to ceasefire for peace building and making overtures for discussing political problems. As a result of the overtures, the KNU and other armed ethnic organizations, fighting for nationality equality and self-determination, are holding talks with the government, in order to achieve nationwide ceasefire and resolution of the political problems through political dialogue. The current dialogue has not achieved nationwide ceasefire agreement yet. Ceasefire is the first step to resolving the political problems and it is a necessary step to be undertaken. If ceasefire and negotiation for resolving the main political problems cannot be undertaken, peace in the country cannot be established. So long as peace within the country cannot be established, prosperity for the State cannot be undertaken. Only when the people of the country and other ethnic nationalities can establish the rights to freedom, national equality, self-determination and a federal union based on democratic system, peace in the country will be established. Dear All the Karen Nationals, Our Karen people are natives of this Union and like the other nationalities, we have the right to inherit it. For that reason, the development or regression and peace or instability of this State are linked to the claim and rights of the Karen people. Throughout its history, the Karen people have to face all kinds of severe repression and they have to struggle through various difficulties to maintain and protect their national characteristics, development and ability to exist as a people. Being a nationality, our Karen people have the right to freely maintain and safeguard for the development of their own national characteristics, dignity and heritages, in compliance with their own cultural traits and in accordance with time. Similarly, it is the duty of every Karen to protect our own Karen national cultural traits from any dangers that will destroy them. Nowadays, there are many Karen organizations, which standup and work for the Karen national rights and welfare of the Karen people. In accordance with the developing political situation, it is no longer the time for the Karen national organizations to separately try and work individually, for their own national interests. It is time for our Karen national organizations to lay down their aim and objectives systematically and work industriously with mutual understanding and unity. In a similar way, it is necessary for the other ethnic organizations to have the capability to work hand in hand, with unity and unanimously for the legitimate rights of their own nationalities and for peace in the country. Dear All the Karen Nationals, I would like to urge all the Karen nationals, who are celebrating today in welcoming the Karen New Year of 2754, to make the pledge to work together hand in hand, in your respective roles in life, starting from today, for the flourishing and progress of the Karen people as a nation, in consonant with time, and for the preservation of our own national characteristics and honor. Similarly, I would like to urge you to recognize and respect mutually the national characters of the diverse nationalities and, from respecting the rights of the diverse nationalities, to work for unity, peace in the country and development and, additionally, to work for the interests of the country and all the nationalities. With regard to our Karen nationals, I would like to urge all of you to discharge fully all the national duties and duties of the citizens, in hand. First Day of the Waxing Moon of Thalay Month, the Year of 2754 December 21, 2014
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 15:11:20 +0000
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