As Fighting Wears On, Many in Myanmar Are Focused on a New Government

Picture: From left to right: Barli, a resistance fighter from the Black Panther Column on July 11, 2024; Cobra Column commander Saw Kaw on July 12, 2024; Major Da Baw on July 12, 2024. (Chan Aung/RFA)

In an article by Radio Free Asia, Aye Aye Mon and Chan Aung assert that the ongoing collaboration among ethnic minorities against the ruling junta has reignited hope for a federal union that ensures equal rights and self-governance despite federalism in Myanmar being a distant dream due to military coups and fears of national disintegration for decades.

For nearly eight decades, the Myanmar dream has been a federal union that ensures equal rights for its scores of ethnic minorities. Federalism is a form of government where states hold significant power, thus allowing the country’s ethnic minorities an important level of self-governance that a top-down, central government typically can’t support.

Repeated military coups, justified by the perceived threat of national disintegration, have long ensured federalism remains a dream. But with the country's ethnic minorities working together as never before to push back at the ruling military junta, many wonder if this time could be different. Radio Free Asia spoke with policy makers and analysts, with soldiers and advisers to learn more about the prospects for a government that is truly by the people and for the people.