Beyond the Mekong | Politics | Southeast Asia

Myanmar, War, and Federalism: A Conversation With Joe Lo Bianco

Can state-based administrations forge a federalism that will keep the country together?

Joseph Lo Bianco is president of the Australia Myanmar Institute and a professor emeritus from the University of Melbourne in linguistics, with a sharp focus on the ever evolving civil war in Myanmar, the politics behind it and the prospect of a future federal government.

While the junta has deployed a new propaganda unit to tell the good news about a war that has cost about 93,000 lives, opposition ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) have been writing constitutions and forming governments and administrations to run their respective states.

Then there’s the opposition in exile, National Unity Government (NUG) which – despite its differences with the EAOs and its allied People’s Defense Force – remains the only viable political outfit with a nationalist agenda for Myanmar.

“The NUG does have a well worked out policy about federalism, they have taken this seriously,” Lo Bianco told The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt, adding that this is about delivering the decision making process closer to the people in a country where some 130 languages are spoken.

“Federalism doesn’t mean just one thing and Myanmar has to work this out,” he........

© The Diplomat