Article Delves into the “Sasakawa Way to Peacebuilding in Myanmar”
I would like to share with you an article that provides insights into the roles The Nippon Foundation (TNF) and I played in the peacebuilding process in Myanmar before the military takeover in February 2021.
“The Sasakawa Way to Peacebuilding in Myanmar: Sustained Incremental Trust Establishment and Support (SITES)” was authored by Dr. Desmond Molloy, who is currently Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Pannasastra University in Cambodia.
The article begins by outlining our approach to providing humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, based on “a hybrid Asian approach” designed to overcome the regime’s “cultural and value-based resistance to applying Western Development Theory in the provision of support.”
It notes how TNF’s relationship with Myanmar dates back to 1976, starting with support for eliminating leprosy and since extending to some 90 projects for development and humanitarian assistance.
The article goes on to describe how in 2012 I was approached by then President Thein Sein of the Transitional Government who requested that I act “at a personal level in encouraging the anti-government ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in peripheral states to engage in the newly launched Myanmar Peace Process, which was to be established initially to achieve a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).” Concurrently, I was appointed as the Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for National Reconciliation of Myanmar.
Dr. Molloy writes: “Sasakawa and TNF were conscious of historical local resistance to the application of Western Development Theory … and strove for a more culturally and conflict-sensitive approach to the complex environment in Myanmar, drawing on Japan’s historical relationship and adopting a more pragmatic ‘Asian style’ while listening carefully to the well-informed local advice from both the Myanmar Peace Commission (MPC), a government-appointed commission created to direct the peace process, and the leadership of the various EAOs.”
As Dr. Molloy notes, I travelled to meetings with government principals, the MPC, and ethnic armed leadership either in Myanmar or in Thailand altogether 107 times between 2012 and mid-January 2020.
He quotes me as saying: “Undoing the tangled threads requires repeated dialogue and patience. While this seems like a long route, it is the shortest.”
The term the TNF team coined to describe my “hybrid and innovative approach to conflict management/peacebuilding was “Sustained Incremental Trust Establishment and Support” (SITES).”
“SITES in Myanmar was context specific, focusing on the mindset of attuned conflict and cultural sensitivity, respect, and the focus on developing trust through personal relationships amongst principals, with non-intrusive, steady, and incremental support for a national peace process that was the foundation of the approach,” Dr. Molloy notes.
So far, 10 out of almost 20 EAOs have signed the NCA.
The article concludes: “Yohei Sasakawa and TNF maintained their efforts right up to the shocking military coup of 1st February 2021 that brought the progress of Myanmar peace to a crashing halt and hiatus in progress towards federal democracy. Hoping that the current dark period in Myanmar’s progress can end rapidly and the path towards democracy be regained, marshalling the lessons learned, Yohei Sasakawa and TNF remain ready to reapply SITES to a new context for the benefit of the people of Myanmar.”
Before becoming Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Pannasastra University, Dr. Molloy, who is from Ireland, spent a decade serving as Chief of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) for various UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations. He was also Senior Program Director for the TNF Myanmar Liaison Office from 2013 to 2019.
The article was carried by the June 2022 issue of the Mekong Connect, jointly published by the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), an independent think tank based in Phnom Penh, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Cambodia Office. It can be seen here.