February
26, 2018
A
press briefing was held yesterday by members of the Forum on Strategies for
Peace, Harmony and Reconciliation to address the denial by the organizers of
the Berlin Conference on Myanmar Genocide to attend their event. The press
conference was held at the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International
Studies (MISIS) in Dagon Township, Yangon.
The
eight-member group from Myanmar — who are part of the Forum on Strategies for
Peace, Harmony and Development— comprised Dr. Aung Tun Thet, the chief
coordinator of the government’s Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance,
Resettlement and Development in Rakhine and Daw Pyone Kaythi Niang, an NLD
lawmaker and member of the International Relations Parliamentary Committee as
well as others from the private and public sectors.
According
to the press briefing, the group said that on 22 February, members of the Forum
on Strategies for Peace, Harmony and Reconciliation registered via Eventbrite
online registration platform and received confirmation emails that registration
had been successful with tickets being issued. However, around midnight on 23
February, each team member received individual emails that registration for the
Berlin conference has been cancelled “due to overbooking of the event”.
Dr.
Aung Tun Thet told the press conference that the objective of joining the conference
in Berlin was to listen and engage with the participants of the event who are
all concerned on Myanmar’s situation. He said they were going as members of the
private sector and not as representatives of the government.
The
delegation members told the press briefing that they were disappointed to be
denied the chance to participate in the conference as their attendance would
have created a well-rounded audience that brought in independent voices.
However, they now shared genuine concerns that the organizers of the Berlin
conference had deliberately sought to exclude participants from Myanmar.
“This
leads us to question the real intention behind this particular event as well as
fuel our concerns that the conference will create more complexities, which in
turn will be very counter-productive to finding a long-lasting solution for the
people from all communities in Rakhine,” the members told the briefing.
In
a private interview after the press conference, Dr. Aung Tun Thet told our
journalists that the papers that will be read at the Berlin Conference are
one-sided and posed a cynical view of Myanmar.
“International
conferences need all-rounded discussions with different viewpoints. We thought
that Myanmar’s perspectives should be heard at the conference so we registered
for it but they denied us at the last moment,” said Dr. Aung Tun Thet.
“We
are not condemning other people from talking about Myanmar’s situations. We
just want our voice to be heard too.
We’re
just concerned now that the results from the conference will be one-sided and
so we want the world to know of their denial for us to attend the conference.”
Nandar
Win, Zaw Gyi
Ref;
The Global New Light of Myanmar
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