Second of all, I don’t see the DKBA as one monolithic bloc as it is not politically driven but rather driven by survival, trade and business. Therefore the attitudes of the different groups which control different areas are politically different. DKBA´s Brigade 5 under Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe has signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government, but it is based on tactical necessity and not of political conviction.
I believe we must not forget that he refused to be incorporated into the BGF [border guard force] in the first place and started fighting the Burmese army contrary to Maung Chit Htoo. So of course our relationship varies group to group and is determined often by location and even personal relationships. But this does not mean it is always institutional.
Q:The KNU has been fighting against the Burmese government for more than six decades. What the KNU want from the government? ... separatism or a federal state or anything else? And why?
A:We have made it clear that we want to exercise the right of self-determination and create a genuine Federal Union where all ethnic nationalities will enjoy equal rights. This is to be achieved through meaningful dialogue between all the stakeholders. And it is important that people understand that it is a process of voluntary association where the periphery gives some powers to the centre and not the other way around as it would be in the case of autonomy.
Through the right of self-determination we want to establish a genuine Federal Union without the unitary pyi ma concept of a Burman Mother State as was embodied in the 1947 constitution.