By U Than Zaw

FOR thousands of years, all nations in our country, Myanmar, had been unit­ed, and we had pride in being a Union of Sole Monarchy in the South East of Asia. The result was because of “Unity”.

We had the first united states in a monarchy, the time of King Anawrahta, in the past roughly thousands of years ago. In each and every region under sover­eignty or supreme power or au­thority, there were self-governing states, such as Shan, Mon, Ra­khine, Kachin, and Chin. Their states were found to be peaceful and calm under the control of their administrators or Sawbwa in the above-mentioned states.

All the natives were relative­ly well-off, earning a peaceful liv­ing. The majority earned their living by cultivating paddy, farm­ing and plantations of various kinds, etc. The respective minor or sub-kings and administrators also urged motivations and sup­plementations to be developed as their primary sources, build­ing dams and lakes, etc., to have storage of a large area of water surrounded by land. For exam­ple, Inlay Lake, Indawgyi Lake, Moebye Dam, etc. For instance, Ledwin Ko Khyine — Khayaing or nine cultivating districts in Up­per Myanmar and Lower Ledwin Khayaing somewhere Sagu, Sat­in, etc.

Those olden days, under the sovereignty of Anawrahta, were expanded to northern Arsam and in the southeast right up to Thai­land, according to the historical map of Myanmar.

That time was the 1st united states of Myanmar.

The second unity of our coun­try was under the sovereignty of King Ahlongpaya during the Konbaung Monarchy Period.

The third unity of our country was shown during the monarchy of Bayintnaung Kyawhtin Naw­rakhta of Tounggoo Monarchy Times.

The fourth and up-to-date was the unity of all our ethnic nations led or co-operated, recon­solidated by General Aung San and other ethnic nations. That was Why we achieved our sover­eignty or Independence from the British Colony, which enslaved all our nations for about a hundred years. We were all resistors to all the colonies and protected our­selves by holding hands in hands. We should not forget this kind of unity forever.

Divided we fall

In the year (in Myanmar -Era 1247, the 8^th Waning of Tazaung­mon was unforgettable for all of us: on that date, King Thibaw was de-throned and taken away very easily without any resistance. It was absolutely because of disu­nity among us. It is a lesson of “Divided we fall”.

We all brethren should sit around the table and consult until to attain reconciliation as in the previous 1947 “Panglong Confer­ence” held by General Aung San and our ethnic nations, Bamar, Shan, Mon, Kayin, Kayah, Kachin, Rakhine and Chin, etc.

May all our nations be UNIT­ED, peaceful, and beneficent for­ever in our federal states of the country.