FOR LIBERTY, VIRTUE, AND PROGRESS OF THE NATION

REBUILD KAWTHOOLEI

Rebuild the Fundamentals

A case for Rebuilding Kawthoolei: A call to return to the roots to build up a sound foundation that can embrace technological progress.

Let us remind ourselves that Rebuilding Kawthoolei goes beyond physical construction; it involves multiple layers.

Rebuilding Kawthoolei entails rebuilding our national character — our ways of doing things, political and organizational culture, political and moral values, ethical standards and codes of conduct, work ethics and work habits, and our outlook and attitude that rebuild our national self-esteem.

Rebuilding Kawthoolei involves rebuilding our institutions — schools and colleges, government departments, tax and revenue systems, accounting and banking sectors, public and private organizations, defense institutions, and military and civic training grounds. These institutions promote innovation, project our diplomatic profile, and shape the character of our youth and civil servants that drive the nation forward.

Rebuilding Kawthoolei involves adopting the right technology — best practices and materials, automation tools and heavy machinery, and digital communication and software network to develop the nation's infrastructure.

The succeed of rebuilding Kawthoolei depends on getting a few key fundamentals right. Technology and infrastructure can drive progress only when built upon the solid foundations of people, culture, rules, and procedures. Together, these elements form the bedrock of a nation. For that, the rebuilding process must be multi-domain, holistic, and comprehensive.

Only a comprehensive rebuilding of Kawthoolei across these three layers can advance liberty, virtue, and progress of the nation.

Saw LahKBaw's personal essay on the nation's matter.

First published on 2022 October. Updated and Republished on 2023 June.

Three-tier Nation Building Architecture: "People. Procedure. Technology".

Inspired by a three-tier Dev-Ops principle adopted by cutting-edge high-performing organizations.

Successful organizations create a culture that opens for growth, then layout policies and procedure before adoption technology and automation.

Kawthoolei Endowment

Kawthoolei, this land of ours since time immemorial, is endowed with vast mineral deposits potentially worth trillions of dollars. This immense wealth, bestowed upon us by our ancestors, could elevate every Karen people and everyone in Kawthoolei to a state of physical luxury.

But, without good stewardship, the blessing will be the curse.

Without governing this natural endowment with sound institutions under strong regulations, excavation of underground treasures could bring up curses to Kawthoolei -- both toward the people and the land -- and everything in it.

To ensure natural resources are not exploited until such extraction guarantees benefits for all the people of Kawthoolei is both a moral imperative and a practical necessity.

"We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us."

Winston Churchill

Referring to the shape of legislative assembly responsible for two-party British parliamentary democracy.

People need Structure

To solve a problem, we first must acknowledge the existence of it. We, the Karen People, are numerous in number but scattered and poorly organized. To get organized, we need structure that defines rules of the society and character of the nation.

Kawthoolei will not succeed with a poor national character, characterized by the habit of setting oneself a low bar. Our individuals’ character collectively shapes the nation's character. It is the people that collectively make the nation; thus, the success of our nation rests upon rebuilding the first fundamental, the people’s culture.

The prerequisite to rebuilding a nation would be building national thinking -- not ethnic-minority thinking -- where people think, act, and organize like a nation.

We need to build structure based on written rules, prescribing standard procedures and norms that show every detail matters. Our people need to build a habit of treating small things seriously –- a culture of being organized and proactive in preventing small problems from becoming disasters.

During moments of crisis, the tendency toward everyone giving random directions would not solve the problem. For example, everyone shouting in a spontaneous direction to rescue a drifting boat loaded with young students in a raging Moei River (Thoo-Mwae Klo) in the middle of the rainy season indicates a lack of structure among us. [September 30, 2022]

No ground should be broken for mineral extractions until a thoughtful comprehensive regulatory framework has been established.

Image courtesy: Global Risk Insights.com : Four Countries that beat the resource curse

The nation's immense wealth in natural resources necessitates strong regulations to safeguard against reckless greed.

The abundance of underground mineral deposits does not necessarily make a nation better off; in fact, it often has the opposite effect. Academics and economists refer to this phenomenon as the "resource curse", where many resource-rich countries in Africa suffer from chronic economic problems, dependency, and violence. Unregulated abundance of resources often leads to corruption, exploitation, and violence against locals. In contrast, countries like Canada, the USA, Norway, and Israel govern their underground resources with good governance. As a result, these endowments bring prosperity and strengthen their nations. [Harvard Study]

Land is sacred where the spirits of ancestors still roam.

Breaking the ground without proper ceremonies and respect could bring curses. During the past decade of supposed peacetime, businesses rushed in without properly guarded by regulations. Villagers (such as in Hsaw-Hti-Lerdoh, KNLA 3rd Brigade region) were appalled watching their paddy fields destroyed when murky wastewater from gold minings flowed into their farms. That reckless greed-contaminated water permeated into streams and rivers not only killed water creatures and destroyed paddy fields but also spread toxic chemicals on farmlands with lasting health hazards, destroying livelihood of local inhabitants. The locals had nowhere to cry for help but a lack of system was a system to destroy them.

Salween River at the end of raining season [Sawlah Photography]

The corrosive heavy metals most commonly associated with industrial toxic waste are lead, mercury (gold mining), arsenic and cadmium (battery components). Reckless disposal of these industrial wastes and aggressive extraction of underground minerals contaminate lands and water. Going in such reckless fashion, the locals could suffer from organ failures, or everyone would die from different kinds of cancer as a result of chemicals disposed of by the extractive industry.

Unless guarded by a cohesive regulatory framework based on scientific studies and honoring the real owners — the local natives — extractive industry will kill, maybe slowly but surely.

Regulatory framework here includes rules, acts, policies, code of conducts, entrench ideas and beliefs.

We may have vast treasure under our feet, but how are we going to generate a surplus and manage it for the welfare of the people without proper financial regulations and political institutions in place. The same goes for treasures on the ground surface. The abundance of precious woods in Kawthoolei has only brought destruction to the environment and livelihood of the locals — who are the real owner of the land. For generations, empirical evidence has already shown that power not bounded by clear rules brings only corruption, distrust, and eventual self-destruction.

Free flow of traffic in a freeway of Northern California [Sawlah Photography]

Material success is not a primary pursuit of Kawthoolei ideals, nor will physical infrastructure indicate progress.

Making logistics flow so that goods and services are accessible to everyone is more important than conspicuous towers and bridges. For instance, infrastructures in the U.S. may be aging but the institutional gears and logistics behind the scenes are mature and complex connection flows. New nations in Asia may have flashy infrastructure like biggest airports and tallest skyscrapers but those are superficial, and their logistics can be glitchy; for some, their social hierarchy can be repressive.

Malaysia has a great airport, relatively new, but the two airline disasters in 2014 where more than five hundreds passengers perished in the same year have damaged the credibility of logistics behind. [MH370, MH17]

How much the people care shows in the service quality; how much architecture designers care shows in a traveler's experience riding the moving walkway navigating through the airport; those are as essential as safety.

Kawthoolei ought not to rush adopting a free market.

Market economy thoroughly bounded by sound policies requires expertise and political will to get implemented. Market bounded by rules takes time to mature as a norm in a society. The success of the U.S. market economy, for example, is a century-old ever evolving, mature regulatory framework as the crust of capitalism.

The U.S. civic culture is in turn strongly shaped by the regulatory framework. Honoring privacy and private ownership are not only guaranteed by the Supreme Law of the Land, but a respect for personal space is more than laws. It’s the philosophy and lifestyle of the nation.

Regulatory framework stitches all different pieces so that complex networks can flow without colliding with each other. Regulatory framework both prevents the corrupt habit of prioritizing self-interest using discretionary power, and prescribes how conflicts should be resolved.

Kawthoolei needs a strong regulatory framework with a foundation that the Land belongs to the People. Now, everyone in power in Kawthoolei tends to use their power without a clear boundary in business dealing.

Bay Bridge: Golden State of California where progress in technology are happening and stagnant social values are challenged. [Sawlah Photography]

We need to rebuild national workmanship.

The Karen People Frog Drum: workmanship is a combination of attitude and skill. [Sawlah Photography]

Good workmanship is not a genetic monopoly of the West nor the East. Germany, Switzerland, or Japan add a high premium to their products because their consistent workmanship creates trust in their brands. To ever be considered respectable, our people must rebuild trust in character and workmanship. Doing things in great care and respect is not only of high value in material workmanship, it also applies to the service industry — the attitude of how we serve.

If the people are accustomed to sloppy workmanship, that propensity indicates our characters. We are people with a relaxed attitude. However we will not excel with a lax in character. A habit of a respect for small details, a love of great workmanship, and a dedication to elegance need to be nurtured at national scale. We need to build things with pride and devotion, with good care as well as with love and trust our own products.

Korean women trust makeup made in Korea and only use that product with peace of mind for beauty. Korean people eat fish paste, soy paste, shrimp paste, and all kinds of pickles like many of the Karen people do. But Koreans make their food with respect, they package it with care, they eat it with pride, and they can sell it at a premium.

Kimchi, Korean spicy pickled cabbage, is always sold at a premium. Karen people in northern Kawthoolei can make better pickled – in taste, texture, and aroma.

We have a habit of presenting our foods like wild, backward, tribal uncivilized food. Worried that others might find the smell offensive, we at times eat discreetly with shame, we sell it like unconventional food. In fact, our diets not only taste good but are rich in nutrition, hence it ought to be eaten with pride and for good health. It is a time-tested diet after all.

Korea Products targeting international audiences.

An old time Toyota commercial. [SawLah Photography]

"Quality isn't something you just say. It's something you work on, sweat over, pound in, rip out, check and re-check. Until you get what you want." TOYOTA

The phenomenon that Toyota quality happens only in Japan has a triad variables: Market, technology, and workmanship; the greatest among this is workmanship.

However, workmanship and human intelligence alone will not have a world recognized brand, but it needs a competitive market ecosystem. Thailand people may already have decent workmanship; Kawthoolei people may have decent intelligence. But a phenomenon workmanship needs infrastructure for market economy and an ecosystem of cutting-edge technology. Yet, market and technology are human creation, so it comes back to human workmanship - the cultural attitude.

Hence, successful global companies mend the cultural attitude of their members before letting them go to the field so that everyone is in the same plane speaking the same language of quality workmanship.

Not all cultural practices are good nor always good. Only good practices are reinforced and codified, and the laws intervene when there are signs of problems. A good institutional culture is no accident – it requires intentional daily maintenance from every member of the people in the society *[University of California Ethical Training].

SawLah Photography

We hold many beautiful national virtues yet that ought to be constantly cultivated.

We consider ourselves the people who uphold honesty – an official virtue cherished in our National Anthem (နအဲၣ်တၢ်တီတၢ်လိၤ). However, this virtue will not thrive on a barren land. Without constantly nurturing and reinforcing this virtue at community levels, it will decay.

Honesty creates trust -- that is power and powerful. Late Gen. Bo Mya, the longest serving as the head of the Karen Revolution, commanded trust and loyalty among fellow officials and soldiers. Although not in high education attainment in conventional sense, he inspired the loyalty of intellectuals before coming to elderly age. He command trust of the soldiers that the general would not abandon them.

Brotherhood, public service, and sacrifice for common good thrive in the principality of honesty and trust. Loyalty toward one’s nation, one's leaders, and fellow citizens flourish in a trusting climate.

When this virtuous circle breaks, a vicious circle begins— distrust and quarrels grow, leadership crisis and division ensues.

Dr. San C. Poe notes that the Karen People’s virtuous character traits include hospitality, steadiness and simplicity. Among which steadiness is not just a virtue but a style with tangible value that the fast-paced modern world needs. To be cool, calm, and steady in times of uncertainty, during trial and tribulation, is becoming more valuable in a complicated fast-paced stressful world.

Steadiness is a striking character of the Karen people among their neighbors (ယိၤ, တလၢၤ, ပယီၤ). It is a visible trait during the death of a family member. Walking under the shadow of the valley of death, the Karen people do not usually cry out loud in high pitch like their neighbors but weep and wail silently even under great sufferings. Donation-seeking organizations hardly manage to get the dramas out of real pain from these steady people.

Our people have been seeing the burning of their houses and ripen paddy fields. Shoot-on-sight killings happen on their own lands, but no one will ever see images of the Karen people crying out loud in a horrific event. Our people are running and hiding for their lives but they usually smile in front of cameras. This trait of steadiness is the virtue to promote as a national character in rebuilding the nation.

Sawlah Photography: a pebble over a boulder

Kawthoolei needs leadership that projects credibility, not just that wields power without.

The Karen People hold the belief that they are the most beautiful people (ပှၤလၢအဂ့ၤကတၢၢ်), having formalized that belief in National Anthem. But, the Karen people are not angels. And no man’s virtue is unshakable without being guarded by law. Without strict rules for accountability, any leader with unchecked power can turn into a monster.

In the political environment, our people are frustrated with leadership. But, those leaders are not strangers coming from faraway land or celestial beings falling from the sky. They come out among us, so their characters are a reflection of ours. As a common decent, we all have common cultural and ethical foundation -- that will need a rebuild if ruins.

Great leadership fuses three qualities -- character, manager, and thinker -- leadership culture that holds a high standard of character, is skillful in management, and is visionary in thinking. This tripartite leadership quality need to constantly nurture. Problems arise when the desire to be leadership merely equates to the craving for power. However high expectations on leadership to be virtuous, in practice, the power of every leader must be bound by rules. As a long term national investment, great leadership inspiring trust and admiration needs to be fostered among the youth — probably not among the old when it is too rigid to mold.

The feudal psyche that assumes unearned privilege needs a total scrap off.

A backward feudal psyche — the habit that some people think they have privileges based on being relatives to high officials — is a disease among our people.

To create a fair and equal society that is pleasant to live in, no one ought to have privilege just because of being relatives to authority. Our need to create impersonal institutions following predefined rulesets rather than personal connection.

Many stories about the Mar-Ner-Plaw era, the de facto Karen sovereign nation in modern times, tell favoritism entrenched in our practices. Favor was given toward a certain people with a specific religious affiliation who had worship service on a specific day of the week. Other certain groups of lower rank personnel were arbitrarily denied for transportation service.

Kawthoolei will not succeed with the culture operating under such unprofessional practices.

To operate on a national scale, we need professional and impersonal organizations that structure beyond personal connection.

Karen people create numerous organizations in Kawthoolei, as well as along the border and all over the world but those are mostly based on personal connection within a small circle. Coordination doesn't expand to national level.

Successful global organizations and nation states coordinate seamlessly by following a predefined set of rules. There, people collaborate on a global scale not by knowing each other personally but by coordinating among dedicated teams with specialized responsibility.

When a traveler boards a plane, the pilot does not need to know her. The security check does not need to know the traveler, but trusts a paper passport issued from an accredited agency. Flight attendants put their trust in a ticketing system built by a software company, possibly employing programmers from different parts of the world who do not know each other personally. Different crews on the ground and in the air coordinate so that a traveler to make to her destination with style.

If we Karen people operate only within personal connection, Kawthoolei will not go anywhere.

We need to cultivate the culture of listening to dissent, appreciating fresh ideas different from one’s own.

Often, we act immaturely, turning ourselves off against opposing views. Holding distrust to individuals who may have a slightly different view from ours. That culture reinforces mutual bubbles and destroys large-scale collaboration among people who may have a rich variety of views. Closing off ourselves from differing views is self-destructive.

Honest and most beautiful the Karen people are not angels but still fallible human beings. Without being guarded by laws and accounting audits, people in power will be prone to corruption, the misuse of power compounded by poor accounting. They must have repeated follies that keep them in a victim stage in this prosperous era.

From a distance, Heaven and Earth look the same, so is differing opinion. [Sawlah Photography]

New Generation School, Kawthoolei. 2022. [Sawlah Photography]

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is a STEM for the nation

No nation can make progress with a shortage of public appreciation of science, that is the knowledge to understand our surroundings. Unfamiliarity creates distaste. If we have contemptuous view on science and technology, that attitude could blind us to see the world around us. This problem isn't particular in Karen intellectuals but community leaders feeding anti-intellectual, anti-science toxic teachings to weekend assemblies.

In this age of resources digitized and knowledge freely distributed, science is accessible to everyone to learn the foundation. While the world is celebrating scientists, reaping the benefits of scientific discoveries, and spreading knowledge freely, Kawthoolei cannot afford to be left behind by deliberately ignoring scientific knowledge.

And the more you learn science, the more you will appreciate time-honored indigenous knowledge on environments and its cohesive social structure.

We need to foster a culture of lifelong learning.

Ability to think critically and make independently sound judgment is a weakness of our people. Without a curious mind — a thirst to investigate things critically — our people will have a tendency toward gullibility. Our people tend to chase flashy trending ideas imported from faraway land. Not before long, invasive species change our conscious landscape beyond recognition. Rather than improving our native values when met with novel ideas, we let outside elements corrode our thinking, which in turn weakens our identity, so does our existence — the problem that exists both in the educated and the lesser ones alike.

A tendency to embrace new trends without critically thinking the teaching of that new idea itself is not learning or progress.

We need to rebuild a national can-do attitude.

Affected by a widespread infestation, most Karen people operate in a minority mindset.

From educational institutions to humanitarian aid organizations, all reinforce the mentality of ethnic-minority -- the persecuted minority, a pathetic minority.

Overtime, our people unconsciously go begging for sympathy, issuing organization letters and statements outcrying international attention in high hope of help. Rather than building alliances, we run for pity. Minority mindset is institutionalized through donation culture, aid organizations, and teaching to be passive (-aggressive) which is based on the mercy unknown saviors.

Instead of lifting people up, organizations are portraying the people as needy, worthless helpless victims. Some are having good business portraying the people as victims and they themself as savior creating a business brand. Instead of focusing on addressing the root cause -- the political problems -- we exhaust our energy on the symptoms, thus creating a circle of dependency.

The world is not to be fooled with blatant appeal to sympathy. It is an insult to them as well as to the people. If we are sincere, we must reeducate ourselves on how the international system works, both the past and the present.

International Relation is based on nation states prioritizing their interest first. International system never favors the weak nor the meek, but only might and force determine the fate of a nation. International community may collaborate for the progress of humanity, but they are not responsible for providing us food, shelter, or safety. Every nation has to put their interest first, then carefully allocate their surplus to help those in need within a predetermined quota. Wealthy nations have generosity but not unlimited ones. Every nation takes care of their fellow members first as a divine-given responsibility.

The world creates a “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. But we have a responsibility to assert those individual rights collectively. We as a nation are not to wait for the world to protect our rights, or wealthy donors to rebuild our nation. The world may respect our rights but they are not responsible for safeguarding the rights we have. Victim mentality will lead us nowhere but kill our spirit, destroy our national esteem and , so we ought to scrap it off from our thinking as well as from our acts. We are only ourselves to bootstrap with what we have. We need to reclaim the Gift of being the First Nation (ဖိဝဲၢ်ကိ) endowed by our Native God (ယွၤဒိၣ်). Instead of being a burden to the world with our constant misery, we have a divine responsibility to be benefiting the world through our invention, discoveries, and social and political values.

"a light for the nations"

Isaiah 42:6 - International Standard Version

Gender rights, children rights, or environment rights will never be attained in an environment with political instability. Our young girls will be vulnerable for abuse, so will be our children and women and men when the state (government and institutions) does not guarantee law and order.

Those basic human rights requires judicial system, sound politics and sound policies to safeguard human dignity -- not through proliferation of NGOs without strengthening state institutions.

Humanitarian politics is not only an opioid solution to political problem, it is also killing human spirit.

The Kawthoolei ideals are the ideals of all human desire, a land without thieves, quarrels, and aggression. It ought to be the universal values every nation strives for.

We should be leading instead of waiting.

Welcome to Kawthoolei sign post at Salween River bank. This post was reclaimed in 2021 April with the lives and blood of the finest sons of Kawthoolei. [Sawlah Photography]

University of California, Davis [Sawlah Photography]

We need to think to secure blessings for our posterity.

California takes its name the Golden State from previous century gold discoveries. Happening before policies and procedures supported by science, those gold mining businesses have a toxic legacy of mercury contamination to future generations, who now have to deal with those heavy chemicals in their soil and water system.

To safeguard Kawthoolei from misuse of hazardous materials, policies and regulations need to be developed for various material uses: pesticide, chemical, biological, lab-hazard, radiation, or waste-water in agriculture, forest, mining and urban development. Regulation does not restrict. Strong regulatory environment of California appears unfriendly to innovation and creativity. It is the contrary. Carefree ethos of California serves well as the hub of innovation not only in the domain of digital technology, but also in social values where progressive thinking and cultural values are leading the way.

In California, a culture of diversity and high professional standards provide secure academic environments conducive to exploration and innovation making the State the highest in number of scientists and Nobel laureates.

Owing to the wisdom of the previous generation, no citizens of California go thirsty even after the State had suffered drought for a decade. The generation of a century ago has created water laws and physical infrastructure such as reservoirs and drainage and elaborate water rights, California not only withstand the drought but still produce citrus fruits, nuts, and a variety of vegetables while the State feeds the whole nation.

Without forward thinking ancestors and long-term planning regulatory framework, the nation would not withstand a slight deprivation. We can learn easily from other nations to build institutions and physical infrastructure. Learning from other blunders and successes, we can navigate ourselves to avoid pitfalls while emulating their successes.

We can just walk the path already taken when it comes to technological progress.

A tunnel out to Bay Bridge California Bay Area [Sawlah Photography]

It took about 200 years for Great Britain to complete their industrial revolution. It took only 50 years for Korea to catch up and surpass the British. It is not just because Koreans are smarter to have achieved that shortcut but the Koreans were able to just take the road already taken. Scientific principles are universal, applied to every part of the world — Kawthoolei is not excluded from following best design principles, and best formulas for Materials Engineering. Within a 20 year time frame, we should be able to catch up with the developed world in social, economic and infrastructure, given that we adopt the set best practices.

Scientific discoveries and technology breakthroughs only go forward for everyone.

It took 40 years for Israel to get rid of mosquito problems. For Kawthoolei, less than 10 years defining Her total freedom, mosquitoes can be eliminated with their natural enemy with minimum impact on the environment. Malaria is an intractable health problem for Kawthoolei. Every rainy season people are subject to this insect-driven infectious disease while east of the Salween River, this health problem has been eliminated.

Scientifically speaking, the how is nearly settled. We only need to adapt to our situation. This is the latecomer’s advantage.

Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the United States. [Sawlah Photography]

Technology breakthroughs benefit the whole world. In the past it took more than a decade to develop a vaccine. But, for Covid-19 it took one year, made possible within that timeframe by the help of Artificial Intelligence to model endless possible variation of virus strains. And, high speed internet connection and cloud computing make realtime global collaboration possible.

We the people of simplicity already align a minimalist approach to rebuilding physical infrastructure. Communication and energy networks, schools, hospitals, and roads are essential for quality of life and progress. But, overdevelopment could throw fragile ecosystems out of balance, which in turn brings unknown negative effects. Building infrastructure for renewable energy — we shall harness solar energy from solar farms and wind energy, but — should proceed with care listening to feedback from Mother Earth if She feels fine.

Building roads everywhere can be intrusive to the environment. We may not even need roads everywhere for the comfort of travel. Walking is what humans are born to do — that promotes health and longevity. They have been walking with two legs, a signature mobility, since the dawn of human species long before roads and motor vehicles existed. A pursuit of material progress requires extra caution not to be too intrusive against Nature.

[Sawlah Photography]

While it may take a hundred years for a nation’s regulatory framework and institutional culture to mature, the infrastructure, a reflection of people’s culture, can shape a nation’s landscape within a decade.

With a sound structure, we can strive to rebuild the People within one generation who share norms and values that drive them to be a unified, loyal, and organized people —the essentials for nation building and nation’s progress.

Culture is what dictates norms and expectations even laws and enforcement bodies are in place. If we are striving for Kawthoolei to be a land without thieves, relying solely only on laws and law enforcement cannot make Kawthoolei be void of thieves. Only a high culture of ethics can make the Land be void of stealing, lying, or aggression.

Harmful culture norms — bad apples and bad habits — are to be safeguarded by rule of law. Schools and universities promote patriotism, sound politics, and civic values — among which are honesty, equality, industry, initiative, integrity, being dutiful to the nation for the common cause, and maintaining order and cleanliness. Judicial system follows a predefined set of rules to enforce laws while sound policies promote good institutional culture.

Through sound economic policies come a healthy economy that reduces hardship for citizens while good education that strengthens social progress and national spirit.

These three tiers – People & Culture, Rules & Procedures, Technology & Infrastructure – are mutually reinforcing each other.

The first two tiers, People and Procedure, reinforce each other while strengthening Infrastructure, holistically toward reaching the Kawthoolei ideals — the dream of our forebears -- that is not only a land without evils but a land of virtue and the land of national liberation where people seek for progress of the nation.

These three-tier fundamentals are essential during peacetime for building the nation, yet even more important during the Revolution to build a good structure where we have a strong revolutionary army with good governance that gains mass public support and people’s trust.

Kawthoolei will not succeed with being comfortable with mediocrity. It will demand ruthless determination, but surely not reckless ambition. We need to be informed, organized, and proactive to compete with the world and excel.

Above all, may we need providential circumstances that favor our endeavor. As we toil for the national dream, may the spirit of our ancestors watch over us; may the Most High bless our struggle to restore our heritage.

Acknowledgment:
Views in this essay are solely those of Saw LahKBaw and do not represent the view of organizations.
The author can be reached at sawlah@KawthooleiInstitute.net

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