Mizzima Editor Win Naing recently sat down with Japan Special envoy Sasakawa Yohei, chairman of the non-profit Nippon Foundation, to discuss his work monitoring the recent Myanmar national elections.

Mizzima Editor Win Naing: There were nine townships including wards and villages in Rakhine State where the Myanmar national election was not held. What is the prospect of holding elections in those areas, given you have been encouraging the Myanmar authorities to hold polls in these areas?

Chairman Sasakawa: Yes, I (monitored) the Myanmar election as the head of the Myanmar Election Observation Mission representing the Japanese government. During my visit, I met with the chairman of the Union Election Commission (UEC) and requested him to try to hold elections in order to reflect public opinion on politics in areas where elections could not be held.

In response to my request, the chairman of the Union Election Commission replied that the election would be held again if the security situation improved.

When I met with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, during my visit to Myanmar, I asked the Commander-in-Chief that I would like to go and see in person the possibility of holding elections in Rakhine State. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces also wants elections in Rakhine State. That is why I am planning to go to Rakhine. Because of the COVID-19 conditions, there is only one way to get there, you can only go by plane there and for that the Tatmadaw arranged an army-owned helicopter with the help of the Commander-in-Chief. There were nine townships where no election was held. Two townships were selected and interviews were conducted with local people. The reason I chose to visit these two townships is that one of these townships is an area that intense fighting has been caused many times, and the other township has been the scene of recent fighting, so I visited these two townships because they are unique.

As an independent person, I went to Rakhine and interviewed local men, women, young and the elderly. During my interviews, I made a street interview and interviewed independently people in the shops and people in the port as well.

In short, there is concern that Rakhine State is now locked down and local people felt that only Rakhine State is being left alone because of the cancelling of the election. So, everyone I met then wants an election to be held, and they all say so.

Therefore, I would like to report to the Union Election Commission (UEC), (given what I saw) that there is a possibility of holding elections in those areas and that the election should be held as soon as possible - that is what I would like to appeal to the Union Election Commission (UEC) right now.

In recent time, the situation has completely calmed down after the Arakan Army issued a statement. The faces of the local people showed a very happy face. When I asked shopkeepers, they said that they had seen an increase in sales since then. I found out that the situation of the two townships I visited was stable.

Win Naing: The second question is that there are two main problems in Rakhine State, though there are other problems as well. The first problem is that it is important to stop fighting between the AA and the Tatmadaw. What do you think about this issue?

And the second issue concerns the importance of the Muslim community and the Rakhine community living together in harmony and balance. What do you think about that?

Chairman Sasakawa: I will answer the first one of the two questions. What is this? After the statement from both the AA and the Tatmadaw with regard to holding elections, Rakhine State became very stable and peaceful.

After the statements were issued, there was no fighting at all. That is why, first of all, I sincerely hope that we can hold free and fair elections peacefully.

Another is that the current situation is a great opportunity, by taking this golden chance, and we want Rakhine State to be a stable, peaceful and secure state by holding talks between the government, army and the AA to achieve a stable and peaceful situation after the election after making good use of this opportunity.

Internationally, there are many conflict areas. Looking back at these areas, the international communities living abroad often make strong demands to resolve conflicts. In doing so, they often ask for the peace they want, without any knowledge of the relevant country's history, culture, or way of life. As a result, conflicts have become more complicated.

So, if I have to answer the second question, because this is a problem inside Myanmar, I think the people of Myanmar, the military and the government, know more about the situation. Since this is Myanmar's problem, I think the people of Myanmar themselves should work hard to improve the situation.

Next, as the Japanese government's special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar, I would like to answer this question.

I have visited Myanmar and Thailand 130 times so far, and then I have worked hard for a ceasefire and peace with the ethnic armed groups. However, though I worked on these activities, I do not think they will know me very well because I usually keep a low profile, that is why my face and my name will not be so familiar.

As far as I am concerned, I have tried my best to arrange for dialogue between the two sides when it comes to ceasefires and peace. As I mentioned a moment ago, I do not usually meddle in the solutions. As this is a Myanmar problem, I think we should try to solve it inside Myanmar. This is my basic concept.

Win Naing: The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory throughout the country that has set them up to run the government for the next five years. How do you view the prospects for peace in the next five years?

Chairman Sasakawa: Last time I visited the State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence while observing the last election. She spoke about the peace process over the past five years. In the last five years, only two armed groups have signed up at the peace forum. That is why, in the next five years, a nationwide ceasefire and peace agreement will be one of the major topics in the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counselor, agreed. I think there will be a lot of political issues in Myanmar over the next five years. However, I think peace should be a top priority if we want to build a Union of Myanmar. We, the Japanese government, will continue to do our best for the stability and peace of Myanmar.

As you gentlemen know, Japan is one of the largest donors of international aid to Myanmar. We will continue to support to Myanmar. A great deal of assistance will be provided, including schools, bridges and roads, especially for IDPs in ethnic armed areas. Efforts will be made to improve the living conditions of the IDPs.

Ongoing conflicts are taking place in many countries internationally. However, if you look at all of these countries, no country has seen a truce from the government army. I think Myanmar has had a ceasefire by the military for almost a year and a month now. Such a unilateral ceasefire by the military is completely non-existent. That is why I think it is very important that we take advantage of these opportunities and step up peace negotiations.

Moving forward, the Japanese Government and Nippon Foundation will continue to provide humanitarian assistance in ethnic areas. We will continue to work to ensure that local people in ethnic areas enjoy the fruits of peace and create a position that groups that have not yet signed the NCA want to sign.