Split decisions

How a KNLA battalion commander approaches the newest Karen splinter group.

Splittism is apparently a word, and without needing to look up the definition, you can basically work out what it means. It’s a snug fit for Myanmar’s armed movements.

Last week, subscribers met battalion commander Saw Ler Doh in southern Myanmar. I asked for his thoughts on this tendency to start a splinter group after a disagreement – something my analyst friend described as “everybody trying to set up a process or a group where they can be ‘sayagyi’ (master/teacher).”

Splittism has plagued the force Saw Ler Doh belongs to – the Karen National Liberation Army – and its political wing, the Karen National Union.

At least four groups have splintered from the KNU since the 1990s; some have sided with the Myanmar military and continue to derail their old army. Even from these splinter groups, more splinter groups have emerged.

It must make defeating the military that much harder, I said.