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Anti-coup protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, put up a barricade to defend themselves Saturday. (AP/Yonhap News)

As civic resistance to the military coup in Myanmar leads to bloodshed, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have emerged as an important factor.

Not only groups opposed to the Myanmar military but also the military itself are courting ethnic groups that have maintained armed resistance against the rule of the central government. The government of Myanmar is dominated by the Bamar people, who account for 70% of the country’s population.

“We’re about 80% there,” said Zin Mar Aung, who has been named foreign minister for the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), in a Saturday report by Myanmar Now. Zin Mar Aung was talking about the effort to join with ethnic groups to form a coalition against the Myanmar armed forces, which are known as the Tatmadaw.

The CRPH describes itself as a provisional government standing in for the civilian government deposed in the military coup.

“We’re discussing how we can work collectively in a situation like this. We are trying to have one united voice,” Zin Mar Aung said.

The CRPH is composed of lawmakers with the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar’s Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), which was dissolved in the coup on February 1. Following the declaration of a provisional revolutionary government on March 13, with the aim of overthrowing the military government, the CRPH has promised to resist the Tatmadaw in a coalition with ethnic militias.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, the CRPH’s acting vice president, said on Facebook that the CRPH is making contact with the leaders of the major ethnic militias.

“In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers, who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades, really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together,” Mahn Win Khaing Than said.

The CRPH is calling on ethnic groups that the Bamar-focused central government has oppressed to join a combined front against the Tatmadaw that could establish a genuine federal state that would guarantee those groups’ rights to self-rule.

Zin Mar Aung said the CRPH is in talks with the ethnic groups that concluded a ceasefire, called the NCA, with Myanmar’s central government in 2015. These groups include the Karen National Union, an armed group representing the Karen people, the largest ethnic minority inside Myanmar; the Restoration Council of Shan State, representing the Shan people; and the Kachin Independence Army, representing the Kachin people.

Zin Mar Aung also said that the CRPH is setting up a military organization that can lead an armed struggle against the Tatmadaw. “Working toward a federal system means working to build a new federal army that can coexist with the overall desires of this country.”

The militias of the ethnic minorities — whose struggle for self-rule and independence has been suppressed by the Tatmadaw — halted armistice talks with the Tatmadaw following the coup on Feb. 1 and promised to resist it.

In early March, the Peace Process Steering Team, consisting of delegates from ten ethnic minorities that signed the NCA, completely terminated negotiations with the State Administration Council, which has been functioning as Myanmar’s temporary executive body since the coup.

Clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army, the largest ethnic militia in Myanmar, have increased since mid-February. Since March 11, clashes have occurred at four villages in Kachin State, causing hundreds of civilians to flee.

Ethnic groups have also been taking active part in the protests against the Tatmadaw, staging a rally Thursday in downtown Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.

Since then, parades have been held expressing solidarity between the ethnic groups and the Bamar-dominated protesters.

“I have never seen Myanmar people in such strong unity. […] Together we will fight for our justice and true democracy,” Tina, a 25-year-old ethnic Karen who took part in the protests, told the Nikkei Asia.

Even members of the Bamar ethnic majority are expressing remorse for supporting or tolerating the neglect and oppression of ethnic minorities in the past.

The Nikkei Asia reported that some protesters in the street held placards that said, “I really regret the Rohingya crisis, which was done by the Myanmar military.”

“Many young protesters are now using social media to say they regret how they acted in the wake of the Rohingya crisis in 2017,” the Nikkei Asia reported.

However, it remains uncertain whether these ethnic minorities will actively join in the struggle against the Tatmadaw. Some ethnic groups and figures are responding positively to the military’s conciliatory gestures.

Following the coup, the Tatmadaw issued a unilateral ceasefire in its struggle with the ethnic groups, and ASEAN Today reported that it has been reaching out to some ethnic groups and figures.

Phado Man Nyein Maung, a former senior leader of the Karen National Union, has accepted a spot on the State Administration Council, while Saw Tun Aung Myint, chair of the Kayin People’s Party, has assumed the post of ethnic affairs minister.

Organizations representing these individuals’ ethnic groups downplayed their appointments, which they said were personal decisions.

The Arakan National Party, representing Rakhine State, on the western coast, and the Mon Unity Party, representing the Mon people, have pledged to work with the Tatmadaw. The Arakan National Party, which won the most seats in Rakhine State in the parliamentary elections in November, explained its decision by saying that the rule of the National League for Democracy merely represented another form of dictatorship by the Bamar people.

But, as ASEAN Today noted, “younger members of the party have quit in protest and many members of the party have openly expressed their reservations over their leadership’s decision.”

ASEAN Today also said that the Mon Unity Party’s decision “to work with the military […] revealed a divided party with many elected members opposed to the decision.”

Even as the CRPH seeks to create a coalition with ethnic groups for an armed struggle, it’s uncertain whether the CRPH is actually representative of Myanmar. The group claims to be a provisional government, but it hasn’t received an official response from either Aung San Suu Kyi or the international community.

Members of the Bamar ethnic majority in Myanmar remain opposed to granting self-rule or independence to ethnic minorities. That has led to concerns that forming a combined military front with those ethnic minorities could legitimize the Tatmadaw’s oppression and its grip on the government.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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