Chin National Day (r)

[suantak@xxxxxx]

The 51st Chin National Day

By Vum Son

Normally on a day like this the Chin
should be happy and proud.  But this
year like the last fifty  years the Chin
people cannot be proud but rather sad
because their land is occupied by a
colonial army of the SPDC.

Although never been part of Burma
before the British annexation, the Chins
were willing to be a part of Burma.  In
1947 at the Panglong conference Chin
chiefs had not wanted autonomy, but
rather to be a part of Burma that they
simply wanted to be a division and
refused to become a member state.  The
Chin chiefs thought that by becoming a
division instead of a state, the Chin
people could develop at the same rate as
the Burman.  However, Bo Aung San
decided that the Chin should have some
kind of autonomy, and arranged for a
Special Division for the Chin.  Thus the
Chin became a Special Division in the
Union of Burma and had almost the same
status as other states.

Having signed the Panglong agreement to
join the Burman, Kachin, and Shan and
form the Union of Burma, the Chin had
unwavering loyalty to the Union and
fought zealously for the perpetuity of
the Union. The Chin Rifles were
instrumental in defending the Union
Government when other ethnic groups
fought for their separation from the
Union and their independence.  It was
the Chin Rifles that crushed the Karen
at Insein, when Rangoon was only a stone
through away from falling into the hands
of the Karen. The Chin Rifles were
instrumental in crushing the communist
wether in Arakan, Southern Burma, or in
the Pagu Yomas. They would have arrested
U Than Tun, Secretary General of
Communist Party of Burma in the early
fifties, if the Burmese Army had allowed
them to do so, because several times
they had encircled Than Tun?s
headquarters when the War Office in
Rangoon ordered them to withdraw.  The
Chin Rifles fought Arakanese, Shan,
Kachin, Karenni, Padaung, Pa-O, etc.
armed resistance groups to defend the
Union from disintegration.  The Chin
Rifles went and fought wherever they
were told, no questions asked.

For forty years the Chin looked the
other side when the Burman power holders
neglected them in development projects

and humanitarian assistance.  There was
only negligible road, hospital, and
school for the Chin. They simply suffer
quietly, there was only an instance when
the Chin put up a small resistance when
the Burmese Way to Socialism was
introduced.

The Chin accepted anything the Burman
offered them. Even the name ?Chin? is
not the name they call themselves or
their generic name.  The name ?Chin? is
the name the Burman call them.  The Chin
adopted this name because they found
closeness to the Burman when they use
the name the Burman had given them.
They did not protest  of the alien name.
Even the Chin National Front, the armed
resistance group adopted the name ?Chin?
because they have no aspirations for
nationalism and independence.  They want
to stay as a member of the Union.  Thus
the Chin are discarding their generic
name because they believe that will
strengthen their bond to the Burman and
to the union.

However, the reward the Burman Army
given to the Chin for the Chin?s loyalty
is quite different from what one may
expect.  In 1988 some sixty disgruntled
students joined the Chin National Front
and took up arms to fight for democracy.
They saw the ruthless killings of over
10,000 peaceful demonstrators in the
whole country, the government had closed
down the universities as they chose, and
the students suffered when the
government demonetized the currency.
They wanted democracy and develop the
Chin Hills.  They thought  and believe
today that by standing up in arms
against the military regime or against
the Burman power holders give them
respect and recognition as a serious and
formidable opponent to the policies of
the ruling military.

Before the Chin students rebelled
against the military Junta there was
only 16 Burmese soldiers in Haka, the
Chin capital.   To fight against the
CNF, which was equipped  with a few
outdated rifles and light machine guns
the Burman Army sent ten Battalions.
These soldiers were sent to the Chin
Hills not to fight the CNF but to
terrorize the Chin villagers.  The
rebellion had given the Burman Army an
excuse to overrun the Chin society.

Having gone to the Chin Hills alleging
to fight the CNF they felt they had the
legal right terrorize the Chin
community.   They arrested any person
and beaten them up.  They enter people?s
homes without permission and take
anything they wanted.  The soldiers sent
to the Chin Hills were not supplied with
enough food and clothing.  They took
food and clothing from the Chin
villagers. The CNF in their desperation
to defend the villagers went around but
that give the Burman Army more reason to
make more and more harsh and cruel
treatments to the Chin population.  The
collection of taxes by the CNF put the
villagers in danger of arrest as
supporters of the armed resistance
group.

The Burman Army also persecuted Chin
Christians for being Christians.  They
dismantled Christian monuments, not that
they really care for religion, the
Burman Army is there to hurt the
emotional feelings of the Chin.  If they
can make the Chin angry at them, that
automatically resolve the Chin to hate
the Burman because the Burman army is

led by the Burman.  When the Chin hate
the Burman the Chin would support the
CNF, and the youth  would join the CNF.
Then, if there is a large resistance
movement or if the CNF grows, the Burman
army need a larger contingent, that
means they have secured a job for
themselves and promotion.  That is job
security and better living for the
members of the Burman Army.

Complaints can go on and on.  There are
forced porter conscriptions whenever the
army units move, or forced labor when
the army built its camps, arbitrary
killing for no reason or judicial
proceedings, rape of Chin women by
Burman soldiers,  moral corruption by
showing pornographic films to the young
people, opening of liquor stores,
building of Buddhist temples by forced
labor,  etc.

When will this nightmare end?  Certainly
when there is peace, that means when the
CNF gives up its arms and the Burman
Army returns to their homeland.