Chins gathers for 2nd National Assembly

Chins gathers for 2nd National Assembly

By Salai Pi Pi  

Tuesday, 17 November 2009 22:00

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Ethnic Chin leaders across the world are meeting this week at Aizawl, capital of India’s North-eastern State of Mizoram, to discuss the future of the political course of the Chin, even as the ruling junta in Burma gears up for the 2010 general elections.

Ral Hnin, a spokesperson of the Chin National Council (CNC), a group with political parties, armed group, students, intellectuals and civil organizations, said they are gathering for the 2nd Chin National Assembly (CNA) where the future political course of the Chin will be discussed.

The Chin National Assembly, whose delegates are coming from as far as Germany, United States of America, Canada and other countries, will be held at a location along the Indo-Burmese border on November 18 to 20.

“I think the main issue of discussion at the Assembly will be the 2010 elections,” Ral Hnin said.

However, Ral Hnin said the 2nd Chin Assembly is open only to members of the CNC and its advisors. One of the CNC’s advisors attending the Assembly includes Harn Yanghwe, a Shan ethnic and son of Burma’s first President Sao Shwe Taik and the current director of Euro-Burma Office (EBO) in Brussels.

The invitation of only members of the CNC and their advisors has led to a rift among the Chin. Several activists are saying they do not accept the Assembly as legitimate and cannot allow it to determine their political fate.

The CNC was formed in 2006, during the first Chin National Assembly held at ‘Mount Sinai’ in India’s North-eastern State of Manipur. The CNC’s core groups include the Chin National Front (CNF), Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD), Mara Peoples Party (MPP) and Zomi National Congress (ZNC).

While the CNLD, MPP and ZNC, were political parties that have contested the 1990 elections and have elected Members of Parliament (MP), the CNF was formed as an armed resistant group by Chin students and youths, following the junta’s brutal crackdown on the student-led uprising in 1988.

Although Ral Hnin said, during the Assembly, the CNC would seek to expand the structure of the organization to accommodate civil society groups, and students and youths, as its core members, Kee Le Awm, Chairman of the Cho Ethnic Council (CEC), a group formed among the Cho tribes of Chin, said, he disagrees with the CNC’s current policy as it fails to have equal representations of all tribes under the umbrella ‘Chin’.

Residing in Chin state of North-western Burma, bordered by India’s North-eastern states and Bangladesh, the Chin ethnic community includes over 50 diverse tribes, sub-tribes and clans. This has often led to conflicts among the various tribes.

“Though they named their group Chin National Council, it does not represent all Chin tribes. The CNC should have equal representation and it should be a tribe-base organization,” said Kee Lee Awm.

Since its inception in the first Chin National Assembly in 2006, the CNC has been confronted with opposition. Organizations like the Student and Youth, disagreed on the formulation of the CNC and refused to sign the Assembly resolution.

Van Tu, President of New Delhi-based Matu Youth Organization (MYO), an organization formed with Youths of the Matu tribe of Chin, told Mizzima on Tuesday that his group had been ignored and was not invited for the 2nd Chin Assembly that is to begin on Wednesday.

He said he sensed that the MYO had been deliberately left out as they refused to sign the 1st Assembly resolution that agrees to form the CNC.

“We did not sign the agreement at the first Assembly because we did not find it equally represented the various tribes of the Chin,” said Van Tu.

He also urged the CNC to amend its policy in order to include all tribes among the Chin saying, “Currently, there is no proper representation for tribes such as the Matu, Cho and Khumi in the CNC.”

Ral Hnin, the spokesperson for the CNC, said the CNC is an evolution of the Chin movement, based on the April 2004 ‘Victoria Agreement’ signed by over 95 representatives during the ‘Seminar on Chin Consensus Building’ held at Camp Victoria along the Indo-Burmese border.

The pact established four objectives - to collaborate in the fight against military government, to work together to regain freedom and self-determination, to participate in building a federal union in Burma, to work for unity and political, economic, and social development of the Chin people.

“In my personal view, I don’t think it is possible to have equal representation during the revolutionary movement. But we will formulate a good policy on which we will be working together,” Ral Hnin said.

The CNC is a member of the exiled-based Ethnic National Council (ENC), an umbrella group representing the seven ethnic nationalities of Burma – Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Shan and Mon.