Chin was a term imposed on us by the British during colonial rule Anthony Pu Kap Khan Khual Anthony Kap Khan Khaul is a Central Executive Committee member of the Zomi Congress for Democracy as well as its press officer. He talks to Myanma Freedom Daily about the issues surrounding the Zomi people in Myanmar. Chin was a term imposed on us by the British during colonial rule The Zomi Congress for Democracy was formerly known as Zomi National Congress (ZNC), which was registered as a political party in Myanmar in 1988. The military government banned the party from all political activities in 1992 and many of its members, who are part of the global Zomi people movement, went into exile. Why don’t Zomi people want to be recognized as a Chin tribe? Because the word “Chin” doesn’t exist in our language – it was a term imposed on us by the British during colonial rule. Likewise, in British India, the Zomi people were called “Kuki” in Manipur and “Lushai” (now Mizo) in Mizoram. “Lushai” is also a term used in Tiddim, Chin State. The Zo Minam (or “Zo Nation”) is the correct name of our major tribe, which is found in various parts of South and Southeast Asia. We reject the other terms. The Zomi Congress for Democracy is striving to be referred to as Zomi because we believe that only then can the various Zomi tribes live in unity. During the term of the Burma Socialist Programe Party [led by U Ne Win], the Zomi people were divided into 53 tribes according to our geographic location and dialect. As I see it, a policy of divide-and-rule was adopted by the British to undermine unity among ethnic groups. But the Zomi are one people and we want to be recognized as such. Very different views were expressed during the Chin National Conference held recently – please could you explain why? The conference was not attended by either the Zomi Congress for Democracy or the Chin Progressive Party, but those who did attend decided that the entire Zomi people should be referred to as Chin. However we issued a statement afterwards that we will continue to use the word Zomi. In future we will expand our activities to mobilize support for our position. When was the campaign to rename Chin people to Zomi first launched? It was during the Zomi Public Convention of 1952, which was attended by religious leaders from Falam, Tiddim and Haka in Chin State. And when the Zomi National Congress was established in 1988, the first policy it adopted was to change the name from Chin to Zomi. We’ve continued the campaign for 25 years and the next Zomi Public Conference is to be held on 30 December 2013 in Yangon. We are expecting participants to include members of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, religious leaders and Zomi community elders. During the conference we’ll explain that we have the right to be registered, for our party to stand as a Zomi party, and how we can achieve our goal to be registered as the Zomi people during the 2014 national census. Why did the Union Election Commission (UEC) reject your party’s proposal to become registered as a political party in 2012? The Zomi National Congress won two seats in the State Assembly during the 1990 general elections. However we boycotted the 2008 constitution and didn’t contest the 2010 general election. We then tried to register for the 2012 by-elections as the political situation was changing at that time, but the UEC rejected our application to become registered as a political party. The reason cited was that the Zomi people don’t exist in Myanmar. It took six months for us to convince the UEC that we do exist, by providing documented evidence as proof. We were granted permission to register as a political party this year, although we needed to change our name to the Zomi Congress for Democracy in order to do so. What is the main purpose of the Zomi Public Conference? We believe that people should have the right to have their real ethnicity listed on their citizenship scrutiny card – or at the very least, to be registered under the correct term during a census. Take the “Tiddim” tribe for example – that name was foisted on them purely as a result of the fact that they live in Tiddim, despite the fact that they are members of the Zomi tribe. This is unacceptable and a denial of our fundamental rights. I hope the conference will help different tribes to be recognized as a single ethnic group. During the conference, Zomi community elders will deliver talks on ethnic affairs and we will also discuss the way forward for our party. Will other conferences be held? Yes – we’ll organize similar conferences in Kalay and Tamu townships in Sagaing Region, in Mandalay and the townships of Tiddim, Tonzang and Cikha in Chin State. We plan to host conferences continuously and at this point we’ve confirmed that conferences will be held in at least nine townships across Myanmar. In other countries, Zomi people have not been forced to battle over terminology as they have in Myanmar. Do you have any further comments? I’m grateful to members of the local media for devoting some space and air time to the issues facing non-Burmese ethnicities. In the past, people knew virtually nothing about ethnic minorities, so this is a very welcome change. By Tun Tun Min
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 07:54:11 +0000
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