Pastors and church workers who are perceived as being either too active, too influential or too resistant to the regime face grave danger. The Chin Human Rights Organisation claims that in some instances, pastors have been ‘abducted, tortured and even killed’ by the Tatmadaw.42 ‘The Burmese army restricted all kinds of Christian activities,’ Salai Ram Lian Hmung concluded, while participating in a protest against the destruction of the cross at Matupi. ‘They don’t even allow us to print the Bible in the country. The Burmese military are destroying our religion and our culture, and trying to assimilate the entire Chin population into the mainstream Burmese culture … We have to do something about it.’43
Christians, particularly from the Chin community, in other parts of Burma also face religious discrimination and persecution. In a town in Magwe Division, pro-regime Buddhist monks issued an order prohibiting the practice of Christianity in the town. In Rangoon, there have been periodic crackdowns on unregistered churches. In early 2009, it was reported that at least one hundred churches were ordered to close down, and some sources claimed that as many as 80 per cent of the churches in the city would be affected. At least fifty pastors were rounded up and forced to sign at least five documents promising to end their church services, and were warned that they would be jailed if they disobeyed the order. The crackdown did not affect historic churches which owned long-established buildings; instead it was targeted at newer denominations that met in private apartments, offices or other private property. ‘Christians are worried that they will not be allowed to worship any more, even in their own house,’ one pastor said. Shwekey Hoipang, a Chin pastor living in exile, told me that the 2009 crackdown came because the churches were actively helping victims of Cyclone Nargis, and the regime was unhappy that Buddhists were receiving help from churches. ‘The regime does not want Buddhists coming in and out of churches,’ he said. ‘It does not want Christianity to grow in Burma. Ultimately, the regime seeks the destruction of Christianity. This is part of a top-secret plan by the military to stop Christian growth.’44
According to Martin Smith, ‘school children in Burma are today taught that the Christian churches represented just another branch of the colonial armoury, the three Ms – missionaries, merchants and military’.45 In Chin State, the authorities state that their three major concerns are ‘ABC’ – AIDS, Hepatitis B and Christianity. A document believed to have originated in the Ministry of Religious Affairs has been widely circulated, and is headlined: ‘Programme to Destroy the Christian Religion in Burma’. Containing seventeen points, the document begins with the statement: ‘There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised. No home will accept any preaching about Jesus.’ It then details a variety of somewhat incoherent steps which Buddhists should take to eradicate Christianity, some of which are violent and severe and some are subtle and even laughable.46
In 2007 I wrote a report, published by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, called ‘Carrying the Cross: The military regime’s campaign of restrictions, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma’, in which I collated evidence of the violations of religious freedom. The regime responded with surprising ferocity. Every day for almost two weeks, full-page denunciations were published in the New Light of Myanmar, and broadcast on state television. ‘Contents of CSW report are fabricated accusation against Myanmar’, screamed the headlines. ‘Intention of some big power nations to interfere in internal affairs of Myanmar for political gain through accusation of fabricated story on religions rejected’, was another. ‘Religion is based on noble kindness and no one should dye it political colour’, said a third. The Catholic Bishops Conference and Myanmar Council of Churches were forced to issue a statement distancing themselves from the report, and rallies were organised in Chin State, at which pastors were forced to publicly denounce the report and proclaim that they had full religious freedom.
Two years later, I met a Chin woman in Kuala Lumpur, who had fled Burma just a month before. An ordained pastor, she had served as the Women’s Secretary of the Hakha Baptist Association. In March 2007, she was ordered to attend a public meeting, and give a presentation on religious freedom in Burma. ‘They told me that they would provide me with the facts they wanted me to express,’ she said. ‘I was given a piece of paper and told to read it. It was the opposite of the truth. I was told if I did not read it out in full, I would be arrested.’ After the event, she managed – at considerable risk – to keep the document, by hiding it in her bra, and she fled. ‘I promised myself I would try to declare the truth about religious persecution, by fleeing the country and making the truth known.’
As in the rest of Burma, forced labour is widespread, but as in Kachin State, it is often linked to religious discrimination. The Tatmadaw frequently orders villagers to work for the military on Sundays and Christian festivals, deliberately disrupting church activities. In Sabungte, for example, villagers were ordered to porter for the military from 20 December 2003 until 19 January 2004, meaning they had to miss Christmas and New Year celebrations. In June 2003, soldiers entered a church in Hmun Halh during a Sunday service, and ordered the leaders of worship to go with them to work as porters, thereby disrupting the service.
In 2004 I made my first visit to the Chin people in Mizoram State, on the India–Burma border. I was shown a letter from a Tatmadaw company commander to village leaders in Nga Phai Pi, southern Chin State, issued on 13 December 2003. The letter is a demand for forty porters from Nga Phai Pi and thirty from Sabawngte to report to the nearby Burma Army camp to carry rations for the military. A second letter, dated 19 January 2004, was shown to me. This was sent by the commander of Battalion 268 in Falam, northern Chin State, ordering village leaders to attend a regular monthly meeting to discuss a new special border development project, starting six days later. They are also instructed to bring a chicken to the meeting.
I met one Chin farmer who had been a member of the NLD since 1989. In 1995 he was forced to work for almost a year on constructing the Kalaymyo–Kankaw railway line. Every household in his village was compelled to contribute one person for forced labour. The railway construction project destroyed the paddy fields in the area, and because he was made to work on the construction project he was unable to farm. ‘This affected the survival of the village,’ he told me. When he enquired about payment for his labour, the soldiers told him ‘It is not our job to pay.’ They then beat him severely. His arm was broken at the elbow, several of his teeth were smashed and his eye was cut. He was detained for five months, and was not permitted to see his family. After his release, he resumed his NLD activities, and in 2003 he attempted to meet Aung San Suu Kyi when she visited his village. He was forbidden to meet her, but two of his friends tried to and were arrested. He escaped and fled to India. ‘No one dares to enroll as an NLD member now,’ he said in 2004. ‘People dare not speak the word “democracy”.’
Traditionally the Chin do not permit alcohol in their society, although many younger Chins do now drink. The regime has seized on this as a target of attack. During my first visit to the Chin in 2004, I was told that since 1992 the military has deliberately brought into Chin towns large quantities of highly intoxicating liquor known as ‘OB’, which it sells in the streets, especially on Sundays when people are going to church. Young people as young as twelve years old have been sold the alcohol, at 1,000 kyats (1.10 dollars) a bottle. I was travelling with two British doctors at the time, who assessed that such crude alcohol was probably a mix of methyl and ethyl and would be completely banned in the West. Highly addictive, it leads to social and family breakdown, crime and ultimately death. Toxic liver failure, jaundice and brain damage are some of the physical effects. When people become drunk, the authorities arrest them, and demand a 5,000 kyat (5.50 dollars) bail for their release. As one Chin Christian put it, it causes ‘the breakdown of body, mind, spirit and society’.47
Rape by Burma Army soldiers is widespread in Chin State, as in the rest of the country, and the Women’
s League of Chinland have documented this in a report called ‘Unsafe State’. In one example, a woman whose son had just been killed by the military was then gang-raped, and strung up on a cross. ‘She was hanging outside of the camp the whole night in the freezing winter weather,’ said the Women’s League of Chinland’s coordinator Cheery Zahau. ‘Why would they make the cross to hang the women? The cross is the symbol of Christianity in Chin State; it’s one of the mockeries against their beliefs.’48
All of these violations are the direct result of increased militarisation in Chin State. The Burma Army’s presence has grown significantly, even in the space of just a few years. In 2007, for example, there were an estimated thirty-three Tatmadaw camps, whereas now there are at least fifty-five. Human Rights Watch claims that prior to 1988, the Tatmadaw had no battalions stationed in Chin State, and only two battalions, one based in Kalaymyo, Sagaing Division, and the other located in Magwe Division, were in operation in Chin State. Now, over fourteen battalions each with almost 500 troops are stationed in Chin State. In Kalaymyo alone, there are more than nine battalions.49 Cheery Zahau says that ‘as long as [Burmese] troops are there, there will be sexual violence’.50
The Chin are facing what many consider ‘cultural’ genocide as well. Burma Army troops are actively encouraged to marry local Chin women, and are rewarded if they do. In Matupi, the local commander, Colonel San Aung, has apparently offered 100,000 kyats and a pig to soldiers who succeed in marrying a local Chin woman. In Kalaymyo a special army battalion was reportedly established with the specific purpose of incentivising soldiers to marry Chin women, particularly the daughters of Chin pastors. The objective is to ‘dilute’ their ethnicity and convert them to Buddhism. However, in one area the strategy backfired when the women converted their Burman Buddhist husbands to Christianity. Those who converted were transferred to other places and denied promotion – while those who succeeded in converting their wives were promoted.
The Chin language is forbidden in schools, and the number of Burmese teachers in Chin State has increased significantly. ‘The regime is trying to assimilate Chin State,’ one Chin women’s activist told me. ‘Schools are all in Burmese and we are not even allowed to teach Chin language as a subject. Only in some areas can extra language classes for Chin be arranged, through the church. The regime is trying to kill the Chin language.’
History is distorted, according to a Chin university student, and schools do not teach the history of the ethnic nationalities. ‘While growing up I was aware that we were a “union” as a country, but I was confused about the so-called “Union of Burma”,’ he said. ‘The reason we didn’t understand is that we only learn about the history of Burma in school, and the history we are taught is wrong.’ Chin students are never taught that until British colonisation of Burma in the nineteenth century, they had lived as an entirely separate entity, never ruled by the Burmese kings. ‘There is nothing about Chin history. We are only taught about the Thirty Comrades and the Dobama Asiayone.’ As a result, he added, ‘the majority and minority populations are separated from each other, and we feel weak and vulnerable because our Chin history is not recognised.’ In an examination, this particular student decided to write a paper about the differences between Burman and Chin cultures, and wrote: ‘I am not a Burman, I am a Chin.’ He warned that if history continues to be taught in the way it is, ethnic and national identity will be lost. ‘I hate Burmanisation,’ he said. His history professor called him in and warned him that he would be disqualified from all his subjects if he insisted on submitting this answer. ‘He said he would delete my answers and I could rewrite the exam and pass. But I did not want my answers to be deleted, so I failed,’ he told me, a look of proud defiance in his eye. ‘We cannot learn true history in our country. There is no printed true history available, we cannot print true history, and we cannot learn our own language in school.’ He concluded with a plea: ‘Please help us to fight for our indigenous rights. I am concerned and worried about our future in Burma. Burma’s political crisis is not only a democracy problem, it is also an ethnic and constitutional problem.’51
Chin State is widely recognised as the poorest part of Burma. The regime has deliberately withheld investment in health and education, and unlike the Kachin or Shan States, it lacks natural resources. But in addition to its general poverty, approximately every fifty years Chin State is hit by a natural phenomenon which the Chin call the ‘Mautam’, literally ‘dying bamboo’. The flowering of bamboo attracts rats, who multiply in scenes reminiscent of an Old Testament plague, and devour every food source in sight – the bamboo itself initially, then turning their attention to the paddy fields and rice barns. The result: a chronic food shortage.
In 2007 the Mautam hit and, according to the Chin Human Rights Organisation’s report ‘Critical Point: Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State’, over 100,000 people in at least 200 villages were severely affected. This amounts to 20 per cent of the entire population of Chin State. At least fifty-four deaths have been recorded, as a result of extreme malnutrition and famine-related disease, but the real death toll is likely to be much higher. The crisis spread across seven townships in Chin State and part of Sagaing Division, and up to 82 per cent of the farmland in affected areas was destroyed. More than 4,000 people fled to India and Thailand.52
During the crisis the regime did nothing to help. Unlike the Indian authorities who responded actively on their side of the border, the junta did not prepare the Chin for the anticipated famine or respond to their needs. Even worse, Chin cross-border relief teams were blocked from delivering much-needed aid.
The Chins themselves established a Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee, and delivered assistance to the most vulnerable areas, targeting over seventy villages. A few international organisations responded to the emergency, but on a tiny scale. The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), whose Chief Executive Baroness Cox had made several visits to the India–Burma border, raised funds for emergency relief, and together with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) lobbied the British government to help. A journalist from the Guardian travelled to the area in the summer of 2008, and a delegation of Chin activists visited London and met Parliamentarians. The Sunday Telegraph reported on the famine. Initially, perhaps the most distressing problem they faced was the World Food Programme (WFP)’s denial of the very existence of a famine. It turned out, however, that WFP teams had visited the wrong areas – they had been taken to villages which did not even have any bamboo. When this was revealed, and the crisis began to receive some media coverage, the British government began to consider ways of helping. In September 2008 a BBC World Service radio journalist produced a powerful documentary on the emergency. The WFP acknowledged the crisis, saying that it was ‘worse than any other region’ that they had visited in Burma.53 Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) pledged £600,000, later adding a further £200,000.
DFID’s aid has certainly made a difference, but it has not been without its problems. DFID insisted on channelling the aid through the WFP in Rangoon, rather than through Chin cross-border relief teams. The reaction of the Chin victims speaks volumes. One man in Matupi told Khin Tun, a young British volunteer working with the Chin along the India–Burma border:
You, the British people, had rescued and saved our spirits as R.A. Laurren (the first missionary from the UK to the people in this region over one hundred years ago) built our community and now you have come to help us for our physical needs … We were so heartbroken when we heard that the donations of UK were coming through Rangoon. It is impossible that the donations will reach us through Rangoon. The SPDC have been stealing our belongings. They are thieves; they will surely steal all the assistance from you. How can your government believe them? We will get nothing, I am sure.54
Although DFID aid has reached some affected areas in Chin State, through WFP and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in many areas it has been delivered through ‘food-for-work�
�� schemes. Exhausted, emaciated and starving people are forced to work in exchange for food, and the rations they receive may not be enough for their families. As one Chin relief worker told me, ‘people have to go to work for food, and so they have to leave their own work. It is a kind of forced labour. If they do not work, they won’t get food.’ In other areas, money was distributed but in the wrong currency. Villagers who had walked for days to receive cash they could use to buy rice then had to walk for several more days to convert the money into a currency they could use. Perhaps most troublingly, I was told on a visit to the border in 2009 that in seventeen villages in Paletwa Township, the worst affected area, aid was distributed in the form of loans, either in rice or cash, which had to be repaid at 200 per cent interest.
According to the Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee, only 28 out of 87 villages in Thantlang Township had received DFID aid, in Paletwa between 70 and 80 villages out of 401 had received food assistance, and in Matupi Township only 9 villages had been helped. The aid only lasted three months, and no further assistance was provided.
Villagers often have to walk long distances to collect the relief, and then struggle through a series of military checkpoints to get the rice supplies home. Even if the aid is not taken by soldiers, they have to pay heavy bribes. From the Kaladan River to Paletwa, for example, there are seventeen Tatmadaw checkpoints. Villagers travelling up the river with supplies for their starving communities have to pay between 500 and 1,000 kyats per boat at each checkpoint.55
Burma- a Nation at the Crossroads Page 17