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How the Chinland become a part of Burma

The main reasons that made the Chinland become a part of Burma

by Salai Biak Lian Sang

The Chinland became a part of Burma only after the British gave independent to Burma in 1948.Before that the Chin people were historically independent indigenous people. The Chin Hills hadbecome home for the Chin people since pre-historic period. Until the British colonization came tothe Chin Hills, there were no historical evidences that the Chin people were invaded and ruled byother nations. The Chins had their own chiefs, village founders or tribe leaders. Even thoughthere were no Chin kings, it is obvious that the Chin people had their own rulers. The Chin fore-fathers enjoy their autonomy, rights and privileges for hundreds of years in Chin Hills. The Chinpeople lost all those things and became one of the states and divisions of Burma.

There were three different obvious facts that made the Chinland and people become part of Burma. They were

1. British Colonization,2. Panlong Agreement and3. Military junta's coup

British Colonization

The Chins were living as independent nation till the British invaded their land in the late 19thcentury and annexed all their territory into British Empire in 1892. The British Colonization had

brought both advantages and disadvantages for the Chin people. The coming of Christianity andnew civilization were obvious benefits for the Chin people from the British colonization. In thatcivilization, having a military power which was known as Chin Rifle Battalion was also anadvantages. However, at the same time the worse nuisance from that era was losing ownautonomy to the British and to the Burmese in its consequences. Before, the Christianity wasbrought by the pioneer missionaries such as some RC bishops and Carson and Laura, the Chinpeople were known as head hunters. The British invaded Burma after declaring three times of wars. The first Anglo-Burma war broke out in 1824, the second in 1852 and third in 1885 andoccupied all Burma in 1886. About four years after the invasion of Burma, the British came to thesoil of the Chin Hills.

Pu Lian Uk a politician and former member of parliament of Burma stated,

"The Chin people claim that the Chin in their definite territory especially the Chin State today hadnever been a part of Burma or had it never been under any of the Burmese kings before Britishannexation. It was an independent territory with its definite territory under their chieftains sincetime immemorial and the British invaded and annexed the Chin country as a separateindependent territory in 1890 outside the Burmese kingdom. The Chin resistance war against theBritish invasion of their country was so fierce in 1888 that even one British soldier was awardedVictoria Cross (VC) equivalent to Aung San Thuriya in Burma or US Congressional Medal, beingthe highest military gallantry medal in the British empire in which the sun never set. It wasawarded to him at the Chin resistant battle against the invading British forces at Siallum in Tedimtownship in present Chin State which is now historically marked as Siallum Fort. The awardshowed how fiercely the Chin resistant battle was fought by both sides."[1]

The Chin people lost their autonomy in the hand of the British colony. Yet, there were even more

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negative impacts. As the Second World War ended, the British had been abandoning almost allof their colonized countries according to their agreement in United Nations charter. The decisionwhether to give independent to the Chin nation separately was utterly in the hand of the British.But according to Aung San - Atlee agreement the ethnic people were included within the todayBurma. It was utterly in the hand of the British government whether to include the Chinland inBurma or not. However, they insisted the agreement from the Chin and other ethnic people to beincluded in Burma.

Panlong Agreement

The Pinlong Agreement was held at Panlong town of Shan State on February 12, 1947 one year before independent was affirmed. The Kachin, Chin and Shan ethnic leaders were invited. TheChin leaders who attended the conference were Pu Hlur Hmung of Falam, Pu Thawng Za Khu(Teddim) and Pu Kio Mang(Hakha).[2] In this meeting, apparently the Karen, Karenni, Mon andArakanese leaders did not attend or sign their signatures. This Pinlong Agreement indeed wasfocus on gaining independent as soon as possible rather than uniting with the Burma. In thisagreement there were no point indicating that the Chinland would became apart of Burma.However, it was one of the main reasons that made the Chinland became a part of Burma. Someother ethnic groups did not attend or sign in the agreement yet they still became a part of Burma.This is the fact that the Panlong Agreement was neither the only reason how the Chin people losttheir autonomy nor the Chin leader's mistake. Even though the Karen did not sign the agreement,they still are under the Burmese military dictatorship so as the Chin. There were nine points in thePinlong Agreement. The seventh point of the agreement was described like this"Citizens of theFrontier Areas shall enjoy rights and privileges which are regarded as fundamental in democraticcountries."[3]The frontier Areas indicated the Hills areas such as Chin and Kachin Hills. Theyhope of the Chin people and other ethnic minorities started changing into a night mare sinceGeneral Aung San was assassinated on July 19, 1947 together with other national leaders.Those eras were still time of the heroes. Aung San was a hero for the Burma. The Chin leadersseem to be working as a team. However, there is no evidence that the Chin leaders had gained

the wills of the Chin people in order to make decision to become one of the frontier areas of theBurma. The heroes and leaders at that time were vital persons. Battles were won because of ahero and battles were lost because of the death of a hero. It was inevitable in that period that theChin leaders follow such a hero at that time. Aung San himself had said about the "LowkahNeihban," which means the heaven on the earth or the Nirvana on the Earth. The LowkahNeihban also has never come true. Therefore, the blame is granted to the fate. The PanlongAgreement, however, is a historic landmark for the Burma people to say that the Chin people hadwillingly became their subjects. Till today, 12 of February have been celebrated as Union day inBurma. It is believed that the Union of Burma was born on that day. The original concept of theUnion or the Pinlong Agreement was inevitably preferable for the Chin people in that era.

The agreement were indeed also promises. There were no witnesses of other countries. It was

just like selling a cow at a Chin village. After the independent, the federal democratic system wassimilarly adopted at first. The competition of two isms; left and right, had effected upon the Burmatoo. And then, the Panlong Agreement is being mistakenly quoted in order to make the Chinunder the Burma instead of establishing a federated union of democratic country which was thetrue dream of the agreement. The following Burmese leader consequently ignored it and failed tofulfill the promises in the agreement.

The Burmese military Junta

After the independent, the Chin Hills was known as Chin Special division and the Minister of theState were appointed by the Burmese government. The first president of the Sovereign Union of Burma was Soa Shwe Taik. He belonged to a Shan ethnicity. The first General Secratary of the

State was U Nu. The central government was form in mixture of persons from different ethnicities.The Chin ministers of the State were as follow,

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1947 - 1954: Vam Thu Maung

1954 - 1956: U Shein Htang

1956 - 1962: U Za Hre Lian

1961 In order to amend the Constitution of Burma (1947) into more federate features as agreedin Panglong Conference, the Chins and all non-Burman nationalities gathered in Taunggyi, theCapital of Shan State from June 8 16, 1961. Since on 2 March 1962 autonomy completely wasabolished by the Burmese military junta General Ne Win and it was the conclusion of the hope of the Chin people. It had a single Chairman of the Supreme State Council, U San Kho Lian, whoremained in office until March 1974.[4]As the dictator Ne Win staged a coup in the name of Revolutionary Council, any Chin politicians and scholars presumed to participate in TaunggyiConference were arrested.[5]The military junta then ruthlessly rules the whole Burma usingdifferent tactics of oppression in order to control the power. If the military junta did not take controlof the power, the Taungyi conference would have brought the fruits for the Pinlong Agreement.

The military's siege of the power was worse reason that utterly forced the Chinland and people tobe under the neo-colonization of Burm

Therefore, in conclusion, it is clear that the tree different events and historical facts relate oneanother and are the cause of the Chinland to become a part of Burma. The Chin people whoenjoyed the privileges of independent in the history had become a colony of other nations sincelate 19 century till 21 century. As a colonized nation, the Chin people had been suffering differentkind of persecutions, human rights abuses, discrimination and oppression. The Chin people alsohave been demanding and fighting in order to restore the historic nature of the Chinland in all thepossible ways. The British colonization in which the Chins first lost their heritage autonomy wasthe first and important reasons that made the Chinland to be part of the Burma. The Pinlong

Agreement which was often criticized as the point of foolishness will anyhow remain as one of thereasons, too. All those two things paved a smooth way for the Burmese military vehicles topractice neo-fascism toward the Chin people.

[1]Lian Uk, "Confusions Burma As A Nation, Ethnicity-Based Politics" in Chinland Guardians,http://www.chinlandguardian.com/index.php/opinions

[2] The copy of Pinlong Agreement can be seen at Shan Herald Website "http://www.shanland.org/resources/history/panglong_agreement.htm/

[3] Ibid.

[4]Chin State, in Wekepedia

[5]"Important Historical Fact of the Chin People" in the official website of Chin National Fronthttp://www.chinland.org/cnf/index.html