By Lian H Sakhong As the title indicates, this paper investigates, by applying a comprehensive approach of ethno-symbolic theory, who the Chin are?  Why can they be described as separate ethnic group? What are their chief features that distinguish the Chin as separate ethnic nationalities from other human collectives or ethnic groups? And what criteria

By Salai Za Uk LingLakehead University Culture and religion together form an important part of Chin society. As such, historically these two elements are closely and inseparably intertwined with one another. In modern times, Christian religion is deeply rooted in Chin society. Since the first Chin conversion in the late 1800s following the arrival of

Lian H. Sakhong-Uppsala University Introduction The United Nationalities League for Democracy (UNLD), an umbrella political organization of non-Burman or non-Myanmar nationalities in Burma, was formed in 1988 following the nationwide democracy movement against three decades of General Ne Win’s dictatorship. From the very beginning, the UNLD adopted a policy aimed at the establishment of a

By Mandy Sadan, SOAS, London University I have been asked to make some comments on the subject of historical and societal dimensions of ethnic issues in Burma. This is no easy thing to do, not least because both of these subjects are vast in themselves. When we consider the broader historical and societal relations that

Conflict And State-Society Dysfunction   By Dr. Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe Introduction: The Problem of State-Society Dysfunction            Especially after the collapse  of Ne Win’s military-socialist Lanzin regime in 1988, the issue of “ethnic conflict” has, it might be said, drawn more attention from both observers and protagonists alike. This is all the more so the case

By Dr. Chao-Tzang YawnghwePaper, prepared for the Burma Donor Forum, January 15-17, 2004, Oslo, Norway. Outline:— Conflict in Burma: Perceptions and History— Panglong and the Genesis of Modern Union of Burma— Nation Awareness or Consciousness in the Colonial Years— Transition or Continuing Stalemate?— The Conflict and Strategies: One— The Conflict and Strategies: Two—  Post Dabayin:

By Lian H. Sakhong Burma’s thuggish ruling elite traffics in drugs and in people—in forced labor, child labor, slave labor. It throws people into medieval torture chambers at the slightest pretext: for owning a fax machine,for making jokes about the regime, for listening to foreign broadcasts. There are some 1,800 political prisoners. Universities have been

By Lian H. Sakhong Introduction “Dialogue” in popular usage simply means “conversation or talk”. The original Greek word for “dialogue” meant “a form of literally expression in the form of a conversion between two or more people”. In Greek culture, dialogue was usually expressed in a “literary or philosophical work, written in the form of

Ethnic Nationalities Perspective By Lian H. Sakhong¨ Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak about our struggle for self-determination in Burma. The concept of self-determination, as we all know, is rather a new phenomenon in

By Mai Mang Khan Cing (Bianca Son) Introduction The modern political history of Burma reads like a checklist of political experiments “gone bad.”  Before British rule, Burma consisted of independent kingdoms, princely states, chiefdoms and independent communities.  Under British rule, the above mentioned all became a part of British India.  After Independence in 1947, the