{"id":600,"date":"2010-11-22T18:48:35","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T11:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martianuswb.com\/?p=600"},"modified":"2013-03-13T22:20:15","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T15:20:15","slug":"burmese-officials-order-closure-of-chin-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martianuswb.com\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"Burmese officials order closure of Chin Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>DUBLIN, November 18<\/strong> (CDN) \u2014 Officials in Mergui Region, Burma, ordered a Baptist church to cease holding worship services after the pastor refused to wear an election campaign T-shirt supporting the military government\u2019s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).<\/p>\n

The election commission summoned 47-year-old Pastor Mang Tling of Dawdin village, Gangaw township, Mergui Region on Nov. 9, two days after the election and ordered him to stop holding services and discontinue the church nursery program, the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) reported yesterday.<\/p>\n

The CHRO works against human rights abuses, including religious discrimination, for the Chin people, a minority group in Burma\u2019s northwest estimated to be 90 percent Christian.<\/p>\n

Village headman U Than Chaung had given the pastor a campaign T-shirt to wear in support of the USDP, and when he refused to wear it, the headman filed a report with local authorities accusing him of persuading Christian voters to vote in favor of an opposing party.<\/p>\n

Under Burmese law, religious leaders can be penalized for \u201cengaging in politics,\u201d giving the pastor a solid legal reason to decline the T-shirt. The law also bans leaders of religious groups from voting in national elections, according to the CHRO, although lay members of those groups are able to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe election law is quite vague,\u201d a CHRO spokesman told Compass today. \u201cOne of the things we were watching out for during the election was to see if church elders or council members might be excluded from voting. But these people were able to vote. The law seems to apply only to pastors, monks and imams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials interrogated Mang Tling in Gangaw until Sunday (Nov. 14), when he was allowed to return home.<\/p>\n

Meantime, the USDP won the election amid widespread evidence of \u201cadvance\u201d voting and other forms of voter manipulation throughout Burma.<\/p>\n

Previously known as the Union Solidarity and Development Association, and before that the State Peace and Development Council, the USDP was formed by a ruling junta composed largely of army generals. The junta has ruled Burma without a constitution or parliament since 1998, although in 2008 they pushed through support for a new constitution that will take effect following this month\u2019s elections, according to the 2010 International Religious Freedom report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.<\/p>\n

The new constitution forbids \u201cabuse of religion for political purposes,\u201d the report stated. Election laws published in March also banned members of religious orders from voting for or joining political parties and reserved 25 percent of seats in the new parliament for members of the military.<\/p>\n

The 2008 constitution \u201ctechnically guarantees a degree of religious freedom. But then, it\u2019s Burma,\u201d a CHRO spokesman told Compass.<\/p>\n

Voter Intimidation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chin National Party defeated the USDP in three electorates in Chin state despite reports of widespread voting anomalies, some of which were outlined in a CHRO press release on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n

In Tedim township northern Chin state, for example, USDP agent Go Lun Mang went to the home of a local resident at 5 p.m. the day before the election and told the family that he had already voted on their behalf in favor of the USDP. He added that soldiers in a nearby camp were ready to arrest them if they complained.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 5, the local government had already ordered village officials to instruct residents to vote for the USDP. On Nov. 7, the day of the election, USDP agents in campaign uniforms stood at the gate of the polling station in Tedim and asked voters if they intended to vote for the USDP. Those who said yes were allowed into the station, while those who said no were refused entrance.<\/p>\n

USDP agents also warned Chin voters in Thantlang town that they should vote for the USDP \u201cwhile the door was open\u201d or they would regret it, Burma News International reported on Nov. 5.<\/p>\n

David Mathieson, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the intimidation indicated that the junta and the USDP knew how unpopular they were.<\/p>\n

Reports by the CHRO show a long history of discrimination against the majority Christian Chin, including the destruction of crosses and other Christian monuments, state-sponsored efforts to expand Buddhism, forced contributions of finance and labor to Buddhist construction projects, arrest and detention, torture and particularly harsh treatment of pastors. In addition, officials have refused construction for all new church building projects since 2003.<\/p>\n

A report issued by HRW in January confirmed serious and ongoing abuses against Chin Christians.<\/p>\n

One Chin pastor interviewed by HRW described how soldiers held him at gunpoint, forced him to pray in a Buddhist pagoda and told him that Burma was a Buddhist country where Christianity should not be practiced. (See \u201cReport Documents Abuse of Chin Christians,\u201d Feb. 20.)<\/p>\n

SIDEBAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suu Kyi\u2019s Release Stirs Guarded Hope among Burma\u2019s Christians<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

NEW DELHI, November 18 (Compass Direct News) \u2013 The release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in Burma on Saturday (Nov. 13) has sparked cautious optimism about human rights among Christians and the country\u2019s ethnic minorities even as the junta does battle with armed resistance groups.<\/p>\n

Freeing her six days after elections, the military regime of Burma (also known as Myanmar) kept 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Suu Kyi from running in the country\u2019s first election in 20 years, but ethnic minorities are still \u201cvery happy\u201d and \u201centhused with hope and anticipation,\u201d said Plato Van Rung Mang, who heads the India chapter of Chin Human Rights Organization.<\/p>\n

Suu Kyi is the only leader from the majority Burmese community \u2013 predominantly Buddhist \u2013 who is trusted by the ethnic minorities, said Mang, an India-based Christian originally from Burma’s Chin state, which borders India.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have faith in Suu Kyi\u2019s honesty and leadership, and she has been our hope,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The ethnic Chin, Kachin, Karen and Karenni people \u2013 many of whom are Christian \u2013 as well as mostly Buddhist ethnic Shan, Mon and Arakanese (some of them Muslim) people have been fighting for self-determination in their respective states and opposing the military junta\u2019s policy of centralized control and Burmese dominion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe trust that Suu Kyi can fulfill her father\u2019s ideal and political principles which have been subverted by the Burmese military junta\u2019s Burmanization policy,\u201d said Mang. Suu Kyi\u2019s father, Aung San, was the nation\u2019s leader at the time of independence and favored autonomy for ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as her father was trusted and held in high esteem by the ethnic people, Aung San Suu Kyi also has the ability to work together with the minorities to build a better, peaceful Burma where the human rights of all citizens are respected and protected,\u201d said Garrett Kostin, a U.S. citizen who runs the Best Friend Library, built by a Buddhist monk in support of Suu Kyi, in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.<\/p>\n

While sections of the ethnic communities have been involved in armed resistance against the junta\u2019s rule, many local residents in the region remain unarmed but are also at risk of being killed in the post-election conflict.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Nov. 7 election, as expected (See \u201cBurma\u2019s Ethnic Christians Fear Bleak Future after Election, Oct. 22), clashes between armed ethnic groups and the Burmese army erupted in three of the seven ethnic states \u2013 Karen, Shan and Mon \u2013 mainly along Thailand and China border, reported Thailand-based Burma News International. The violence has resulted in an influx of over 20,000 people into Thailand \u2013 the largest flow in the last five years.<\/p>\n

According to US-based Refugees International, the Thai government forced many of the asylum seekers back.<\/p>\n

There are also tensions in Kachin and Karenni states, which could erupt at any time, between the Burmese army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, the Karen National Union, the Kachin Independence Army, the Shan State Army-North, and the Karenni National Progressive Party.<\/p>\n

Rights advocates, however, were still heartened by Suu Kyi\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201ca wonderful opportunity for the ethnic minorities of Burma to unify in support of each other\u2019s rights and desires,\u201d said Kostin.<\/p>\n

In September 2007, many Buddhist monks joined democracy activists in street protests against the military regime\u2019s decision to cut fuel subsidies, leading to a sharp rise in gas and diesel prices. Known as the Saffron Revolution, the protests resulted in hundreds of deaths as government security personnel resisted it militarily.<\/p>\n

In numerous clashes between the repressive military regime and political opponents and ethnic minorities, over 3.5 million Burmese have been displaced and thousands killed over the years.<\/p>\n

Suu Kyi will continue to enjoy the trust of ethnic minorities because \u201cshe has been working so hard since the beginning [of her political career] to speak out about the plight of ethnic people with an honest and sincere commitment,\u201d said Bangkok-based Soe Aung, deputy secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Forum for Democracy in Burma.<\/p>\n

Chiang Mai-based Christian relief group Free Burma Rangers (FBR) recalled that Suu Kyi, the general secretary of the National League for Democracy, along with allies won more than 80 percent of the seats in parliament \u201cin Burma\u2019s only truly democratic election\u201d in 1990. \u201cThe military regime, however, did not recognize the results and continued to hold power,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s election was \u201cneither free nor fair,\u201d FBR said, adding that \u201cthousands of political prisoners [estimated at 2,200] are still in jail, ethnic minorities are attacked [on a regular basis], and the people of Burma remain under oppression.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, we are grateful for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi as she is a leader who gives real hope to the people of Burma.\u201d<\/p>\n

An FBR team leader who spoke on condition of anonymity recalled Suu Kyi requesting his prayers when he met with her during a brief period when she was not under house arrest in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Global Day of Prayer for Burma and the ethnic unity efforts we are involved in are a direct result of that meeting,\u201d the leader said. \u201cAs she told me then, one of her favorite quotes is, \u2018You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Christians, however, remained cautious.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough San Suu Kyi wants Burma to be a true federal country, there is no certainty in the hearts of the Karen people because they have suffered for very long, and the so-called Burmese have turned their backs on them several times,\u201d said a Karen Christian from Chiang Mai who identified himself only as Pastor Joseph.<\/p>\n

La Rip, a Burmese activist in China, also said that while Suu Kyi deserved to enjoy freedom, she and her party \u201cdo not seem to have a clear idea on how to solve the long-standing issues\u201d related to ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n

For her part, Suu Kyi spelled out a plan to hold a nationwide, multi-ethnic conference soon after she was freed. Her father held a similar meeting, known as the Panglong Conference, in 1947. Aung San, then representing the Burmese government, reached an agreement with leaders from the Shan, Kachin and Chin states to accept full autonomy in internal administration for the ethnic controlled frontier areas after independence from Britain.<\/p>\n

Suu Kyi\u2019s planned conference is seen as the second Panglong Conference, but it remains uncertain if the new Burmese regime, which is likely to be as opposed to ethnic minorities as the junta, will allow her plan to succeed.<\/p>\n

In the awaited election results, the junta\u2019s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is likely to have majority in parliament to form the next government. Suu Kyi\u2019s party had been disbanded by the military regime, and only a small splinter group ran in the election.<\/p>\n

It is also feared that Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for nearly 15 years since 1990 until her release last weekend, could face assassination attempts or fresh charges followed by another term under arrest.<\/p>\n

Burma has a population of around 50 million, out of which around 2.1 million are estimated to be Christian.<\/p>\n

\n

http:\/\/compassdirect.org\/<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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