By Moe Kyaw – Kalay Township in Sagaing Region will receive a 1 billion kyat (Nearly US$656,000) from the Union development fund during the 2018-2019 financial year, according to regional parliamentarian Daw Aye Aye Mu. The funds will be used to support more than 50 projects. Most of the money will go toward constructing transportation infrastructure, followed by social projects, and projects related to water. The implementation period began with the start of 2019 and will go until September 30. Local participation is reportedly required in the projects. A development fund will be allocated for select village tracts and Kalay…
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By Lalnun – The Yangon-based All Chin Society selected Burma’s vice president, Henry Van Thio, as the Chin Person of the Year for 2018. The society has 19 member organizations, and this is the first time that they have given out the award. According to vice chairperson Hung Saw, it is dedicated to an individual who has “worked for the country and ethnic people.” “Our selection process is that the person must be an ethnic Chin, effectively working for Chin people and the whole country,” he told Khonumthung News, adding that Henry Van Thio “met these criteria.” The All Chin…
By Moe Kyaw – Chin National Day will be commemorated this year in Aizawl, in India’s Mizoram State, for the first time in a decade. The 71st celebrations of the day will be held on February 20 for the first time since 2009, and are being organized by the Chin Pawlpi group. “We are resuming the Chin National Day celebration because there are many ethnic Chin people living in Mizoram state. We felt so upset because we couldn’t hold our national day celebrations for many years,” Salai Huliana, secretary of Chin Pawlpi, told Khonumthung News. “From now on, we hope…
By Lalnun – Drivers of “tricycle motorbike” taxis—motorbikes with a sidecar—formed a union in Sagaing Region’s Kalay on Tuesday. Led by members of the 88 Generation Open Society Institute, drivers of the vehicles held a meeting at Kalay Township’s city hall on Tuesday and established their union. “We heard that the regional government wouldn’t allow tricycle motorbikes in the transportation system in the future. It should not be like this. That is why we formed a union,” U Thaung Naing Thu, an 88 Generation Open Society Institute member told Khonumthung News, referring to a news leak that the authorities would…
By LE TAUNG – Government authorities in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township have warned internally displaced people (IDPs) not to speak negatively of the Burma Army to the media. The IDPs fled from their homes following clashes between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army in the Daletmay area on the banks of the Kaladan River on January 22. They are now taking refuge in Paletwa town. Township administrator U Koe Aung visited the IDPs, and according to members of the group he met, he warned them not to speak badly of the Tatmadaw if they were interviewed by reporters.…
Locals in southern Chin State’s Matupi town—located in the township by the same name—were alarmed over the weekend when around 100 military vehicles arrived in the area. Two more helicopters were delivered to soldiers in the town on Tuesday. Matupi town is the base for the Burma Army’s Infantry Battalions 304 and 140. Residents speculated that the equipment is designated for reinforcement troops headed to Paletwa Township in Chin State and northern Rakhine State. Both locations are the sites of recent fighting between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army. There are also reports of further infantry battalions and an…
By Lalnun – A trust will be set up to promote the rights of people living with disabilities in Burma, government officials said. U Soe Aung, deputy minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement ministry reportedly told parliamentarians at the end of January that the government had drafted a plan for the 2019-2020 financial year to provide education and work opportunities for those whose disabilities prevent them from going to school. Daw Siami (Daw Aye Aye Mu), an MP for Sagaing’s Kalay Township, brought up the issue in the Union Parliament, asking for the government’s strategy to assist those with…
By Lalnun – The 71st anniversary of Chin National Day will take place at the sports ground of Basic Education High School No. 2 in Kalay, Sagaing, on February 20, the region’s Chin affairs minister said. According to Lal Thaung Tun, who holds the ministerial position, the Sagaing regional government provided 10,000,000 kyats (US$6,572) for the celebrations. He explained that although there are more than 50 ethnic Chin tribes with varying traditions and languages, all of the groups celebrate Chin National Day. “If we celebrate together, we will be close and have unity among our Chin tribes,” he told Khonumthung…
By Lalnun – The Chin Progressive Party (CPP) released a statement on Thursday responding to an earlier call by the Khumi National Party demanding that Paletwa Township be designated a new district with greater attention paid to its challenges, lest it “depart from Chin State.” The CPP said that it stood against comments could cause disunity among the Chin people. The open letter by the Khumi (Khami) National Party released on January 28 warned the state’s chief minister not to ignore the problems in Paletwa. “We must be united among our Chin people. I don’t want to see any kind…
By Moe Kyaw – Eight ethnic Chakma civil society organizations (CSOs) demanded last week that the Indian interior minister allow people from Burma to apply for Indian citizenship in accordance with the Indian Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. On January 30, the All India Chakma Students’ Union chairman Dilip Kanti Chakma—based in New Delhi—recommended that Burma be added to the bill’s list of countries whose nationals can be granted Indian citizenship after living in the country for six years. The current countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The bill allows for citizens of those countries to receive Indian citizenship if they…