The Union Parliament opted not to make Chin National Day a national holiday, but one MP says it is up to state lawmakers to recognize it locally.
Lawmakers may have an opportunity to decide whether Chin National Day should be recognized as a holiday in Chin State, according to a member of state parliament.
The Union Parliament in Burma opted not to formalize Chin National Day—February 20—as a national holiday in the country when the issue was raised in the legislature in March.
Tedim Constituency (1) MP Than Dai Uk—who is a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party—has since suggested that the occasion could instead be recognized at the state-level in Chin State.
“The day should be an official holiday in Chin State even if it cannot be a national holiday in the country. I think state parliament can decide on it,” he said, adding, “It depends on them,” referring to his fellow lawmakers.
It was in late March that Than Dai Uk proposed recognition of the day in state parliament. The proposal was discussed, approved and passed on to the Union Parliament a week later.
According to Chin State social welfare minister Pau Lu Hmin Than, the Union Parliament concluded that many holidays had already been recognized throughout Burma, and that it would be difficult to add another one.
“If the government recognizes Chin National Day as a national holiday, other ethnic groups will also claim their national day as national holiday. Currently, the total of weekends and official holidays is one third of 360 days in this country. That’s why the Union Parliament doesn’t recognize it,” Pau Lu Hmin Than told Khonumthung News.
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