Residents of Chipwe in Kachin State staged a protest march to demand that the Lisu National Development Party (LNDP) retracts its demand for a Lisu self-administered zone made at the 21st Century Panglong Conference.
The protesters, led by the Lawngwaw Literature and Culture Association, say the LNDP’s demand that the five townships of Putao, Machanbaw, Kawnglanghpu, Hsawlaw, and Chipwe in Kachin State become a Lisu self-administered zone could lead to unwanted racial conflict.
About 500 ethnic Lawngwaw, Lachid, and Ngawchang people from Chipwe Township marched in protest in Chipwe from 7 to 9 am on 15 October calling for the LNDP to retract its demand for a Lisu self-administered zone, according to Daw Ji Khaw Myaw, a member of the Lachid Literature and Culture Committee.
She said: “We - the Lachid, the Lawngwaw, the Ngawchang, and the Lisu people - have been living together in unity. The Lisu people called for their own self-administrative zone at the 21st Century Panglong [Conference]. The Lawngwaw, Ngawchang, and Lisu people wouldn’t like it if the Lachid people asked for their own self-administrative zone as well. Many unforeseen racial conflicts can happen. Our unity could become deeply affected so the Lisu National Development Party (LNDP) should retract its demand for a self-administrative zone.”
She claimed that the LNDP’s demand for a Lisu self-administered zone had negatively affected relations between the Lisu people and other ethnic people, even though they have been living together in harmony for many years.
She said: “Even though ethnic people are not speaking out, they are feeling resentment towards the Lisu people for demanding their own self-administrative zone.”
Talking of the protest march Chipwe Township’s Lisu Literature and Culture Committee, U Langwar Tite Saung said: “I feel sad. We have been living together. I feel sad that they are holding the protest. It seemed like they don’t like us [the Lisu]. It feels like we have become disunited.”
Ko Mote Wah Daung Reh, a Lawngwaw resident of Chipwe said: “I want to live happily with them [the Lisu] again like they are my own brothers and sisters without disunity, self-administration zones, and selfish demands. Speaking of my own lifetime, the Lisu people are a race that has been living together with us. I don’t know about the time of our grandparents but I have grown up together with them so I want to live back in unity [with the Lisu] again.”
The LNDP chairman, U Shwe Min, claimed that Lisu candidates in the 2015 general election won the townships of Putao, Machanbaw, Kawnglanghpu, Hsawlaw, and Chipwe because the Lisu population in those townships outnumbers the population of other ethnic peoples, which was why the LNDP were demanding that those townships become a Lisu self-administered zone.
He said: “I have nothing to say about [the protesters] making their demands in line with the law. That is their right. But some people and organisations have been making personal attacks and discriminating on the grounds of race. We won’t accept that. They are asking for their rights in the Chipwe protest march, I have nothing to say about that. The Lisu population in the five townships, which are connected to each other, is over 55 per cent. That’s why we have submitted the proposal. I don’t know whether the State or the [21st Century Panglong] Conference will respond [to our proposal]. We haven’t made any racial or personal attacks up to now.”
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
