Kachin Join Chin Refugees in Protest Against Newly-Elected Government

Kuala Lumpur (VOCR) 11^th Oct: Tensions were high this morning during a protest and demonstration at the Burmese Embassy in downtown Kuala Lumpur, the nation of Malaysia’s second largest and capital city. Over seven-hundred refugees in addition to supporting NGOs gathered to stand in solidarity against the current governments of Burma’s oppressions, human rights violations, and military occupation of the ethnic state territories.

During an interview with several leaders of the Kachin state, Kachin leader Zau Bawk stated that even though a cease-fire agreement was reached in 1994 between the Burmese military and the Kachin state, systematic killings, rape, torture, and enslavement of the Kachin have continued until this past June, when full out civil war erupted once again.  In the last four months, approximately 40,000 Kachin people have fled for their lives into the jungles of Burma, to escape murder, torture, slavery, and extortion.

The Kachin joined with the other ethnic states this morning to communicate their demands for peace, for freedom, and for democracy in their country. They are asking the current government of Burma to remove the military occupation of their territories so that together all the peoples of Burma may work to bring the nation into the modern world. They hope for the prospering of the rich natural resources with internal investments, as opposed to the foreign investments currently bringing environmental disaster, such as the Myitsone Dam Project. The ongoing foreign investments in Burma have contributed heavily to the blocking of western NGO’s and foreign aid, as well as an influx of money that inevitably ends up in the form of newer and better guns for the Burmese military.

The Kachin leaders fear for the lives of the Internally Displaced People (IDP’s) currently hiding in Burma. With the continuation of the Burmese military presence the situation grows more dire with every passing moment. The newly “elected” government, they say, has done nothing to improve the shocking and brutal treatment of all ethnic peoples by the military. As La Seng, a leader in the Kachin community said this morning, “We want a democratic government. Not just on paper, and not just in the media. We want real freedom, and truthful democracy.” The Kachin desire a leveling, so that education, religious freedom, and economic development will be available for all.

There are currently over 6,000 Kachin refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia, out of 40,000 overall; men, women, and children continuing  to endure the suffering of their people and living in a no-man’s land of uncertainty and heartache. 

 Reporting by Natalie Reagan