Although much of the news recently has been focused on the protests triggered by the fuel price hikes in Burma, there are other events that deserve to not be overlooked. In Kachin State, a protests have unfolded in the form of a poster movement in response to both the price hikes and the closing of the Junta's National Convention.

On September 3rd, the junta finally brought to a close after 14 years the convention to draft an outline for the constitution. During the final round of proposals, the Kachin Independence Organization submitted a 19-point proposal calling for autonomy and a federal governing system, as well as for the ethnic armed groups to be integrated into the national forces. The government's predictable response blocking discussion of the proposal, as well as threats and a continued increase in military posturing in Kachin State, makes it difficult to think the KIO's proposal was anything but calculated.

On August 30, just days before the conclusion of the NC, Dr. La Ja, General Secretary of the KIO, warned that there would be mounting political conflict in the wake of the National Convention. Earlier in the month, KIO officials indicated they may break the 13-year-old ceasefire with the government, depending on how their proposal for autonomy was treated.

Major General Ohn Myint was installed as commander of Kachin State in 2005, and seems to have been nothing but a source of trouble for residents ever since. In response to the KIO's proposal, he is reported as having said, "No. We won't give you the rights. What the KIO is demanding is self-determination? We'll kick you out to the mountains." He has also reportedly made comments to the effect that the Kachin community should be destroyed, and particularly, that it should not even be referred to as Kachin State - but rather as the "Northern Division".

Poster movements in Kachin State have coincided with both the end of the National Convention as well as the fuel price hikes. The first posters went up in the first week of August in the state capital Myityina, depicting a "Chained-Kachin State Map", with a "hand and the Kachin State map tied by metal chains to a pole", and a bomb near the map with a message written in Kachin at the bottom. The poster was found pasted at "crowded roadside shops, markets and Kachin Christian Churches in Tatkone, Du Mare, Manhkring and Shatapru Quarters," according to witnesses.

On September 3rd, students at Myityina University put up posters "demanding a roll back in oil prices and scrapping the outcome of the National Convention." The poster hanging was spearheaded by the All Kachin Students and Youth Union, according to one student organizer. The government responded on the following Wednesday by beefing up security in Myityina and at the university.

The following Saturday, 500 posters with the five-point charter of demands were distributed to "university and high school students and civilians and pasted on government offices, quarters and villages, high schools, colleges and Theological schools around Myitkyina Township." The government responded the following morning by sending out security forces to guard intersections and remove posters, as well as a military convoy fitted with machine guns.

An update from the AKSYU regarding the posters is also included in this post below. The five demands were "that the ruling junta roll back the country's fuel and essential commodity prices, stop Myitsone the hydroelectric power project and land confiscation, scrap the outcome of the National Convention and start a "tripartite dialogue" which should include the junta, leaders of ethnic nationalities and opposition political parties."

After posters were pasted around Myityina and at schools, Ohn Myint personally spoke to students lambasting them for their actions. During the week, all Kachin students at Myityina University, and in grades 9 and 10 at Myityina high schools, were brought before the major general. For no apparent reason, he told one particular schoolboy that, "You're a handful for me and I'll kill you now! Your Kachins are going to disappear".

The other major player in the events currently unfolding is Kachin State's non-meddling neighbor to the north, China.

According to the Kachin News Group, "The Chinese government has unofficially requested both the junta and ethnic insurgents along the border to avoid a civil war before the Olympic Games next year." They also reported that Chinese and Burmese officials met n Kunming in April and discussed a possible war along the border. While the Chinese government has banned the import of timber that provided the KIO with revenue, they stopped short of the junta's request to close their border to stop insurgents from entering.

China has built up its own army bases along the Burmese border, but open fighting is surely the last thing China would tolerate. All parties are well aware that the KIO does not have the capacity to stand up to the junta should the decide to attack, but they would certainly have the means to draw out a conflict and drag it across China's southern border. It is a safe bet that China would not get involved in the fighting itself, a fact which could force it into a position as mediator in any conflict along it's border. Given their policy of non-intervention in internal affairs, the tension brewing in northern Burma is probably giving Chinese officials a bit of stress.

Earlier this month, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry is quoted as saying, "We hope to see reconciliation and improvement in the situation in Burma" and that "China is willing to strengthen its communication and dialogue with all the relevant sides, including the United States."

According to Mizzima News, during a meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister U Nyan Win, Chinese State Council representative Tang Jiaxuan "urged the Burmese regime to seek democratic reform 'if appropriate.' He also spoke of the need for Burma to insure stability and foster an atmosphere of national reconciliation, though he also linked regional peace and stability with democracy for Burma."

While many outside Burma have been calling for international pressure on China to use it's influence for change in Burma, Kachin State's proximity to China, and China's own concerns for peace and stability, may put the KIO leadership in a position to actually force China's hand in the situation.

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September 9, 2007
Expressing the Genuine Desires of Kachin Students and Youth

Five points demand of charters
(1) To roll back essential commodities and fuel prices
(2) To immediately stop hydropower project to be built at the confluence of the Irrawaddy rive
(3) To have freedom of expression
(4) To unconditionally release all the activists arrested recently for peaceful protests
(5) To solve Burma political stalemate by calling on a tripartite dialogue

Shana dat ai, Mani 10:00 am kaw n na, hkyen let shana n sin hta AKSYU, KDNG a shamu shamawt ai lam rai sai, Lai ka pa yawng rai yang 500 MKA na lawk shagu U byit, Alam, Dumgan mare ni yawng hta laika pa shakap garan sai re. Dak kasu jawng, lahta tsang jawng,lapran jawng, lawu tsang jawng hte chyum college ni hta shakap sai hku re.
university jawng yawng kaw re. marai 20 hte poster gaw 500 ram rai sai.

Starting from a local time 10:00AM to the evening, AKSYU and KDNG jointly organized a civil disobedience. Written in Burmese, A4 size 500 pamphlets and posters were distributed to Oo Byit, Ah Lam, Dumgam—the villages pretty close to the Dam project site—as well as the Myitkyina university, high schools, middle schools, primary schools and the seminaries. Twenty Kachin students and youth actively joined the movement. This activity was mainly conducted in Myitkyina.

Ya ten du hkra gaw Myen hpyen asuya ni depart shagu mu grai kyin nga masai. Asuya na masha ni mung lawan ladan laika ni hpe bai hkan gaw kau masai. Hpyen la ni maw daw hte grai gawai nga ma ai. shara shagu Spy jahkrat da ma ai. Emergency zuphpawng ni shaga galaw nga ma ai.Kata lam chye hpe san ai nga yang tsun sanglang dan u. Myen mung jawngma hpung yawng rau maren sha madi shadaw galaw mat wa na re lam shana dat ai. jawng ni pat na zon nga na lu ai.

It seemed the activity has affected the government's mechanism. It has made every department of the government busy. Government employees, military cars and truck were going around the town. Plainclothes spies and intelligence were seen everywhere. It was overheard and seen that emergency meetings among government officials were called on. A rumor has come out that schools and the university will be closed.


Updates from
All Kachin Students & Youth Union