PEOPLE OF MYANMAR (BURMA)MAIN ETHNIC GROUPS309Zo of the adjacent state of Mizoram in India. Outsiders name the diff er-
ent subgroups around the state according to the district in which they
live, for instance Tidam Chin, Falam Chin and Haka Chin.
In the past, the Chin, as with most highland dwellers, led labour-
intensive lives, and their relatively simple traditional dress refl ected this.
Men wore loincloths in the warmer months and draped blankets over
themselves when the weather turned cool. The women wore poncho-like
garments woven with intricate geometric patterns. These garments and
Chin blankets are highly sought after by textile collectors today.
Traditionally the Chin practise swiddenn (slash-and-burn) agriculture.
They are also skilled hunters, and animal sacrifi ce plays a role in impor-
tant animistic ceremonies: the state has the largest proportion of ani-
mists of any state in Myanmar. Even so, some 80% to 90% of Chin are
believed to be Christian, mainly following the eff orts of American mis-
sionaries during the British colonial period. However, with the present-
day activities of government-sponsored Buddhist missions in the region,
the traditional Zo or Chin groups are fading fast. Many Chin have also
fl ed west to Bangladesh and India.
Kachin
Like the Chin, the Kachin are part of the Tibeto-Burman racial group.
Based mainly in Kachin State, they are divided into six ethnic sub-groups
(Jingpaw, Lawngwaw, Lashi, Zaiwa, Rawang, Lisu) among which the
Jingpaw are the most numerous. Also traditionally animist, the Kachin
were heavily targeted by Christian missionaries during colonial times
(about 36% of the population are Christian, mostly Baptist and Catholic).
As much of Kachin State lies above the tropic of Cancer, the climate is
more extreme – stifl ing hot in the summer months and downright cold
in the winter – and the Kachin seem to have abandoned their traditional
dress for Western clothes that can be easily changed to suit the seasons.
UNHAPPILY TOGETHERDuring colonial rule the British managed to keep animosity between ethnic groups un-
der control by utilising the carrot of semi-autonomy or the stick of arrest and imprison-
ment. Over a century later, little has changed.
Insurgencies between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) and minority ethnic groups
that smouldered for fi ve decades after independence have been largely quelled. Groups
that signed ceasefi re agreements with the government (the Kachin, Kayah etc) have
been granted limited economic autonomy. In advance of the 2010 election fi ve ethnic
ceasefi re groups had agreed to integrate their troops into a Border Guard Force under
Tatmadaw control; eight had refused.
Those who continue to fi ght (including some Shan and the Kayin) are dealt with se-
verely. The government has long operated its ‘four cuts’ system of denying insurgents
food, fi nancing, recruiting and intelligence. This scorched-earth policy has, according to
the UK Burma Campaign, resulted in the displacement of up to half a million people with
as many as 300,000 fl eeing across borders into refugee camps mainly in Thailand, India
and Bangladesh. In 2003, the US State Department investigated and found credible
reports of systematic military rapes of Shan and other ethnic groups.
Some observers of politics in Myanmar predict that, given a choice, many of Myan-
mar’s ethnic groups would opt for independence and break away from Bamar-con-
trolled Myanmar. As Thant Myint-U writes in The River of Lost Footsteps, ‘the prospects
for peace are remote, the possibilities of renewed violence perhaps greater.’
Against this background it is signifi cant that following her release in 2010, Aung San
Suu Kyi expressed her desire for a second Panglong Conference: it was at the fi rst Pan-
glong Conference in 1947 that her father forged the fragile agreement between Myan-
mar’s ethnic groups that lead to Burma’s independence.The Chin National
Front (www.chin
land.org) would
like to create a
sovereign ‘Chin-
land’ out of parts
of Myanmar, India
and Bangladesh.For more about
the Kachin see
the websites
of the Kachin
National Or-
ganisation (www.
kachinland.org)
and the Kachin
Post (www.
kachinpost.com).