THE FEDERATION OF ETHNIC
NATIONALITIES OF BURMA (FENB) SUPPORT THE STAND AGAINST CONSTRUCTION OF
TAMANTHI HYDEL ELECTRIC POWER PROJECT BY THE MILITARY JUNTA OF BURMA
An Introductory Text of The Federation of Ethnic Nationalities of Burma’s
‘Statement of Purpose’
The Federation of Ethnic Nationalities of Burma (FENB) has been assembled to
try and help serve the different ethnic peoples in their fight for
self-determination within a future democratic union of Burma. This is very
important if our peoples are to live peacefully and fully exploit their
educational potential. When the inevitable transition to democracy takes
place, we need to be in a position to work successfully with the other
nationalities of the union to create a country where peace, freedom and
equal rights for all prevail to enable us to live together in harmony.
The military junta of Burma has taken steps for the execution of the
Tamanthi Hydel Electric Power
Project. The military junta is a member of the World Commission on Dams. One
of the five principles of the Commission is consultation of the local
populace of the site before construction is approved. This principle has
been violated.
Leivomjang, the site where the Tamanthi Hydel Electric Power Project is to
be constructed, is a Kuki village. Leivomjang is one among the thirty-five
Kuki villages in the vicinity of the proposed project. There is no record of
the military junta consulting the Kuki people, who would be directly
affected if construction of the dam were to go ahead. This flagrant
disregard is typical of the military junta’s attitude towards the rights of
the Kuki people and all other ethnic nationalities in Burma since they
assumed power in a coup-de-tat led by General Ne Win in 1962. The Kuki
Students Democratic Front of Burma had rightly protested against the
construction of the Tamanthi Hydel Electric Power Project. FENB, in keeping
with the spirit of their ‘Statement of Purpose’, strongly support KSDF’s
stand.
History is a mirror of a community’s past. It should not be distorted or
manipulated to cause deprivation to the community in question, nor to
achieve present gains. Leivomjang and Tamanthi in Homalin District that lies
along the river Chindwin are part of the ancestral Kuki domain. The Somra
Tract, where the Kuki chiefs received tax and tributes from their subjects,
the Tangkhuls, is in the north of this region. ‘Somra’, incidentally, is a
Tangkhul corruption of Som-lah, a Kuki terminology literally meaning
ten-percent, the tax percentage paid to the Kuki chief of Zoujang.
Zale’n-gam is a term used to refer to the ancestral land of the Kuki people.
Eastern Zale’n-gam, in
present-day Burma, comprises the river Chindwin covering regions towards the
West bordering India; in the north the river Nantalit covering regions; and
to the South, the region stretching to the Chin State border. The various
chieftains of this land executed the Kuki Rising of 1917-1919 against the
British colonialists to defend their sovereignty. The British subjected 11
(eleven) prominent Kuki chieftains to imprisonment for 3 (three) years at
Tungyi Jail in Burma at the end of the rising in 1919. The military junta
must not construct the Thamanti Dam at Leivomjang, which is in this region
without consulting the Kukis. They must also stop creating new villages in
Kuki territory and populating them with ethnic Burmans. The current policy
to transplant Nepali people in the Kabaw Valley at Kangmangphai, which is
near Tamu Township, and an integral part of Zale’n-gam, must never be
implemented without the consent of the Kukis.
The Kuki National Organisation, a member of FENB, is working to attain
statehood for Eastern Zale’n-gam. The objectives of FENB include statehood
for each of the ethnic members: Wa, Kuki, Palaung, Lahu, Pa-oh and Arakan in
their respective ancestral land within a new democratic federation of Burma.
Engaging forced labour without pay for government projects is the modus
operandi of the military junta.
Should construction of the dam go ahead, this pattern would be applied not
only to ethnic Kukis, but to other peoples in the neighbourhood, too. Given
the circumstance and expediency to unite against the divisive design of the
military junta, FENB urges all the ethnic nationalities, to demonstrate
exemplary solidarity in opposing the construction of the Tamanthi Hydel
Electric Power Project.
From, The members of FENB:
Democratic Party of
Arakan
Kuki National Organisation
Palaung State Liberation Front
Wa National Organisation
Lahu Democratic Front
Pa-Oh Peoples Liberation Organisation
