Kachin Council Held Press Conference March 22, 2005
Put Sha/ Myitkyina
The newly formed Kachin Solidarity Council, KSC, held a press conference in Myitkyina, capital of the Kachin State, on last Friday, explaining the organization’s policy of promising to protect interest of Kachin people in accordance with the will of Burma’s military government.
Over a hundred Kachins attended the press conference held in the reception hall of the Young Men’s Christian Association, YMCA. Representative from the Myitkyina office of the Kachin Defense Army, which is a splinter group of the Kachin Independence Organization, KIO, also attended the press conference. Although they were invited, the Kachin Independence Organization and the Kachin Consultative Assembly boycotted the press conference. The KSC also invited the Myitkyina based northern commander of the Burmese army.
New Democratic Army-Kachin, NDA-K, leader Zahkung Ting Ying addressed the press conference, explaining the motivation behind the formation of the KSC. Col Lasang Awng Wa, who last year split from the KIO to form a rival splinter group, also explained his break with the KIO.
To reconstruct a peaceful Kachin State, a press statement from the KSC said, the KSC will strive to implement solidarity—regardless of religion and ethnicity—amongst people in accordance with the junta’s Three Main National Causes: non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of the national solidarity, and perpetuation of sovereignty. The KSC will also protect Kachin people from dangers and oppose extremism in ethnicity, religion, localism and belief.
A Kachin youth leader, who attended the press conference, said every one was silence, replying no questions and opinions on KSC’s policy. “It is look like a kindergarten student’s writing,” he said.
However, The KSC stated that the junta-led National Convention is an important step towards a democratic Burma and that the KSC would support and participate in the National Convention until its goals are achieved.
Zahkung Ting Ying said that he was surprised with the aims and beliefs of politicians and political parties who constantly confront the Burmese military government. “The KSC wouldn’t deal with politicians and political parties who confrontationally oppose the military government,” said in the press statement. “We don’t have potential enemy, but our enemy is the enemy of Burmese military government.”
The KSC criticized the KIO-led revolution claiming that the patriotic armed revolution had killed Kachins, destroyed the solidarity of the Kachin community, and left the Kachin State as underdeveloped region. “The Kachin revolution last for over 40 years, it doesn’t need another 40 years,” the statement said. “The Kachin’s tragedy and difficulties stem from the revolution.”
The KSC’s administrative bureaucracy contains seventeen departments and engages in twelve development projects. According to the statement, KSC central committee chairman will be elected by direct vote.
The statement said that the KSC is not trying to form a parallel organization against the Kachin Consultative Assembly, KCA, which was formed in 2002 with the support of KIO.
On Saturday night, Kachin youth leaders were invited to a dinner party at the New Democratic Army-Kachin office in Myitkyina.
The Kachin Solidarity Council, known in Kachin as Jinghpaw Wunpawng Myithkrum Kahkyin Gumdin Kongsi, was secretly formed in Pang Wa, the NDA-K headquarters, on January 24, 2005. The KSC clandestinely named Zahkung Ting Ying as its leader, and Lasang Awng Wa and Mahtu Naw, leader of Kachin Defense Army, as its deputy leaders.
