SHALOM

SHALOM: Blue Print for Burma

2008-07-29T14:55:00.000+02:00

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

2007-09-19T19:37:00.000+02:00

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan is an international humanitarian activist and an outspoken voice on issues of world peace and justice. She was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby, to an Arab-American family distinguished for its public service. After receiving a B.A. in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University in 1974, Queen Noor worked on international urban planning and design projects in Australia, Iran, the United States, and Jordan.

Since her marriage in 1978 to King Hussein, she has initiated, directed, and sponsored projects and activities in Jordan to address specific national development needs in the areas of education, culture, women and children’s welfare, sustainable community development, environmental conservation, human rights, and conflict resolution.

Queen Noor is also the founder and chair of the King Hussein Foundation International, a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 1999 to promote and build on King Hussein’s humanitarian vision and legacy. The Foundation fosters peace and security through programs that promote cross cultural understanding and social, economic and political opportunity in the Muslim and Arab world.

The Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF), founded in 1985 to consolidate and integrate the Queen’s diverse development initiatives, has received international recognition for its institutions and programs, particularly in the areas of empowering women, community development and micro-finance. NHF programs have successfully advanced and modernized development thinking in Jordan by progressing beyond traditional charity-oriented social welfare practices to integrate social development strategies more closely with national economic priorities.

Queen Noor is actively involved in a number of international organizations advancing global peace-building and conflict recovery, and advises the United Nations on these issues. She is president of the United World Colleges, Chair of the United Nations University International Leadership Academy, Advisor to Women Waging Peace, Seeds of Peace and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Patron of the World Conservation Union, trustee of the Aspen Institute, Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund International, Refugees International, and a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons among other affiliations.

In recognition of her efforts to advance development, democracy, and peace, Queen Noor has been awarded numerous international awards and honorary doctorates in international relations, law, and humane letters.

Her autobiography, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (Miramax Books, 2003) was a New York Times bestseller published in 15 languages.
http://www.noor.gov.jo/personal_profile.htm

Jiddu Krishnamurti on War

2007-09-19T19:36:00.000+02:00

Jiddu Krishnamurti on War

Q-How can we solve our present political chaos and the crisis in the world? Is there anything an individual can do to stop the impending war?

Krishnamurti: War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it? Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped- the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed. But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.

An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and that she had another son aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said,” That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.” Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.

Circumstances can be controlled by us, because we have created the circumstances. Society is the product of relationship, society changes; merely to rely on legislation, on compulsion, for the transformation of outward society, while remaining inwardly corrupt, while continuing inwardly to seek power, position, domination, is to destroy the outward, however carefully and scientifically built. That which is inward is always overcoming the outward.

What causes war – religious, political or economic? Obviously belief, either in nationalism, in an ideology, or in a particular dogma. If we had no belief but goodwill, love and consideration between us, then there would be no wars. But we are fed on beliefs, ideas and dogmas and therefore we breed discontent. The present crisis is of an exceptional nature and we as human beings must either pursue the path of constant conflict and continuous wars, which are the result of our everyday action, or else see the causes of war and turn our back upon them.

Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction. So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders – not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, “For God’s sake, don’t disturb us, leave us alone”. The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are; but they cannot be maintained as they are, because there is nothing to maintain. Everything is disintegrating. We do not want to face these things, we do not want to face the fact that you and I are responsible for wars. You and I may talk about peace, have conferences, sit round a table and discuss, but inwardly, psychologically, we want power, position, we are bound by beliefs, by dogmas, for which we are willing to die and destroy each other. Do you think such men, you and I, can have peace in the world? To have peace, we must be peaceful; to live peacefully means not to create antagonism. Peace is not an ideal. To me, an ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is - which we will go into presently, in another talk. [not on this website] But to have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin, not to live an ideal life, but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names – all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it.

To bring about peace in the world, to stop all wars, there must be a revolution in the individual, in you and me. Economic revolution without this inward revolution is meaningless, for hunger is the result of the maladjustment of economic conditions produced by our psychological states – greed, envy, ill-will and possessiveness. To put an end to sorrow, to hunger, to war, there must be a psychological revolution and few of us are willing to face that. We will discuss peace, plan legislation, create new leagues, the United Nations and so on and on; but we will not win peace because we will not give up our position, our authority, our money, our properties, our stupid lives. To rely on others is utterly futile; others cannot bring us peace. No leader is going to give us peace, no government, no army, no country. What will bring peace is inward transformation which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation, is not a withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace.__To put an end to outward war, you must begin to put an end to war in yourself. Some of you will nod your heads and say, “ I agree”, and go outside and do exactly the same as you have been doing for the last ten or twenty years. Your agreement is merely verbal and has no significance, for the world miseries and wars are not going to be stopped by your casual assent. They will be stopped only when you realize the danger, when you realize your responsibility, when you do not leave it to somebody else. If you realize the suffering, if you see the urgency of immediate action and do not postpone, then you will transform yourself; peace will come only when you yourself are peaceful, when you yourself are at peace with your neighbour.
1948, second public talk, Bangalore, India; Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Vol V, CD-Rom code BA48T2

Questioner: Why do men fight?

Krisnamurti: why do young boys fight? You sometimes fight with your brother, or other boys here, don't you? Why? You fight over a toy. Perhaps another boy has taken your ball, or your book and therefore you fight. Grown-up people fight for exactly the same reason, only their toys are position, wealth and power. If you want power and I also want power, we fight, and that is why nations go to war. It is as simple as that, only philosophers, politicians, and the so-called religious people complicate it. You know, it is a great art to have an abundance of knowledge and experience-to know the richness of life, the beauty of existence, the struggles, the miseries, the laughter, the tears- and yet keep your mind very simple; and you can have a simple mind only when you know how to love.
"Think on These Things"(1964, 1970 reprint), p. 32

http://www.katinkahesselink.net/kr/war.html

Jiddu Krishnamurti on Peace

2007-09-19T19:25:00.000+02:00

Jiddu Krishnamurti on Peace

Bombay, 5th Public Talk, March 12, 1950
Question: How can I as an individual meet, overcome and resolve the growing tension and war-fever between India and Pakistan? This situation creates a mentality of revenge and mass retaliation. Appeals and arguments are completely inadequate. Inaction is a crime. How does one meet a problem like this?
Krishnamurti: Sir why do you call inaction a crime? There are only two ways of dealing with this, according to you, which is either to become a pacifist or to take a gun. That is the only way you respond, is it not? That is the only way most people know in which to answer a problem of this kind.
Surely, the whole thing is wrong, pacifism as well as carrying a gun, because they are mere reactions, and through reaction you will never solve any problem. You will solve the problem of war only when you yourself are the challenge, and not merely a reaction.
So, the man who carries a gun does not solve the problem, he only increases the problem; for each war produces another war, it is an historical fact.
That is why it is important to understand yourself, your conditioning, your upbringing, the way you are educated; because, the government, the whole system, is your own projection. The world is you, the world is not separate from you; the world with its problems is projected out of your responses, out of your reactions, so the solution does not lie in creating further reactions.

There can be a solution only when there is action which is not reaction, and that can come into being only when you understand the whole process of response to stimuli both from outside and inside, which means that you understand the structure of your own being from which society is created.

But all those methods are obviously mere postponement of peace. Only when you are directly in touch with the problem, when you see that without peace today you cannot have peace tomorrow, when you have no reason for peace but actually see the truth that without peace life is not possible, creation is not possible, that without peace there can be no sense of happiness— only when you see the truth of that, will you have peace. Then you will have peace without any organizations for peace. Sir, for that you must be so vulnerable, you must demand peace with all your heart, you must find the truth of it for yourself, not through organizations, through propaganda, through clever arguments for peace and against war. Peace is not the denial of war. Peace is a state of being in which all conflicts and all problems have ceased; it is not a theory, not an ideal to be achieved after ten incarnations, ten years or ten days. As long as the mind has not understood its own activity, it will create more misery; and the understanding of the mind is the beginning of peace.

From the Krishnamurti Foundation of America
Selection from On War and Peace by Krishnamurt

The Importance of Civil Society in Arms Control - by Oscar Arias

2007-09-19T19:24:00.000+02:00

The Importance of Civil Society in Arms Control - by Oscar Arias

During my term as president of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990, I learned first-hand the devastating effects of arms transfers on poor and war-torn places. In Central America, the arms shipments that were supposed to resolve the region’s ideological clashes in fact prolonged and exacerbated them. We would later learn that the civil wars in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua had caused more than two hundred thousand casualties, mostly civilian. Conventional weapons imported from the Soviet Union and the United States were involved in the vast majority of these deaths.

Peace cannot take root unless the deepest causes of conflict are brought to light, examined, and publicly discussed. Arms betray this delicate process by adding to intolerance, deepening present grievances and making agreement more distant. Today, in troubled regions such as Sudan and Colombia, cheap and readily available weapons continue to poison efforts to establish peace for future generations.
By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era. In talks at universities and political forums, I have emphasized that the arms trade, and its accompanying glut of military spending, exacerbates and prolongs wars, criminal activity and ethnic violence; destabilizes emerging democracies; and inflates military budgets to the detriment of health care, education and basic infrastructure.
I have not found this theme completely and utterly depressing over the years, thanks to a stubborn faith that speaking out will always galvanize at least one person in the audience to action. Also, I know that my efforts are not for the sake of rhetoric, but for publicizing and reinforcing an Arms Trade Treaty movement in close collaboration with members of civil society.
The Arms Trade Treaty, originally known as a Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers, was formulated in 1997 by eight Nobel Prize laureates: me, Ellie Wiesel, Betty Williams, the Dalai Lama, José Ramos-Horta, and representatives of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the American Friends Service Committee and Amnesty International. The treaty calls for a ban on transfers of weapons to governments that repress fundamental democratic and human rights, or that commit acts of armed international aggression. To date, over twenty Nobel Prize winners, a growing group of governments and thousands of individuals and organizations have expressed their faith in the ATT as both morally sound and politically necessary.
Since October of 2003, a grassroots campaign to ratify this treaty into a binding piece of international law has been advancing in seventy countries around the world. Building consensus for international arms control implies simultaneous action in a kaleidoscope of social, political and economic issues: police training in human rights, and military accountability to democratic governments; anti-corruption controls at the local and federal level; better educational opportunities for children, and peace curriculums in the schools; gender equity and access to employment. Civil society groups have found innovative and dynamic ways to combine the cause of arms control with human development agendas. In Brazil, for instance, the NGO Viva Rio has advocated national gun control laws, while building youth clubs and microcredit programs in poor neighborhoods affected by gun violence. And in Costa Rica, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress has launched a public education campaign on the public health impact of small arms, with a special component for peace training in the public schools.
The Arms Trade Treaty has roots in many different regions, historical experiences and individuals; and this diversity is a great strength, driving the movement’s dynamic growth. Clearly, a campaign to regulate the global arms trade brings us head to head with some very entrenched interest groups, and it could take years, even decades, to move forward. In this struggle, the moral and political leadership of civil society, from schools to church councils to public action groups, is fundamental. It has been thrilling to watch in the past decade as the ATT has gathered worldwide momentum, a rising tide that grows out of the tiny ripples of every individual act of creativity and leadership.

Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez was president of Costa Rica from 1986 until 1990. Within this capacity he initiated a regional peace process, which cumulated in 1987 in the signing of the Equipulas II Accord by all Central American presidents. It was for this work he won the Nobel Peace Prize of 1987. He used the monetary award to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, from which he has continued his pursuit of global peace and human security.

Understand the differences; act on the commonalities - by John Marks

2007-09-19T19:23:00.002+02:00

Understand the differences; act on the commonalities - by John Marks

I was 22 years old in 1966 when I joined the US Foreign Service. I anticipated a diplomatic career which, to me, meant a life of negotiating treaties, driving a sports car around Europe, and becoming an ambassador. My first assignment, however, was Vietnam in the midst of war, and I spent 18 months working as a civilian advisor in the pacification programme. This experience definitely knocked me off my linear career path, as I became convinced that American policy was wrong. In 1970, after the US invasion of Cambodia, I resigned in protest.

I found a job as the principal assistant for foreign policy to a US Senator who opposed continuation of the American war. For three years, my main task was to help pass legislation that would end direct US involvement in the war. Next, I co-authored a best-selling book that explored the workings of US intelligence agencies, and then I wrote myself an award-winning book on the secret connections between American intelligence and the behavioural sciences.
I had become an advocate for reform and social change. At the same time, I realised that I was increasingly defined by what I opposed. I came to see another possibility: Namely, that I could live my life and do my work from a place, not of being against the old system, but of being for a new one. In 1982, I founded Search for Common Ground, a non-governmental organization (NGO) with a lofty vision: To shift the way the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial, win-lose approaches, toward non-adversarial solutions.
I saw myself as a social entrepreneur. Unlike a business entrepreneur, my bottom line is not to acquire wealth, but to change the world. Search for Common Ground provides the organisational base – the place to stand – from which to do this work.
When I started, I had one co-worker, a handful of supporters, and a miniscule budget. With the Cold War raging, we focused on building bridges between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, as global conflict became more diffuse, so did our search for common ground.
We began working closely with governments and multi-lateral organisations, as we expanded our work into the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa, Indonesia and the United States. We currently have a staff of about 375 people, operating out of headquarters in Washington and Brussels and field offices in 11 countries. Thousands of people participate directly in our programmes, and we reach millions more through media projects.
We try to carry out work on a realistic scale – one step at a time. Indeed, we strive to be incrementally transformational. We appreciate that people and nations will act, as they always have, in their perceived best interest. We believe, however, that everyone’s best interest is served by solutions that maximise the gain of those with a stake in the outcome. Current problems – whether ethnic, environmental or economic – are simply too complex and interconnected to be settled on an adversarial basis. The earth is running out of space, resources and recuperative capacity to deal with wasteful conflict.
The methods we use vary as greatly as the places where we work. However, our methodology is based on the one basic operating principle: Understand the differences; act on the commonalities. Within this framework, we have developed a diverse toolbox for conflict prevention and transformation. It includes such well-known techniques as mediation, facilitation and training, along with less traditional ones like TV production, radio soap opera, back-channel negotiations and mobilising women and youth.
Above all, we do our work because we believe it makes a difference. For example, in Burundi, we apply our toolbox across an entire country. In order to promote peace and national reconciliation, we produce 15 hours a week of original radio programming that reaches 90% of the population; we work directly with hundreds of women’s associations to empower women as peacemakers; we sponsor numerous projects to reintegrate youth who have been involved in violence; and we make wide use of music and culture to try to heal ethnic differences.
Not surprisingly, we have also had our share of setbacks. We have worked for 13 years in the Middle East – where we have held scores of workshops for Arabs, Israelis and Iranians, produced several TV series and a radio soap opera, operated a weekly news service and sponsored the Middle East Consortium for Infectious Disease Surveillance. Yet, despite our best efforts – and those of many other would-be peacemakers – the conflict has escalated. In Liberia in 2003, looters ransacked and destroyed our radio studio. Still, we remain engaged for the long haul – in Liberia, in the Middle East and everywhere else we work. We believe that our work represents hope for the future.

Although the world is overly polarized and violent behavior is much too prevalent, we remain essentially optimistic. Our view is that, despite numerous setbacks, history and human consciousness are moving in positive directions. Failures in peacemaking do not cause us to give up. Rather, they convince us that we – and the world – must do much better.
The challenge is extraordinary, and I consider myself immensely privileged to be able to do the work that I do.

John Marks is founder and president of Search for Common Ground in Washington, D.C., and the office in Brussels. He is also a best-selling, award-winning book author, and has produced numerous television series and programs

The Dalai Lama: Solving Human Problems

2007-09-19T19:23:00.001+02:00

The Dalai Lama: Solving Human Problems

The Dalai Lama on solving human problems:

Of the many problems we face today, some are natural calamities and must be accepted and faced with equanimity. Others, however, are of our own making, created by misunderstanding, and can be corrected. Of the many problems we face today, some are natural calamities and must be accepted and faced with equanimity. Others, however, are of our own making, created by misunderstanding, and can be corrected. One such type arises from the conflict of ideologies, political or religious, when people fight each other for petty ends, losing sight of the basic humanity that binds us all together as a single human family. We must remember that the different religions, ideologies, and political systems of the world are meant for human beings to achieve happiness. We must not lose sight of this fundamental goal and at no time should we place means above ends; the supremacy of humanity over matter and ideology must always be maintained.

By far the greatest single danger facing humankind – in fact, all living beings on our planet – is the threat of nuclear destruction. I need not elaborate on this danger, but I would like to appeal to all the leaders of the nuclear powers who literally hold the future of the world in their hands, to the scientists and technicians who continue to create these awesome weapons of destruction, and to all the people at large who are in a position to influence their leaders: I appeal to them to exercise their sanity and begin to work at dismantling and destroying all nuclear weapons. We know that in the event of a nuclear war there will be no victors because there will be no survivors! Is it not frightening just to contemplate such inhuman and heartless destruction? And, is it not logical that we should remove the cause for our own destruction when we know the cause and have both the time and the means to do so? Often we cannot overcome our problems because we either do not know the cause or, if we understand it, do not have the means to remove it. This is not the case with the nuclear threat.
Whether they belong to more evolved species like humans or to simpler ones such as animals, all beings primarily seek peace, comfort, and security. Life is as dear to the mute animal as it is to any human being; even the simplest insect strives for protection from dangers that threaten its life. Just as each one of us wants to live and does not wish to die, so it is with all other creatures in the universe, though their power to effect this is a different matter.

Broadly speaking there are two types of happiness and suffering, mental and physical, and of the two, I believe that mental suffering and happiness are the more acute. Hence, I stress the training of the mind to endure suffering and attain a more lasting state of happiness. However, I also have a more general and concrete idea of happiness: a combination of inner peace, economic development, and, above all, world peace. To achieve such goals I feel it is necessary to develop a sense of universal responsibility, a deep concern for all irrespective of creed, colour, sex, or nationality.

The premise behind this idea of universal responsibility is the simple fact that, in general terms, all others' desires are the same as mine. Every being wants happiness and does not want suffering. If we, as intelligent human beings, do not accept this fact, there will be more and more suffering on this planet. If we adopt a self-centred approach to life and constantly try to use others for our own self-interest, we may gain temporary benefits, but in the long run we will not succeed in achieving even personal happiness, and world peace will be completely out of the question.

In their quest for happiness, humans have used different methods, which all too often have been cruel and repellent.

Behaving in ways utterly unbecoming to their status as humans, they inflict suffering upon fellow humans and other living beings for their own selfish gains. In the end, such short-sighted actions bring suffering to oneself as well as to others. To be born a human being is a rare event in itself, and it is wise to use this opportunity as effectively and skillfully as possible. We must have the proper perspective, that of the universal life process, so that the happiness or glory of one person or group is not sought at the expense of others.

All this calls for a new approach to global problems. The world is becoming smaller and smaller – and more and more interdependent – as a result of rapid technological advances and international trade as well as increasing trans-national relations. We now depend very much on each other. In ancient times problems were mostly family-size, and they were naturally tackled at the family level, but the situation has changed. Today we are so interdependent, so closely interconnected with each other, that without a sense of universal responsibility, a feeling of universal brotherhood and sisterhood, and an understanding and belief that we really are part of one big human family, we cannot hope to overcome the dangers to our very existence – let alone bring about peace and happiness.

One nation's problems can no longer be satisfactorily solved by itself alone; too much depends on the interest, attitude, and cooperation of other nations. A universal humanitarian approach to world problems seems the only sound basis for world peace. What does this mean? We begin from the recognition mentioned previously that all beings cherish happiness and do not want suffering. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one's own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others also when pursuing our own happiness. This will lead to what I call 'wise self-interest', which hopefully will transform itself into 'compromised self-interest', or better still, 'mutual interest.'

Although the increasing interdependence among nations might be expected to generate more sympathetic cooperation, it is difficult to achieve a spirit of genuine cooperation as long as people remain indifferent to the feelings and happiness of others. When people are motivated mostly by greed and jealousy, it is not possible for them to live in harmony. A spiritual approach may not solve all the political problems that have been caused by the existing self-centered approach, but in the long run it will overcome the very basis of the problems that we face today.

On the other hand, if humankind continues to approach its problems considering only temporary expediency, future generations will have to face tremendous difficulties. The global population is increasing, and our resources are being rapidly depleted. Look at the trees, for example. No one knows exactly what adverse effects massive deforestation will have on the climate, the soil, and global ecology as a whole. We are facing problems because people are concentrating only on their short-term, selfish interests, not thinking of the entire human family. They are not thinking of the earth and the long-term effects on universal life as a whole. If we of the present generation do not think about these now, future generations may not be able to cope with them.

Compassion as the Pillar of World Peace
According to Buddhist psychology, most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities. The pursuit of the objects of our desire and attachment involves the use of aggression and competitiveness as supposedly efficacious instruments. These mental processes easily translate into actions, breeding belligerence as an obvious effect. Such processes have been going on in the human mind since time immemorial, but their execution has become more effective under modern conditions. What can we do to control and regulate these 'poisons' – delusion, greed, and aggression? For it is these poisons that are behind almost every trouble in the world.

As one brought up in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, I feel that love and compassion are the moral fabric of world peace. Let me first define what I mean by compassion. When you have pity or compassion for a very poor person, you are showing sympathy because he or she is poor; your compassion is based on altruistic considerations. On the other hand, love towards your wife, your husband, your children, or a close friend is usually based on attachment. When your attachment changes, your kindness also changes; it may disappear. This is not true love. Real love is not based on attachment, but on altruism. In this case your compassion will remain as a humane response to suffering as long as beings continue to suffer.

This type of compassion is what we must strive to cultivate in ourselves, and we must develop it from a limited amount to the limitless. Undiscriminating, spontaneous, and unlimited compassion for all sentient beings is obviously not the usual love that one has for friends or family, which is alloyed with ignorance, desire, and attachment. The kind of love we should advocate is this wider love that you can have even for someone who has done harm to you: your enemy.

The rationale for compassion is that every one of us wants to avoid suffering and gain happiness. This, in turn, is based on the valid feeling of 'I', which determines the universal desire for happiness. Indeed, all beings are born with similar desires and should have an equal right to fulfil them. If I compare myself with others, who are countless, I feel that others are move important because I am just one person whereas others are many. Further, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition teaches us to view all sentient beings as our dear mothers and to show our gratitude by loving them all. For, according to Buddhist theory, we are born and reborn countless numbers of times, and it is conceivable that each being has been our parent at one time or another. In this way all beings in the universe share a family relationship.

Whether one believes in religion or not, there is no one who does not appreciate love and compassion. Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents; later in life, when facing the sufferings of disease and old age, we are again dependent on the kindness of others. If at the beginning and end of our lives we depend upon others' kindness, why then in the middle should we not act kindly towards others?

The development of a kind heart (a feeling of closeness for all human beings) does not involve the religiosity we normally associate with conventional religious practice. It is not only for people who believe in religion, but is for everyone regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. It is for anyone who considers himself or herself, above all, a member of the human family and who sees things from this larger and longer perspective. This is a powerful feeling that we should develop and apply; instead, we often neglect it, particularly in our prime years when we experience a false sense of security.

When we take into account a longer perspective, the fact that all wish to gain happiness and avoid suffering, and keep in mind our relative unimportance in relation to countless others, we can conclude that it is worthwhile to share our possessions with others. When you train in this sort of outlook, a true sense of compassion – a true sense of love and respect for others – becomes possible. Individual happiness ceases to be a conscious self-seeking effort; it becomes an automatic and far superior by-product of the whole process of loving and serving others.

Another result of spiritual development, most useful in day-to-day life, is that it gives a calmness and presence of mind. Our lives are in constant flux, bringing many difficulties. When faced with a calm and clear mind, problems can be successfully resolved. When, instead, we lose control over our minds through hatred, selfishness, jealousy, and anger, we lose our sense of judgment. Our minds are blinded and at those wild moments anything can happen, including war. Thus, the practice of compassion and wisdom is useful to all, especially to those responsible for running national affairs, in whose hands lie the power and opportunity to create the structure of world peace.

World Religions for World Peace

The principles discussed so far are in accordance with the ethical teachings of all world religions. I maintain that every major religion of the world – Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism – has similar ideals of love, the same goal of benefiting humanity through spiritual practice, and the same effect of making their followers into better human beings. All religions teach moral precepts for perfecting the functions of mind, body, and speech. All teach us not to lie or steal or take others' lives, and so on. The common goal of all moral precepts laid down by the great teachers of humanity is unselfishness. The great teachers wanted to lead their followers away from the paths of negative deeds caused by ignorance and to introduce them to paths of goodness.

All religions agree upon the necessity to control the undisciplined mind that harbours selfishness and other roots of trouble, and each teaches a path leading to a spiritual state that is peaceful, disciplined, ethical, and wise. It is in this sense that I believe all religions have essentially the same message. Differences of dogma may be ascribed to differences of time and circumstance as well as cultural influences; indeed, there is no end to scholastic argument when we consider the purely metaphysical side of religion. However, it is much more beneficial to try to implement in daily life the shared precepts for goodness taught by all religions rather than to argue about minor differences in approach.

There are many different religions to bring comfort and happiness to humanity in much the same way as there are particular treatments for different diseases. For, all religions endeavour in their own way to help living beings avoid misery and gain happiness. And, although we can find causes for preferring certain interpretations of religious truths, there is much greater cause for unity, stemming from the human heart. Each religion works in its own way to lessen human suffering and contribute to world civilization. Conversion is not the point. For instance, I do not think of converting others to Buddhism or merely furthering the Buddhist cause. Rather, I try to think of how I as a Buddhist humanitarian can contribute to human happiness.

While pointing out the fundamental similarities between world religions, I do not advocate one particular religion at the expense of all others, nor do I seek a new 'world religion.' All the different religions of the world are needed to enrich human experience and world civilization. Our human minds, being of different calibre and disposition, need different approaches to peace and happiness. It is just like food. Certain people find Christianity more appealing, others prefer Buddhism because there is no creator in it and everything depends upon your own actions. We can make similar arguments for other religions as well. Thus, the point is clear: humanity needs all the world's religions to suit the ways of life, diverse spiritual needs, and inherited national traditions of individual human beings.

It is from this perspective that I welcome efforts being made in various parts of the world for better understanding among religions. The need for this is particularly urgent now. If all religions make the betterment of humanity their main concern, then they can easily work together in harmony for world peace. Interfaith understanding will bring about the unity necessary for all religions to work together. However, although this is indeed an important step, we must remember that there are no quick or easy solutions. We cannot hide the doctrinal differences that exist among various faiths, nor can we hope to replace the existing religions by a new universal belief. Each religion has its own distinctive contributions to make, and each in its own way is suitable to a particular group of people as they understand life. The world needs them all.

There are two primary tasks facing religious practitioners who are concerned with world peace. First, we must promote better interfaith understanding so as to create a workable degree of unity among all religions. This may be achieved in part by respecting each other's beliefs and by emphasizing our common concern for human well-being. Second, we must bring about a viable consensus on basic spiritual values that touch every human heart and enhance general human happiness. This means we must emphasize the common denominator of all world religions – humanitarian ideals. These two steps will enable us to act both individually and together to create the necessary spiritual conditions for world peace.

We practitioners of different faiths can work together for world peace when we view different religions as essentially instruments to develop a good heart – love and respect for others, a true sense of community. The most important thing is to look at the purpose of religion and not at the details of theology or metaphysics, which can lead to mere intellectualism. I believe that all the major religions of the world can contribute to world peace and work together for the benefit of humanity if we put aside subtle metaphysical differences, which are really the internal business of each religion.

Despite the progressive secularization brought about by worldwide modernization and despite systematic attempts in some parts of the world to destroy spiritual values, the vast majority of humanity continues to believe in one religion or another. The undying faith in religion, evident even under irreligious political systems, clearly demonstrates the potency of religion as such. This spiritual energy and power can be purposefully used to bring about the spiritual conditions necessary for world peace. Religious leaders and humanitarians all over the world have a special role to play in this respect.

Whether we will be able to achieve world peace or not, we have no choice but to work towards that goal. If our minds are dominated by anger, we will lose the best part of human intelligence – wisdom, the ability to decide between right and wrong. Anger is one of the most serious problems facing the world today.

Individual Power to Shape Institutions
Anger plays no small role in current conflicts such as those in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the North- South problem, and so forth. These conflicts arise from a failure to understand one another's humanness. The answer is not the development and use of greater military force, nor an arms race. Nor is it purely political or purely technological. Basically it is spiritual, in the sense that what is required is a sensitive understanding of our common human situation. Hatred and fighting cannot bring happiness to anyone, even to the winners of battles. Violence always produces misery and thus is essentially counter-productive. It is, therefore, time for world leaders to learn to transcend the differences of race, culture, and ideology and to regard one another through eyes that see the common human situation. To do so would benefit individuals, communities, nations, and the world at large.

The greater part of present world tension seems to stem from the 'Eastern bloc' versus 'Western bloc' conflict that has been going on since World War II. These two blocs tend to describe and view each other in a totally unfavourable light. This continuing, unreasonable struggle is due to a lack of mutual affection and respect for each other as fellow human beings. Those of the Eastern bloc should reduce their hatred towards the Western bloc because the Western bloc is also made up of human beings – men, women, and children. Similarly those of the Western bloc should reduce their hatred towards the Eastern bloc because the Eastern bloc is also human beings. In such a reduction of mutual hatred, the leaders of both blocs have a powerful role to play But first and foremost, leaders must realize their own and others' humanness. Without this basic realization, very little effective reduction of organized hatred can be achieved.

If, for example, the leader of the United States of America and the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics suddenly met each other in the middle of a desolate island, I am sure they would respond to each other spontaneously as fellow human beings. But a wall of mutual suspicion and misunderstanding separates them the moment they are identified as the 'President of the USA' and the 'Secretary-General of the USSR.' More human contact in the form of informal extended meetings, without any agenda, would improve their mutual understanding; they would learn to relate to each other as human beings and could then try to tackle international problems based on this understanding. No two parties, especially those with a history of antagonism, can negotiate fruitfully in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and hatred.

I suggest that world leaders meet about once a year in a beautiful place without any business, just to get to know each other as human beings. Then, later, they could meet to discuss mutual and global problems. I am sure many others share my wish that world leaders meet at the conference table in such an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding of each other's humanness.

To improve person-to-person contact in the world at large, I would like to see greater encouragement of international tourism. Also, mass media, particularly in democratic societies, can make a considerable contribution to world peace by giving greater coverage to human interest items that reflect the ultimate oneness of humanity. With the rise of a few big powers in the international arena, the humanitarian role of international organizations is being bypassed and neglected. I hope that this will be corrected and that all international organizations, especially the United Nations, will be more active and effective in ensuring maximum benefit to humanity and promoting international understanding. It will indeed be tragic if the few powerful members continue to misuse world bodies like the UN for their one-sided interests. The UN must become the instrument of world peace. This world body must be respected by all, for the UN is the only source of hope for small oppressed nations and hence for the planet as a whole.

As all nations are economically dependent upon one another more than ever before, human understanding must go beyond national boundaries and embrace the international community at large. Indeed, unless we can create an atmosphere of genuine cooperation, gained not by threatened or actual use of force but by heartfelt understanding, world problems will only increase. If people in poorer countries are denied the happiness they desire and deserve, they will naturally be dissatisfied and pose problems for the rich. If unwanted social, political, and cultural forms continue to be imposed upon unwilling people, the attainment of world peace is doubtful. However, if we satisfy people at a heart-to-heart level, peace will surely come.

Within each nation, the individual ought to be given the right to happiness, and among nations, there must be equal concern for the welfare of even the smallest nations. I am not suggesting that one system is better than another and all should adopt it. On the contrary, a variety of political systems and ideologies is desirable and accords with the variety of dispositions within the human community. This variety enhances the ceaseless human quest for happiness. Thus each community should be free to evolve its own political and socioeconomic system, based on the principle of self-determination.

The achievement of justice, harmony, and peace depends on many factors. We should think about them in terms of human benefit in the long run rather than the short term. I realize the enormity of the task before us, but I see no other alternative than the one I am proposing – which is based on our common humanity. Nations have no choice but to be concerned about the welfare of others, not so much because of their belief in humanity, but because it is in the mutual and long-term interest of all concerned. An appreciation of this new reality is indicated by the emergence of regional or continental economic organizations such as the European Economic Community, the Association of South East Asian Nations, and so forth. I hope more such trans-national organizations will be formed, particularly in regions where economic development and regional stability seem in short supply.

Under present conditions, there is definitely a growing need for human understanding and a sense of universal responsibility. In order to achieve such ideas, we must generate a good and kind heart, for without this, we can achieve neither universal happiness nor lasting world peace. We cannot create peace on paper. While advocating universal responsibility and universal brotherhood and sisterhood, the facts are that humanity is organized in separate entities in the form of national societies. Thus, in a realistic sense, I feel it is these societies that must act as the building-blocks for world peace.

Attempts have been made in the past to create societies more just and equal. Institutions have been established with noble charters to combat anti-social forces. Unfortunately, such ideas have been cheated by selfishness. More than ever before, we witness today how ethics and noble principles are obscured by the shadow of self-interest, particularly in the political sphere. There is a school of thought that warns us to refrain from politics altogether, as politics has become synonymous with amorality. Politics devoid of ethics does not further human welfare, and life without morality reduces humans to the level of beasts. However, politics is not axiomatically 'dirty.' Rather, the instruments of our political culture have distorted the high ideals and noble concepts meant to further human welfare. Naturally, spiritual people express their concern about religious leaders 'messing' with politics, since they fear the contamination of religion by dirty politics.

I question the popular assumption that religion and ethics have no place in politics and that religious persons should seclude themselves as hermits. Such a view of religion is too one-sided; it lacks a proper perspective on the individual's relation to society and the role of religion in our lives. Ethics is as crucial to a politician as it is to a religious practitioner. Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion.

Such human qualities as morality, compassion, decency, wisdom, and so forth have been the foundations of all civilizations. These qualities must be cultivated and sustained through systematic moral education in a conducive social environment so that a more humane world may emerge. The qualities required to create such a world must be inculcated right from the beginning, from childhood. We cannot wait for the next generation to make this change; the present generation must attempt a renewal of basic human values. If there is any hope, it is in the future generations, but not unless we institute major change on a worldwide scale in our present educational system. We need a revolution in our commitment to and practice of universal humanitarian values.

It is not enough to make noisy calls to halt moral degeneration; we must do something about it. Since present-day governments do not shoulder such 'religious' responsibilities, humanitarian and religious leaders must strengthen the existing civic, social, cultural, educational, and religious organizations to revive human and spiritual values. Where necessary, we must create new organizations to achieve these goals. Only in so doing can we hope to create a more stable basis for world peace.

Living in society, we should share the sufferings of our fellow citizens and practise compassion and tolerance not only towards our loved ones but also towards our enemies. This is the test of our moral strength. We must set an example by our own practice, for we cannot hope to convince others of the value of religion by mere words. We must live up to the same high standards of integrity and sacrifice that we ask of others. The ultimate purpose of all religions is to serve and benefit humanity. This is why it is so important that religion always be used to effect the happiness and peace of all beings and not merely to convert others.

Still, in religion there are no national boundaries. A religion can and should be used by any people or person who finds it beneficial. What is important for each seeker is to choose a religion that is most suitable to himself or herself. But, the embracing of a particular religion does not mean the rejection of another religion or one's own community. In fact, it is important that those who embrace a religion should not cut themselves off from their own society; they should continue to live within their own community and in harmony with its members. By escaping from your own community, you cannot benefit others, whereas benefiting others is actually the basic aim of religion.
In this regard there are two things important to keep in mind: self-examination and self-correction. We should constantly check our attitude toward others, examining ourselves carefully, and we should correct ourselves immediately when we find we are in the wrong.

Finally, a few words about material progress. I have heard a great deal of complaint against material progress from Westerners, and yet, paradoxically, it has been the very pride of the Western world. I see nothing wrong with material progress per se, provided people are always given precedence. It is my firm belief that in order to solve human problems in all their dimensions, we must combine and harmonize economic development with spiritual growth.

However, we must know its limitations. Although materialistic knowledge in the form of science and technology has contributed enormously to human welfare, it is not capable of creating lasting happiness. In America, for example, where technological development is perhaps more advanced than in any other country, there is still a great deal of mental suffering. This is because materialistic knowledge can only provide a type of happiness that is dependent upon physical conditions. It cannot provide happiness that springs from inner development independent of external factors.

For renewal of human values and attainment of lasting happiness, we need to look to the common humanitarian heritage of all nations the world over. May this essay serve as an urgent reminder lest we forget the human values that unite us all as a single family on this planet.

I have written the above lines
To tell my constant feeling.
Whenever I meet even a 'foreigner',
I have always the same feeling:
'I am meeting another member of the human family.'
This attitude has deepened
My affection and respect for all beings.
May this natural wish be
My small contribution to world peace.
I pray for a more friendly,
More caring, and more understanding
Human family on this planet.
To all who dislike suffering,
Who cherish lasting happiness –
This is my heartfelt appeal.

A Vital Force - Xanana Gusmao

2007-09-19T19:20:00.000+02:00

A Vital Force - Xanana Gusmao

When reflecting on the theme of civil society’s role in conflict prevention and peace building, I am again reminded that the struggle for Timor-Leste’s right to self-determination and independence was also fought by various components of civil society both inside and outside of the country.

During our struggle, the role of the Catholic Church in Timor-Leste was critical in providing a voice and a sanctuary for the many victims of the brutal military occupation. The clandestine network, consisting of students, lay people, public servants, women, teachers and youths, was the backbone of the resistance.
On the international scene, Timor-Leste at one stage had the largest worldwide solidarity movement, advocating for an end to the violence and for peace in the territory. These bands of dedicated, ordinary citizens of the world united their efforts to pressure their respective governments in support of an independent Timor-Leste.
Five years have gone by since the historical referendum in August 1999, and two years since independence was officially declared. Timor-Leste has gone through three critical phases in the space of five short years: emergency humanitarian period, transitional period and now reconstruction and development.
In each of these phases, the role of civil society can never be under-estimated. And in each of these phases, the crying need to build peace and prevent further conflict was foremost in the mind of every Timorese.
It is the desire of every Timorese to live in peace and to never again experience the pain and destruction that war brings. Indeed, it is only in situations of war that we feel the need for peace, for a tranquility of spirit.
During our 24 year-long difficult struggle, we learned to love peace and dialogue.
Peace, reconciliation, understanding and harmony between citizens are fundamental conditions for political stability and economic and social progress in our country.
Without stability and peace, there would not be democracy; there would not be progress.
Reconciliation has peace as its fundamental objective. Reconciliation entails breaking away with the environment of conflict.
The Timorese leadership, then under the umbrella organization, CNRT (National Council for Timorese Resistance), of which I was president, recognized from the very beginning that reconciliation was a fundamental need for a future independent Timor-Leste, to build peace in our society and thus avoid further conflict. Therefore, maximum attention was afforded to this process.
But reconciliation is more than just forgiving and moving away from the past. Reconciliation is a long process, demanding from each and every Timorese, the courage to admit our mistakes and to forgive. Reconciliation between ourselves and with our former enemies is instrumental in consolidating the peace that we Timorese fought so long and hard to achieve.
Very early on, I defended that no-one should hold bitterness towards their enemies; they too, were merely instruments of a system, which oppressed them as it did us.
A few years ago, not long after we achieved our freedom, I was touring around the country visiting all the villages as part of the promise I made upon my return to Timor-Leste.
Everywhere was destruction; everywhere the cries and pain of the victims could be heard. Village after village – men, women and children gathered together and told me their stories. On one particular, exhausting night, where I was overwhelmed with the grief the many widows; all demanding justice for their suffering, an old man approached me and asked if he could speak. He stood before his fellow villagers and in a clear, steady voice, devoid of any emotion, he raised his badly twisted arms and declared

“If putting my tormentor in jail means regaining the use of my hands, then I demand justice, here and now. But what use is there in seeking justice if it will not make any difference to my life?”

This poor, simple villager expressed the heart of the policy that the Timorese leadership had been advocating all along - that there could be no real everlasting peace, without reconciliation. And that our independence would mean nothing if we could not bring peace and tranquility to the daily lives of our people; if we could not promise them a future free of further conflict.
But the government alone could not transmit this policy into action on the ground. It needed the support of civil society.
It is the policy of the Timorese State to pursue the avenue of reconciliation and dialogue both in the domestic and international scene. With every effort made at the highest level, a complimentary one was made on the ground.
As President of the Republic, I am continuing this policy through two critical programs: Open Presidency and National Dialogue.
Open Presidency is where the president comes to the people, and listens to their concerns and provides information where possible. Its objective is to reduce tension, through the exchange of information on the current processes and difficulties the people are facing. It is a preventative measure of conflict.
National Dialogue is another means of conflict prevention as it provides a forum for bringing issues of national interest to public debate. It brings conflicting parties together and gathers feedback from the general public.
Both programs are conducted with the invaluable support of civil society groups.
The goodwill talks between the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia have been complimented on the ground with traditional methods of post-conflict resolution such as public confession and apology, led by civil society. A Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) was established to provide a platform for addressing past wrongs. CAVR, consisting of members of all segments of civil society, has conducted community based reconciliation nationwide and as a result, has succeeded in enabling ex-militias to reintegrate into their communities and for the most part, for those communities to continue with life in the normal way. Alongside these local dispute resolution initiatives is the need for national healing. Many Timorese want answers from those who caused their loss and suffering. With answers people can start the healing process and close the horrible chapter in their lives and finally be able to live in tranquility and with peace of mind.
As with its current role in peacebuilding, civil society will continue to be an important actor in ensuring peace and stability in Timorese society. Civil society should continue to play a role in helping to strengthen the democratic institutions, in helping the Timorese state lay the foundations of the rule of law, in helping to meet the social needs of the people. Civil society can be a vital force to check and balance the actions of the government by denouncing corruption, lack of transparency and other acts contrary to the interest of the people, to ensure that they are in line with the universal values and principles of freedom, democracy and prosperity.

Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão led the East Timorese Resistance Movement from 1978 until he was captured and sentenced to seven years in a Jakarta prison, followed by house arrest. He was released in 1999 after the UN-sponsored referendum, in which Timor-Leste chose independence from Indonesia. On 14 April 2002, Xanana Gusmão was elected president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Civil Society Cannot Be Destroyed - Queen Noor

2007-09-19T19:19:00.000+02:00

Civil Society Cannot Be Destroyed - Queen Noor

My husband once said that “Peace is essential to us in leading a normal life, which is the legitimate right of every individual, in order to dream, plan for oneself, and for the future of one’s family, to raise one’s standard of living away from fear, worry and confusion.”
The desire to have a “normal life” and live in peace – for ourselves and our families - is one of the most intrinsic values we aspire to as human beings. It cuts across the racial, ethnic, gender, geographic, cultural and religious differences that seem to divide us and fuel the devastating conflicts, wars and humanitarian crises that destroy countless lives and tear nations apart.
For the better part of the last three decades, I have had the privilege to work beside and witness women, men and children who are giving up everything they have: creativity, time, resources, and all too often their own safety, to achieve peace and some semblance of normalcy amidst the most daunting challenges and conditions. Seemingly ordinary people under the most horrific circumstances exhibit extraordinary courage and strength as they reach out to others – to recover, to reconcile, to understand, to believe in the basic humanity of others, even of those some would call enemies.
Civil society, I have discovered, cannot be destroyed. It springs up, again and again, like a strong and beautiful flower from the ashes and rubble of conflict and deprivation. It endures because of everyday people - men, women, the young and old, survivors of chaos and conflict – who act and react to build a better life for themselves and future generations.
The most frequent victims of war and conflict are often innocent women and children. Yet, more often than not, these same individuals nurture the flowers of reconciliation, stability and peace.

Breaking Down the Barriers
For years I have worked with Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings together young people from conflict-torn regions to live and work together to begin to break down the barriers of ignorance and prejudice that generate confrontation over communication. Children face old animosities that have been passed down like legacies from their elders.
When they go home, they continue to hold out their hands and hearts to each other. Even now — especially now — Arab and Israeli Seeds graduates phone or e-mail across conflict lines to comfort their friends in the midst of the worst violence their region has seen. They risk the scorn of angry neighbors for the chance to meet and talk and grieve together. Sometimes, they risk their lives. But by those risks, they also inspire their families and neighbors to take a chance on hope and humanity. They have stared hatred in the face and refused to succumb.
In Colombia where two people are being killed everyday from landmines and half of all civilian mine victims are children, I met two young cousins, Jose and Jonathon, no more than 11 years old who encountered terror when they picked up what they thought was a toy rocket. They each lost a leg, their cousin Monica lost a leg, and Jose’s younger brother perished. They are but a few of the thousands of victims of guerilla warfare, who have lost their innocence.
Now they are also survivors and teachers. Their new mission is to prevent future mine accidents and deaths. In a region where limited government resources exist and narco-guerilla warfare has festered for decades displacing millions of people, two hopeful souls educate local villagers and students about the dangers of landmines. One person at a time, they spread a message of prevention and awareness to thwart future deaths and disability.
I have also witnessed networks of courageous women raising their voices — and sometimes risking their lives — in conflict areas around the world from Africa and the Middle East to the Balkans. They nurture peace in different ways by working for what is best for their families, cutting across ethnic, religious and tribal barriers, and breaking through seemingly impermeable obstacles to reconciliation and reconstruction.
After the war in Rwanda, fifty women, both Hutu and Tutsi, banded together in the Association of Widows to support each other and the war’s orphans. The Mano River Union Women’s Network for Peace brings women together to end conflict in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Israeli and Palestinian women have worked with each other — electronically, if violence prevents it physically — in organizations like Jerusalem Link and the Jerusalem Center for Women to further Middle East peace efforts.
Senator George Mitchell said women’s weariness of conflict was a significant political force in achieving the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. War widows in Tajikistan who suffered through years of devastating civil war are now working together to understand their legal, social and economic constitutional and Islamic rights. Rural women whose main survival strategy has been to cultivate land are now working together to secure rights to access, manage and inherit land to provide for their families.
For me, the most wrenching and ultimately one of the most inspiring examples of collective action is in Bosnia, where thousands of women lost their families and their homes to ethnic cleansing.
I first traveled to Bosnia to reach out to the widows of Srebrenica in 1996, a year after 8,000 men and boys were marched away and never seen again. Several years later I returned as a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons. On two trips in 2001 I met with many of the same women still searching for news of their loved ones — unable to rest or begin to rebuild their lives without this knowledge, without assurances that the massacre would be memorialized officially and that those responsible would be held accountable. It is largely through their persistence that, eight years after the massacre, the prime minister of the Bosnian Serb Republic acknowledged the tragedy and paid tribute to the victims, and it was they who invited President Clinton to open the Srebrenica Memorial Center in September 2003.
All of these efforts have begun to bring some closure, at least as much as is possible, until those responsible are brought to justice. But nothing can ever dull the emotional pain these women, and other victims of war, have suffered.
And yet, as I have sat and wept with these women, as they struggled to come to terms with the deaths of their husbands, sons and fathers, I have marveled at their strength. I have seen them reach out to other women, some of whom may well be the wives or mothers of those who perpetrated the massacre. They have chosen to search for threads of humanity amidst the chaos and destruction of civil war.
Every one of these women, as they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, is building a civil society that benefits not only them, but everyone in their region.
King Hussein frequently said, “it should never be forgotten that peace resides ultimately not in the hands of the governments, but in the hands of the people.” These extraordinary people that I have met throughout the world, with all their diversity, experiences, and circumstances, provide the seeds of hope for a better future for us all. That, ultimately, is what makes civil society — people voluntarily joined together for a common goal, for the common good. It is truly the most effective agent for peace we have.

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan is an international humanitarian activist and an outspoken voice on issues of world peace and justice. Queen Noor is actively involved in a number of international organizations dealing with global peace-building and conflict recovery and currently serves as an Expert Advisor to the United Nations on these issues. Her autobiography, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (Miramax Books, 2003) was a New York Times bestseller.

A Force More Powerful - by Desmond Tutu

2007-09-19T19:17:00.000+02:00

A Force More Powerful - by Desmond Tutudes

We have seen quite breathtaking examples of ”people power” within the past years. Citizens, often downtrodden for decades, have said ”Enough is enough”, as they have paraded and demonstrated in the streets, massing up against tanks and guns with empty hands, or with hands filled with flowers or food for those who could crush them with firepower. We have seen the Berlin Wall come down. We have seen nonviolence at work in the Philippines, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Haiti, and other places (other examples?) with the results that many, perhaps we ourselves, would have thought impossible. We have learnt that the most dangerous things a dictator, a tyrant needs to fear, is when people decide they want to be free. It has been an exhilarating experience, and one that nourishes hope.There is much still to be accomplished. Shattered economies need to be rehabilitated, reconciliation between former enemies must be effected, shanties in the squalor of slums must be demolished, houses are needed in their thousands, communities cry out for help to help themselves, people who have grown up in one party totalitarian regimes need to be educated in the processes of democracy, in parliamentary procedure, government that is accountable to the people.

We need those who will defuse tense situations and to resolve conflict, and those who will tell us how to cultivate cultures of tolerance.

Martin Luther King
Credit: Trikosko/Library of Congress [VIA PINGNEWS]
This is what active nonviolence and peacebuiling is about. It deserves the support of all who love our planet home and know that we have been created for interdependence. ”Unless we learn to live together as brothers (and sisters)”, said Martin Luther King, Jr, ”we will perish like fools”.

Let us strive together to make our world ”peace friendly”. Let us make it a world where humanity can survive and flourish and where justice flows like a river and tears are wiped away from eyes. For mourning and sorrow will be done away and peace and love, compassion and caring and sharing, laughter and joy will prevail. Because we are learning to see with the eyes of the heart, realizing that we are all members of one family – God´s family.

Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu left his position as Bishop of Lesotho in 1978 to be the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). He started a crusade for justice and racial conciliation, which led him to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. He also was the first black person to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is visiting professor at many universities around the world and is the author of several books.

YouTube - Preekstoel (Pulpit Rock)

2007-09-13T00:35:00.000+02:00

YouTube - Preekstoel (Pulpit Rock)

YouTube - Most beautiful place in the world: Prekestolen (Pulpit Rock)

2007-09-13T00:34:00.000+02:00

YouTube - Most beautiful place in the world: Prekestolen (Pulpit Rock)

YouTube - Autumn Air: Juggling in Bergen Norway

2007-09-13T00:32:00.000+02:00

YouTube - Autumn Air: Juggling in Bergen Norway

YouTube - Bergen-Norway 2

2007-09-13T00:30:00.000+02:00

YouTube - Bergen-Norway

YouTube - Bergen, Norway

2007-09-13T00:29:00.000+02:00

YouTube - Bergen, Norway

2007-09-10T17:07:00.000+02:00

THE ZOMI AND THEIR COUNTRY

The Zomi Tribes : Southern Zomi

The Southern Zomi includes the Asho, the people of Kanpetlet, Patletwa and Matupi areas such as Chinbok, Chinme, Chinbon, Khumi, Khami, Mro, and Matu. The Asho (or the plains’ Chin) are found to have been geographically concentrated in such locations as Thayetmo, Insein, Minbu, Prome, Aunglam, Akyab, Sandoway, Syrian and Cape of Morton in the plains of Burma. Among the Southern Zomi, the Khyang and Chaungtha in Paletwa district of the Chin State have old relationships with the Arakan, like that of the Old Kuki to Manipur and Tripura.

The Zomi Tribes : Central Zomi

The Central Zomi includes the Falams, the Hakas, the Thantlang, the Maras (Lakhers), the Lushei, the Hmars, the Zahaus, the Hualngou, the Khuanglis, the Tlasun, the Laizou, the Bawmzou, the Zoukhuas, the Tawrs, the Zoutung, the Ngentes, the Kneltes, the Fanais, etc. They are found to have been geographically concentrated in such locations as Northern Arakan District, the Pokokku Hills, the Central portion of Chin State (all in Burma), Mizoram, Tripura Hills and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The old Kuki groups of the anthropological and linguistic literatures like Bete (Biate), Halam, Chote (Purum), Hrangkhol, Ngente, Aimol, Kom, Anal, Chiru, Mayon, Monsang, Koireng, Tarau, etc. also belong to the Central Zomi tribes whereas the Vaiphei and the Gangte belong to the Northern group.
The Zomi Tribes : Northern Zomi

The Northern Zomi constitutes the Galte (Ralte), Gangte, Paite, Sihzang, Simte, Tedim, Vaiphei, Thadou, Zoute, etc. They are found to have been geographically concentrated in such locations as the Tonzang district, the Tedim district (both in Burma), the north-east of Mizoram, the Naga Hills, the Somra Tracts, the Hkamti district, the Kale-Kabaw valley and the North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam. The Northern Zomi’s socio-cultural system is basically complex but despite important structural distinctions, they have closer affinity to the Central Zomi, rather than to the Southern tribes.

In Manipur, as many as 21 tribes are listed as Scheduled tribes in the 1956 Tribe Reorganisation viz, Aimol, Anal, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Hmar, Koireng, Kom, Lamkang, Maring, Mizo, Monsang, Moyon, Paite, Purum, Ralte, Simte, Suihte (Sukte), Thadou, Vaiphei, Zo. Even at present, the Mate, Kharam, Chongthu, Tarao and the Enpai are applying for recognition as a tribe in Manipur. All these tribes, inspite of minor dialectical differences, belongs to the same linguistic family, sharing common customs, culture, folktales, folksongs, passing through similar historical process, are descendents of common ancestor, Zo and inhabiting contiguous areas.

It may be noted that the Anal, Lamkang, Maring, Monsang and Moyon tribes in Manipur are ethnologically and historically the Zo descendants, however politically they are inclined to calling themselves Naga due to weak centripetal political movement among the Zomi in the past.

The Zomi tribes inhabiting the Tripura state of India are the Molsom, Langrong, Chongrai, Bong, Kaipeng, Hrangkhawl, Ruankhum, Darlong, Lushei, Rangchan, Paite/Paitu, Namte, Mizel, Lantei, Laifang, Fun, Khephong, Khareng, Balte, Jantei, and Hajango.

In Bangladesh, about seven Zo tribes can be identified viz; the Bawmzo, Asho, Khami or Khumi, Kuki, Lushei, Mosho and Pankhu.

Almost all the tribes inhabiting the Chin State in Burma and Mizoram state in India belong to Zo racial groups.

Ethnologically, the above named tribes belong to Zomi group because their progenitor is Zo. The close ethnicity is proved by the peculiarity that though variations in dialects exist, the Zomi - unlike other tribes - can converse with one another in their respective dialects with 70% comprehension. Thus the chain of their relationship is circumscribed not only by geographical bounds, but more often by racial unity.

A more detailed study into Zomi languages was made in 1931 and 44 (forty four) separate dialects were recorded as belonging to Kuki-Chin (Zomi) group.

As per the memorandum submitted to the British Government on April 22, 1947 by the Mizo Union, 47 (forty seven) major Zomi tribes were included, viz Aimol, Anal, Bawng, Baite, Bawngzo, Chiru, Chawhte, Chawrai, Chongthu, Chongthu, Darlawng, Dawn, Fanai, Hmar, Hrangkhawl, Hnamte, Kaihpen, Khumi, Khiang, Khiangte, Khawlhring, Kawm, Lushei, Lakher, Langrong, Mualthum, Miria, Ngente, Paite, Pawi, Purum, Pangkhua, Pangte, Pante, Pawite, Ralte, Renthlei, Thadou, Tarau, Tikhup, Tloanglau, Tlau, Vangchhia, Vaiphei, Zoute, Zawngte and Gangte.

Archaeological Remains

2007-09-10T17:05:00.000+02:00

Archaeological Remains

Archaeological evidences also have clearly pointed out the settlement of the Zomi in the plains of Burma. In 1971, S.B. Khamtinzamvungh had discovered beads from necklace, remnants of copper belts, and pieces of smoking pipes, made of copper, etc. from Sabani village in the present Sagang Division of Burma. All these articles are quite identical with the articles used by the Zomi. From this finding, it can also be deduced that the Zomi had their settlement in the plain areas of Burma.

Evidence of ancient manufacture of beads of fossilized wood called Chin Padi or Zomi beads which were discovered in 1904 near the pale-walled city of Wate, suggests that there were trends of communication between the Zomi and the Pagan Burmans.

The Burmese too recognized the settlement of Zomi in the plain areas. Some sort of social intercourse developed between the Zomi and the Burmese. King Alaungpaya of Ava (1044-1287 AD) even established a separate army of Zomis and called the areas where the Zomi had made their settlements as Zou country or Yaw country. Yaw was derived from Zo.

Traditional Political System of Zomi

2007-09-10T17:04:00.000+02:00

Traditional Political System

The Zomi had efficient system of administration and discipline as a distinct group governed by their traditional laws, customs and organizations. The traditional political system is based on kinship structure that revolves round the concept of chieftainship and that of territorial jurisdiction over which its authority is wielded, and that the village is the highest political unit. Each village had its own government, and a chief or a headman functioned as administrator for the village. Generally, the duty and power of the Chief or village headman was similar among all Zomi tribes.

The village Chief, locally called ‘Lal’ or ‘Hausa/Haosa’ or ‘Uk’, enjoyed hereditary rights and exercised political, judicial, legislative and executive powers. He controlled, to varying degrees, the daily lives of the people. He enjoyed the rights to order death penalty or give pardon; right over lands, right to seize property of the villagers, right to tax traders, etc. Some of his privileges include – six tins-full of paddy from every household, the left fore-leg of any animal killed (called ‘Buhsun-Saliang’), one-tenth of the amount of salt collected, share of wild honey collected, share of fish caught, free labour in constructing his house, etc. Such is the power and privileges of the Chief that they are called “the Lord of the Soil” by the British. Carey and Tuck wrote thus:

“The position of the Chief in regard to the people is very similar to that of a Feudal Baron. The Chief is ‘Lord of the Soil’ and his freemen hold it as his tenants and pay him tithes, and he accepts tribute.”

As the Chief was the Lord of the Soil, he enjoyed absolute power; however his functioning is more democratic than autocratic in form. In his manifold functions and responsibilities as a ruler, the Chief was assisted by a Council of Elders, known in Zomi as ‘Khawnbawl Upa’ or ‘Upa’, the number of which was determined by the number of houses in the village. It was the collective responsibilities of the ‘Upa’ to protect the life and property of the villages, to frame the general policy of making allotment of village lands for cultivation; and to administer justice according to the customary laws. Moreover, the villagers had a liberty to leave any autocratic Chief and migrate to another village. This acted as a ‘check and balance’ on the Chief and his Councils who were bound by customary laws. Therefore, the office of Chieftainship has its power based on the proper interpretation of the customary law and enforcement of culture and tradition through the Chief. Apart from the Village Council there are Siampu (Priest), Tangkou/Tlangau, Siiksek (blacksmith), etc who assisted the Chief in his administration and functioning.

Zomi Chieftainship was hereditary. From clan to clan the custom differed as to whether the youngest or eldest son inherited the office of the father. The chief’s sons, other than the one who inherits his father’s chieftainship, on attaining marriageable age were assigned another village in which he exercised independent authority, but paid tribute to the parent village. Each clan has a hierarchical order of Chieftainship with the senior-most linear chief as head of the Chiefs among a particular clan. This shows that Chieftainship among the Zomi has a broad-based federal structure. A good example can be seen in Falam area. At the time the British conquered the Zomi, Falam had developed itself into the most powerful of Chieftainships in Zo country. They had done this through development of a political organization comparable to democratic types of government found in the western world. The people enjoyed equal rights and freedom, and even Chiefship was open to all. Carey and Tuck remarks as,

“Unity in strength is a Falam motto, and therefore every quarter of the village is represented in discussion on all matters connected with the tribe and village.”

When Zoland came under British control, the Zomi Chieftainships were recognized, and the British did not interfere with the Chiefs’ powers and functions. Village organization and local authorities were left as they were. Today the institution of Chieftainship continues to exist with all its rights and privileges in the hill areas of Manipur whereas it was replaced by Village Council with nominal Chiefship in Mizoram and Chin State.

Beside Chieftainship, there were other common bonds and practices in Zomi society. In fact, the Zomi have always practiced a form of socialism within their communities. This form of unique socialism is called ‘Tlawmngaihna’ in Lushai dialect, which means ‘love of less’. It implies the capacity for hard work, bravery, endurance, generosity, kindness and selflessness. Zomi forefathers emphasized this value of action to their progeny and today it continues in the form of ‘philanthropic organisations’ e.g. Hmar Youth Association, Kuki Khanglai Lawmpi, Young Mizo Association, Zomi Youth Association, … The spirit of philanthropism existed among the Zomi, even before it was christened into an organisation/association, in the form of ‘Zawlbuk/Haam’ where all bachelors in the village spent the night in a particular place. This unique institution is as old as the village itself.

Early History & Migration of Zomi

2007-09-10T17:03:00.000+02:00

Early History & Migration

The early history of the Zomi is obscure, shrouded in myths and legends. In the absence of written documents, it is extremely difficult to trace their early history. However, through historical, linguistics, archaeological findings, and ethnic relationships, it is now accepted that they belong to the Tibeto-Burman. Thus their movements can only be studied and identified in terms of the general movements of the Tibeto-Burman tribes. Like the other tribes of the Indo-Burma frontier areas, the Zomi too could have originated from China.

The area which lies between the upper course of the Yangtze Kiang and the Hwang Ho Rivers are believed to be the original home of these people. S. K. Chatterji also makes an attempt to identify the area of the “North-West China, between the head waters of the Hwang Ho and the Yangtze Kiang Rivers” as the origin of the Sino-Tibetan migration into India and Burma. Dr. Grierson wrote “…tradition and comparative physiology agree in pointing to North-Western China between the upper course of the Yangtze Kiang and of the Hwang Ho as the original home of the Tibeto-China race, to which the Tibeto-Burman and the Siamese-Chinese groups belong”. Though acceptable because of lack of any other plausible explanation, the original home of the Zomi remain indeterminate. But still it is quite obscure to know when and how they were originated from this place.

It is claimed that the Zomi is one of the oldest groups of people who settled in Burma. Regarding the pattern of their historical movements, the theory advanced by F. K. Lehman quoted below is worthwhile to note –

“Ethnic and linguistic differentiation certainly existed at an early period. The ancestor of the Chin and of the Burmans must have been distinct from each other even before they first appeared in Burma. Undoubtedly, these various ancestral groups were descended in part from groups immigrating into Burma, starting about the Christian era. But it is also probable that some of these groups were in Burma in the remote past, long before the date indicated by any present historical evidence”.

There is, however, no doubt that the Zomi had entered into Burma in different waves along with other groups of people. This argument is supported by folklores, oral tradition and legends. They came into this region by different routes. Some groups had gone up into the Tibetan plateau to the north while other groups moved into Burma in three waves. The First people who migrated from China were the Mon-Khmer races, and the second wave was that of the Tibeto-Burman races which consist of the Zomi, the Burmese, Lolo, Kachin, etc. The third wave was that of the Tai-Chinese consisting of Shan, Siamese, Karen, etc. The Mon-Khmer group moved first from Central Asia and entered into the Indo-Chinese peninsula. They mainly moved southwards following the Mekong Valley as far south as into Kampuchea and Thailand, whence by a lateral westward movement they reached Burma.

The Tibeto-Burman wave, which includes the Zomi, moved south-westward, on the line of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin (Tuikang) and disbursed along the mountainous regions of the Indo-Burma areas and of Burma on its western side. Regarding the north southward migrations, Prof. F. K. Lehman wrote:

"Historical linguistics, archaeology, and racial relationships definitely indicate the ancestors of these various peoples did indeed come from the North… history shows, however, that both hills and plain peoples have moved about within the general region of South-West China and Southeast Asia over considerable distances for many centuries until recent past”.

With regard to the Zomi, it is mentioned that they had migrated from the north to the southern valley areas of the Chindwin River, and then stopped by the Bay of Bengal before turning to the north again. Carey and Tuck are also of the same opinion. And when they reached the plains of Burma they were divided into several groups. One group moved towards the areas lying between the Chindwin and Irrawaddy rivers. The other groups moved towards the south and the west of Chindwin via Hukawang valley, Zou country and Arakan before 1000 A.D. the last immigrants were perhaps the Lushei and Hmar ancestors who, according to Pu K. Zawla, came to the Chindwin belt around 996 A.D. According to their local tradition, the first known settlement of the Hmar tribes was the Shan Village (Shan Khua) where they came in contact with the Shans as borne out by folk songs like the one quoted below:

“Ka pa lam thak a tha’n dang,
Sinlung lam thak aw a tha’n dang;
Shan khua ah thapo in vang…..
(My father’s step were remarkably good,
Sinlung’s steps were remarkably good;
Tens are the good men in Shan village….)

According to legendary sources, right from the early historical period the Zomi made their settlement in the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin valleys. After their kingdom was destroyed by the Chinese, they crossed the Chindwin and settled in the area of Kale-Kabaw-Myitha-Yaw Valleys and Panduang Hills. They made a permanent settlement in the valley areas of the river which they called ‘Tuikang’ – white water. But later the Burmese called the river ‘Chindwin’ (Cin/Chin=Burmese name for Zomi; Dwin = valley or region) and the name stuck through British acceptance.

Another theory based on folktales and legends claim that the Zomi had founded a kingdom called “Pugam” and its capital was Pagan. According to Chinese writers, this kingdom was situated between two and three hundred li (1 li = ½ kilometer) to the south-west of Yung-Chiang, a border state of China, on the north and northeast Nanchao (Thai) states of Upper Burma and Northern Siam; on the north and north-east of the Cheula (Kamboja), and to the east the seas (Gulf of Marteban) to the south (Cambodia). The Burmese and Chinese called this place “Piao-khua”.

It is said that the Zomi ancestors had settled there since 484 B.C. Fan Ch’o, a historian-turned-diplomat of the Tang dynasty, who was the author of “Man-Shu” (Story of Nanchao), 863 A.D. had identified the Chindwin river as “Mi-no-Chiang” (Chiang means River). He also mentioned the existence of three kingdoms in the ninth century A. D. They were Mino, Min-Ch’en and P’iao. Prof. Luce tried to identify the “Mi-Ch’en” (Zomi) as the ‘Man Kingdom of Kyontu’, a Burmese area situated near Waw qt, the old mouth of Pegu river, about 20 miles northeast of Pegu and P’iao with the Pyu or Pu Kingdom at Halin town in Shwabo area in Burma. Regarding Mino, it was, with Zo kingdom, situated near the Chindwin River. As Sir J. C. Scott remarks,

“Probably they (the Zomi) may be taken to be a presentiment of the Pagan Burman before he acquired Buddhism. It is also undisputed that the Thet or Sak, of Thara Keltara, who moved from to found and start the Burmese race as we know, are a Chin clan”.

The Asho Zomi tradition says that the original name of Pagan was “Pugam” which literally means country or Kingdom of our ancestors. (Pu=ancestors/forefathers; gam= kingdom/country). But, unfortunately, it has come to be written as “Pugan” in Burmese. Yet “Pugam”, “Pugan” and “Pagan” are not Burmese words. They are Zomi words. Moreover, Mount Popa also is simply “Pupa Mual”, a word or term absent in the Burmese vocabulary. This undeniable fact has been approved as true by the Burmese Socialist Programme Party Research office, Rangoon. Apart from this tradition, the Zomi of Yaw country in the Pakokku District also claims that they had come from Pupa (Popa) hills.

The Zomi folksongs give the picture of their settlement, prosperity and the civilization that evolved in the plains of Burma until the hand of Tartars (Mongols) struck them in the last part of the 13th century A.D. Dr. Francis Mason also mentioned that the Zomi had established an independent state in the Upper Chindwin areas. The observation about the establishment of a kingdom is clearly evident by the terms “Kumpi”, “Mang”, and “Leng” which are equivalent to Kingship.

However, their prosperity did not last long. They were destroyed by the Mongols. Lt. Trant wrote:

“The interlopers disposed their king and put many of their chieftains to death; they obligated the others to seek for refuge in flight…with them went some members of the royal family, but in course of time, and from deaths and changes of residence, all traces of them were lost and they know not whether any of the royal blood exists or not”.

HISTORY: Who are the Zomi?

2007-09-10T16:52:00.000+02:00

HISTORY

Who are the Zomi?

The term 'Zomi' meaning, 'Zo People' is derived from the generic name 'Zo', the progenitor of the Zomi. In the past they were little known by this racial nomenclature. They were known by the non-tribal plain peoples of Burma, Bangladesh and India as Chin, Kuki, or Lushai. Subsequently the British employed these terms to christen those 'wild hill tribes' living in the 'un-administered area', and was subsequently legalised to be the names for the newly adopted subjects by Queen Victoria of England. However, they called themselves Zomi since time immemorial. They are Zomi not because they live in the highlands or hills, but are Zomi and called themselves Zomi because they are the descendants of their great great ancestor, 'Zo'.

In this regards, F.K. Lehman, Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Illinois (USA), who had done extensive study on the Chin of Burma, said:

'No single Chin word has explicit reference to all the peoples we customarily call Chin, but all - or nearly all of the peoples have a special word for themselves and those of their congeners with whom they are in regular contact. This word is almost always a variant form of a single root, which appears as Zo, Yo, Ysou, Shou and the like.'

Relating to this generic name, Fan-Cho a diplomat of the Tang dynasty of China, mentioned in 862 AD a Kingdom in the Chindwin Valley 'whose Princes and Chiefs were called Shou (Zo)' . In 1783, Father Vincentius Sangermano in his book, 'A Description of the Burmese Empire' described them as, "a petty nation called JO (JAW)" Sir Henry Yule, as early as 1508 mentioned about the YO country the location of which was "west of the mouth of the Kyen-dwen (Chindwin) the interior of Doab, between the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin, from Mout-Shabo upwards and the whole of the hill country east and north-east of the capital, towards the Ruby-mines, the upper course of Hyitnge, and the Chinese frontier" . Rev. Howard Malcolm also testified thus, "The YAW (ZO) is on the lower waters of the Khyendiwen (Chindwin) not far from Ava. The district is sometimes called YO or JO".

Another early use of the name ZO with reference to the Zomi (Kuki-Chin-Lushai), the first on the Lushai Hills side which till then was a terra incognito, was by Col. T.H. Lewin, the first white man to know the inhabitants of Lushai Hills (Mizoram). He wrote that he came to know, during the Lushai Expedition of 1871-72 that, 'the generic name of the whole nation is Dzo' Dr. Francis Buchanan also wrote of Zomi and Zomi language , while Captain Pemberton mentioned Zo or Jo in his 'Reports on the Eastern Frontiers of British India, 1835'. The fact that the Zomi were known as ZOU or YO or YAW, before their society evolved into clan based organisation and lineage segmentation, was pointed out by Dr. G.A. Grierson in his survey, thus,

'The name (Kuki and Chin) is not used by the tribes themselves, who use titles such as ZOU or YO or CHO'.

Rev Sukte T. Hau Go, a former lecturer of Mandalay University (Burma) also shared the same view,

"Zomi is the correct original historical name of our people, from the Naga hill to the Bay of Bengal. To the north of Tedim, the Thadous and other tribes call themselves Yo; in Falam, Laizo. The Tedim people call themselves Zo; the Lushais, Mizo; in Haka, Zotung, Zophei, Zokhua. In Gangaw area Zo is pronounced as YAW, in Mindat Jo or CHO; and in Paletwa Khomi. In Prome, Thayetmyo, Sandoway and Bassein areas they call themselves A-Sho. So, inspite of slight variations Zomi is our original historical national name ".

Regarding the truth of Zomi as the racial designation of the so-called Kuki-Chin people, U Thein Re Myint, a well known Burmese Writer, who knew Chin history, perhaps better than the Chin themselves remarks:

'Even though these tribes of people, who are called Chin, do not necessarily protest their name, their original name is, in fact, Zomi '.

Two British administrators, Bertram S. Carey and H.N. Tuck who place Zo people under modern system of administration record as thus:

'Those of the Kuki tribes which we designate as "Chins" do not recognise that name……they call themselves YO (ZO)…and YO (ZO) is the general name by which the Chins call their race'

Another European writer, Sir J. George Scott also claimed that, the Zomi never called themselves by such names as Kuki or Chin or Lushai. He wrote:

'The names like Kuki and Chin are not national, and have been given to them by their neighbours. Like others, the people do not accept the name given by the Burmese and ourselves; they do not call themselves Chins, and they equally flout the name of Kuki which their Assamese neighbours use. They call themselves Zhou or Shu and in other parts Yo or Lai.

It is, therefore, no wonder that Zomi use the term Zo, Zou, Zhou, Chou, Shou, Yo, Jo, Yaw, Shu, etc in their speech and poetic language as Zo-Vontawi, Zo-lei, Zogam or Zoram, Zo-tui, Zo-fa, etc; in naming geographical names such as Zotlang, Zopui, Zobawks; and in some of the clan names like Zophei, Zotung, Zokhua, Laizo, Bawmzo, Zote, etc. All these have a common derivation from the generic name, "ZO". It is also because of this fact that scholars like Dr. Vum Kho Hau, Prof. Laldena, Dr. Vum Son, Dr. Tualchin Neihsial, Dr. H. Kamkhenthang, Dr. Mangkhosat Kipgen, Cap. Sing Khaw Khai, Dr. J. M. Paupu, Pu K. Zawla, Pu R. Vanlawma, B. Langthanliana, Dr. V. Lunghnema, Dr. Hawlngam Haokip, Pu L. S. Gangte, Pu T. Gougin, Pu Thang Khan Gin Ngaihte, Rev. S. Prim Vaiphei, Rev. Khup Za Go, Pu L. Keivom, Rev. S. T. Hau Go, Dr. Khen Za Sian, Prof. Thang Za Tuan, Rev. Sing Ling etc. concluded that ZO is the ancestor of the Zo people (Zomi).

SOME BASIC FACTS ABOUT INDIA’S POLITICAL,

2007-09-08T17:41:00.000+02:00

SOME BASIC FACTS ABOUT INDIA’S POLITICAL,SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

by George Mathew

Director, Institute of Social Science New Delhi

Introduction

India has a sub-continental dimension, covering an area of 32,87,263 sq.km, with a population of 846.30 million as on 1 March 1991. According to the 1993 estimate India’s population is 896,567,000. The annual population growth rate for 1980-93 was 2.0%. The second most populous country in the world, India is the home of 16% of the world’s population and accounts for 2.42% of the total world area. The population of India as recorded at each decennial census from 1901 onward has grown steadily except during 1911-21 when it showed a decline. In absolute terms, the country’s population has increased by 161.12 million during the decade 1981-91, which is ten times the population of Australia and more than twice that of Germany.

An encouraging feature is the decline in the growth rate of population which marginally decreased from 24.66% in 1971-81 to 23.85% during 1981-91.

India comprises 25 states and seven union territories (see map). In most states the population growth rate declined during the decade. However, seven states and three union territories, which account for one-third of the country’s population, recorded an increase in the growth rate. Nagaland registered the highest growth rate of 56.86% while Kerala, the lowest rate of 13.98 %. Uttar Pradesh continues to be the largest state, population-wise, with 16.44% of the people, followed by Bihar comprising 10.21% of the country’s population.

Bombay metro is the most populated city with an urban population of 12.60 million, followed by Calcutta with 11.02 million, Delhi with 9.42 million and Madras with 5.42 million. The population density (inhabitants per sq.km.) has gone up from 216 in 1981 to 273 persons in 1993.

Other important facts (1991) are:

Crude Birth rate

30.5

Crude Death rate

10.2

Infant Mortality rate

91.0

1980

1993

Population age 0 to 5

29%

25%

Population age 6 to 14

38%

34%

Percentage of

Urban population to total population

26.00

1981

1991

Percentage of

total workers to total population

36.70

37.68

Percentage of

male workers

52.62

52.56

Percentage of

female workers

19.67

22.73

1980

1993

Daily newspapers, copies per 1000

21

32

Radio receivers

per 1000 inhabitants

38

79

1980

1990

Television receivers

per 1000 inhabitants

4

32

Declining Sex Ratio

One of the most disturbing aspects of the Indian census is the decline in the female proportion of the population. The sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) in India has been generally adverse to women. The ratio has also declined over the years except in the decade 1971 to 1981 when it slightly improved from 927 to 934. In 1991, it fell again to 927 per thousand males. The state of Kerala, known for its high physical quality of life like high literacy and with near more than one-fifth of its population Christians, presents a sharply different picture as the sex ratio is 1036 females per 1000 males. The inhuman neglect of girl child and discrimination against women account for this abnormal trend.

Political

India has a functioning democracy, the largest in the world. More than 500 million people – 18 years and above – out of its 844 million (1991) elected members of the Lower House of the Parliament in the latest general elections held in May and June 1991. Fifty-three per cent voters exercised their franchise in the latest elections. The percentage, though, was considered to be the lowest ever in the history of Indian elections. Higher levels of people’s participation has been a hallmark of Indian elections. For the last 44 years since Independence, democratic elections have been a regular feature in this country.

The political ethos today in India is rooted in the long years of the National Movement for Independence. India’s first organized attempt to overthrow British colonial power was in 1857 but it took the shape of a mass movement or mass struggle in the early decades of the present century. It permeated all levels of social life. Political education became part of Indian life through cultural organisations, educational institutions, reform movements, caste and communal associations and, above all, the plurality of parties, their ideologies, and media. Literature, art, theatre, etc. grew around the themes of nationalism and democracy. It is not wrong to say that today India is an “intensely political land and politics is in the people’s bloodstream.” Competing ideologies and parties attempt through all available means to educate the masses on issues affecting them, not only on the eve of elections but even at other times. In India there will be an election every year at one or another place, state or local level, if not a by-election to the Parliament. Each general election is a near social revolution in its magnitude and sweep. The discussions and de-bates are not confined to local issues; they are analysed in public meetings, from a national and international perspective. People know that their collective future is determined by the political process and that they have a stake in it. This means not indifference but active participation in elections.

India is one of the biggest functioning democracy in the world. But superimposed on a feudal social framework unexposed to real democratic traditions the people find it difficult to make a real success of their newly found democratic praxis. Once charismatic leaders like Pandit Nehru who practised democratic principles were removed the weakness of this democracy surfaced. The ruling party which ruled most of the time has degenerated.

A situation that has been developing in the recent past causing concern for the future of democracy is that of tensions and violence during campaigning and voting – in some regions to the extent of impeding the electoral process. In the 1991 elections more than 200 people lost their lives in election-related violence. This has resulted in politics and politicians being shown in a bad light, as well as a decline in political standards.
The institutions of democracy – parties, press (media), parliament, judiciary and local self-governments – create political awareness and therefore these institutions have to be nurtured and carefully protected by all democratic societies. India has had ups and downs in this vital area but on the whole there has been a fair amount of public awareness and protests whenever political expediency tried to subvert the institutions of democracy. The late Mrs. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister attempted in her own way to bend these institutions to suit her interests but the people of India asserted their democratic rights and have continued to do so whenever they have felt that there have been subtle or not so subtle attempts at manipulation.

Perhaps the potential danger to India democracy is the tendency to mix religion with politics. Hindus constitute 82.63% of India’s population. This majority religious community is not homogeneous but constituted of many hierarchically placed castes and tribes. Some of them may not even identify themselves as Hindus. In the last few elections Hindu upper caste symbols were evoked by one of the political parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its front organisations to gain power. As a result, from an average 11% vote that this party used to get, it garnered 24% of the votes in the 1991 elections to the Parliament. This trend, if continued, can pose a threat to India’s secular character, minorities, and democracy itself. When religion and politics mix in the name of protecting a majority religious community’s interests, then fascism is not far away.

However, the 1993 November elections to four State Assemblies have demonstrated that peoples of India do not approve extreme right-wing Hindutva to come to power. The BJP lost its hold oil three out of four States it ruled from 1991-92.

The recent 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment has given constitutional status to local bodies below and at the District Level, known as panchayats. There will be about 500 district level, 5000 Block (middle level) and 2,30,000 village panchayats within the next one year. 2600000 elected members will take office from 1994, out of which 80,0000 will be women (one-third seats are reserved for women).

Literacy

For the purpose of census a person is deemed as literate if he or she can read and write any language with understanding. The literacy rate in the country, excluding J&K, is 52.21% (64.13 for males and 39.29 for females). The pupil – teacher ratio at primary level in 1980 was 45 and it has risen to 47 in 1990. The percentage of female teachers at primary level in 1980 was 27% and in 1990 it rose slightly to 28%.

The National Policy on Education (NPE) adopted in 1986 and updated in 1992 constitutes a landmark in the Indian educational policy. Having recognised the problem of working children, NPE proposes to tackle it with a programme of non-formal education as an integral part of a strategy to provide basic education for all. There are an estimated 153 million Indian children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. The age specific enrollment ratio is estimated to be 80%. Yet, there are still over 28 million out-of-school children in the 6-14 age-group, over 14 million of whom according to official estimates are working children. The drop out rate is also high: nearly half the children who enter class 1 drop out before reaching class V and two-thirds before class VIII. The target population of the National Literacy Movement (NLM) are the 121 million illiterates in the 15 to 35 age-group. With all these India can still claim the “dubious distinction” of leading the world in the number of illiterates.

Human Rights

The Indian sub-continent has been the scene of numerous ethnic and political conflicts. To quell unrest, India has unfortunately resorted to the enactment of laws at both national and state levels which contradict the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Government of India is a signatory. The National Security Act (NSA), the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TDAPA), the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are of particular concern in this respect. In the states of Kashmir, Punjab, North East and Andhra Pradesh, the Government of India is engaged in paramilitary operations which have involved arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, destruction of citizen’s properties, extra-judicial executions and deaths in police and army custody.

The Indian Government was under pressure to do something about its human rights policies and record. The pressure, explicitly and implicitly, took the form of the Government of India being told by International Aid Agencies that unless there was some positive evidence to show that it was doing something about human rights, India would not be entitled to economic and financial aid and support.

In 1992, the Government of India made a proposal to establish a Human Rights Commission and the Parliament passed the bill to constitute the National Commission on Human Rights in 1993.

The human rights and civil liberties movement in the country which is strong and active, is highly critical of the way the Human Rights Commission was established as they saw in it a move to appease international organisations, institutions and powerful lobbies abroad.

Minorities

Hindus, the religious majority in India, comprise 82.6% of the population of our country. Muslims are the largest religious minority. Though Muslims constitute only 11.4% of India’s population their absolute number, 92 million, makes them the second largest national population in the world. Christians, numbering 16.2 million form 2.4%, Sikhs 2.0%, Buddhists 0.7% and others including unclassified persons constitute 0.4%. To evaluate the efficacy of various safeguards in the Constitution for the protection of the religious minorities and to make recommendations to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of all the safeguards and the laws, a Minorities Commission was set up in January 1978.

Lower Castes And Tribals

The caste system is unique to India. The 82.6% Hindus (except the tribals) are hierarchically divided into castes on the basis of purity pollution principle and division of labour by ascription. The move to do away with the caste system in the independent India has met with little or no success. On the contrary, caste identi-ties have been strengthened and play an important part in bargaining in the political and economic spheres. The assertion of rights by the once op-pressed castes in recent years has resulted in brutal suppression and conflicts bordering on caste wars. India’s 51.6 million tribals (7.8% of the total population), are considered part of the Hindu population. Although the country has excellent laws to protect the rights of the tribals, the development path embarked upon by India, that has involved the construction of large dams, super thermal power plants, large-scale mining etc., has uprooted them without adequate measures for their rehabilitation, resulting in their economic and cultural impoverishment. India has 104.7 million (15.8%) lower castes commonly known as Scheduled Castes.

Child Labour

Varying estimates abound as to the number of working children in India. According to the 1981 census, work is defined as “participation in any economically productive activity.” Main workers are those who have worked for the major part of the year preceding the date of enumeration and whose main activity has been in either cultivation or as agricultural labourers or in household industry or in other work. Marginal workers are those who have done some work but cannot be classified as main workers. According to the 1981 census, there were 13.59 million working children in India. The National Sample Survey revealed that there were 17.36 million working children in India. Using another yardstick, the Operations Research Group comes to the following conclusions:

A working child is that child who was enumerated during the survey as a child within 5 to 15 age bracket and who is at remunerative work, may be paid or unpaid, and busy any hour of the day within or out-side the family... estimated working children in our country are around 44.0 million. Out of these about 21.0% are in urban areas and the rest are rural based.

While the census definition appears to be unreasonably restrictive since it is unwilling to recognise that children play a very important economic role, even if it is not directly productive, the ORG figures seem closer to reality and underline the enormity of the problem.

Article 24 of the Indian Constitution prohibits children below the age of fourteen from working in any factory, mine or other hazardous job. Yet, children are routinely found employed in mines, on construction sites and in factories in carpet weaving, beedi making, gem industry and so on. Article 39 of the Directive Principles of State Policy directs the states to ensure just and humane conditions of work. The Child Labour Regulation Act, the Factories Act and other industrial legislations do exist according to which the present situation of child labour is not in consonance with the dignity of a child.

While India’s child labour laws prohibit children from being employed in factories and mines, where wages are high, their provisions do not apply to cottage industries, restaurants, households and the agriculture sector, where wages are low. In fact, the agricultural sector stands out as the biggest single employer of child labour in India.

In India, it is primarily female children who maintain the household in both rural and urban areas by undertaking non-productive activities like caring for younger siblings, cooking, cleaning, washing and fetching water. Parents are thus able to go out and work as wage labour because the household work is done by their children, especially daughters.

The bias against the female child is both the cause and the effect of relegating her to such a role in contrast to the more productive type of work that the male child is typically engaged in.

Though a large number of female children assist their mothers in a variety of home based industries, they largely remain outside the ambit of the child labour law for it relates only to those children working outside their homes in work-shops, factories, etc.

The existence of bonded labour in India has been recognised for long. Despite progressive legislation, it is not uncommon in parts of the country for parents to pledge their children to employers – in both the agricultural and urban unorganised sectors – against loans taken with the understanding that the child will work throughout its life for a pittance. Appallingly, many children when adults buy their freedom by offering their offspring in exchange.

Economic Situation

Indian economic situation today presents a kaleidoscopic picture that conveys hopes to some and frustrations to many.

At the time of Independence the expectations were raised very high. The early Five-Year Plans fully reflected it. There was a perspective of high growth, full employment, reduction of poverty and above all a socialist pattern of society based on distributive justice and equality of opportunity. The socialist pattern, clearly not a dogmatic variety sought to give the “commanding heights” to the public sector and control the private sector so as to serve social goals. A series of controls of production, prices, imports, physical control to direct scarce and essential commodities, location of industries, development of backward areas, etc. have been introduced. Unfortunately, this led to a controlled regime that bred inefficiency and corruption. While Thatcherism and Reagonism gained popularity in the West and capitalist world increasingly took to an era of liberalization and globalization, India too gradually welcomed liberalization. But that, in turn, led to heavy borrowing to finance increased the imports. Borrowing was easier than taxation and politically more popular. Total external debt increased from 20.6 billion in 1980 to 71.6 billion in 1991 — a 248% increase as against 71% increase in GNP. As on March 31, 1993 the official figure of debt is $93 billion as against 83.5 billion for China. No wonder net flow of funds is turning negative. By June 1991, the foreign exchange resources were pushed down to a nadir, not enough to meet even 10 days imports for a big country of the size of India. India’s credit rating which was on A+, fell to a B. The country also found it difficult to meet her debt service obligations. It was at this juncture that the IMF-World Bank inspired structural adjustment policies were clamped down on India.

The Industrial Policy Statement of July 22, l 991 which came close on heels of the announcement of the new economic reform, a policy towards greater decontrol and delicensing was announced. The role of public sector has been reduced and the number of industries exclusively under public sector was reduced to just 8. A regime of privatisation has been started in full force.

It is to be noted that Indian industry has over the years developed a highly diversified structure, considerable entrepreneurship and a vastly expanded capital market. This was in no small measure due to the autonomous and self-reliant path India has pursued over the years.

India has also built up a stable agricultural sector. Today, she has become self-sufficient in food grains. But except in Kerala land reforms were not implemented. The rural sector remains highly skewed and hierarchical.

Now the pertinent question is whether the regime of liberalization, globalization and privatisation will help the country achieve the cherished goals for which it fought the British? The answer is a firm no. The comprador business interests and the large middle class and upper echelons of society welcome the change as heralding a new world order. The WTO which will be in place from July 1, 1995, will usher in a global capitalist world order dictated more by considerations of profit. This will undermine the nation-State’s efforts to help the marginalised, poor and the needy without entitlements to participate in the market. Already the style of development has done the damage. The country’s economy has been hijacked by corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business people. Indians are now part of what they call “emerging nations” with freedom for international capital to operate in India while millions of small man categories are denied of credit. International financial community is finding India an attractive place for investment. From the near-zero situation today’s fore amounts to $17 billion. This is an all-time high and is expected to grow. It shows that inter alia foreign investors are prepared to park their hinds in India. Now really India faces what some economists call a Dutch disease. While this surges ahead the two questions need be answered. First, are the increase in financial capital improving production or are we ushering a casino economy? Second, do the financial reforms help the credit needs of vulnerable sections of society? The answers are clearly in the negative.

The sum and substance of what is said is that the new reforms are targeted towards the 250 and odd million people who only can be part of the market friendly regime. For a country with over 870 million population the question is can we leave the rest of 600 and above to the mercies of the market. The trickle down theory is totally irrelevant.

In India, by government’s own admission, 42% of its population is below poverty line (those who cannot afford a daily intake of 2100 calorie), nearly one-fifth of the total urban population, or 20.1%, is poor. Independent scholars, however, estimate the incidence of urban poverty to be around 37 percent. The most disturbing feature of these official and independent estimates relates to the figures on the absolute number of urban poor. While official estimates show that there has been a significant decline in the number of urban poor from 47.3 million to 41.7 million between 1982 to 1988, independent estimates indicate just the opposite trend, an increase in the absolute number of persons in absolute poverty, from 69.2 million to 77 million for the same period. Experts apprehend that the discouraging trend pertaining to the growth of absolute numbers of urban poor in India has accelerated after the introduction of the economic reform process since the 1990s. It is estimated that during 1991-92, the first year of the adjustment and stabilization process of the Indian economy, there has been an overall increase of 10.7 million in the number of poor in the country, of which 2.6 million has taken place in urban areas.

The New Economic Policy (NEP)

The Government has undertaken sweeping economic changes since July 1991 that at best services the interest of merely the tiny, privileged minority. Under pressure from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the internal lobbies the trend is to integrate the economy into the global market ignoring local, political, economic conditions and cultural backgrounds. India is compelled to start from an unequal situation. The opening up policy undermines self-reliance, in the long term pursuit of independent development path. Fears are expressed whether it will even affect the nation’s sovereignty and independence. The NEP has resulted in devaluation of rupee, inflation, rise in prices of essential commodities, cuts on education, health and social welfare. The government for all practical purposes is withdrawing from its responsibility of providing social security and welfare to the poor.

Implications Of GATT

The overall tendency will be towards expansion of agri-business enterprises and bringing more land under export oriented cash crops at the expense of subsistence agriculture. This will lead to larger concentration of land at the top and swelling of the ranks of landless agricultural labour.

This is a direct onslaught on the impoverished masses. The traditional knowledge systems about seeds, live stock and agriculture as well as soil re-generation and water management will be destroyed.

The NEP and the GATT has political implications too. The elected representative and the entire parliamentary process may lose its power to represent the people’s grievances. Democratic rights face abridgment with talk of moratorium on protest, struggles and strikes. Workers and union rights will be curtailed to suit the regiments of TNCs and local industrialists with amendments of labour laws. The military and paramilitary are being strengthened to control and suppress people’s organised struggles.

There is sigh of hope in the protest movements gathering momentum against the NEP and GATT. There are groups and articulate sections of intelligentsia thinking of alternative economic policies which have generated considerable interest throughout the country.

Environment

At the time of India’s Independence, our priority was the provision of the basic human needs of food, fuel, shelter, health, employment, etc. This was also reflected in the Five Year Plans. In the early 70s problems related to environment began to receive the direct attention of the central government. Nearly 10 years later, in 1980, the Department of Environment was set up. From 1985, there is a full fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests to serve as the focal point in the administrative structure for the planning, promotion and coordination of environmental and forestry programmes.

Environmental protection and ecological balance are essential to ensure that development is sustainable in the long run. Environmental problems in India can be broadly classified as (i) those arising as negative effects of the very process of development, and (ii) those arising from conditions of poverty and underdevelopment.

The Environment (Protection) Act 1986, is a landmark legislation as it empowers the Central Government to take all necessary measures for protection of the environment and to plan and execute a nation-wide programme for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution, including laying down standards for discharge of environmental pollutants and for quality of environment. It aims at plugging the loopholes in the other related acts.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests announced a National Policy for Abatement of Pollution in 1992, according to which the key elements for pollution prevention are adoption of best available clean and feasible technologies rather than end-pipe treatment. This implies serious consideration of production process changes which involve significant improvement in energy and water conservation.

Under the same policy, 17 categories of heavily polluting and environmentally critical industries have been identified for introduction of pollution control measures through economic and policy instruments on a priority basis. The industries are cement, thermal power plants, distilleries, sugar, fertilizers, oil refineries, among others.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 13 grossly sly polluted stretches of rivers Sabarmati, Subernarekha, Godavari, Krishna, Indus (tributaries), Sutlej, Ganga (tributaries), Yamuna, and a few others to formulate short-term result oriented programmes.

The Environment Ministry has identified 19 critically polluted areas in the country which need special attention as regards pollution control. These include Vapi (Gujarat), Singrauli (Uttar Pradesh), Korba (Madhya Pradesh), Talcher (Orissa), Howrah (West Bengal), Chembur (Maharashtra), Najafgarh (Delhi), among others.

Sixty per cent of air pollution in India is due to emissions of vehicles moving on the roads network. Although traffic density and petrol and oil consumption are not high as compared with those in the developed countries, the rate of pollutant emission per vehicle in India is 35% higher than that in the USA on account of poor maintenance of vehicles and roads, lack of traffic planning, a high proportion of old, overused vehicles, crowded highways and a large proportion of two and three wheelers.

The objective of all development is to enhance the economic and general well-being of the people so that their standard and quality of living can be improved. It is imperative to incorporate environmental aspects in development projects right at the inception stage, to prevent the erosion and contamination of the resource base itself. Environmental Impact Assessment (ElA), which was introduced in the country in 1978, is a handy tool to assess the environmental compatibility of the development projects in terms of their location, suitability of technology, efficiency in resource utilization and recycling etc. At present ElAs are done for almost all major projects including thermal power, mining, river valley, industries, atomic power, new towns, communication projects etc. Projects which are sensitive and located in already environmentally degraded areas and those which are central government projects costing over Rs.200 million, are also subject to EIA.

Forests are a renewable source and contribute substantially to economic development. They also play a major role in enhancing the quality of the environment. India has an area of 75.23 million hectares notified as forests, of which 40.6 million hectares is classified as re-served and 21.5 million hectare is protected forests. About 19.47% of the total geographical area of the country is under actual forest cover.

Priority areas are: (a) Conservation of bio-diversity including forests, marine life, and mountain ecosystems; (b) Conservation of soil and moisture and prevention of pollution of water sources; (c) Control of industrial pollution and wastes; (d) Access to clean technologies; (e) Tackling urban environmental issues (safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and garbage disposal); (f) Strengthening environmental education, training, awareness and resource management; (g) Alternative energy plan.

In spite of government regulations environmental degradation is going on because of extreme poverty of the people and politician-official-busines/industry nexus.

Social Security

Social security has been listed in the Concurrent List of the Constitution signifying the responsibility of both the Centre and the States in this sphere. The task of providing meaningful social security continues to be challenging in view of financial as well as operational constraints, high incidence of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the large size of unorganized/informal sector.

The permanent social security benefits provided through legislative measures like Workmen’s Compensation Act, Employees State Insurance Act, Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Maternity Benefit Act, and Payment of Gratuity Act, etc. cater to mainly organised urban labour comprising less than 10% of the total labour force. Most of the States/UTs have pension schemes for the old and disabled, but due to eligibility criteria of income and age, only about 9% of old-age population gets the benefit of pension. In the last few years, group insurance schemes for landless agricultural labourers, life insurance scheme for Integrated Rural Development Programme (lRDP) beneficiaries and group insurance for certain categories of workers belonging to weaker sections of the society have been introduced. The coverage under permanent social security measures, however, continues to be small.

Emphasis is, therefore, being given to transitory measures of social security. These include special employment and anti-poverty programmes, welfare programmes for development of women, children, weaker sections of the society, handicapped and disabled persons, Public Distribution System for supply of essential commodities at low prices, and subsidised education and basic health care. The National Renewal Fund has been established to fund schemes for compensation, retraining and redeployment of workers affected by economic restructuring.

Rural Poor

More and more areas under the cultivation of food crops have now been planted with export oriented cash crops. This has led to non-availability of food leading to starvation and hunger among the rural poor. With drastic reduction in subsidies, majority of the poor cannot afford to purchase food grains from the open market. The government schemes to help the poor, for instance, IRDP have declined from Rs. 3.4 million in 1989-90 to Rs. 2 million in 1992-93. The employment generated under the JRY (Jawahar Rozgar Yojana) also declined from 864 million man-days in l989-90 to 778 million man-days in 1992-93. In both, the decline was pronounced during the period of SAP, the years 1991-92 and 1992-93.

The logic of liberalization prevalent in the industrial sector holds true also for the agricultural sector. In the name of efficiency small farmers are gradually driven out of agriculture by big farmers and agribusinesses. This has become a major area of concern especially in relation to the question of food security which is critical in a country where a third of the population lives below the poverty line. The gross area under food grains cultivation came down from 127.7 million hectares in 1988-89 to 126.8 million hectares in 1991-92. As against this, cultivated area under cash crops has shown magnificent increase during same period. This trend towards commercialization will only intensify with the export-or-perish principles being now vigorously pursued under SAP. Further, a disturbing trend is observed in terms of the per capita availability of food grains which declined from 494.5 grams per day in 1989 to 476.4 grams in 1992.

Moreover such averages of macro statistics reveal little about food security at the threshold level. Growing food stocks and availability are meaningless if households lack the purchasing power or resources to ensure an adequate nutritional intake. Further, security at household level may reveal nothing about intra-household distribution of food, which by convention discriminate against women. Clearly then, the notion of food security must be considered in terms that reach beyond a simple stock-taking of government storage facilities.

Besides, the government is amending the land ceiling laws to provide easy access of MNCs to penetrate the agricultural and food processing industries. Number of legislations and regulations to protect the small and marginal farmers and agricultural workers remain on paper and unimplemented with the meagre benefits of the measures being siphoned away by big farmers and farm-lords.

The export-drive will lead to further inequalities in land ownership. Small land owners, without the means to shift production to more profitable export crops will have no option then but to sell off their lands and become landless labourers. Employment opportunities are minimum in the export-crops, the sector being highly capital intensive. This will lead to massive unemployment, mass migration, disruption of family and family life, child labour and intensified exploitation of women. Thus, the globalization of agriculture leads to the demise of rural life and society.

Urban Poor

During the decade of the ‘80s there has been considerable shrinkage in employment opportunities. The rate of growth of employment has been decreasing every year during the decade. The later half, 1987 to 1990 has actually witnessed negative growth rate in employment in the private sector and the rate in public sector was only around 1.5%. The official figures based on registration in employment exchanges underes-timate the severity of unemployment and under the liberalized process of economic competition, the industry will begin to retrench workers which was not so easy even in the recent past. Along with the “exit policy” that is sought to be implemented, employees will be forced to choose between unemployment and a lower wage rate. Moreover with the full adoption of market economy in Indian conditions where labour supply exceeds demand, the real wages will be compressed by 30-40% of the present level. Unskilled labour with very low bargaining power because of its unorganised character and poverty will hit the hardest.

Since the last couple of years a new phenomenon of employees resorting to employment of contract and casual workers is noticed. This has led to further drop in the strength work of the permanent work force. According to one assessment out of a total of 300 million in the work force, nearly 270 million persons work as casual or contract workers or self-employed.

The shrinkage of job opportunities in rural areas forces growing migration of rural people and thus to an increase in urban population — from 29 million in the ‘60s to 56 million in the ‘80s.

The situation has led to a perceptible increase in indebtedness of the rural poor. In the absence of institutional mechanism local issuers advance money to the toilers at rates as high as l00% and use goons to recover interest and capital with criminal intermediation and even torture. This is one factor which leads to the almost all-pervasive criminalisation of the city.

The criminalisation is now also a political phenomenon. The external reactionary forces are based upon criminal terror which permeates both the work sites and the residential areas. The subsequent erosion of democratic institutions is capitalised upon by forces of religious fundamentalism and communalism who receive no mean aid from the policy paralysis on socio-cultural issues of the Central and State governments.

Women are, of course, the special victims of this abysmal urban conditions. The shrinking job market renders them unemployed. They then fall into the trap of the highly exploitative contract labour system. Self-employment schemes have been more or less uniform failures. These have not led to the empowerment of women but only pushed them into the money economy on the most adverse terms. The current spurt in globalisation and liberalisation will further depress their incomes, intensify their exploitation and deteriorate their workshop conditions.

This, obviously, leads to deterioration of living standards and conditions. Health already vulnerable due to malnutrition, hard work and violence suffers even more. Commercialisation of health services deprives them of even the minimum relief.

Women are also targets of dubious and hazardous population control technologies, once again heavily pushed by the international financial institutions. Cynically the authorities use them as guinea pigs and play havoc with their bodies, minds and lives.

The helplessness on the one hand and the rampant consumerism and commercialisation on the other propels many women into prostitution. Not only are they demanded thus but put in bondage, subjected to violence and ultimately smitten with STDs and AIDS.

In the last two decades, most rapidly growing cities have become the symbols of unequal development. These islands of prosperity deny the urban poor even the basic right to shelter. As a result, they are forced to live on pavements, railway tracks etc. Under pressure to release urban land for non-housing purposes or for expensive residential complexes, the State responds with demolition and eviction of the urban poor from their dwellings. The threat of eviction is an ever-present danger with guarantee to alternative site almost non-existent.

Authorities fail to realise that the urban poor are an integral part of urban society and they have to play a key role in maintaining the informal economy of most of the metropolises, a major contribution which goes unrecognised. In this sector too privatization and monetization has made its impact. People are lured into the logic of privatization schemes by the promise of security of tenure. Often this leads to the eviction of the poor in favour of schemes for high and middle income sections. The promise of alternative accommodation under “sites-and-services” schemes becomes meaningless as people under the pressure of inflation and unemployment are unable to repay loan installments. This is all the more true as the alternative sites are invariably far away from places where people have their livelihood, (where they can work as domestic workers or petty vendors, recycle waste, ply rickshaws, etc.) As the Jawahar Rojgar Yajana scheme has been cut by 38%, loans for self-employment are also not easy. Under economic pressure people will sell their right to accommodation and again squat elsewhere illegally.

Conclusion

“The Asian miracles,” or “the Asian tigers” and the “emerging economies” phenomena, are all indicative of the new economic development taking place in Asia. This rapid economic development in several parts of Asia has brought with it new problems as well as possibilities.

It is clear that market-based economic policies, alone, cannot create conditions to eliminate poverty and unemployment. In fact, the inequalities created by market forces and their distortions will worsen existing social crises in parts of Asia. In other words, country experiences in Asia show that growth alone cannot and will not solve the problems of poverty and unemployment without state intervention.

The tendency of several Asian countries to incur large expenditures on defence during the Cold War period must give way to diverting those resources to social sectors. Mahbubul Haq has summed it up succinctly: “It is time for the politicians and the generals to interpret national security not just for their land but for their people. Not just territorial security but human security.” At the same time, the post-Cold War scenario must not give space for economic conflict or economic warfare resulting in the domination of one economy over the other.

In Asia, social justice for the deprived sections – minorities, women, oppressed castes, indigenous people – is the priority. If appropriate actions are not taken the gap between the burgeoning middle class, with its consumerist values, and the poor will continue to widen. There is an urgent need for the rich and affluent to reorient their life styles and consumption patterns because the available resources of Asia are not enough to sustain these high consumption levels of a few.

ONE CHINESE CHRISTIAN’S VIEW OF GOD

2007-09-08T17:36:00.000+02:00

ONE CHINESE CHRISTIAN’S VIEW OF GOD

by K.H. Ting

Bishop K.H. Ting is President of the China Christian Council. Bishop Ting presented this
paper in the Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines on the occasion of the conferral of the Doctor in Theology (honoris causa) degree in November 1993 by the Union
Theological Seminary, Dasmaninas, Curiste, Philippines.

First of all I want to thank Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines and the President of the Seminary for the honor you give the church in China and to me personally. J trust that what you do today will result in a closer relationship between our two peoples and our two churches. We in China have a high evaluation of the witness of the Christians in the Philippines to Jesus Christ, calling people’s attention to human worth as children of God and to democracy as the mandate of history in accordance to the will of God. We, the church in China, have much to learn from our fellow Christians in the Philippines. Thank you also for the invitation to address this distinguished group of church leaders, professors and students. This is a good opportunity for me to bring the warm greetings of your fellow Christians in China. Let me also thank the President for the kind exaggerations in his citations.

I would like to speak to you on how more and more Chinese Christians, and I as one of them, have come to think of God as Love, as the only possible way to think of God at all. Perhaps I do not need to say that what I have to tell you is not so much for the instruction of Philippine Christians as a report to you on how we in China are trying to help our constituencies to grow into a more mature spirituality with a vision of God intellectually honest, spiritually edifying and morally challenging.

Let me begin by telling you something about myself. I was born into a family in which the grandfather on my mother’s side was an Anglican priest. I received the larger part of my formal education in China. My career in the church can be simply divided into two periods. The first period was in working among students through the Student Christian Movement, first in China, then in Canada and then on the international scene. The second period has been with theological education and religious studies in China, centering in Nanjing Theological Seminary and Nanjing University. Both of these periods are important to me in my theological formation and reorientation.

I would like to help you to see right away where I stand on your theological map. After the great social and political turmoil, called the Cultural Revolution, which cut off my theological and intellectual communication with the outside world for over ten years, I found upon resuming my international contacts three Western schools of thought most consonant with the fumblings and gropings of Chinese Christian intellectuals: liberation theology, writings in one way or another influenced by process philosophy, and the thinking of Teilhard de Chardin. This you will find understandable given not only the theme of change passed down from influential ancient Chinese classics, but also the motif of liberation and all the dynamism and zigzags of change and reform China has been going through.

My early training made me think of God largely in terms of his omnipotence, his power, his might, his self-sufficiency, his self-containment, his changelessness. Yes, in terms of his love too, but love was not God’s supreme attribute and was often overshadowed by his righteousness, his severity, his anger, his judgment and his arbitrariness.

The vicissitudes of all these years have moved me to a spirituality which affirms Christ’s place in God’s whole creative process and sees the kind of love embodied in Jesus in the four Gospels as the nature of God. Love is at the back of God’s whole creative process. Today, when I say Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, I mainly think of him as the revealer of God’s love. From struggling with the question of Jesus’ divinity and Godlikeness I have moved to the Christlikeness of God. Love becomes for me God’s number one attribute.

I am fascinated by what Alfred North Whitehead says towards the end of his Process and Reality about what he calls the “Galilean vision” in which God is perceived as a being loving, creating, educating, persuading and expecting human responses. When the Western world accepted Christianity, he says, Caesar conquered. Let me quote:

The brief Galilean vision of humility flickered throughout the ages, uncertainly... But the deeper idolatry of fashioning God in the image of the Egyptian, Persian and Roman rulers was retained. The church gave unto God the attributes which be-longed exclusively to Caesar.

Whitehead laments over the fact that, in so much of Christianity, God is conceived in terms of “the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover.” China, of course, has no lack of our own autocratic rulers in whose image various Chinese religions have fashioned their God. But it is the all-encompassing love at the heart of reality, sharing the joys and the sufferings of the created order, and moving the world towards greater coherence and greater love, that Christ reveals.

Let me help you locate me in your socio-political map too. My conviction in God as love and my conviction in socialism as the path China is to take strengthen each other. Socialism is love organized for the masses of the people. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European state power has had its effect on me, but has not shattered my conviction that, for China, neither feudalism, nor colonialism, nor capitalism is acceptable as an alternative to the social system we call socialism with Chinese characteristics which, in forty years has enabled twelve hundred million human beings to live more decently and gives us ground to hope that they can live still more decently by the end of the century. A longer view of history tells us that socialism is not an accident or a mishap that can now be erased. Socialism has only had a very short history. It has no charted course and no model to copy. While I am quite upset by many of the things done in the name of socialism, I still think socialism is a good name to describe the road for Chinese society that avoids the pitfalls of feudalism, colonialism, and capitalism all of which China has experienced and found disappointing. It is a road that liberates and develops the country’s productive power to an un-precedented extent, thus improving the people’s material livelihood, cultural level and self-respect.

We attach our hope to socialism not so much because we know exactly in detail what the socialist way is, but because we are fed up by all the other choices open to us. What is common in these other choices is the large scale of private ownership of the means of production and the unfair distribution of wealth, requiring the masses of the people to bear the cost by enduring endless suffering. People in that state cannot easily recognize God as love. We look for a corrective to all social systems which believe that the nastiest of men and women with the nastiest self-interest will work for the benefit of the masses of the people. What is called for is a brake to the un-bridled search for private profit. The failure of the Soviet Union which was just one experiment in social planning has done nothing to improve the attractiveness of feudalism, colonialism and capitalism. It is quite unthinkable that China is now to switch itself away from its socialist path and return to the old ways. I do believe that, with the gradual rise in economic and educational level, we can expect an increase of democracy in this socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Does the advocacy of atheism affect my support of socialism? No, it does not. I look at both atheists and ourselves as half-completed products in God’s creative process and that we are all becoming. There are atheists who are sincerely devoted to efforts to fashion a more humane society. Their cry against God is really a cry in favor of humanity. Their atheism is worthy of our sympathy in so far as it is a rejection of the false notions of God we religious people propagate. Who is the God they have in mind when they deny his existence? It is the tyrannical Jupiter who chains Prometheus to a cliff because he does good for humanity, or the ruthless underworld King Yen in Chinese popular religion who sends out emissaries to fetch people to be thrown in everlasting hell fire as punishment for their misdeeds. Atheistic humanism is actually one form of human seeking after God without its own knowing it, and can be our ally as it can help greatly to salvage authentic faith. We can join forces with humanitarians of many sorts to oppose the idolatry in those views of God that diminish human dignity and block human liberation. Some of my friends abroad are surprised that I sometimes speak as highly as I do of certain atheists and communists. There is a part of me as a Christian which utters a hearty “Amen” to what they advocate, a part of me that refuses to rebuke them, but rather warms to them and wants to work with them against forces we both want to combat, even though we get our orders in doing certain things together from different chains of command.

The New Testament is the source of our knowledge about Jesus Christ and through him about God. The record is fragmentary and does not give us as complete a picture of the person as we like to have. But two portraits are unmistakable:

(1) Jesus the great lover of men and women.

He tells us about the father who believes in the prodigal son and waits for his return, about the shepherd who has his ninety-nine sheep in the fold and yet cannot bear to lose one that is missing. We see a Jesus who weeps with those who suffer and rejoices with those who rejoice, a Jesus who refuses to condemn a person who has gone astray but protects her, a Jesus who has loved his friends and loves them to the end, one who tells his friends, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.” This Jesus introduces a new scale of things in which Sabbath rules are subordinate to human needs. The picture we get of him in the New Testament touches the chord in all that is best in human nature: the lonely man, homeless and self-forgetful, with his outpouring of love and sympathy, his suffering and agony, his tender words on the cross, and the final victory over ruthless power. He lived and died as one who loves, a true lover.

(2) Jesus the Cosmic Christ.

He is not just the crucified one on the cross, the only image that has meaning to many Christians. He is the one who sustains the universe by his word of power. His is the primacy over all creation. He exists before all things, and all things are held together in him. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. In him all things were created, things visible and in-visible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers. It is not that God carried his work of creation for six days and then stopped and ceded its control to the successful rebellion of Satan, and then the redeemer came into the world to rescue some individuals out of it to be returned to God, leaving all others to eternal damnation. As creativity is inexhaustible and creation a long, on-going process, Christ has been and is with God, in all the creative work in the universe to this day. He has to do with creation just as much as he has to do with redemption. Redemption is a part of God’s ongoing work of making a world of his design. The New Testament does not allow us to think that God is the creator and not the redeemer, and Christ is the redeemer and not the creator.

Now the essence of Christianity is the appeal to the person of Christ as revelation of the nature of God. When these two portraits of Jesus, Jesus the lover of men and women and Jesus the Christ in whom all things are created, are put together, we come to know God whom Christ reveals as the Cosmic-Lover, or Creator-Lover.

It is unfortunate that this is not the God many Christians in China, and I suppose, elsewhere know to be God.

The most commonly recognized attributes of God are his almightiness, his omnipresence, his omniscience, his severity, his unrelenting judgment of non-believers. We talk of love as an attribute of God too, but his love seems to be very arbitrary and enjoyed only by a few who are specially selected, or who please God in special ways. To the others, God is essentially a punisher-rewarder, a being hard to please. Hence, fear of God’s displeasure is the mark of much that goes under the name of Christianity.

I was brought up in a Christianity very much like that. We went to church every Sunday to curry God’s favor. If there was illness within the family, it was God’s punishment for some hidden sin. When I went to be a theological student to prepare myself for the ministry of the church, the common notion in the family and in church circles was that such an act of dedication would win God’s pleasure and bring health and well being to myself and my family.

Today, as I move about the Chinese church at its grassroots, I find that this is still the level of spirituality many are at. In some villages as many as half of the Christians became Christians when there was illness on the part of some family members who supposedly got healed when Christians came to pray and drive out the evil spirits. Many Christians at the grass-roots enjoy “testimony meetings” in which anybody can speak. At such meetings a common pattern emerges: some misfortune happens to a person, he or she searches for his or her sin or sins; after identifying the sin or sins and confessing to God and much praying, God moves away the misfortune. On the other hand, misfortune lingers and intensifies for those who are hard-hearted and do not repent, culminating in unending suffering and death in the family.

Holding on to this image of God is accompanied by a spirituality of acquisition and utilitarianism. We give God praises and honor and get, in return, health, wealth, protection from catastrophe in this life and eternal bliss in heaven. It is highly ironic that, while Christ was laughed at for his ability to save others but not himself, so many of his followers are only eager to save themselves by getting on the church as Noah’s Ark without a faith that concerns itself with the welfare of the people outside.

The image of God we find here is essentially what Whitehead calls that of the “ruling Caesar” with all his power over human fate. It is so far from the Christ we have come to know, to love and to adore as we read the four Gospels, with all his tenderness and rejection of power and coercion over men and women.

To say that God is love is to affirm God as the Cosmic Lover and to see love as the force directing God’s ever continuing work of creation, redemption and sanctification. Love is the supreme attribute of God, above all other attributes and subordinating them all. Christians make Christlike love the definition of God, the motivation in all God’s work of creation in nature and history. It is first of all in the ongoing process of creation that we are to see the supreme expression of God’s love. It is not a mark of higher religion to discern God’s love in terms of personal fortunes and misfortunes. God looks forward to and is working towards the emergence of a commonwealth of human beings who, out of their free will, choose to be co-creators with him of goodness, truth and beauty and of all things of value to God and to humanity. God’s love does not coerce. It works through education, persuasion, transfiguration and sanctification. In God’s creative process the world and all of us are thus far half-made products. Through this process men and women are being transformed from obedience to arbitrary commands to willing acceptance of the invitation of love, i.e. transferred from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.

We have been trained to think of God largely in terms of superior power which can either crush us or make us powerful. This is often a projection and legitimation of our power-hungry, exploitative, monopolistic social structures and attitudes. But, in the New Testament, God’s power comes out of weakness and he exercises sovereignty through crosses, not through conquests. We must not fashion God in the image of Egyptian, Persian, Roman and Chinese potentates, thereby giving to God the attributes which belong exclusively to Pharaoh, Caesar and their like. We need to relegate to the side all those attributes such as his absolute power, his absolute knowledge, his absolute changelessness, his absolute dominion, his arbitrariness and intolerance, imposed on God as a reflection of an absolutization of human beings’ own cravings, especially those of male human beings. These attributes need to be deabsolutized and subordinated to God’s supreme attribute of love.

God is no cosmic tyrant who forces obedience. He lures, invites and waits for free responses and does not resort to scolding and reprimanding. That is why we in China find the Gospels’ analogy of transformation of seeds and the growth of plants and trees in air, rain and sun more appealing than the image of the sheep which are constantly treated with rod and staff. God is the will to fellowship, not the will to power. We want to depart from a severe and intimidating God, a bulldozer God, who is not the Chrislike God the four Gospels lure us to want to believe in. We like the image of God in Hosea 11:4, of one who secures us with reins, leads us with bonds of love, lifts us like a little child to the parent’s cheek, and bends down to feed us. When I was a theological student, I wrestled with the problem of Christ’s two natures, ending up with his divinity. Today, it seems to me that to confess that Christ is Godlike is not half so important as to affirm that God is Christlike and that Christlike love is the way God runs the cosmos.

You have seen that, in affirming love as the supreme attribute of God, I have relegated his omnipotence and omniscience to the second place. We cannot think of God in his self-contained existence, in abstraction from the world, but in terms of his creative activity in the world. He works in his creation tirelessly and inexhaustibly to bring about the realization of the potentialities which he has implanted there. God in his love craves for the emergence in the universe of persons whom he can have fellowship with. Fellowship implies freedom. Human enjoyment of this freedom implies God’s respect for human choices and therefore the curtailment of his own omnipotence. In so far as human beings have the right to make choices, including wrong choices, and in so far as God respects this right, God does not have a pre-knowledge of how a person will exercise his or her freedom or right to make choices. Thus, God’s omniscience is also relativized. By permitting freedom to his creatures and accepting their misuse of it, God can bring about results more attainable than in any other way. The possibility of disobedience is the price of liberty, and liberty is the condition of selfhood and selfhood the preliminary to fellowship.

There is a popular Chinese movie condemning feudalism in which a young woman’s fiance has died but she is still compelled to marry into the family as daughter-in-law. After the tearful wedding she enters the bridal chamber, only to find a five-foot long trunk of a tree on the bed. She is expected to live the rest of her life with that log as her husband. How can she have fellowship and communion with such a non-person?

God being love, more and more of us are seeing that the father figure is not necessarily the only or the best analogy for characterizing him. For centuries and to this day, in China anyway, what is taken for granted in the father is his severity, and in the mother her loving kindness. In fact, the proper Chinese way to refer to one’s own father in polite conversation is the “severe one in my family,” while “the loving one in my family” is reserved for the mother. We all know of fathers of whom love is hardly an attribute. There are Biblical passages which show no hesitation in using the image of the mother to indicate how God loves. In Isaiah 66 and 49, God says: “As a mother comforts her son, so shall I myself comfort you,” and “Can a woman forget the infant of her breast, or a mother the child of her womb? But should even these forget, I shall never forget you.” And in Psalm 131, the Psalmist says, “I am calm and quiet like a weaned child clinging to its mother.” Thus, to say that God has the attributes of the father is not to say he does not have the attributes of the mother.

To assert the cosmic dimension of Christ’s role and to ascertain God as the Cosmic Lover does not mean that everything that happens in nature and history is God’s work and design. Many things are happening that contradict God’s loving kindness and are harmful to the welfare of the world. Creation is a long process yet incomplete and, as Paul insists, imperfect and subject to frustration, especially as it involves the making of free human beings who are not slaves but children of God. A world still in the making must be one in which ugliness and devilry have their place. Events all over the world are telling us how tortuous the way is towards the perfect community of free, loving children of God, and how dear a price in suffering God and human beings have to pay for every inch 6f progress towards that goal.

That God is the great lover working out his purpose for the world brings in its train an understanding of all reality not as being so much as becoming. It gives us hope for history and beyond. We have no idea as to how the end of history as we know it will come about, but can be sure it will be the triumph of love and grace.

We receive great consolation in reading Romans 5:15-17 where a comparison is made between the effect upon the world of Christ’s grace and Adam’s fall. There Paul speaks of the infinitely greater impact of Christ on humanity than that of Adam, using such expressions as “much more,” “vastly exceeding,” “in far greater measure,” and “out of all proportion.” We are elated and get a sense of liberation upon reading this. The Incarnation profoundly affects human and cosmic life in all its aspects. It is inconceivable that any area of human endeavor should be permanently affected by Adam’s fall and unaffected by grace. Too often, Christians make the effect of Adam’s fall universal while limiting Christ’s grace only to the few who profess a belief in him. It really amounts to saying that the Incarnation of the Son of God has made less of an impact on humanity than the fall of Adam. But this is not a view that can go along with the vision of God whose name is love and whose concern is to bring about through redemption, education and sanctification a humanity that will reach perfection as free, intelligent and voluntary co-creators with God.

The way from alpha to omega is not always a straight line, but love accompanies the pilgrims. “The Love that moves the Sun and the other stars,” in Dante’s great words, becomes a Love which brings meaning to human existence and hence redeems men and women from triviality, frustration, cheapness and lovelessness. We do not have to through tortuous ways, but we remember Christ’s words: “A woman in labor is in pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets her anguish in her joy that a child has been born in the world.” We see the darkness that appears before dawn as well as the dawn that will surely arrive after darkness. As is so well said in Psalm 30: “Tears may linger at nightfall, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” This view of nature, history and ourselves as becoming instills life with meaning and direction. This is essentially a long-ranged and forward-looking worldview. Tielhard de Chardin makes a moving prophecy when he says, “Someday, after we have mastered the wind, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love; and then for the second time in the history of the world, humanity will have discovered fire.” I also like the cosmology and view of history Lu Shun, the greatest modern Chinese writer, presents so beautifully:

Myriads of beautiful people and beautiful deeds weave a heavenly tapestry, moving like tens of thousands of flying stars, spreading far and wide, even to infinity. Things and their reflections dissolve, flicker, expand, melt into each other, but then draw back, approaching a semblance of their original selves. Their edges are variable as those of summer clouds, shot through with sunlight, emitting flames the colour of mercury. All things without exception mesh and intervene into a fabric, ever lively, ever unfolding.

Christians as a little flock are heartened by the vision of Christ leading the whole creation towards the goal of unity in God. In this saving work of his, all human movements of progress, liberation, democracy, humanization and love are joined. The church is important as a place where Christ is explicitly known, confessed, adored and preached. The world needs the church’s gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation and peace. But God’s saving work is not coterminous with the boundary of the church. It has the whole cosmos as its arena. As Vatican II says, “Many elements of sanctification and truth are found outside the visible structure of the church and so the helps necessary for salvation are always and everywhere available to all who are obedient to the dictates of conscience.” I like to think that, if these elements are arcs of a circle, Christ is the perfect round in whom they will all be completed, fulfilled and united.

In spite of the darkness human beings in many parts of the world find themselves in, there have always been courageous souls with their firm belief in the final triumph of God’s grace. I like to close with a few inspiring lines left us by Victor Hugo:

Will the future ever arrive? – Should we continue to look upwards? Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished? The ideal is terrifying to behold, lost as it is in the depths, small, isolated, a pinpoint, brilliant but threatened on all sides by the dark forces that surround it; nevertheless, no more in danger than a star in the jaws of the clouds.

Human beings are fumbling and groping for a faith in God as revealed in Jesus Christ. We all see in a mirror, dimly. This address tells you where I am, and where many of my fellow-Christians in China are, that is, the sort of spirituality the Holy Spirit is guiding us to in our pilgrimage. I will want to be open to any help that enables further growth in understanding.

THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE

2007-09-08T17:32:00.000+02:00

THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE

by Oscar S. Suarez, Ph.D.

Dr. Oscar S. Suarez is professor of Ethics and Christian Theology in Union Theological Seminary, Dasmarinas, Cavite, Philippines. He presented this theological/biblical reflection at the Consultation Towards New Economic Visions held in Manila under the joint auspices of the CCA-International Affairs and Theological Concerns Desks in November 1994.

First of all, let me respond to the call of Filipino tradition by saying a word of welcome to all the delegates of this conference. While I understand that most of you are not here in the Philippines for the first time, your effort to be present in this important gathering is worth a thousand gestures of hospitality. And so, in that spirit we would like you to feel at home in the next few days of ecumenical exchange.

Ironically, however, “feeling at home” is not necessarily an experience shared and enjoyed by many Filipinos themselves who have long been struggling to survive the onslaughts of social and political life. Apparently, the very condition in which we find ourselves here gives us some feeling of dislocation. Since many aspects of our lives are dominated more and more by foreign models of political and economic governance, there is hardly any evidence that we are indeed running our own household.

As you probably know, the Philippines is not exactly poor. We were only made poor by historical circumstances – and such circum-stances are in no way hard to explain. We make no excuses for our own shortcomings, but the more we learn about the roots of our alienations and the forces at play in our economic system, the more we realize the need to expose them. This consultation, I understand, is designed to unmask those forces as a way of shaping alternative schemes of economic cooperation among us.

I believe many Asian countries today share a similar story and that explains why we are here – to listen to each other’s stories of suffering and despair and, at the same time, draw a shared vision of hope and life for this continent. Hence, the fact that we begin this whole process of envisioning with a biblical reflection, reveals our search for a solid foundation, a truly profound inspiration, and some clear guidelines that would finally bring us to a continent we can rightfully call our home.

While I do not, in any way, assume to fulfill the above-mentioned purposes in this brief scriptural reflection, I am, at least, more than glad to make a humble contribution. Let me thus begin by reading a few passages from the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John verses seven to ten (10:7-10).

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

I have chosen this text for this morning’s reflection because I am inspired by the radicalism of the pastoral images it depicts and the way such images shape a certain paradigm for deepening our understanding on the issues pertaining to economic and political life. In this text Jesus begins by making a messianic claim, pointing to himself as the “gate” through which the sheep must pass if they are to find pasture. Offering himself as the gate to life and prosperity, he discloses in plain language the distinct character of that gate. The fact that Jesus issues here an open invitation suggests that it is an inclusive gate. Everyone, regardless of color, gender or tribe is welcome to enter it since to Jesus every one is entitled to an open opportunity. This is an indictment against exclusivist paradigms of success in the context of a male-dominated world, a world that looks at the color of one’s skin as a criterion for participation, a world where the strong seeks domination amidst a plurality of voices.

Admittedly, ours is a world of endless opportunities where various gates to certain pastures are being opened one after the other. In fact, there are probably too many gates open for us today by virtue of the advent of a “high-tech” society and thus the overflow of capital in modernizing and industrializing societies. But, the tragedy of the human condition is precisely that in the face of contending models of economic success, ideological options or political choices, we no longer know which of these “doors” can lead us to the kind of justice we all deserve. In this country, not a few doors have been opened by the ruling class, all promising economic abundance and liberation from much of our social ills. But most of them are inspired by some ideology of domination and control, we often end up with denuded forests, poisoned rivers, polluted air, cheap labor, abused workers, exploited women, and a servant-class to foreign investors. What we had earlier hoped to be our benefactors, as they often impressed upon us, turned out to be ferocious wolves in sheep’s clothing. To them, the name of the game is economic and political hegemony, which sometimes bear the name of “trade agreements,” “free trade zones,” or “development incentives.”

Thus in our text, it is no surprise that Jesus, fully aware of the false messiahs of his day, sought to dismiss in strong language the old paradigms of economic and political practices that only brought ruin and misery to society. He refers to the patrons of old order as “thieves and bandits” who do not “enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way.” Thieves and bandits they are, they nevertheless wield great powers, and, thus are well equiped as to be capable of forcing their way in. Yet, precisely for their trickery and deceptive methods, the sheep would no longer listen to them. For, true enough, as Jesus remarks, “the thief comes only to steal, and kill and destroy.”

I believe that in this consultation there are crucial choices we have to make. We need to ask what particular doors may be opened in such a way that we no longer fall prey to vicious wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need to ask what ideological options may inform us in our quest for a shared vision of a radically transformed economic and political life. We need to ask whether the doors and gates that have thus far been opened in Asia are in need of recasting or tearing down. We need to ask, in other words, who benefits from their very existence and who pays for them at what cost.

Jesus’ claim to messianism, as our text attempts to explain, is justified not merely by some divine mandate, but by his historical representation of justice and righteousness – the themes quite central to his preaching of the reign of God. In complete contrast to the messianic claims of the world’s hegemonic forces, the door in which we are invited to enter reserves no room for mere self-interested parties, for those motivated only by greed or those who have no reverence for life. For Jesus it is a door to salvation and green pastures, meaning, for those who have long been burdened by anxieties and grief, hunger and misfortunes, death and sorrow. Indeed, as he puts it so aptly, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

This single statement of Jesus touches the core drama of life in the despairing countries of Asia today. In various places as in ours, victims of natural calamities multiply almost daily. In this country alone, we are tired of earthquakes, vulcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, you name it. This is not to mention the scandalous condition of our system of governance, the dispensation of justice, and the way wealth and power are distributed among our people. Today, when you speak of budget deficits, external debts, inequitable income distribution, landlessness, unemployment, graft and corruption at all levels of government, unfair labor practices, ecological degradation, etc., you actually speak of the many yet familiar faces of death. They may not sound alarming to a few who manage to build their fortresses in this whole desert of uncertainty, but for the majority of our people – they only mean who dies where and when. Perhaps the Philippines is among the many Third World countries that has seen too many funerals, too many deaths of various causes. None of our days pass without some news of massacre somewhere, death toll at a landslide accident, huge earthquakes claiming hundreds of lives, vulcanic eruption tearing down houses and burying entire communities, you name it, we got it.

It is in that sense that Jesus addresses us with this most powerful words: “I came that they may have life...” Any theology that aims at building the foundations of a fundamentally new economic vision, is in essence a theology of life. As I look at it, however, it is not complete to simply call it a theology of life. Since Jesus wants us to have life in the context of abundance- which means not only that which pertains to economics, but our political and cultural world, and all that constitute the requirements of a truly just society – it is more appropriate to call it “a theology of wholeness.” To have life and have it abundantly – is to celebrate life in its wholeness. This is a theology that overcomes all dualist tendencies, that which separates, for example, the concerns of the body-politic from the sacred foundations of life, the material basis of existence from the spiritual. This is a theology that looks at life no longer in terms of fragments. For in the face of dualist and fragmented worldviews, at best all you get is partial or piecemeal justice.

In a world dominated by fragmented relationships and truncated concepts, human beings no longer have the capacity to celebrate life in its wholeness. Somehow the ruling forces of society perceive us only in terms of our partial identities. Politicians, for example, look at us as mere voters and supporters who are visible to them only during election time; corporate bureaucrats look at us as mere workers and employees, nothing more. In the same token women are always looked upon by men as mere sex objects waiting to be exploited. But the capitalists are no better. They look at our skills and competence and all of our humanity in terms of market values and they alone decide whether we have any value at all or not. In all these aspects, the human being enjoys no experience of wholeness to speak of, only pieces and fragments of life.

Given our theme in this consultation, the vision we are looking for puts human life and human relationships at its center, something that is radically opposed to the paradigm of relationship among objects and things in the context of the modern capitalist project. In the context of market economy relationships are made meaningful by what certain theologians call “fetishism,” some kind of a magical power ascribed to commodities and other key concepts like money, capital and power. In a world of fetish relationships commodities are made to appear like persons relating to each other. Commodities have the power to command the flow of capital and the entire market system that all too often human beings are powerless before them. In other words, fetishism promotes relationships only among objects and things. They never go beyond material relationships and that is why in that kind of set up commodities have the decisive power to command.

That human beings are powerless before the majesty of commodities is the biggest scandal of our time. Indeed, we are living in what Marx once called “an inverted world”– a world in which objects are gods and humanity is reduced into a mere object to be exploited. Concretely, these are the underlying realities that must be unmasked if we are to deal more deeply on the depths of human misery in Asia today.

I believe the biblical passages before us this morning address this issue if only in terms of bringing back the whole discussion of socio-economic envisioning to the question of the depths of human alienation. That Jesus came to bring life means that God’s salvific project in history puts all forces of death and alienation under rigorous interrogation. The Apostle Paul, must have his own musings on this issue as he anticipates that “the world itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption,” even ourselves who “groan inwardly while we await” what he calls “the redemption of our bodies” (Rom.8:19-24).

Yes, life in its fullness, that is what we are looking for. For to freely and truly celebrate the wholeness of our being, is at last to celebrate ultimate justice.

THE CAPITAL IN THE RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

2007-09-08T17:29:00.000+02:00

THE CAPITAL IN THE RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

by Dr. Kim Yong-Bock

Dr. Kim Yong-Bock is President of Hanil Theological Seminary of
the Presbyterian Church in Korea in Chonju, Korea.

Why a theologian had to deal with the question of the capital today? The answer is simple and biblical. It is because it has become the Mammon and humans cannot serve God and the Mammon at the same time. Our faith claims our exclusive loyalty to God, who gives life.

A Socio-Biographical Note

As I look back my life story, I was very poor most of my life. The Japanese colonial power took all the land that my grandfather held. My father and uncle were taken to be mine workers in Manchuria and in North Korea during the World War II. I had to gather and submit to the local colonial authority a bundle of grass to feed horses of the Japanese army. I remember doing this every day around 1944. My father died at the beginning of 1945 due to the forced hard work in Manchurian mines for the Japanese colonial power.

When Japan was defeated in 1945, my family lost everything whatever was remained due to severe post-colonial economic disruption. The poverty has been the absolute predicament of my life till 1969, when I returned to Korea after my study in the States.

It was my acquaintances with Korean workers through the Urban Industrial Mission, I began to realize the victimization of my brothers and sisters, who are sacrificed under the Park

Jung Hee’s Project Modernization and Economic Growth. During my university days, I got acquainted with the life of war refugees and urban poor, for my family was one of them. I was familiar with the rural poor, for I have been one of them. My friends and I were running night school for our poor friends, who cannot go to junior high school due to their poverty during late 1950’s. Perhaps it was natural that I got interested in the issue of the Minjung.

This personal background led to an investigation and study of the Korean minjung during the Chosun Dynasty and the Japanese colonial rule and their movements, particularly religious dimension of their movements, to overcome their political and socio-economic contradictions. This is the subject on which I have written my doctoral dissertation.

Korean people were caught in the Cold War structure for almost 50 years, in which the socialism and capitalism bitterly competed in ideological, political and military terms as well as in economic terms. I grew up in this cold war system with a heavy dose of anti-Communist ideology. Economic growth and national security have been supreme values of our society. My church has been an integral part of the Korean version of anti-Communist capitalist system.

The Minjung have gravely suffered during the last 50 years of the Cold War structure. They suffered under the anti-Communist ideology, military dictatorship in the name of national security, and socio-economic hardship and exploitation in the name of economic growth under the military dictatorship. Particularly during the last 30 years the Korean version of capitalist development dictatorship made the Korean minjung suffer most. In close association of urban industrial mission in Korea, in Asia (CCA-URM), and in the world (WCC-UIM), I have developed my critical consciousness and analytical thinking on the capitalist development.

My major involvement in the study of transnational corporations in Asia – Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong – has helped me get acquainted with the reality of capitalism in Asia. This project was sponsored by Christian Conference of Asia with a support of WCC and its member couches. From this study experience, I have evolved a thesis on transnational corporations in Asia in the light of the suffering of Asian peoples.

Asian People In The New Global Order

Now we need to reassess the Asian situation in a new way, particularly the reality of power of the capital. The Asian people’s situation has been undergoing dramatic changes, as the world is experiencing rapid and drastic changes in recent years.

In the first place, the socialist states and former socialist states are being integrated into a global capitalist market. The Asian socialist states such as China, Vietnam and even North Korea are being integrated into the global market. This has serious implications for the life of Asian peoples. No longer a socialist option for development is realistically available to the people. All the socialist movements in Asia are experiencing a serious identity crisis, for the people have lost hope in the socialist alternative. Of course, this situation does not mean a victory of the capital-ism of the people. The people experience worse situation than the time when socialism and capitalism were competing each other.

Uruguay Round in GATT negotiation has culminated in a World Trade Organization being installed, opening an era of truly global market, breaking up all the national boundaries that have protected the people with national framework of economy. This opens an era in which the economically powerful in the industrialized countries and in the Newly Industrialized countries (NICs) will dictate the global market for their power and interests. This is carried out in the name of limitless competition in the global open market. The economically weak will find no protection in this fierce jungle of the global market place.

Naked reality of struggle for the “Survival of the Fittest” and the logic of “the Strong Eating up the Weak” will dominate the market place in a new way in the global market. This means a renewed fierceness of the jungle-like competition in the market which will victimize the weak and poor peoples in Asia and everywhere.

National Governments Serve The People Or The Capital

Governments in Asia are pursuing open market policy under pressures from the Western governments, especially the United States Government. Uruguay Round agreement in GATT negotiation is the first step in this direction. At the same time, the governments are launching slogans such as “Age of Limitless Competition” and “National Capacity to Compete Internationally is Critically Important for the Survival of the Nation.” It seems that doctrine of national security is replaced by the doctrine of “national competition.” But for whom to compete is not clear. Is it for the people or for the capital?

Human rights and democracy have been emphasized in the world and these values are of the Western democracy. Such emphasis could be regarded as a ploy of the Western powers to open dictatorial and authoritarian political systems so that they may create conditions for global open market. Liberal democracies in the West have been political preconditions for the capitalist market. In an ironic way, such “democratic re-forms” are weakening governments to control national economy and to protect the socio-economic security of the people. Liberal democratic governments in the West as well as in the South have been failures in taming market forces such as giant transnational corporations.

Governments are active players in the global market, and yet they are not ultimate players. Giant transnational corporations in food and agriculture, in industrial manufacturing, in finances and services, and in media and communication are real and ultimate players, which know no national boundaries, accountability to no people, and no control by any power. There is a certain absolute character in corporate powers in the global market. Governments are incapable of making these corporate powers accountable for their dealings in the global market.

When national governments are driving the policy of national competition, they are actually supporting and serving these corporate powers to compete in the global market. But their interests are not identical with the interests of the people, who is supposed to be sovereign to national governments. Opening of the nation by deregulation in the context of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiation is precisely for the corporate powers, particularly for those of the industrialized West.

What this means is that nation states as supreme political institutions of sovereignty and self-determination of the people, as agencies of economic development of the people, and as protector of socio-economic security of the people have been drastically weakened in the global market. Powers of the nation states have succumbed to the transnational pressures of the international powers in the global market.

The New Gap Between The Poor And The Rich In Asia And In The World

The global market is being dominated by the Western capital powers, and the peoples and nations in the South suffer poverty more seriously than ever. Minimum protection of the people by their governments has been weakened, and their societies have been forced open to external market forces, and their economy has been integrated to the global market. What this means is that the people’s socio-economic security is exposed to the global market forces and the socio-economic victimization is intensified everywhere in Asian countries.

The people in poorer nations suffer most, because the gap between poor nations and rich nations are widening, but the poor in the Newly Industrialized Countries in Asia (Asian tigers) suffer more severely than ever, too, because the people in NICs are equally exposed to the global market forces. Even the poor in the industrially advanced nations are suffering severely in the process of globalization of the market and the poor in the socialist and former socialist countries are no longer protected by national social safety network.

In short, the socio-economic security of the people are in jeopardy everywhere in the world, and the poor and weak are exposed to global competition and victimized in a new and global way. A good illustration is the fate of the Korean peasants. The poor in India, for example, are more severely exposed to threats of diseases due to the pharmaceutical drug market indiscriminately selling many banned drugs to people without prescriptions.

People Become Victims Of New Violence

The international relations and social constellation of powers have been rapidly shifting due to the demise of international Cold War balance of powers and to the opening of the society to the global market process. The previously latent conflicts become manifest such as ethnic and national conflicts. The social power and solidarity of traditional classes such as workers and peasants have been weakened and violence, physical or otherwise, against them have become intensified due to the weakening of the social movements.

Ethnic and national groups assert themselves in the context of rapidly shifting social and national balances, giving ways to violent conflicts. These are being exploited by the subterranean military weapons market. These conflicts are violence-intensive, making the people suffer, and wasting their lives.

The violent conflicts are sparked off by social, ethnic-national and racial tensions as well as international tensions. The fierce competition. in all directions without limits will intensify conflict situations both national and international situations. Common security and peace, social and national, of the people will be threatened in a far-reaching manner. National police or military will not and cannot handle such multiple violent situations.

Global Cultural War Against People

The context in which we are speaking about communication in the global market is a “cultural war” between the power and the people, waged through political propaganda, commercial advertisement, educational process, public media and information technology. This cultural war takes place on both national and global levels, assuming the form of ideological or propaganda war. Sometimes it works to domesticate the minds and desires of consumers, inducing them to buy things that are produced this is to control and conquer the market. The educational system acts to establish hegemony over the minds of students in the name of socialization. Traditional cultural process and religious institutions are also mobilized to serve the cause of the powers. But the most important aspect of this cultural war is manifest in the modern mass communication media such as newspapers, wire services, radio and television.

The ideological battles between the two supper powers have been fought through political propaganda against each other (communism vs capitalism), through ideological inculcation in formal and non-formal education systems, through public media and information processes and often through religious institutions and practices. Now this ideological war seems to be over but power conflicts, violent or otherwise, will continue to involve semi-ideological battles for legitimacy and support. The communist societies have complete control over the process of political propaganda, but its effectiveness is regarded doubtful in recent years. Societies where a liberal press is allowed have a facade of freedom of speech, but the powers control the media and education in highly effective ways in these societies. Dictatorships around the world have sought to control the speech, thought, feeling and perception of the people. Today this process of control by power is done through hi-tech communication and information media this communication technology is intensive and therefore brutally effective. The power of the capital is manifest in global communication and information order.

The economic life of the people is very much affected by communication and information in three basic ways. The struggle for decisions on economic policies involves fundamental cultural struggle in terms of economic philosophies and economic objectives such as economic growth and economic distribution. The most direct way in which the economic life of the people is swayed is through commercial advertisements in the communication media. The media is the chief culprit in consumerism, which corrodes the minds of the people with enticements to cheap materialism and economic hedonism.

Moreover, information has become a commodity and service in economic transactions, for information is both power and resource. The information and communication network constitutes the network of people’s economic and socio cultural life as well and the powers create, expand, and sustain this network of information and communication on a global scale.

There are several inter-related networks that operate in a global scale. The political and military intelligence and information network of the governments, the economic network of information of transnational corporate powers, global media, and the religious-cultural networks of world religions have powerful influence over information and communication in global dimensions.

The term “international information and communication order” is a misnomer to reflect the reality of the present communication and information process nationally and internationally, although the McBride report has clearly shown the nature of the international information and communication order, as dominated by the powerful. The process of information and communication is not merely the objective order of society and community, but it penetrates into the mind and brain of the human person, into the perceptual apparatus of the body, and into the heart and soul of the whole human being. The information and communication process pervades the human self. The battleground is the sense, consciousness, mind, heart and spirit of the human person as well as the community.

The globalization of communication and information has become technetronic intensive through hi-media technology on all levels. Symbols, images and pictures in full color, simultaneously translated languages, and scenarios and sequences of events are instantly transmitted to the people, who are turned into the victims of this global communication onslaught. Technetronics intensive communication and information involves the global network of value adding process with increasing acceleration in intensity and speed. Such global network of communication increasingly encircles the life of the people it envelops their perceptions and understanding, and it finally invades the innermost chamber of consciousness, the minds and hearts of the people, deeply affecting their spirit as well as their life.

The most important consequence of this communication and information revolution carries out through hi-tech development is the subjugation of the spirit, mind, will, heart, passion and even desire of the people to the dictates of the dominant powers, near and remote. Human subjectivity which is the engine of human life, is the final territory being conquered through cultural process of communication and information. Western development of modern science and technology in the past has excluded the human subject from the epistemological world and now its advancement allows the powers to dominate human subjectivity to domesticate life itself.

Such domination is manifested in political and ideological control and manipulation, domestically and internationally. It involves the total planning and control of the market. Such a capacity to subjugate human subjectivity in a mass scale is used to manage social, political and military conflicts on domestic and international levels. This becomes the case due to symbiotic power relations between the public media and the political powers, in which the people’s participation is prevented. Such power relations are complex and difficult to discern. But government propaganda, the use of the media for the implementation of political power and policy and election campaigns are clear manifestation of such symbiosis.

The domination by western political power, especially the U.S., and the West-dominated international communication order with its dominant network of information industry, wire services, satellite communication and so on, makes a powerful impact upon the peoples in Asia, by interlocking with the Asian national communication media and by subverting these on political, economic and cultural levels.

The economic powers such as giant transnational corporations use the public media to dominate and control the market, to create arbitrary needs among consumers, causing a deep sense of deprivation, and to cover up the ugly image of the corporate powers. There is no marketing without the media and the advertisement of products and services create false and unsound economic propaganda, often providing false in-formation and images about the products and services. This process distorts sound economic values, fostering “cheap and pragmatic material-ism”. The media serves corporate powers’ techno structures to carry out the total planning strategy of profit-maximization by controlling marketing as well as production. Without such subservient media the corporate strategy of total planning would not be possible. The people as workers and consumers are molded according to the plan of the economic powers in and through the media the people have lost their subjecthood in production as well as in the market they have become victims of the distorted information imposed on them, and have an inverted self-image implanted in their consciousness by the media.

In the same way the transnational corporate structures have pervaded all the Asian societies to subjugate economic selfhood not only in economic political terms, but also in cultural terms through their economic propagandic advertisements. This has destroyed the health and whole-some vision of economic life of the Asian people.

The Asian national media, under the influence of the Western domination of the global information and communication order, have corroded and subverted Asian cultural values and Asian styles of life with the Western values and life styles. Particularly the Asian cultural identity has been suppressed among the Asian nations and peoples. Religious and cultural heritages are disparaged as pre- or ant-modern (meaning anti-Western) the languages, symbols and images are suppressed and replaced by the Western ones. This process causes profound cultural dissatisfaction among the people, even to the point of unhealthy national and cultural romanticism and nostalgia. The people’s uprootedness is caused by the mass media, which receive heavy doses of Western cultural injections in the present international information and communication order.

Such cultural corrosion and subversion and even “genocide” are tragic part of the cultural subjugation of the people through the global media dominated by the Western powers, and this is inevitable, given the inherent character of the present global order of information and commu-nication which excludes participation of the people, their dialogues and interactions.

The power of the Western media violates the rights of the people in their own society and often the people has no means to redress these violations. It also violates the cultural and ethnic rights of the people in the world. It promotes the Western racial, cultural and religious values against racial, cultural and religious heritages of the people of the world.

Disinformation and misinformation, partial truths and small lies and sheer ignorance and prejudice are mingled and spread in the process of communication and information in various ways in different situations. These phenomena are directed against the oppositional forces of the people in both liberal societies and dictatorial societies, in their conduct of international policies as well as in domestic affairs. The whole process serves the power interests of the powerful.

When the Western media criticized the dictatorial powers in the third world for their violation of human rights and dictatorial control of the media, this was regarded by these powers as hypocritical behavior, infringement of national sovereignty or interference in the internal affairs.

In recent years a certain democratic reforms are being promoted in the Third World by the Western powers so that these powers themselves can make direct intervention through investment and trade by TNCs, through political pressure in such cases as human rights, and especially through the Western media. Introduction of “liberal democratic reforms” opens the Third and Second World societies for more direct penetration of those societies by the Western media as well as by the Western market forces. Thus the Western media of communication and information become instruments of “low intensity strategy” in the arena of “cultural domination and war”.

The communication and information media create a strange world out of an arbitrary combination and superficial construction of colors, images and languages that are simplified and separated from reality. The media creates a perceptual world that is in no relation to the real world or in opposition to the actual world. The modern media in the global market has a capacity to create a strange new world of illusion in the minds and hearts of the people everywhere.

In this way the peoples in Asia are victims of the powers militarily, politically, socially, economically and culturally and international media networks constitute an integral dimension of the victimization process, as the cultural power of domination that victimizes the people culturally.

People’s Participation In The New Global Market

With people’s participation in the market being further curtailed under progressive globalization, we should reflect on the situation that has existed up to now.

One of the major reasons why socialist systems collapsed is that they did not allow full participation of the people. At the same time, the major weakness of liberal governments is also their limitations on people’s participation. Now is the time for the people to become direct and active participants in the affairs that affect their own lives not only on national level, but also on local and global level.

Free Subjects In Every Aspect Of Life

The people are free subjects to participate in every aspect of life. This has concrete implications in the vortex of the global market today.

The people are workers, producers, and managers of life and community. Economic participation of the people is expressed at the level of workers and producers but the people must also participate in management, distribution and community welfare. In this way they can participate as gardeners of life. People’s participation should make interventions in all aspects of the socio-economic life of the community, local and global.

Money is the enemy of the people. Money has become the Mammon that victimizes the people in the world today, more than any other form of economic power. The financial powers and their institutions are making the people powerless and victimizing them for life. Trans-nationalized banking institutions and international monetary organizations deprive the people, put them into debt, and bankrupt the people and their economies. The people must take charge of their own financial resources.

The people must participate in the management of their economy. Today the management of economies by the transnational corporations and nation states is highly technocratic essentially, the people’s participation in planning the economy, and in the production and distribution of goods and services, is systematically eliminated. Workers are totally integrated into the productive process, and participation by workers’ unions is getting weaker and weaker. The people must participate as workers, consumers and concerned citizens in the political economy, to make interventions in the global market.

The people must be subjects of their own welfare. Housing, clothing, food, education, health and cultural activities cannot be left to the political and economic powers in the world. The people’s direct participation in their own welfare is essential in this rapidly changing global economic situation. They cannot wait for the structural changes that are not forthcoming anyway they must recognize themselves as the primary subject to secure their own welfare of life.

The people must create their own socio-economic values they must reject the dictates of the state and corporations. To determine their own needs, their own material values and their own style of life, they must wage a cultural struggle for a decent and good economic life.

The people are political subjects. In spite of the many formal declarations of the sovereignty of the people, their actual participation is minimal or even completely suppressed. Every aspect of life must be politicized, in the sense that people must participate in decision-making in every aspect of their life.

A democratic structure of national government does not necessarily mean democratized structures in local communities. The nature of the nation state must be transformed from the perspective of people’s participation in local community politics. The local should be prior to the regional or central, if the sovereignty of the people is to be truly realized. Democracy is a political process from bottom to top, not the other way around.

People’s participation should extend to every aspect of social life: class, status, caste, minority, gender, and so on. Social democracy should be prior to political democracy. Without the participation of the socially weak and down-trodden, there can be no true participatory political democracy. This is a biblically founded principle, upon which a constitution can be written.

Cultural life must be radically democratized and the people must be cultural subjects. The traditional authoritarian cultures must be democratized the modern media should be under the people’s control and the education process must be reversed to raise up the people as the cultural subjects who sustain their cultural struggle. It is here that the people’s participation will be determined in the newly globalizing market, that is, on the cultural front. No political propaganda of ideology, national security or war should dictate the minds of the people. The people must be masters of information and communication they should refuse to be victims of their political and cultural identity. They should refuse to be docile objects of the communication order, and rather become communication activists who are the subjects of cultural and political life.

Often religious resources are mobilized to justify political life. Essentially, politics is spiritual, and even religious. The powers and authorities always have to reckon with the ultimate destiny of the people. The people must not allow the powers and principalities to exorcise their religious and spiritual power instead, the people must claim that they are the primary spiritual subject, for God — or the ultimate reality — is essentially related to the people, not to the powers-that-be. Invocation of spiritual power by the powers-that-be often brings about demonic con-sequences. It is not enough to secularize the state spiritual subjectivity must be reclaimed.

The people’s subjectivity must be realized in all social relations.

The people as a socio-economic class are subjects in social relations and should be at least equal with other classes.

This means that the people as a lower social class should be more participatory than other social classes. This vision is not of an ultimately classless society, but of a social process in which the lower class has advantages in participation over the other classes. Here the principle of social equality demands the preferential rights of the people.

The people of out-castes or lower castes, lower status, and minorities must assert their subjecthood and participation. Participatory structures and processes should be designed differently, but their identity, their self-determination and their direct participation must be insured. Women’s social participation has a unique place which in turn illuminates the full participation of the people in all other situations. Women’s participation is not merely the question of equality against social discrimination. Their participation makes human community whole and full, as well as equal and just.

The spiritualities of the people in different social situations are different and religious communities have not recognized this reality. The people must be able to express their own spiritual subjectivity to make society whole and just. In any case, various mechanisms and teachings of religions should be transformed to open up the people’s participation.

The people are cultural subjects. Historically the people are culturally and religiously domesticated, suppressing their cultural development and participation. In the modern world of information and communication, the people’s cultural identity is uprooted, their cultural values are destroyed, their style of life is destroyed and they are culturally victimized. This is more cruel than economic, physical and political victimization their soul is destroyed as well as their body.

The people are speakers, writers, and communicators expressing their own feelings, perceptions, opinions, convictions and will. Now the people must have their own means of communication and media. They also must have access to the media and the media must become public, not allowing monopoly by any power.

The people have cultural resources that are to be mobilized. Their experiences accumulate information, wisdom and insights for life. The people must assert their own experiences as primary and use their cultural resources to communicate their own experiences and will. The people must resist and transform any cultural imposition, whether of values, styles or media.

The people must have cultural power. Communication and information are power over mind, senses and perceptions.

The people must form a value-added net-work of cultural resource centers, so that they can counter the cultural domination of the powers.

The people must affirm their own cultural traditions, values and styles. Cultural subjectivity begins with the affirmation of one’s own cultural life as well as cultural traditions. This is the beginning of the struggle against the dominant cultures. This cultural struggle is to ensure cultural identity and cultural fulfillment.

The people are religious and spiritual subjects. Spirituality and religions exist for the subjectivity of the people, and not the other way around.

The deepest root of people’s subjectivity is in their deepest religious experience. The meeting with God gives birth to the subjectivity of the people.

All the religious activities of teaching, rituals and practices should enhance the subjectivity of the people to the level at which the people as subject respond to God or ultimate being.

The people’s historical subjectivity is deeply rooted in their ultimate commitment. Any dichotomy or symbiosis between the religious root and the historical manifestation of the people’s subjectivity will seriously harm that subjectivity.

The people are subjects of life in the world. The people’s body is spiritual and historical as well as biological and material. People’s participation in life is wholistic, interconnecting all dimensions of life, human and natural.

Conclusion: People’s Subjecthood In The Global Market

The people are an independent actor in history, and therefore, in the global market, which is dominated by the capital. I regard it to be MAMMON of the present age, which thrives upon victimization of the people. The God’s sovereignty is being manifest in the OlKONO-MIA of God, in which people become new subjects in the global market. God and Mammon are in struggle in the global market. Our faith in God is the ground of our hope in the self-hood and participation of the people, who will transform the “JUNGLE” of the market into the “GARDEN OF LIFE”.

Subjects Of Life And History

People are created and destined to be subjects of their life and history in a wholistic sense.

They are subjects as the covenant partners of God, who is truly sovereign. God does not allow the people to be subjugated or domesticated to other powers or principalities in heaven or on earth.

The Hapiru people were slaves under the despotic imperial ruler of the Egyptian empire. But God established a special relationship with the enslaved people, freeing them and making them God’s faithful partners in covenant. The people were liberated and became subjects, not slaves.

The people were enslaved workers but in the created order of God, they have become free subjects, the stewards and gardeners of life. They are no longer subjugated to the powers of darkness and chaos that destroy life, as in the Baby-lonian empire.

The year of Jubilee has been proclaimed by Christ. In the Jubilee, the disinherited, the indebted, and the physically, mentally, economically and socially disabled all become subjects who participate in the political economy of God.

The people are the subjects of political rule. The establishment of political authority, whether in the form of kings, emperors, modern dictators or democratic rulers, is permitted only within the framework of God’s covenant with the people. God’s covenant does not permit the people to be other than God’s partners, who are subjects, free to respond to God’s faithful word.

The establishment of kingship in Israel was conditioned upon the kings’ being subjugated to the covenant and covenant laws, which had been wrought between God and the people. In no case was this to be violated. Historically, kings broke the covenant, and prophetic movements rose up to restore the convenant on behalf of God and the people.
The true political authority came as “dou-larchy” in Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve, and to make the first the last to serve all. Here the people are the subjects and the powers are the servants.

The people are the subjects of their vision they are visionaries. When the people are dead and have become dry bones, scattered in the dark valley of defeat, God awakens them to a vision of restored life, in which they rise up to be the subjects of life and history. In relationship with God, the people become the visionary subjects of life. The visions of the prophet Isaiah (Chapter 11) and of St. John (Rev. 21 & 22) rose out of the people’s subjugation under the Babylonian and Roman Empires. The people, in faithful covenant relationship with God, are the subjects of the future history they have hope for the future, imagination for the future, and the passion and will to struggle and create the future, in which they are the ruling subjects along with God.

The Messianic vision is the vision shared among the people, of their participation in the Messianic banquet, in the new city of heaven and earth. The people rise up from despair and hopelessness and move forward to the Messianic Reign.

The people are the subjects who form relationships among themselves in the context of their covenant with God. God’s justice in the covenant raises the people from the bottom up, from the downside up. This is the social and cultural dynamics of God’s covenant with the people, who are downtrodden. God created nations, races, genders and the natural world, not in hierarchical order, but to be participants in God’s Garden of Life. The setting up of secondary divisions of class, status, caste and so on, in the world of life is against God, for such divisions destroy the people, denying their participation in life.

The people are gathered from every corner of the earth, regardless of color, race, ethnic origin, religious-cultural heritage, gender, class, status, caste or any other difference, to participate in God’s reign. This is the Messianic invitation, and no power can prevent the people from participating in this Messianic koinonia. In Christ, there can be neither chosen nor gentiles, free nor enslaved, male nor female, rich nor poor, high caste nor low caste, high nor low, powerful nor weak. The people are all co-participants in Christ’s Reign.

The people are living subjects and partners of life in the biological sphere as well as in the historical and spiritual spheres. When life in the natural world is victimized, the people are victimized and suffer together with nature. This is the meaning of the Garden of Life, which is tended as a whole by the people as the gardeners. God’s creation of life and people’s participation in the gardening of life is their common struggle against death, against killing and all the forces of death. The people are the permanent subjects of life in struggle against death, to fulfill life in its wholeness.

In Christ the people cannot be destroyed. Christ guarantees life, eternal life, that is, the life that cannot be destroyed. In Christ the people find the fullness of life, for Christ is of the people and the people are of Christ. In Christ the people resist the power of death, as Christ rose again from the death that was imposed by the power of the Roman Empire.

The people are subjects who glorify God in worship and life. When God created the world in which people are the subjects of life, it was good and beautiful and the people sang to glorify God in full orchestration with all the living creatures on the stage of the natural world. People’s worship of God is a total drama celebrating God’s faithful relationship with them, for God made them partners in the covenant. The Celebration takes place in the life of the people in the world in full harmony of colors and music. It takes place in the universe, in history and in every aspect of life. This is the true tabernacle of God with the people.

The Messianic banquet is the celebration of life in the highest form. The angels are mobilized to enhance the celebration in the most beautiful and glorious manner, for the chief end of people is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. The people are celebrants in this messianic banquet.

TOWARDS A CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY

2007-09-08T17:28:00.000+02:00

TOWARDS A CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY

by Lourdino A. Yuzon

Dr. Lurdino A. Yuzon is Joint Secretary for Council for Mission and

Ecumenical Cooperation, Christ Church, Aotearoa-New Zealand.

I am grateful for this opportunity to engage in a dialogue with you on issues related to the church’s task of contextualizing theology. I assume that we share a common view about doing theology as the responsibility not only of professional theologians, but also of lay people like you and me. I also assume that we agree on the significance of contextualization as a method of doing theology.

My task is to set the table. I will try to place before you foods for thought on this topic which others more qualified than I am have prepared. Here and there I will add my modest personal comments, most of which do not constitute a connected trend of thought, but are anecdotal in nature. What follows is intended to serve merely as a starting point for a more learned discussion on this subject matter. Like a car starter it could put aside once the engine of our dialogue gets going.

A Suggested Definition of Contextual Theology

At the outset it is helpful for us to set forth a working statement on contextual theology. (It may be borne in mind that contextual theology is an umbrella term. This is to say that there are many, not one, contextual theologies. For instance, Black theology, feminist theology, Minjung theology (Korea), Dalit theology (India), theology of struggle (Philippines), Latin American liberation theology are all contextual theologies that have emerged out of particular historical realities to which the liberative aspects of the Christian message are addressed.)

In his book, Models of Contextual Theology (1992), Stephen B. Bevans defines contextual theology

as a way of doing theology in which one takes into account the spirit and message of the gospel; the tradition of the church; the culture in which one is theologizing; and social change within that culture, whether brought about by western technological process or the grass-roots struggle for equality, justice and liberation.(p.1)

According to Bevans, contextual theology is a way of understanding the Christian faith not only on the basis of Scripture and tradition – the two main theological sources of reflection of classical/traditional theology – but also on the basis of concrete culturally conditioned human experience. This is not to say that contextual theology is anti-Scripture. In fact, it has been said that Latin American liberation theology has been deeply rooted in, and nourished by, the underlined bibles of poor and marginalized peasants and urban dwellers. Neither is it anti-tradition but it appropriates the teachings of the church in a critical manner. Through concepts, symbols, stories and other forms of expression it has received from the church it reflects on the “raw experience” of people. Contextual theology differs from traditional/classical theology in two ways.

First, it recognizes the signal importance of human experience as a source for reflection on Christian faith and morals. Second, since it is rooted in concrete human experience in a particular culture and society, it speaks primarily to that context. For that reason, it does not (and one may add, it must not) regard itself as unchanging, above culture and universally applicable in a normative way to all other particular contexts at all times and places. A contextual theology that emerges out of a particular context is something that makes sense in relation to a certain place and time and, therefore, can be definite, at best, but not definitive. It is more apt, as Robert J. Schreiter puts it, to speak not of universal, permanent and unchanging theologies, but of “local theologies” (Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 1986).

A Mandate

Why should theology be contextual? Doing theology in context is not something optional. It is a mandate, an imperative which, as Bevans says, is based on external and internal factors. The external factors include a feeling in the Third World (and to some extent in the First World) of “general dissatisfaction with classical approaches to theology” (Ibid., p.5) which do not make sense in non-western cultural patterns and thought forms and have been perceived to be irrelevant in Third World historical realities characterized by rapid changes brought about by western technological advances and the struggles of suffering people for justice, power-sharing and freedom from anti-life forces. Another external factor is the reaction to the “oppressive nature of older approaches” (Ibid., p.6) to theology. For instance, individualistic and other-worldly theologies from the west have functioned to justify authoritarian governments and the exploitation and oppression of marginalized and powerless peoples not only in the Third World but also in the First World countries. Also, male-dominated theology and structures have served to exclude women from their rightful places in the life and work of churches the world over. In the Third World, there has been a growing awareness of the fact that a “colonial theology” has nothing to do with the real meaning of Christian faith.

Contextualization is an inherent dynamic of the Christian faith. This is to say, the imperatives of contextual theology are derived from the way God has related Godself to the world. Put simply, through the incarnation event, God comes to us and establishes us in life-affirming, life-giving and life-sustaining relationship with Godself. The world is the object of God’s unqualified and out-going love (John 3:16). God expressed God’s love through an act of self-giving and in sharing our human experience (John 1:14). If the church is to touch peoples’ lives with God’s message in a meaningful way it must communicate that message incarnationally. Contextual theology reminds us that theology is not just a view of life, but also a way of life. And based on what God did in and through Christ and is doing in the Spirit, that way of life should be incarnational through and through. Another internal factor “is the sacramental nature of reality. The doctrine of incarnation proclaims that God is revealed not primarily in ideas but in concrete reality” (Ibid., p.8). God’s encounter with the world through Jesus Christ takes place through the ordinary things of day-to-day life which are transparent of God’s presence. For instance, bread and wine used at the Lord’s Table mediate to us the presence of the loving and living God who makes all things new. The world of things and all that “hath life” remind us of the creative power of God. If ordinary things are transparent of God’s presence, then in the same way, we can speak of culture as something that is revelatory of God’s presence. Hence, the continuing task of theology “... is to reveal God’s presence in a truly sacramental world” (Ibid., p.9). Any culture, whether “Christian” or shaped by other faiths, is not without witness to the presence of God in the midst of people. The task of theology is to discern “signs” of God’s presence and make that presence explicit or manifest. A third internal factor that has contributed to the development of contextual theology is the shift in understanding of revelation. In traditional/classical theology revelation is presented “in the form of eternal truths handed down to us from Christ and the Apostles. Faith is understood to be the intellectual assent to those truths. All these are systematically arranged and presented as the... Faith” (Jose de Mesa and L. Wostyn, Doing Theology; Basic Realities and Process. Manila: Maryhill School of Theology, 1982, p.80). A more recent understanding of revelation speaks of God’s ongoing act of self-disclosure in inter-personal terms. According to this view revelation means the offer of Godself to women and men “by means of concrete actions and symbols in history as God’s self-communication to men and women” (Bevans, op.cit., p.9). Consequently, this calls for faith in terms of a response of the self as a gift to the personal God. And God’s offer of God-self to women and men could be made in ways that they can understand within their cultural contexts. This inter-personal view of God’s self-revelation highlights the need for theology to take seriously the contexts in which women and men encounter God.

It is not farfetched to say that, in fact, all theologies including classical theologies are contextual. “Creative moments in theology have arisen out of the church’s response to new challenges in a given historical context. They bear the cultural and social imprints of the time” ( K. C. Abraham, “Third World Theologies”, CTC Bulletin, May-December 1992, p.5). It is said that the theology of St. Thomas of Aquinas was a response to the challenges of Aristotelian philosophy, and the hierarchical structure of Medieval society greatly influenced the Thomist system of theology. The crisis theology of Karl Barth was, in large measure, a response to the crises of Western civilization brought about by the First World War and the failure of liberal theology. “Theologians of every age are committed to interpreting the Gospel of Jesus in a way (that is) relevant and meaningful to the realities around them” (Ibid., p.5).

New “Partners” of Theology

In the past it was believed that only philosophy served as the language by which people described and interpreted their experience. Consequently, philosophy became a principal conversation partner of theology. Karl Barth himself repudiated all claims of human knowledge for faith. But he resorted to existentialism in his Dogmatics.

Currently, and particularly in the Third World contexts, theologies have found new conversation partners. Many respectable Third World theologians now draw knowledge and insights from other disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science and economics that describe, analyze and interpret people’s experience. In addition, there has been a recognition of the fact that grass-roots people, not just professionally trained theologians, have begun to articulate their world views through their stories, symbols and myths even though these have remained in the form of oral tradition. These “provide insights on their perspectives on their origin, their struggles and values that hold them together” (K.C. Abraham op.cit., p.7). Contextual Asian theologies, for instance, take the articulation of the experience of grass-roots people as a basic source of theological construction. (It may be mentioned in passing that in Christian Conference of Asia circles, the term people is used not in a generic sense to refer to people in general, but to a particular class of people, namely, the poor, powerless, marginalized, suffering and struggling people in Asia such as the minjung in Korea, the Dalits in India, et al.)

There has also been a shift in the language of theology. In the past, the emphasis was on “static continuities of human life”. The new language of theology emphasizes the “dynamic aspects of human relationships”. This is consistent with the view (mentioned above) about the inter-personal view of God’s self-disclosure to the world. Instead of futile dichotomies which the old language of theology has engendered – nature vs. history, grace vs. law, individual vs. community, spiritual vs. material, etc.– the new language of theology affirms a holistic view of reality.

A Praxis Model of Contextual Theology

Asian situations have spawned a good number of contextual theologies. One of the most common has been called the praxis model. This is a departure from the assumption that theology is a systematic articulation of timeless truth and the practical application of a body of ideas to concrete historical situations.

Though theologians continue to employ adaptation, which seeks to reinterpret Western thought from an Asian perspective, or indigenization, which takes the native culture and religion as its basis, there is a newer thrust to contextualize theology... As a dynamic process, it combines words and action, it is open to change, and looks to the future. (Virginia Fabella, ed., Asia’s Struggle for Full Humanity, Orbis Books, 1980, p.4).

The aim of contextual theology is not only to understand and interpret God’s act, or to give reason for their faith, but to help suffering people in their struggle to change their situation in accordance with the vision of the gospel (K.C. Abraham, op. cit., p.8) of justice and freedom from bondage to fullness of life. In a very real sense, the praxis type of contextual theology is liberative. It seeks to raise the critical awareness of people about their situation and to empower them to change cultural values and social structures undergirding human relationships.

The praxis model opts for the action/reflection method of doing theology. As set forth at the Dar Es Salaam meeting of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) “reject(s) as irrelevant an academic type of theology that is divorced from action.” The statement goes to say: “We are prepared for a radical break in epistemology which makes commitment the first act of theology and engages in critical reflection on the praxis of the reality of the Third World”. In other words, as K.C. Abraham puts it, “liberative praxis is the methodology for contextual theologies”. The praxis model is nothing new. In fact, it continues the prophetic tradition which insists not only on words but on action (Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah) and the New Testament injunction to communicate in action the truth in love. It is also in keeping with the view that theology and ethics are inseparable.

As mentioned above, the praxis model of contextual theology affirms the conviction that “truth is at the level of history, not in the realm of ideas” (Quoted in Bevans, op. cit., p.65). Action is reflected-upon and reflection is acted-upon.

To appreciate why commitment to reflected-upon action and acted-upon reflection is the preferred method of the praxis model of contextual theology, it is important for us to have a glimpse of one massive fact of the Asian context. Reference is here made to the fact that the masses of people in Asia are in bondage to dehumanizing, exploitative and oppressive con-conditions. Bishop Julio Labayen describes this common reality of suffering in Asia in these words:

...What makes Asian suffering different from the rest of the world? Most obviously it is the extent, the sheer magnitude of the suffering. More Asians are hungry, homeless, unemployed and illiterate than all the rest of the world put together. More men and women are despised, humiliated, cheated; more suffer the tyranny of governments and oppressive elites, and the fear and shame that tyranny brings than in all the rest of the world combined... There may be areas of poverty around the world as bad as Asia... but there is nothing anywhere to match the sweep and unrelieved misery of Asia’s suffering. (Julio Labayen, “Asian Suffering and the Christian Hope”, Testimony Amid Suffering, ed. T.K. Thomas, Singapore: CCA, 1977, p.9)

Such suffering and misery are caused much less, if at all, by people’s congenital deficiencies (e.g., that, allegedly, they are unimaginative and lazy), but very much more because of structures of oppression, exploitation and domination. This situation uses people as means to serve the self-interests of a dominant few. It runs counter to the basic (and humanist) view that persons are ends in themselves and should not be treated as means only.

The face of suffering varies.

In the Philippine context suffering takes on the face of endemic poverty where about 80 percent of the people live below the poverty/bread line. This is a situation that is replicated in places like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Burma and Cambodia.

In other Asian countries relative economic affluence has been bought at a high price. People have to forfeit their right to participate freely and responsibly in the political process because of the institution and maintenance of centralized, authoritarian and repressive regimes which are legitimized by an appeal to the idea of national security. Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and, to a certain extent, Malaysia, come close to embodying this reality.

The response of Asian churches to situations where people are forced to suffer has been far from encouraging. Most have been apathetic or indifferent. This is the inevitable (though not necessary) consequence of an individualistic, apolitical and other-worldly theology they have inherited from their “mother churches” in the West. They have been more concerned about the pastoral dimension of their calling to be engaged in God’s mission. They have carried out vigorous evangelistic programmes for the purpose of saving individual souls, but have left untouched situations in which people are being systematically “sinned against” (Raymond Fung). Some churches, however, have shown considerable sensitivity to the problems and challenges taking place in the larger human communities in which they are situated, and have intentionally attempted to respond to them in prophetic ways. In some instances, where the official position of established (mainline) churches have been characterized by “neutrality” and tentativeness, some sensitive people within their fold, both clergy and lay, have opted to live out their Christian faith by a single-minded commitment to action aimed at radically changing dehumanizing situations. Where their own churches have stayed at the sidelines they have joined peoples’ movements that struggle for the kind of future that will ensure fullness of life to suffering and struggling peoples not only for rice but also for human dignity. They have opted to be with people, sharing their suffering and hope and determined to “...proclaim (by) word (and) by their own efforts the power that will permit them to guarantee the satisfaction of their needs and the creation of authentic conditions of liberation” (Tissa Balasuriya, “Theologizing from the Other Side of the World”, Logos, Vol. 20, No. 3, Sept. 1981, p.31). With people they are saying “No” to anti-life forces and “Yes” to human freedom and dignity. They have made common cause with people who affirm that as subjects of history they are committed to a radical process that will ensure their true liberation and authentic humanhood. In such a process they have demonstrated a spirituality not only of meditation but also

a spirituality of involvement and engagement of active obedience, and collective commitment towards a new social order and political well-being; of sacrifice and service to the people that is embodied in a life-style of economic discipline, sharing and mutuality; of a sense of enmity and anger to those things that cause the sufferings of many; of undying courage and love and of longings for justice and freedom for all. (Feliciano Carino, “What About the Theology of Struggle?”, in Religion and Society, Manila: FIDES, 1988, p.xii)

Such a spirituality means no less than an act of sharing in the broken Body of Christ for the healing of the world, a commitment to the mandate to give oneself to God and to the world so that God may be honoured and that all may enjoy God’s gracious gift of fullness of life.

It may again be called to mind that for practitioners of the praxis type of contextual theology commitment to action for radical social change is the first act of theology, followed by reflection on that action, issuing in further action and reflection in an ongoing spiral process. In doing that, they claim that they can develop a theology that is truly relevant to a particular context in Asia. But this “theology from below” recognizes the salutary importance of grass-roots people who play a central role in acting on their situation. They are the primary theologians even though they articulate their faith mainly in an oral form. Professionally trained theologians relate to them not as teachers having all the answers to peoples’ questions, but as co-learners, theologizing with, not for, people within, not apart from, their particular contexts. The role of a professional theologian is similar to that of a midwife: to help facilitate the process of giving birth to peoples’ theology. He/she can make available to people his/her conceptual tools, analytical skills and the power to put together disparate ideas in organized and coherent form. He/she has to learn to trust in peoples’ capacity to reflect critically for themselves. At the same time, as a responsible partner in the birthing-of-peoples’-theology process, he/she should be prepared to challenge them if and when that is necessary. Being for, and with, people who suffer and struggle for freedom and human dignity does not mean idolizing or idealizing them. Rather, it means that solidarity with people involves a ministry of enabling them to experience ongoing renewal as they engage in a process of bringing about radical change to situations that have held them in bondage.

A practitioner of the praxis model of theology must be prepared for surprising ways by which God’s will is discerned in context. Experience in the Philippine context has revealed that people of other faiths and ideologies popularly regarded as subversive of the Christian faith are capable of articulating profound theological knowledge and insights. Professional praxis theologians who have worked with peoples’ movements have been amazed by the single-mind commitment to the ethical values of the Kingdom of God (God’s sovereign rule in love) such as freedom, justice, righteousness and care for the welfare of people on the part of suffering and struggling people. Instead of talking about those values they live by them, even if in the process they have to face high risks. Praxis theologians have learned to be humble in the face of the surprising ways by which God’s will and ways are disclosed in the world and, through the world, to the church. They have learned to accept the fact that not only does the church have a mission to the world, the world, too, has a mission to the church.

Its Appeal

Praxis theology has come under considerable criticism particularly in its liberation theology type (e.g., in Latin America and the Philippines). Some critics have deep reservations about the use of Marxism in liberation theology. Others point to the seeming naiveté and selectiveness in its reading and interpretation of Scriptures. There are those who are unhappy about the almost exclusive emphasis on the negative aspects of society and inability “to see intermediate manifestations of grace” in society (Schreiter, op. cit., p.15). Some of these criticisms are valid; others, however, are a misunderstanding of praxis theology.

In the main, however, the praxis model of contextual theology is “basically sound”. There are legitimate reasons for making this claim. As Bevans aptly puts it:

The praxis model gives ample room for cultural expressions of faith, while providing exciting new understandings of the scriptural and older theological witness. In some ways this model takes the concrete situations more seriously than any other model, since it regards theology not as a generally applicable, finished product that is valid at all times and in all places, but as an understanding of God’s presence in very particular situations (cf. the call of leaders of churches in New Zealand for fair housing laws and practices, the sending of “baked beens” letter to the Prime Minister to call his attention to the need for a caring society, the call to honour the spirit of a social covenant as enshrined in the Treaty of Waitangi, etc.)... There is a certain permanence and even generality needed in the theological enterprise, of course, but the praxis model offers a corrective to theology that is too general and pretends to be universally relevant. (Bevans, op. cit., P.71)

To this may be added the observation about praxis theology’s sound theory of knowledge, its fresh understanding of revelation and its rootedness in the theological traditions of the church.

Despite its limitations as pointed out by its critics, it commends itself in a compelling manner to those who are serious about their task of doing theology in an Asian context of suffering and hope.

'Winning the War of Ideas' : Lessons from the Neo-Liberals

2007-09-08T17:25:00.001+02:00

'Winning the War of Ideas' : Lessons from the Neo-Liberals

Briefing for the Human Development and Capabilities Association working group expert roundtable at King’s College, Cambridge in November 2004

This is a draft document: not for quotation

This briefing will look at the success of neo-liberal economists in promoting their beliefs in academia, society, and eventually in government. In particular, it will look at the impact of F.A. Hayek, and of the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA). It will ask what lessons could be learnt by advocates of the capability approach from the neo-liberals' story.

1. Foundations: The Road to Serfdom

The condensed version of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom inspired businessman Antony Fisher to be a founder of the IEA. He was one of many for whom this book had a major effect. So I want to begin by looking at the distinctive features of this very influential tract:

· The Road to Serfdom is neither a work of economics, nor is it a particularly technical piece of philosophy or political theory. It is written clearly and accessibly (even more so in the condensed version), and outlines a moral case for classic laissez-faire economic liberalism.
· The book does contain some empirical claims, but they are not largely about economic efficiency. They are about the kinds of society that will emerge if different economic and social policies are followed.
· Central to the work is the history it offers - a broad-brush account of the way collectivist policies are alleged to have led on to Nazism. ‘There is scarcely a political ideal or concept which does not involve opinions about a whole series of past events.’ (1) The account we give of the past shapes what seems plausible and wise for current policy-making.

Hayek and the founders of the IEA saw their work in moral and visionary terms. In The Intellectuals and Socialism, Hayek tells his readers

The main lesson which the true liberal must learn from the success of the socialists is that it was their courage to be Utopian which gained them the support of the intellectuals and therefore an influence on public opinion which is daily making possible what only recently seemed utterly remote. Those who have concerned themselves exclusively with what seemed practicable in the existing state of opinion have constantly found that even this has rapidly become politically impossible as the result of changes in a public opinion which they have done nothing to guide. (2)

Hayek wants the neo-liberals to learn these lessons of history , and so ensure the widest possible dissemination of their views. Hayek made a distinction between scholars in academia, and intellectuals - journalists, novelists, filmmakers (and even clergy!). This latter group, he said, were vital to the promotion of any political and moral vision. The spread of Hayek’s ideas was helped by the issuing of a condensed edition of the Road to Serfdom in the April 1945 Reader’s Digest. John Blundell looks at the relationships with the publisher that led to this - it is a study in the importance of contacts within the media. (3)

To influence both scholars and academics required institutions which could respond to the demands and opportunities of each decade. Hayek's foundation of the Mont Pélerin Society, as an international community of scholars and intellectuals was a means of developing the vision of neo-liberalism, and of disseminating it in the wider culture. In the early post-war years, when these ideas remained unfashionable, a network of institutions in the US supported neo-liberal thinkers who could not get tenure, and printed and distribute books which could not find mainstream publishers. As these ideas began to take deeper root, and tenure and publication were easier to come by, there could be more of a focus on identifying new talent, and persuading it it to take advantage of these opportunities. Since the 1970s, the American Institute for Humane Studies has been able to devote its entire focus to

identifying, developing and supporting the very best and brightest young people it can find who are (a) market-oriented and (b) intent on a leveraged scholarly, or intellectual, career path. (4)

2. Practical application: Chile

In the early stages of neo-liberalism, Hayek urged a certain distance from politics itself. Whilst there was a need for serious empirical work to demonstrate the applicability of neo-liberalism, Hayek saw politicians as constrained by circumstance and expediency:

Society’s course will be changed only by a change in ideas. First you must reach the intellectuals, the teachers and writers, with reasoned argument. It will be their influence on society which will prevail, and the politicians will follow. (5)

Some of the reasons for this flow from the content of neo-liberal thought, and may not apply in the same way to alternative approaches. In the nature of neo-liberalism there is a considerable suspicion of the political process: the economic freedom of exchange at the heart of both Hayek and Friedman's thought can be imperilled by the tyranny of the majority. A situation where socialist policies are pursued, even with the approval of most voters, is an intolerable infringement of liberty. And so, paradoxically, authoritarian states - such as Chile under Pinochet, or some of the East Asian "tigers" - might find it easier to restore economic freedom. According to Valdes' study of Pinochet's Economists, the neo-liberals who determined the military régime's economic policy acknowledged that dictatorship was

a positive and necessary situation. It allowed the historic vices of statism to be corrected. The economists and their media apologists did not hesitate to admit that it was precisely the authoritarian nature of the régime that allowed the reforms to take place. (6)

The military did not initially intend to pursue neo-liberal policies: it was a policy vacuum which gave the 'Chicago Boys' their opportunity. The vital prelude was the relationship which had developed between the economics faculties in Chicago and in the Catholic University in Chile.

Right from the start the process... was a deliberate and programmed attempt to transfer ideas... backed by a specialised structure [i.e. the predominant group of economists at Chicago] ... based on an intermediary [the International Co-operation Administration of the US Government) which had the adequate means to make the operation viable. (7)
In the end, Valdes suggests that this tightly controlled "ideological transfer" created a strong loyalty to a moral and conceptual analysis of the economic order. Whilst this strong "emotional and affective attitude to economic doctrine" enabled drastic structural reforms to be effected, it may also have contributed to the inability to respond effectively to the shocks leading up to the economic crisis of 1982.

3. Practical application: The United Kingdom

If a military coup gave the neo-liberals their opportunity in Chile, it was a political and economic upheaval that presented the opportunities in the UK. As in Chile, it was not within the neo-liberals' power to make the economic weather - what they neo-liberals had done was placed themselves in a position to act effectively when a storm broke; offering a compelling account of the crisis, and of the reforms they claimed would be necessary to restore national prosperity and confidence.

Blundell identifies key factors in the readiness of the neo-liberals in Britain, and their effectiveness once in power:

· first deploying an 'artillery' (IEA, Chicago School et al) which outlined a set of principles, and then a distinct 'infantry' (in the Centre for Policy Studies, committees etc) dealing with practical application
· identifying a small number of key issues (unions, inflation, privatisation) for the focus of all available thinking and political capital
· planning ahead whilst in opposition; but keeping analysis going whilst in power which is separate from the structures of government itself.
· orchestrating key speeches once in power which communicated the neo-liberal analysis in simple terms to the wider public. (8)

4. Self-interest and group interest

Thus far, the terms in which the neo-liberal ascendancy have been described have been intellectual. They have centred on the development of a moral and political vision; its organised dissemination, and the consequent readiness of a body of analysis and policy when political opportunity arose.

What is lacking is an analysis of group interest. It is not surprising that it is amongst entrepreneurs that The Road to Serfdom has the greatest impact, and inspires factory-farmer Anthony Fisher to found, and fund, the IEA. The narrative Hayek is offering him is one that chimes with his economic interests: lower regulation and lower taxes are a message about which an entrepreneur would want to read a compelling defence. Likewise in the 1970s and 1980s, the moral rhetoric of Thatcher and Reagan is found persuasive by precisely those social groups who see in it a possibility of greater net income, and either vastly increased personal capital - or the first opportunity to own any significant property at all.

Moral narratives have a crucial place in public debate, and yet it is rare to see a group convinced by a narrative that involves a redistribution of wealth and power away from them and towards someone else. As we move to consider the lessons for advocates of the capability approach we will have to bear this in mind.

5. Lessons for the Capability Approach

(i) Philosophical foundations: The neo-liberals began with solid philosophical foundations. Straightforward theses were outlined clearly and forcefully. Hayek, for example, makes a clear commitment to individualism: “What are called social ends are for it merely the identical ends of many individuals - or the ends to the achievement of which individuals are willing to contribute in return for the satisfaction of their own desires.” (9) A distinct, but related issue, is that of property rights. The capability approach implies a different stance on each of these questions. There is no lack of good philosophy on the subject. What is missing is a short, powerful and clearly-expressed statement of the position - accessible to lay people.

(ii) A ‘broad-brush’ vision: The Road to Serfdom is not simply a well-expressed philosophical argument; it offers a vision. This strikes me as one of the most promising avenues for the capability approach - it too is based on a strong moral vision. And it is timely: just as Hayek’s work struck a chord in a world haunted by fascism and communism, today’s world may be ready to question the maximising national income as our primary policy goal. Western culture is aware that material saturation does not necessarily bring contentment or safety - and issues of international security, and of population migration mean questions of the well-being of the “two-thirds world” cannot be ignored.

(iii) Nurturing people: Like the neo-liberals, those advocating the capability approach need to develop a clear strategy in to support scholars in need of tenure and publication - and to make this an attractive career choice for those in each new generation with the relevant gifts. Likewise, the media, writers and the leaders of community and faith groups need to be enlisted to promote this vision in the wider world.

(iv) Narrating events: The neo-liberals had great success in fashioning a narrative. This applied both to Hayek’s account of how centralised planning led to tyranny, and to later developments - the analysis of the failure of the “mixed economy” which led to the rise of Thatcherism and “Reaganomics”; the story of the “Asian tigers”, as contrasted with the failure of the planned economies in post-colonial Africa.

Crucial to the success of an alternative vision is the provision of an alternative narrative. An example of this is Sen’s account of the progress of different national economic policies in Development as Freedom. (10) The point of this briefing is not to argue the merits of these rival accounts - merely to point out that the importance of these areas of debate, and of the diffusion of the capability approach's scholarly analysis via the "intellectuals".

One could make a very similar point about the contemporary debate in British politics. Thatcherism and New Labour both have powerful historical narratives based on the failure of the corporatist consensus in the 1970s. A reason why New Labour has not changed the terms of national political debate in the dramatic way Thatcherism did is because it essentially shares a Thatcherite understanding of the mistakes of the past. A truly alternative economic and political vision would have to provide a different analysis of the crises of the 1970s, and the lessons to be learnt from them.

(v) Practical application: The examples of Chile and Britain both show the importance of having laid foundations: as well as having an 'artillery' outlining a basic philosophical position, there is an array of 'infantry' working on a carefully-selected (and not too large) number of policy implications. In the face of the economic crises which had faced Allende and Callaghan, they had a clear account of what had gone wrong - and people in place ready to recommend alternatives. Advocates of the capability approach would need to map out the key areas of economic and political reform their position requires - and have practical policy recommendations for governments.

(vi) Group interests: Perhaps this last point should really be the first! It will certainly need to inform the way we shape our argument and the dissemination of information. A lesson of the neo-liberals’ success is that the moral and practical case for laissez-faire capitalism found a willing ear in those who would benefit from it financially.

Who, then, should advocates of the capability approach seek to address - and how? The answer must surely be that different groups will benefit from the kinds of policies it would seek to promote, and in different ways. For some the benefits (if the approach is effective in practice) would be in improved public services and in the redistribution of wealth in their direction through progressive taxation or reforms in labour laws. On the whole such people already find the case for alternatives to neo-liberalism compelling. For six years, I have been involved in the work of broad-based community organising in East London, including a major campaign for a Living Wage of £6.70 for all workers. (11) I have never once had to convince a low-paid worker that the labour market is monopsonistic - only that the campaign had a chance of succeeding! The effective articulation of an alternative approach will be well-received by groups already dissatisfied with laissez-faire capitalism, but unsure what else is seriously on offer.

However, as I suggested earlier, there is another constituency which Sen’s approach may attract. These are people in the west dissatisfied despite material affluence - and threatened by some of the implications for the security of western peoples of a ’global village’ in which the communications revolution means we cannot escape the effects of having so many of our fellow-humans living in such poverty. Such people may already be concerned about the effects of individualism and commercialism - the kinds of issues popularised in books such as Bowling Alone and The Corrosion of Character. In a sense, like the first group, they are dissatisfied with the way things are (but not because they are deprived financially) and yet unsure how else things might be.

Questions about how our ideas are framed and disseminated will be closely related to these questions of our potential audiences. How, if at all, are they organised? What means of communication will reach and engage them? Or is the organising of citizens itself one of our primary tasks?
Angus Ritchie
November 2004

_________________________

(1) F.A. Hayek, Capitalism and the Historians, cited in J. Blundell, Waging the War of Ideas (London, 2003)., 35
(2) Ibid., 37.
(3) Ibid, 97-8
(4) Ibid, 40.
(5) Ibid, 84.
(6) Juan Gabriel Valdes, Pinochet's Economists (Cambridge 1995), 29
(7) Ibid, 49
(8) Blundell, op. cit., 110-112
(9) F. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (Ark, London, 1986), 44.
(10) A. Sen, Development as Freedom (OUP, Oxford, 1999), Chapter 2
(11) The Living Wage campaign is an action of London Citizens; part of the Citizen Organising Foundation. More information at www.londoncitizens.org.uk

Neo-liberalism, the Gospel and Trade Justice

2007-09-08T17:22:00.000+02:00

Neo-liberalism, the Gospel and Trade Justice

Part I

1. Introduction

This paper is about Christian response to neo-liberal economics. Turning hope into action commits Christian Aid to challenging the "economic orthodoxies currently forced on poor countries [which] weaken and undermine their economies." Neo-liberalism is the philosophy inspiring many of today's orthodoxies. In order to fulfil its objectives of secure livelihoods for all; economic justice for poor people and the strengthening of a movement to eradicate poverty, Christian Aid's work needs to challenge hold of neo-liberal thought - and outline real alternatives. It's in this area that I want to focus today's discussion: responding specifically to the goals in Christian Aid's strategic framework which are about mobilising and educating supporters in Britain and Ireland.

So in the first part of this paper, I will describe neo-liberalism, and then look at why it has taken such a hold on contemporary politics and economics. Sixty years ago, it was only advocated by a small minority of thinkers. How did it build such a powerful coalition of supporters - and are there lessons for those of us who want to mobilise around alternative viewpoints?

In the second part of this paper, I will look at the vision of human flourishing presented in the Gospels - and see the points of contrast with neo-liberalism. I will relate this contrast to the particular issue of Trade Justice.

Later in the seminar, in my second set of remarks, I will look at the practical implications this might have for promoting the Trade Justice Campaign and Christian Aid's wider set of objectives.

2. What is neo-liberalism?

The father of modern neo-liberalism is the economist and philosopher Friedrich von Hayek. His view of the world is very individualistic - and we need to remember that it was forged in the 1940s, in the midst of the evils of collectivism in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. So for Hayek, neo-liberalism is not some kind of cynical theory to justify corporate greed: it is a moral vision of the world, based on a reaction to the evils of the totalitarian state.

Reading Hayek, we are reminded that today's orthodoxy was yesterday's heresy. For in the 1940s, much more egalitarian and interventionist approaches were popular. Indeed, in 1949, one of his essays tries to explain the popularity of socialism - and asks what neo-liberals might learn from this success. Interestingly, he argues that the success of socialism comes from its moral vision:

The main lesson which the true liberal must learn from the success of the socialists is that it was their courage to be Utopian which gained them the support of the intellectuals and therefore an influence on public opinion which is daily making possible what only recently seemed utterly remote.

There are four key elements of Hayek's neo-liberal vision:

1. A negative understanding of 'freedom': 'Freedom' is the absence of coercion by another person. So I can be 'free' without having enough resources to live well.
2. Market economics: The freedom to buy and sell goods with minimal state interference is both a human right and the most economically efficient way of allocating resources. Competition is the motor of innovation and prosperity.
3. The sanctity of private property: The money people earn in a free market economy is morally theirs, and it is an infringement of their freedom for the state to take more of it in taxation than is absolutely necessary.
4. A neutral, minimal state: Freedom is to be exercised by individuals who spend their time and resources as they see fit. It is not the role of the state to promote a particular moral vision or lifestyle: the state simply creates an environment in which individuals can make their own choices.

As you can see, there is an emphasis here on rules and on rights. Neo-liberalism doesn't offer a positive account of human flourishing and of human community. It implies a has a very atomistic view of human beings. That's left to consenting adults to work out between themselves. People are fundamentally consumers, who should be free to spend their time and money on whatever they personally consider to be valuable: the state has a minimal role in co-ordinating wider social goals. People are also understood to be competitive - economics is about the allocation of scarce resources, and it is by selling their goods (or their labour) in the free market that people get control of those resources. Adam Smith, the most famous forerunner of neo-liberalism, remarked that it is not the altruism of the baker that gets us our bread: for neo-liberals, human action is inspired and co-ordinated by the profit motive and the price mechanism.

3. How did neo-liberalism win?

In this next section of the paper, I want to look at how neo-liberalism won the battle of ideas. How does it come about that a minority view in 1949 is the economic orthodoxy by the mid-1980s? From the 1940s onwards, neo-liberals engaged in a concerted campaign to reverse the prevailing political consensus. Through both tenacious organisation, and the failings of previous economic models, they achieved a great deal.

Studying the rise of neo-liberalism over the last six decades, we can see a number of tactics which its supporters used. They may be of use to us when, later in this seminar, we look at the ways in which we might influence the debate today.

(i) Lay strong foundations: The intellectual foundations of neo-liberalism were outlined clearly and forcefully, in works like Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. His work wasn't aimed simply at his fellow academics. Hayek made a distinction between scholars in academia, and intellectuals - journalists, novelists, filmmakers and community leaders. The intellectuals, he said, were vital to the promotion of any political and moral vision.

(ii) Tell a clear and compelling story: The neo-liberals had great success in fashioning a narrative. Through think-tanks and journalism, neo-liberals have ensured their interpretation of events is heard clearly. An example today would be the way neo-liberals represent tje story of the “Asian tigers” as a success for capitalism - in contrast with the failure of the planned economies in post-colonial Africa.

(iii) Practical application: John Blundell's book Waging the War of Ideas uses military metaphors for the neo-liberals' strategy. He explains that, as well as having an 'artillery' which gave the overview, the neo-liberals had an 'infantry' working on a carefully-selected (and not too large) number of policy issues. The big picture was combined with specific and well-researched policies. The rise of the neo-liberals in Chile and the United Kingdom in the 1970s was based on this mixture of a clear narrative and practical recommendations. In response to the economic crises which had faced Salvador Allende and James Callaghan, the neo-liberals had a clear account of what had gone wrong - and made sure their people were in place to recommend alternatives.

(iv) Nurture people: The neo-liberals had a clear strategy in to support scholars in need of tenure and publication, and to set up a network of think-tanks - to make this an attractive career choice for those in each new generation with the relevant gifts. Likewise, the media, writers and the leaders of community were enlisted to promote the neo-liberal vision in the wider world.

(v) Think about group interests: A lesson of the neo-liberals’ success is that the moral and practical case for capitalism found a willing ear in those who would benefit from it financially. It was an entrepreneur - Anthony Fisher - who, on reading The Road to Serfdom was moved to donate the funds needed to found the Institute of Economic Affairs. Part of the reason neo-liberalism succeeded was that, for some key groups in society, it helped them to make sense of their experience, and told them something they wanted to hear.

So the triumph of neo-liberal ideas didn't happen either by accident, or simply because the ideas were powerful and convincing. The neo-liberals were organised - in academia, business and politics. There may be lessons there for us today.

4. The Gospel and Neo-liberalism

What, then, does the Christian Gospel have to say to neo-liberalism? There are many passages in the Bible which speak of social justice, and of the liberation of the poor. They are no doubt very familiar to you - and are used well in Christian Aid's devotional material, and in reports such as Trade Justice: A Christian Response to Global Poverty Here, I will explore the wider theological context.

I want to make three contrasts between the Gospels and neo-liberalism. The first is about the basis of their ethics.

Neo-liberalism is founded on rights. If I do not give my consent, you have no right to take my property, or restrict the way I buy and sell things. I am a free agent, an individual who has the right to choose what I do with my time and money - the right to determine my own destiny.

The Christian Gospel, by contrast, is rooted in communion. True fulfilment does not come from the "choice" of a capitalist consumer faced with an array of different products. Rather, human fulfilment comes from our participation in the life of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mission that Jesus entrusts to his church in Matthew 28 is to call all people into that communion.

The Trinity is central to Christian ethics: it tells us that God is a fellowship of love, and that when human beings live together in love, they are actually living ('abiding') in the divine life. (1 John 4.16) A number of theologians have used this, along with passages such as Matthew 25, to argue for the possibility of 'anonymous Christians' - those who may not assent to Christianity intellectually, but by abiding in such love, are unknowingly abiding in God.

There has been a renewal of interest in the doctrine of the Trinity in the last few decades - and much of this has been due to increased dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox churches. The Russian theologian Federov wrote that “Our social programme is the Trinity. No other goal. The love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is adequate to us.” Because communion with the divine is the goal of the Christian life, it shapes the way we are called to relate to one another politically and economically. If we are made in the image of God - and if God is a communion - then holiness must be expressed socially, as well as an individually.

Another word for this communion is "charity". Charity, in the older sense of the word, is not about good deeds done by one group of people to another. Charity is a relationship. When we live "in charity with one another" we are living in a way that is mutually enriching. As the King James Bible translates 1 Corinthians 13

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, [and] is not puffed up

While faith and hope are virtues for the Christian on this side of eternity - "charity" is the one thing that will endure for ever. For it describes the relationship with God and with neighbour for which we have been created. If God is communion, and God creates us for communion - then everything else that we do must ultimately have that goal.

In Divine Economy: Theology and the Market, Stephen Long explores what this sovereignty might mean. Capitalism asks: How does our actions fit with the maximisation of profit? and: Do they fit with economic growth? But, as Long says different questions arise for Christians:

Is charity furthered? Do our [economic] exchanges point us to our true source? Does this fit the mission Christ has entrusted to us? Does it allow us to participate in God's holiness and God's perfections? All Christian churches, orders and vocations cannot be faithful if they fail to ask and answer this question: How do our daily exchanges promote that charity which is a participation in the life of God?

This is a challenging set of questions to ask in relation to Trade Justice. The evidence of Christian Aid's research is that the ideology of liberalisation is not furthering communion. It is impoverishing vulnerable communities, and making an unequal world even less equal - and consequently also less stable. The neo-liberal focus on rules and procedures, and its cavalier attitude to the effect of these rules on the poor, stands in stark contrast to the Gospel call.

Now to the second contrast I want to draw: which concerns our understanding of human nature. Neo-liberalism has an atomistic view of humans, and treats them primarily as consumers, who choose their own values and preferences. It lacks any account of how these preferences are actually formed.

Rowan Williams has wrestled with these issues, in his book Lost Icons, and more recently in a lecture on "Formation" given in East London in April. In it he asked

What if we live in a climate where our emotions are indulged but never educated? That is to say where we never take a thoughtful perspective on how we feel, that brings in other people and their needs ... ... What if our environment is passive to the culture of the global market, simply receiving that constant stream of messages which flows out from producers and marketers? ....one in which we are all flattened out, as you might say, in the role of consumers. ...

Williams' argument is that our preferences are formed - by the way we are educated at home, school and church; by the way advertising manipulates our desires. Capitalism does not simply meet the desires of consumers - it shapes those desires. So neo-liberalism is far from neutral. In encouraging us to treat one another according to the rules of the market, it changes who we are. We are actively encouraged to develop desires it will prove impossible to satisfy. There will never come a time when rich nations feel they have enough - we are locked into cycles of increasing consumption which do not show any signs of making us any happier, but do waste resources in a world where many lack even their basic needs.

It is not only advertising which change us; the environment in which we work also affects our personality. In The Corrosion of Character, Richard Sennett looks at the effect of the "flexible labour market" in the United States.

It has a profound effect on the people who work within it:

"Who needs me?" is a question of character which suffers a radical challenge in modern capitalism. The system radiates indifference. It does so in terms of the outcomes of human striving, as in winner-take-all markets, where there is little connection between risk and reward. It radiates indifference in the organization of absence of trust, where there is no reason to be needed. And it does so through the reengineering of institutions in which people are treated as disposable. Such practices obviously and brutally diminish the sense of mattering as a person, of being necessary to others... Lack of responsiveness is a logical reaction to the feeling one is not needed.

In pushing through trade liberalisation, the World Bank and the IMF are being cavalier about the networks of trust and loyalty which may exist within a society and its previous mode of economics. The market can only function if people display a certain level of trust and loyalty: Sennett suggests capitalism may be destroying of the very qualities which enable it to function.

The third contrast between neo-liberalism and the Gospel concerns their analysis of power. This is perhaps the most pertinent to the Trade Justice Campaign. Neo-liberalism is remarkably quiet about the relationship between wealth and power. (The ideologies of the powerful usually are quiet about these things.) It assumes that markets do not deviate very much from the 'perfect markets' of economic theory. And yet, transnational companies often wield power which distorts the market - just as rich nations force liberalisation on poorer countries, whilst preserving the tariffs which protect their own industries.

The Gospel has a far more realistic analysis of power. Walter Wink's study of the language of "the world" and "the powers" in the New Testament shows the conflict between the Kingdom of justice and peace proclaimed by Christ, and the Domination System of empire and wealth. The Gospels set up an immediate tension between Jesus and the economically powerful - the struggle that culminates in his death and resurrection. Poverty, for the Gospel, is a manifestation of human sin: not the sin of the poor, but that of a society which has put its desire for finite things in the rightful place of the infinite (hence both Jesus' cleansing of the temple, and his conversation with the rich young man).

Power is almost never given up without a struggle. To campaign for Trade Justice is not simply to advance an intellectual alternative to neo-liberalism. It is to seek a redistribution of power in favour of some of the world's poorest people and nations. As Turning hope into action makes clear, such a transformation will require ongoing mobilisation and campaigning. Part of Christian Aid's work will be to mobilise people in the rich nations - and it is to this issue that I now turn.

5. Implications for campaigning and advocacy

Let me go back to the five ways in which the neo-liberals won the battle of ideas between 1945 and 1979.

· they laid strong intellectual foundations
· they had a clear and compelling story to tell
· they worked on practical policy recommendations
· they nurtured academics and intellectuals who would advocate the cause
· they thought about people's self-interest: what groups would benefit from their message, and how could they enlist their support

Looking at the Trade Justice Campaign, it is clear that on a number of fronts, it is doing very similar things. The publicity materials tell a very clear story about the way in which unbalanced trade is harming the lives of some of the world's poorest citizens. Along with the Make Poverty History coalition, Christian Aid is articulating a clear set of policy demands - and the level of public and media mobilisation behind these is very exciting.

Of course, one of the challenges is that the Blair government, whilst very supportive of ending extreme poverty, remains in the grip of neo-liberal economics. That is why it is much happier to work for the increasing of aid and the cancellation of debt than for the kind of relationships of trade that Christian Aid wants to see. Over the next five years, how might Christian Aid mobilise congregations and volunteers to make sure this part of its agenda does not get forgotten?

Let me offer four initial thoughts for discussion

· Firstly, we need to continue to challenge the myths behind neo-liberalism. There is an increasing amount of evidence with which to challenge the economic as well as the ethical claims of neo-liberalism. We need to enlist the "intellectuals" as well as the "academics" to do this successfully.
· Secondly, we need to develop alternative approaches to economics. The dominance of neo-liberalism is at least in part due to the lack of a perceived alternative.
· Thirdly, we need to equip Christians to apply the faith they confess to the context of their lives. This is the task of "contextual theology" - to take the texts of Scripture, and the doctrines of Christianity, and apply them to the contemporary situation.
· And, finally, we need to convince people in Britain that global justice is in their interests too. The doctrine of the Trinity proclaims our interdependence as human beings. We need to anchor that claim in people's experience - so they understand the effects of global injustice on their own lives.

I will explore these in more detail in my second presentation, but will stop now to enable discussion of this first, more broad-brush section.

Part II

Firstly, we need to continue to challenge the myths behind neo-liberalism. Some of the claims for "efficiency" made by free marketeers are clearly unravelling. Others only continue to be accepted because they are endlessly repeated.

A good example of this would be the relative success of the "Asian tiger" economies and the African economies which went down the road of more central planning. Right-wing commentators continue to claim this as a vindication of the free market - when in fact, a very different interpretation is possible, based upon the higher levels of infrastructure and education in South-East Asia, and the use of protectionism to shelter local industry in the early stages of development.

From Tanzania to California, examples abound of liberalisation failing to deliver the promised results. Sennett's analysis of the effect of capitalism on workers' motivation and sense of loyalty may help to explain this. Neo-liberalism in fact takes too dim a view of human nature - human motivation is about more than the profit motive, and to reduce our transactions to self-interest goes against the grain of human nature. Humans work best, and institutions flourish best, on the basis of trust and moral commitment. Adam Smith knew this, which is why as well a writing The Wealth of Nations he wrote a Theory of Moral Sentiments. The erosion of trust and loyalty in the unfettered market economy may have a heavy cost.

How do we communicate these criticisms, and offer an alternative narrative of events? Hayek talked about the "intellectuals" being crucial to the process of communicating ideas - filmmakers, journalists, clergy; all those who mediate academic ideas into the wider discourse. In exposing the myth of market efficiency, they will play a crucial part.

Satire is one of the most powerful weapons in this process; the kind of satire that moves beyond purely destructive criticism. When I was in America last month, I saw the new film on Enron - part-documentary, part satirical, it is an example of a work that punctures the neo-liberal rhetoric of many corporations, and exposes the accumulation of capital and abuse of power that underlies it. (I'm not suggesting Christian Aid commissions any such films or satires - only highlighting the importance of a dialogue with artists who are challenging neo-liberalism, and making our supporters and churches aware of the literature and films that offer a different perspective.)

Secondly, we need to develop alternative approaches to economics. One of the reasons neo-liberalism continues to have such a hold is that people, however dissatisfied they are with capitalism, feel the lack alternative framework with which to make sense of reality.

I have found Amartya Sen's "Capability Approach" helpful in thinking about these issues. Sen, like the neo-liberals, values human freedom. However, he provides an account of freedom that is based, not on property rights and procedures, but on human flourishing. For people to be free, they need to have the capabilities to lead the lives they value and have reason to value. There is a deliberate ambiguity in Sen's formulation - you can put more or less emphasis on the importance of what people "have reason to value" rather than simply what they do currently value. But Sen's approach could make room for the kinds of concerns I raised earlier, in a way that neo-liberalism cannot.

The Human Development and Capability Association is engaged in some work on how the capability approach might be communicated to what Hayek called the "intellectuals" rather than simply the "academics". At the moment, Sen's work is taught within development studies, but it is less well-known in the other parts of economics and in the wider public debate.

Thirdly, we need to equip Christians to apply the faith they confess to the context of their lives. The privatisation of religion in a secular society needs to be challenged, so that Christians understand their doctrines to have implications for politics and economics. Lay Christians and clergy alike need to be encouraged to link theology to the context of their lives outside the church - to make theological sense of their patterns of work, leisure and consumption. The more Christians are equipped to do this, the more natural it will be for them to see an issue like Trade Justice as a theological, as well as a political challenge.

Increasing understanding of the media is an important part of equipping Christians well. A simple, but creative, example of this is found at Harvard University's Episcopalian Church, where there is a group who meet on a Sunday to read the newspapers together as Christians. Christians need to be encouraged to analyse the language in which issues are framed and people are described, and the background moral assumptions which are made.

And, finally, we need to convince people in Britain that global justice is in their interests too. Christian ethics is not based on a law of duty but an invitation to communion. It teaches that we find our fulfilment in one another - that we are not ultimately competitors in a universe of scarcity. That communion is expressed in the doctrine of the Trinity - and also in our understanding of the church, as the body of Christ. As St Paul says "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it." (1 Cor 12.26)

One piece of social action I have enjoyed in East London is broad-based citizen organising. Citizen organising unites institutions of faith, labour and value in some of London's poorest areas. The aim is to build the capacity of such communities to win power.

A striking feature of such organising is that it builds on the existing stories, concerns and interests of local people. People are motivated by more than mere self-interest - but their own needs and flourishing are very much part of the equation.

One difficulty faced when we seek to motivate people to engage with global issues is that they can seem unrelated immediate experience. Of course, that is not true for many immigrant communities in Britain - where people's personal stories will include direct experience of, and interest in, these issues. But there are still many people in Britain for whom global justice will seem entirely an issue about doing good to someone else of whom they have little or no experience.

Motivation may grow if we help people to understand that neo-liberalism has a direct impact on their own lives . This seems like a very good time to be communicating such a message - as people in Britain seem increasingly unhappy with the effects of the market on character and community, even at a time of economic prosperity. Turning hope into action stresses the importance of the World Social Forum, and other ecumenical and secular networks. These can help us draw together the stories of how the unchallenged market damages lives, and diminishes solidarity, at home as well as abroad.

The recent general election highlighted the interplay between domestic and global issues. Anxieties about international security and about flows of migration are signs that in today's world injustice and instability in poorer nations have an impact on life in this country. "Human security" is no longer something rich nations can hope to achieve simply by military and economic dominance. In an increasingly interdependent world, security can only be underpinned by greater equity.

Angus Ritchie
Contextual Theology Centre

References

J. Blundell, Waging the War of Ideas (London, 2003)
F.A. Hayek, 'The Intellectuals and Socialism', University of Chicago Law Review (Spring 1949)
F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (Ark, London, 1986)
D. S. Long, Divine Economy: Theology and the Market (Routledge, 2000)
A. Sen, Development as Freedom (OUP, Oxford, 1999)
R. Sennett, The Corrosion of Character (Norton, 1998)
A. Smith, The Wealth of Nations
A. Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments

THE CHINS IN THE EYES OF FOREIGNERS

2007-09-08T16:13:00.000+02:00

THE CHINS IN THE EYES OF FOREIGNERS

Rev. Dr. Chum Awi

The genealogy of the Chin, according to the linguists, stems from Sino- Tibetan which is one out of three language groups, i.e., Altaic, Indo-European, and Austro-Asiatic. Sino-Tibetan gave birth to Tibeto- Burman which in turn gave birth to Tibetan, Yi( Lolo ), Pui( Minchia), TuChia, Hani( Woni), Lisu, Lahu, Nasi(Moso), Chingpo(Kachin), Chiang( Chin), Nu, and Tulung ( see Encyclopedia Britanica). Early writers, both British and Americans, mentioned the name of the Chins as Khang, Khiang or whatsoever. The words Chin, Chiang or Khiang were romanization of the original Chinese word " Yin."
The Chins are found in India, Bangladesh, and in Burma. There are Chins who live in plain areas and those who live on mountains have a word "zo" to describe places which are high and cold. Some Chins are propagating "zo-mi" as their original name. In fact, the genetic word "Chin" comes from the Chinese word "Yin" which means man. In the Pinyin romanization, "Yin" becomes " Chin." Thus, we have China as the country of the Yin people. culturally and traditionally, the Chins have many kinds of similarities with the Chinese. Sine 1889, the year in which the British empire annexed the Chin Hill, there were British political officers and American missionaries who have closely worked for the Chins. Some of these officers have remarks on the culture, way of life, attitude, habits, body structure, etc., of the Chins.
The ''Chin today are widespread in several other countries mainly because of their ill - feeling against the prevailing military rulers. It is necessary to introduce the Chins to other people for the purpose of mutual understanding and interpersonal relationship. To serve this purpose, this article depicts the remarks made by the British political officers and the American missionaries. The first person who made a remark on the Chins was Rev. Arthur Carson who lived and worked for the Asho- Chin in Thayer Myo. In his letter dated January 19, 1888 to the headquarters office of the Baptists in the United States of America, he wrote: There are so many dialects that we can never hope to know and use them all. Our hopes for the future are high. We find them naturally a superior people to the Burmans. They are not quarrelsome, may easily be taught to be independent and manly, and has a sense of gratitude for favors received. They have good mind and hearts capable of great love. Yet, they are just as capable as enmities as of friendships. The greatest evil we will have to meet among them is temperance.
A British medical officer Major Newland who himself married a Chin woman in Hakha town wrote a book called A Practical Handbook of Lai Dialect ( 1895). In his book he wrote: A Chin id manly and independent fellow. He has not the cringing, fawning habits of his neighbours the Burmans . He always considers himself the equal of anyone. This independent spirit is the only favorable quality of a Chin. He would be a fine fellow but for his drinking habits. Carey and Tuck, who expedited the Chin Hills, wrote volumes of book which they entitle The Chin Hills ( 1896). In their entitled one can find the following verses:
The slow speech, the serious manner, the respect of birth and the knowledge of pedigrees, the duty of revenge, the taste for and the treacherous method of hospitality, the clannish feeling, the vice of avarice, the filthy state of the body, mutual distrust, impatience under control, the want of power of combination and the continued effort, arrogance in victory, speedy discouragement and panic in defeat . . . The Chin Hills are peopled by many clans and communities, calling themselves to be distinct and superior origin . . . Owning firstly to the want of a written language and secondly to the intermiable inter-village warfare, has split up and resulted in Babel of tongues, a variety of customs, and a diversity of modes of living . . . Except in the prosecution of warfare, robbery is practically unknown. A.S. Reid in his book Chin -Lushai land observed the culture of the Chins as:
Owning no central authority, possessing no written language, obeying but the verbal mandates of the chiefs, Hospitable and affectionate in their homes unsparing of age and sex while on war path; Untutored as the remotest races in central Africa, and yet endowed with an intelligence. Rev. Dr East, a medical missionary to the Chin in the 1890s, called the Chins as " splendid people." His remarks is bases on what he found the existence of God in the hearts, words, and attitudes of the Chins. His diary was compiled in a book form and called it Burma Manuscripts (1910). He wrote: I was led to believe that these people had no knowledge God, no word of love, no word of home. However, I could not accept that ideas as I very thoroughly believe in racial unity and that God made all man out of one blood. It is a certainty that the Chins believe in the God of Heaven as Creator. This knowledge is universal among them.
Rev. Dr Strait, an American Baptist missionary to the Chins stationing in Hakha, did not accept the idea that the Chins are so civilized. Rather. he praised the social system of the Chins as well as the skills of women who could weave a high quality silk showls, garments etc., still keeps the Chins silk showls as a valuable thing of the family. Rev Dr J.H Cope, who served the Lord for the Chins associating with the British administrators during 1908 till 1938, mentioned that the Chins have been living in a higher civilization in the past. He indicated that the living situation on the hills makes constant deterioration of the prevailing culture. He wrote a book called Awakening of the Northern Chins. In his book he wrote:
There are evidences that these people once had a higher civilization. This is seen from the fact that they are completely clothed and do not appear ever to have been headhunters or cannibals. There is even a tradition of a written language. They differ from many hill tribes in that violent crime is rare polygamy not very common, women more respected, and warfare carried on less brutally than in many hill districts . . . After reaching the hills they quickly spread out in little villages in the narrow valley and many dialects soon developed.
Rev. Sowards, Secretary of American ( Burma) Baptist Missionary Society during 1950s prophesized that the Chins will make great contributions to the whole of Burma. He played a leading role in the forming of Zomi( Chin) Baptist Convention and a theological in 1953. School and Hospitals opened for the Chins by British governors and American missionaries opened the eyes of the Chins in many ways. The British administrators recruited the Chins for their army because they knew that they were faithful and dutiful. Today, the Chins are working hard for their seif identity, self- determination, self- dependency, and self-reliance. The only thing that they need to gain the above is freedom which can bring chance for them

Nowhere to Go

2007-09-08T16:10:00.000+02:00

Nowhere to Go

Chin Refugees in Malaysia

A
Report
by
Chin Human Rights Organization

July 2005

CONTENTS

A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
B. INTRODUCTION
C. SUMMARY

Part I
· Who are Chins (A Very Brief Background)
· Militarization and Human Rights Abuse
· The Flow of Chin Refugees to Malaysia
· Map of South East Asia

Part II
· Situation of Chin Refugees in Malaysia
· Photos
· Security
· Reasons to Fear
· Potential Organizations for Partnership in Advocacy in Malaysia

RECOMMENDATION
· Waiting for The New Sun (Poem by Van Biak Thang)

A. Acknowledgement

On behalf of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Chin Baptist Association in North America comprise with Chin Baptist Church (Battle Creek), Chin Baptist Mission Church (Washington DC area), Lai Baptist Church (Maryland), Chin Baptist Church (Dallas), Chin Evangelical Baptist Church (Indianapolis), Indiana Chin Baptist Church (Indianapolis), for their concern, interest and prayer for the Chin refugees in Malaysia. Their financial support made CHRO trip to Malaysia possible. I would like to gratefully acknowledge Ottawa Chin Baptist Church (the then Ottawa Chin Christian Fellowship) for taking the first initiative to support CHRO’s mission to Malaysia in 2001.

I am thankful to Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) for their valuable assistance and support during CHRO trip to Malaysia. The contributions of CRC are deeply appreciated.

I would like to thank Father Paul Dass and Ms. Rosemary Chong of Jesus Refugee Service (JRS), Kuala Lumpur and Mr. Arutchelvan of SUARAM, Kuala Lumpur for their valuable information, advices, supports and encouragement.

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the different Chin associations, fellowship, organizations and elders in Kuala Lumpur for sparing their time and providing all the valuable information for which this report is the product.

Salai Bawi Lian Mang
Director
Chin Human Rights Organization

B. Introduction

Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) is non-governmental, not for profit organization legally registered in Canada. CHRO maintains branch offices in New Delhi and Aizawl, Mizoram state of India and in the United States. CHRO is working to protect and promote the rights of the Chin people inside and outside of the country. Continuing mass exodus of Chin people from their homeland in Burma due to political repression, violations of fundamental human rights against the Chin populace necessitated advocacy works for the protection and well-being of Chin refugees seeking sanctuary in Burma’s neighboring countries such as India and Malaysia.

Until 2001, thousands of Chin refugees living in Malaysia were unaware of the UNHCR protection mandate extended to refugees in that country. In the absence of Chin asylum cases, little was known about the presence of thousands of Chin refugees and conditions that compelled them to come to Malaysia. Chin Human Rights Organization visited Malaysia in February of 2001 in order to advocate and explore ways to extend protection for Chin refugees who were experiencing serious security and protection problems. Following that first visit, UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur started taking in Chin asylum cases.

Since that time, CHRO has paid regular visits to Malaysia to assist and coordinate advocacy activities with Chin refugee community and other local and international Non-Governmental Organizations. As of its last visit to Malaysia in 2005, CHRO estimated that there are at least 12,000 Chin refugees living in Malaysia. During this visit, the organization was able to meet with UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, various Chin communities concentrated in different locations such as Putra Jaya and Cameron Highland as well as local NGOs actively engaged in refugee advocacy activities such as SUARAM and Jesus Refugee Service, JRS.

C. Summary

Starting from the early 1990s Chin refugees come to Malaysia in search of security and survival. Most Chin refugees say they fled to Malaysia to escape life-threatening conditions at home as a result of widespread human rights abuses such as political repression, forced labor, arbitrary arrest and torture at the hands of Burma’s ruling military regime. These claims were validated by the fact that while preparing this brief report, CHRO received a report that a Chin civilian was beaten to death and four village council members from Salen village severely tortured by members of the Burma military.

In the spring of 2005, the population of Chin refugees in Malaysia was estimated at about 12,000. Of these numbers only about 600 are recognized by UNHCR Kuala Lumpur as refugees. There are about 6000 Chin refugees who have already obtained serial number from Chin Refugees Committee CRC, a first step in a long waiting process for a UNHCR interview. Because UNHCR is currently accepting only 18 new interviews per week for Chin applicants, it is most likely that with the current pace it will take years before a regular individual case can get processed by UNHCR.

As the amnesty period for “illegal migrants” in Malaysia expired at the end of February, the security of Chin refugees has become more precarious. “We are not allowed to live here in Malaysia, and we can not go back to our home country, we have got no where to go” said a 60 year-old former school teacher who is now seeking refuge in Malaysia.

The living conditions of the refugees are deplorable. About 20-40 people on average are clustered in a two-bedroom apartment. These are only those who can afford to live in the city and towns. Many more thousands of refugees are living in the jungle of Putrajaya and Cameron Highland Plantation in makeshift tents with plastic roof. On several occasions, police have raided their jungle camps and burnt their tents. The refugees usually come back and rebuild their tents as they have got no where else to go.

Between 1998 and 2005 March, over one hundred Chin refugees have died in Malaysia. Of these numbers, only 20 of them have died of natural causes and illness. The rest of them died a violent death due to accidents in the worksite or while being chased by the police. There are about 400 Chin refugees who are in detention camp at the time this report is being prepared.

The Chin Human Rights Organization hopes that this report will shed light on the plight of Chin refugees in Malaysia who are experiencing enormous security and humanitarian problems. Political and human rights conditions that are at the roots of refugees’ flight from Burma remain unimproved and in many cases have worsened. This means that more than 12,000 Chins living under dangerous conditions in Malaysia cannot return to Burma. In this regard, CHRO suggests that UNHCR and other NGOs, governments and intergovernmental agencies take a more proactive approach in order to explore viable solutions to the problems of Chin refugees, including considering resettlement where appropriate.

PART I
BACKGROUND

Who Are Chins (A Very Brief Background):

Chin indigenous people inhabit the land bordering with India from the west, Bangladesh from the South-West, Arakan from the South and Burma from the east. It is estimated that the Chin, in a general sense including outside and inside of Chinland, number as many as over a million, with the largest and noticeable number about five hundreds thousands concentrated in the Chin State. The Chins were living as independent nation till the British invaded their land in the late 19th century and annexed all their territory into British Empire in the early 20th century.

After the second World Wars, as independence movement grew in the British colonies of India and Burma, the Chin decided to participate with the Burmese and other ethnic groups in a constitutional process towards the development of a federal union. Thus, the Chins co-founded the Union of Burma by participating in a multi-ethnic conference concluded on February 12, 1947, which led to the creation of an independent federal Union of Burma on January 4, 1948. However, a military coup led by General Ne Win in 1962 effectively ended the Chin’s special political status within the Union of Burma as one of its primary constituent member.

In 1899, American Baptist Missionary come to Chinland, present Chin state in Burma, and over the next century almost the whole population in Chin state converted to Christianity. It is estimated that about 90 percent of Chins in Chin state are Christians.

Today Chin people in Burma are not represented in any form of political decision-making in the national, state or local administration. Under the ruling military junta, the Chin people suffer various kinds of human rights abuse, including persecutions on the basis of their ethnic, religious and cultural identity.

Militarization and Human Rights Abuse:
Many parts of Chin State have only been brought under effective Burman control after the 1990s. Prior to the nation-wide pro-democracy uprising in 1988, only one Burmese battalion was stationed in Chin State. At present, as many as 12 battalions are operating in the area. Consequently human rights abuses against the civilian population increased dramatically. All the battalions are reported to be using villagers as porters to carry their supplies and ammunition over mountains. The villagers are also routinely ordered to carry out forced labor on new roads and army posts as well as to provide food and money to soldiers. Under increasing military rule, the Chins are currently suffering many of the same abuses as other ethnic groups living along the border region of Burma. However, a specific characteristic of the human rights abuses suffered in Chin State is religious persecution. Many Chin people have fled to the India border States and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh to escape forced labor, military harassment, as well as a range of other human rights abuses. Because of the military’s increasing demands for money and labor, many families who were previously self-sufficient can no longer survive.
It is estimated that about 60,000 Chin are seeking refuge in India and several thousands more are in Bangladesh, while about 12,000 refugees have taken refuge in Malaysia.

The flow of Chin refugees to Malaysia:

For the last several years since the present military regime in Burma came to power in 1988, Chin people have been steadily crossing the international borders into India and Bangladesh to escape various kinds of systematic human rights violations committed against the Chin people by Burmese army personnel. Today, India continues to host tens of thousands of Chin refugees although the influx has been less significant in recent years. This is due to the ongoing and active armed resistance against the military regime in Chin State from the borders of India by the Chin National Front/Army. Active and frequent clashes between the Burmese army and Chin resistant forces have resulted in the military regime increasing military presence in the border areas. The attempts to fence off the Indian borders with increased troop deployment have meant that Chin people, especially young male individuals, trying to flee to India to escape abuses often got caught by Burmese troops and often tortured and executed them without trials.

Because of the danger involved in trying to cross into India, many Chin people chose to erase their trails by quietly disappearing into large cities such as Rangoon and Mandalay, and Hpakant and Monghso jade mines where there is less chance of scrutiny and recognition, and thus literally becoming Internally Displaced Persons. However, as Chin resistant movement intensified at the borders, so too has Burmese military authorities’ search for civilians suspected of involving in anti-government activities, leaving Chin people hiding in urban areas no more place to run to escape arrest. This has compelled thousands of Chin people to flee to Thailand, the nearest country of escape from Rangoon and other populous urban cities in Burma. However, because of the difficult realities for illegal immigrants in Thailand, especially those from Burma who can be deported across the border at any given time, Chins who fled to Thailand often look for other countries to seek safe haven. For the Chins and many others, going to Malaysia provides a sense of limited safety because they realize that Thailand offers a buffer zone that prevent them from being handed over directly to the Burmese military regime when they are arrested.

Although conditions are no different for ‘illegal immigrants’ in Malaysia, the fact Thailand lies between Burma and Malaysia offers a degree of psychological protection. While Chins, like many other nationalities living illegally in Malaysia risk arrest, harassment and deportation on a daily basis, the relatively better economic condition in Malaysia allow them to work for their survival.

Part II
Situation of Chin Refugees In Malaysia

The UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur has been doing a commendable job in terms of extending protection and assistance to Chin refugees. However, CHRO finds that the interview process is often too slow as the office is taking only about 18 new interviews per week. Additionally, due to the increase in prioritized cases such as minor, single women and people over the age of 50 years, the regular waiting period for thousands single male individuals get further prolonged, often depriving many applicants of a chance for an interview. Meanwhile, they experience daily hardships, harassment and arrest at the hands of Malaysian immigration and police authorities.

In most cases, it takes over two years for a "non-vulnerable case" to get a 5-minute interview for P1, P2, P3...P6. For example, someone who has submitted his application in 2003 waited for as long as until 2005 to get a final Refugee Status Determination interview or RSD. The prolonged waiting process often compromises the refugees’ survival ability and heightens their security risk while awaiting an interview.

Security:

Security is a serious problem facing Chin refugees in Malaysia. Since Malaysia government is not a signatory to 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Chin refugee can be arrested at any time. The arrest and police harassment occur on a daily basis. Some refugees died while on the run during police raid. The following interview with a Chin refugee paints a clear picture of how Chin refugees are coping with daily hardships, arrest and police harassment in Malaysia.

CHRO: How were you arrested?

Chin Refugee: One evening I was looking for a job in restaurant at Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur. From the restaurant I saw the police stopped some people on the street. That road was the only way I could get back home. I waited for a bout 40 minutes hoping that the police might go away. It was a little late and I thought I should take a chance of going through them since I have a UNHCR paper recognizing me as a refugee from Burma. But when I got near the police they stopped me and asked me which country I came from, whether I have any legal paper to stay there. I showed them my paper, but one of the policemen said he did not know who the UNHCR was and threw away my paper into the drainage nearby. And they started beating me and asked me for money. I told them I was jobless and didn’t have any money. Then they asked me to call a friend who will be able to pay the money for me to in order to buy my release. But I told them I had no such friend in Malaysia who could afford Rm 500 for me. Agitated, they called for the police car to take me to the Pudu lockup.

CHRO: What happened after you were arrested?

CR: When I got to the Pudu lockup one of the policemen blindfolded me with the dark ribbon and started beating me again. My nose bled profusely and he took me to the clerk to file my case. He took my fingerprint, asked me to take off my clothes and the other man pushed me to the room. The room has a cement floor with iron rod wall and very narrow skylight in the biggest room of the lock up. They gave me 4X2 size of blanket for use as towel and for sleeping. They gave me no more than a fistful of rice with unsweetened ice tea once a day. There was only one rest room in the corner of the largest room. Every body from the other blocks had to share the same rest room. I requested that my arrest be made aware of UNHCR whenever a police officer visited the lock up, but they just simply ignored it.

CHRO: Did you appear to the court?
CR: No, I did not appear to any court.

CHRO: How long were you detained in the lockup or immigration detention?
CR: I was detained for ten days in the lock up and then another ten months in the Immigration detention.

CHRO: Tell us about the detention situation?
CR: I was taken to the Lengkeng detention from the lock up after ten days. When I arrived there the officer did my paper works, and then told me to take off my shoes, bag and belt. The policeman told me to walk barefoot on the scorching road from the office to the Block. It was too hot that my feet were burnt. The detainees from the block started shouting in Bahasa Malaysia saying “Kawan baru, Selamat dating” which meant welcome new friend to the Lengkeng Immigration camp. Just before he pushed me to the block, he beat me with a stick and other detainees shouted again, “hantam hantam”-- beat him, beat him!

Once inside the block I looked around where the rest room, baths room and sleeping place were. There were some restrooms at the corner of the ground floor. But only one of them was flushable. All the rest were plugged with waste. Thousands of mosquitoes were flying all over the block. The bath room water was available for 40 minutes a day. Some times there was no water at all for a bout two weeks. The gas emanating from the rest room caused most of the detainees to have eye infections. When the guards came to count the detainees, they covered their noses and mouths with their hanker-chief to avoid the smell around there. There was no fresh air that any one could breath-in. I requested the officers who inspect the camp to do something about the restroom bath water. It was renovated after 7 months.

They fed us twice a day with very small portion of undercooked rice with salted fried fishes and unsweetened ice tea. The best food they provided was cucumber soup in the very big pot with a little bit of oil in it. I used my shirt to tie my waist to ease the pain from hunger. But it wouldn’t last long. Everybody in the blocks looked yellow in their skin due to the lack of vitamins from the food we ate. Some people who have stomach problems used to cry out loud due to their stomach pain caused by hunger. I drank a lot of water, but I was still very hungry.

There wasn't a proper medical treatment to the sick people. Only after we were in a serious state did we get some medical attention. Some lost their lives just like that. Since there wasn't any proper food to eat, proper place to waste or shower, many of us suffered from cold, dysentery flu, malaria and all kind of sicknesses.

The guards were clever enough to make money out of the detainees. They let the detainees to use and make us call some of our friends from outside who would be able to assist us with some money. The police charged 40% from that money. The police advise the detainees’ friend to put money into their bank account. Some were cheated out of that account when they were about to be deported to their country.

There is a joint shop in the camp. The police brought biscuit, breads, cigar, marijuana and other kinds of drugs to the block. Every time they came in to count the people, they were searching money from the detainees. When they were about to move to other station, they let their new friends know who has business in the block and who has some money. Some detainees stole people clothes and sole it for a packet of cigarette.

Detainees from different countries would keep a piece of wood from the frame of the building to be used as a weapon in case a brawl broke out between the groups. The police told us to line up once every four hour to do headcounts. There were thousands of bugs in the floor. There were no blanket to cover and there was no time to sleep. Days are long and nights longer. It was a terrible life being in there.

The UNHCR personnel from KL visited me after about 8 months telling me they were still dealing with my case and assisted me with some money. That was my happiest time in my life. By the grace of God, Episcopal Immigration ministry, the UNHCR Malaysia and the US states Dept, I was resettled to the US from the detention centre.

Reasons to Fear:

In spite of the risky and dangerous conditions they encounter on a daily basis in Malaysia, for most Chin refugees remaining in Malaysia is a choice between the lesser of two evils. They are consciously aware of the fact that a more dangerous condition awaits their return in Burma. Such fears have been reinforced by the fate of returnees who have been arrested, tortured and jailed in Burma.

Mr. Pu Al Bik, a businessman from Thantlang was accused by military authorities in 1996 of supporting and sympathizing with the Chin National Front and subsequently sought for arrest by Military Intelligence. Pu Al Bik escaped to Malaysia upon learning his imminent arrest where he stayed for two years. His family and relatives bribed a good deal of money to the authority in Thantlang for Pu Al Bik’s safe return. After taking a good deal of money, the authority of Thantlang guaranteed Pu Al Bik’s safe return. Thus, he came home from exile to reunite with his family in 1998. Soon after he got home, the MIS summoned him to their camp. There, he was put in a dark room and inhumanely interrogated and tortured for two weeks. During the two weeks interrogation, he was not provided food and no one was allowed to see him.

After two weeks of interrogation, Pu Al Bik was charged with Unlawful Association Acts and sentenced to seven years jail term with hard labor and sent to Kalaymyo, Sagaing Division. Just before he was sent to Kalaymyo, the family and relatives were allowed to see him. At that time his face was badly swollen as a result of the torture. The physical affects of the torture made him unable to eat or walk for a long time.

Tepi (not her real name) in her mid 20s was a young woman from XXXX town in Chin state. In the year 2000 she came to Malaysia to escape persecution by the Burmese military regime. Soon after she arrived in Malaysia, Tepi became seriously ill as a result of grueling conditions in Malaysia. The effects of her illness, compounded by depression and frustration as a result of life insecurity in Malaysia made her mentally handicapped. When she was hospitalized at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, the doctors suggested that she be returned home and thus provided her with a certificate mentioning her situation.

The Chin Christian Fellowship in Kuala Lumpur arranged her return believing that the Burmese military regime will not bother a mentally challenged young girl. When the girl arrived back in Burma, she was arrested and detained. She was released only after her family bribed a good deal of money to the authority.

Potential Organizations for Partnership in Advocacy in Malaysia

There are several associations and fellowship among Chin refuges in Malaysia based on dialects and locality such as Chin Refugee Committee, Chin Christian Fellowhip, Falam Fellowship, Tedim Cimnuai Family, Tonzang Malay Zomi Organization, Matupi Fellowhip, Mara Fellowship, Hakha Fellowhip, Zotung fellowship, Zophei fellowship, Agape Refugee Service etc. Among these organizations, the Chin Refugee Committee and Chin Christian Fellowship are the main service providers among Chin refugees in Malaysia.

Chin Refugee Committee (CRC):

Following the CHRO visit to UNHCR office in February 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur started the process of accepting and providing protection to Chin Refugees in Malaysia. Since most of them do not know the process of refugee application, the CHRO initiated the formation of Chin Refugee Committee in July 2001 with the aims of helping Chin refugees living in Malaysia in their search for safety and protection. Being a volunteer organization, Chin Refugee Committee’s primary concern is to provide guidance and assistance to Chin people seeking protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office. With the help of Asia Indigenous People Pact (AIPP), the CRC has established Chin Refugee Center in August 2002 with the aims of improving the CRC works. In 2005, with the help of Inter Pares, Canada, and Jesus Refugee Service, Kuala Lumpur, the Chin Refugee Center has extended into three centers for providing shelter for vulnerable women and children and for the operation of CRC works.

The CRC has established a good working relationship with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) as well as authorities and NGO’s in Malaysia to provide immediate assistance to those who have been granted refugee status as well as those who are in the process of being determined as refugees by UNHCR. It has also been successful in providing welfare services to those in need, informing the Chin community in Malaysia on the refugee application process, coordinating interview and communication to avoid long queues for registering at the UNHCR office, giving recommendation letters for uniting family members to the UNHCR and providing necessary information to Chin communities outside who are interested in knowing the refugee situation in Malaysia. It has also started its own registration process for those who are interested in approaching the UNCHR for refugee status.

The Chin community in Malaysia recognizes the role of the CRC and supports the continued activities of the CRC. The CRC is active in providing service among others;
1) Registration of Chin Refugees
2) Humanitarian Services in the event of a Crackdown
3) Information Dissemination on Refugee Application Process
4) Coordinating UNHCR Interviews and Communication
5) Posting Bail and Visiting Detention Centers
6) Lobbying for Chin-English Interpreters
7) Information Dissemination on Refugee Situation in Malaysia
8) Strengthening Relationship between UNHCR, NGO’s and Authorities
9) Providing Welfare Services

Chin Christian Fellowship (CCF)

As most Chins are Christians, Chin refugees in Malaysia have formed several Christian associations based on locality and dialects. The biggest and most active one is Chin Christian Fellowship (CCF) in Kuala Lumpur. CCF was formed in 1998 and at present the fellowship is led by two pastors and 20 deacons. About 600-700 Chin refugees come to CCF weekly worship service at Brethren Church, Jalan Imbi in Kuala Lumpur. It is estimated that the CCF have provided about 7000 Chin refugees in Malaysia. The primary aim of the CCF is to maintain their faith in Christianity through having fellowship on Sundays. However, as times goes by and as the population of Chin refugees gradually increases, CCF become the major social service provider among the Chin refugees in times of death, marriage and other social occasions.

The role of CCF is vital in providing moral and psychological supports to several thousands of Chin refugees who are living in constant fear of arrest and deportation. The CCF worship center provides a place of comfort and support in the face of daily hardships Chin refugees experience in exile. In 2004 alone the CCF took care of the funeral of 28 Chin refugees. It is extremely difficult to claim the death body of a refugee, who does not have any legal documents from the authority in order to have a proper burial. At lease about Rm. 3000/- is required for a funeral, most of which are usually borne by the CCF.

Recommendation
The Chin Human Rights Organization Recommends:

That UNHCR more seriously look into cases where refugees have spent a long time in jails and immigration detention and make effective intervention in a more urgent manner

That UNHCR maintain its work in protecting and assisting refugees in Malaysia and speed up the registration process for refugees and asylum seekers

That International and local NGOs and aid agencies provide humanitarian assistance to the Chin refugees in Malaysia, especially for health care and the welfare of most vulnerable persons such as elderly, women and children

That the authorities of Malaysia respect the legality of those registered with UNHCR as refugees and asylum seekers who have not yet had the opportunity to register and avoid actions that would harm refugees’ security and well-being in Malaysia

That the international communities and government agencies urgently explore effective ways to find viable and durable solutions to refugee problems, including resettlement as appropriate.

That local and international organizations working with refugees provide assistance to Chin refugee groups, particularly the Chin Refugee Committee and Chin Christian Fellowship to help build their capacities and knowledge infrastructure that are essential in the effective provision of care to refugees
.

Waiting For The New Sun
By Van Biak Thang

And I have so to run away,
Away beyond hills and valleys,
Across rivers and mountains,
All alone towards the unknown.

Family and loved ones behind,
Farther away from kith and kin,
Absconding from the Chin land,
Fatherland and motherland.

Time decided to say goodbye,
Farewell to the breeze and scene:
Panorama unforgettable
From the summit where the sun sets.

When on the verge of the border
Sobs by my little ones haunt me.
Oh! Faces striped with teardrops
And dreary eyes and hearts in tears.

Whilst in search of safety for life
Worry – who will feed hungry pets
Amongst storms and tornadoes
Awakens my drowsy gooseflesh.

A pigeon may not welcome a dove
For shelter during the rain;
But it may keep its door ajar.
Then where is what I am after?

So many sleepless nights have passed
Away with the setting sun;
The world is still spinning unchanged.
The wind blowing is still the same.

Living under the time unsure
Whether to live or to die,
I am waiting for the new sun
When a free trumpet can be blown.

Nowhere to Go

Chin Refugees in Malaysia

A
Report
by
Chin Human Rights Organization

July 2005

CONTENTS

A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
B. INTRODUCTION
C. SUMMARY

Part I
· Who are Chins (A Very Brief Background)
· Militarization and Human Rights Abuse
· The Flow of Chin Refugees to Malaysia
· Map of South East Asia

Part II
· Situation of Chin Refugees in Malaysia
· Photos
· Security
· Reasons to Fear
· Potential Organizations for Partnership in Advocacy in Malaysia

RECOMMENDATION
· Waiting for The New Sun (Poem by Van Biak Thang)

A. Acknowledgement

On behalf of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Chin Baptist Association in North America comprise with Chin Baptist Church (Battle Creek), Chin Baptist Mission Church (Washington DC area), Lai Baptist Church (Maryland), Chin Baptist Church (Dallas), Chin Evangelical Baptist Church (Indianapolis), Indiana Chin Baptist Church (Indianapolis), for their concern, interest and prayer for the Chin refugees in Malaysia. Their financial support made CHRO trip to Malaysia possible. I would like to gratefully acknowledge Ottawa Chin Baptist Church (the then Ottawa Chin Christian Fellowship) for taking the first initiative to support CHRO’s mission to Malaysia in 2001.

I am thankful to Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) for their valuable assistance and support during CHRO trip to Malaysia. The contributions of CRC are deeply appreciated.

I would like to thank Father Paul Dass and Ms. Rosemary Chong of Jesus Refugee Service (JRS), Kuala Lumpur and Mr. Arutchelvan of SUARAM, Kuala Lumpur for their valuable information, advices, supports and encouragement.

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the different Chin associations, fellowship, organizations and elders in Kuala Lumpur for sparing their time and providing all the valuable information for which this report is the product.

Salai Bawi Lian Mang
Director
Chin Human Rights Organization

B. Introduction

Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) is non-governmental, not for profit organization legally registered in Canada. CHRO maintains branch offices in New Delhi and Aizawl, Mizoram state of India and in the United States. CHRO is working to protect and promote the rights of the Chin people inside and outside of the country. Continuing mass exodus of Chin people from their homeland in Burma due to political repression, violations of fundamental human rights against the Chin populace necessitated advocacy works for the protection and well-being of Chin refugees seeking sanctuary in Burma’s neighboring countries such as India and Malaysia.

Until 2001, thousands of Chin refugees living in Malaysia were unaware of the UNHCR protection mandate extended to refugees in that country. In the absence of Chin asylum cases, little was known about the presence of thousands of Chin refugees and conditions that compelled them to come to Malaysia. Chin Human Rights Organization visited Malaysia in February of 2001 in order to advocate and explore ways to extend protection for Chin refugees who were experiencing serious security and protection problems. Following that first visit, UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur started taking in Chin asylum cases.

Since that time, CHRO has paid regular visits to Malaysia to assist and coordinate advocacy activities with Chin refugee community and other local and international Non-Governmental Organizations. As of its last visit to Malaysia in 2005, CHRO estimated that there are at least 12,000 Chin refugees living in Malaysia. During this visit, the organization was able to meet with UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, various Chin communities concentrated in different locations such as Putra Jaya and Cameron Highland as well as local NGOs actively engaged in refugee advocacy activities such as SUARAM and Jesus Refugee Service, JRS.

C. Summary

Starting from the early 1990s Chin refugees come to Malaysia in search of security and survival. Most Chin refugees say they fled to Malaysia to escape life-threatening conditions at home as a result of widespread human rights abuses such as political repression, forced labor, arbitrary arrest and torture at the hands of Burma’s ruling military regime. These claims were validated by the fact that while preparing this brief report, CHRO received a report that a Chin civilian was beaten to death and four village council members from Salen village severely tortured by members of the Burma military.

In the spring of 2005, the population of Chin refugees in Malaysia was estimated at about 12,000. Of these numbers only about 600 are recognized by UNHCR Kuala Lumpur as refugees. There are about 6000 Chin refugees who have already obtained serial number from Chin Refugees Committee CRC, a first step in a long waiting process for a UNHCR interview. Because UNHCR is currently accepting only 18 new interviews per week for Chin applicants, it is most likely that with the current pace it will take years before a regular individual case can get processed by UNHCR.

As the amnesty period for “illegal migrants” in Malaysia expired at the end of February, the security of Chin refugees has become more precarious. “We are not allowed to live here in Malaysia, and we can not go back to our home country, we have got no where to go” said a 60 year-old former school teacher who is now seeking refuge in Malaysia.

The living conditions of the refugees are deplorable. About 20-40 people on average are clustered in a two-bedroom apartment. These are only those who can afford to live in the city and towns. Many more thousands of refugees are living in the jungle of Putrajaya and Cameron Highland Plantation in makeshift tents with plastic roof. On several occasions, police have raided their jungle camps and burnt their tents. The refugees usually come back and rebuild their tents as they have got no where else to go.

Between 1998 and 2005 March, over one hundred Chin refugees have died in Malaysia. Of these numbers, only 20 of them have died of natural causes and illness. The rest of them died a violent death due to accidents in the worksite or while being chased by the police. There are about 400 Chin refugees who are in detention camp at the time this report is being prepared.

The Chin Human Rights Organization hopes that this report will shed light on the plight of Chin refugees in Malaysia who are experiencing enormous security and humanitarian problems. Political and human rights conditions that are at the roots of refugees’ flight from Burma remain unimproved and in many cases have worsened. This means that more than 12,000 Chins living under dangerous conditions in Malaysia cannot return to Burma. In this regard, CHRO suggests that UNHCR and other NGOs, governments and intergovernmental agencies take a more proactive approach in order to explore viable solutions to the problems of Chin refugees, including considering resettlement where appropriate.

PART I
BACKGROUND

Who Are Chins (A Very Brief Background):

Chin indigenous people inhabit the land bordering with India from the west, Bangladesh from the South-West, Arakan from the South and Burma from the east. It is estimated that the Chin, in a general sense including outside and inside of Chinland, number as many as over a million, with the largest and noticeable number about five hundreds thousands concentrated in the Chin State. The Chins were living as independent nation till the British invaded their land in the late 19th century and annexed all their territory into British Empire in the early 20th century.

After the second World Wars, as independence movement grew in the British colonies of India and Burma, the Chin decided to participate with the Burmese and other ethnic groups in a constitutional process towards the development of a federal union. Thus, the Chins co-founded the Union of Burma by participating in a multi-ethnic conference concluded on February 12, 1947, which led to the creation of an independent federal Union of Burma on January 4, 1948. However, a military coup led by General Ne Win in 1962 effectively ended the Chin’s special political status within the Union of Burma as one of its primary constituent member.

In 1899, American Baptist Missionary come to Chinland, present Chin state in Burma, and over the next century almost the whole population in Chin state converted to Christianity. It is estimated that about 90 percent of Chins in Chin state are Christians.

Today Chin people in Burma are not represented in any form of political decision-making in the national, state or local administration. Under the ruling military junta, the Chin people suffer various kinds of human rights abuse, including persecutions on the basis of their ethnic, religious and cultural identity.

Militarization and Human Rights Abuse:
Many parts of Chin State have only been brought under effective Burman control after the 1990s. Prior to the nation-wide pro-democracy uprising in 1988, only one Burmese battalion was stationed in Chin State. At present, as many as 12 battalions are operating in the area. Consequently human rights abuses against the civilian population increased dramatically. All the battalions are reported to be using villagers as porters to carry their supplies and ammunition over mountains. The villagers are also routinely ordered to carry out forced labor on new roads and army posts as well as to provide food and money to soldiers. Under increasing military rule, the Chins are currently suffering many of the same abuses as other ethnic groups living along the border region of Burma. However, a specific characteristic of the human rights abuses suffered in Chin State is religious persecution. Many Chin people have fled to the India border States and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh to escape forced labor, military harassment, as well as a range of other human rights abuses. Because of the military’s increasing demands for money and labor, many families who were previously self-sufficient can no longer survive.
It is estimated that about 60,000 Chin are seeking refuge in India and several thousands more are in Bangladesh, while about 12,000 refugees have taken refuge in Malaysia.

The flow of Chin refugees to Malaysia:

For the last several years since the present military regime in Burma came to power in 1988, Chin people have been steadily crossing the international borders into India and Bangladesh to escape various kinds of systematic human rights violations committed against the Chin people by Burmese army personnel. Today, India continues to host tens of thousands of Chin refugees although the influx has been less significant in recent years. This is due to the ongoing and active armed resistance against the military regime in Chin State from the borders of India by the Chin National Front/Army. Active and frequent clashes between the Burmese army and Chin resistant forces have resulted in the military regime increasing military presence in the border areas. The attempts to fence off the Indian borders with increased troop deployment have meant that Chin people, especially young male individuals, trying to flee to India to escape abuses often got caught by Burmese troops and often tortured and executed them without trials.

Because of the danger involved in trying to cross into India, many Chin people chose to erase their trails by quietly disappearing into large cities such as Rangoon and Mandalay, and Hpakant and Monghso jade mines where there is less chance of scrutiny and recognition, and thus literally becoming Internally Displaced Persons. However, as Chin resistant movement intensified at the borders, so too has Burmese military authorities’ search for civilians suspected of involving in anti-government activities, leaving Chin people hiding in urban areas no more place to run to escape arrest. This has compelled thousands of Chin people to flee to Thailand, the nearest country of escape from Rangoon and other populous urban cities in Burma. However, because of the difficult realities for illegal immigrants in Thailand, especially those from Burma who can be deported across the border at any given time, Chins who fled to Thailand often look for other countries to seek safe haven. For the Chins and many others, going to Malaysia provides a sense of limited safety because they realize that Thailand offers a buffer zone that prevent them from being handed over directly to the Burmese military regime when they are arrested.

Although conditions are no different for ‘illegal immigrants’ in Malaysia, the fact Thailand lies between Burma and Malaysia offers a degree of psychological protection. While Chins, like many other nationalities living illegally in Malaysia risk arrest, harassment and deportation on a daily basis, the relatively better economic condition in Malaysia allow them to work for their survival.

Part II
Situation of Chin Refugees In Malaysia

The UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur has been doing a commendable job in terms of extending protection and assistance to Chin refugees. However, CHRO finds that the interview process is often too slow as the office is taking only about 18 new interviews per week. Additionally, due to the increase in prioritized cases such as minor, single women and people over the age of 50 years, the regular waiting period for thousands single male individuals get further prolonged, often depriving many applicants of a chance for an interview. Meanwhile, they experience daily hardships, harassment and arrest at the hands of Malaysian immigration and police authorities.

In most cases, it takes over two years for a "non-vulnerable case" to get a 5-minute interview for P1, P2, P3...P6. For example, someone who has submitted his application in 2003 waited for as long as until 2005 to get a final Refugee Status Determination interview or RSD. The prolonged waiting process often compromises the refugees’ survival ability and heightens their security risk while awaiting an interview.

Security:

Security is a serious problem facing Chin refugees in Malaysia. Since Malaysia government is not a signatory to 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Chin refugee can be arrested at any time. The arrest and police harassment occur on a daily basis. Some refugees died while on the run during police raid. The following interview with a Chin refugee paints a clear picture of how Chin refugees are coping with daily hardships, arrest and police harassment in Malaysia.

CHRO: How were you arrested?

Chin Refugee: One evening I was looking for a job in restaurant at Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur. From the restaurant I saw the police stopped some people on the street. That road was the only way I could get back home. I waited for a bout 40 minutes hoping that the police might go away. It was a little late and I thought I should take a chance of going through them since I have a UNHCR paper recognizing me as a refugee from Burma. But when I got near the police they stopped me and asked me which country I came from, whether I have any legal paper to stay there. I showed them my paper, but one of the policemen said he did not know who the UNHCR was and threw away my paper into the drainage nearby. And they started beating me and asked me for money. I told them I was jobless and didn’t have any money. Then they asked me to call a friend who will be able to pay the money for me to in order to buy my release. But I told them I had no such friend in Malaysia who could afford Rm 500 for me. Agitated, they called for the police car to take me to the Pudu lockup.

CHRO: What happened after you were arrested?

CR: When I got to the Pudu lockup one of the policemen blindfolded me with the dark ribbon and started beating me again. My nose bled profusely and he took me to the clerk to file my case. He took my fingerprint, asked me to take off my clothes and the other man pushed me to the room. The room has a cement floor with iron rod wall and very narrow skylight in the biggest room of the lock up. They gave me 4X2 size of blanket for use as towel and for sleeping. They gave me no more than a fistful of rice with unsweetened ice tea once a day. There was only one rest room in the corner of the largest room. Every body from the other blocks had to share the same rest room. I requested that my arrest be made aware of UNHCR whenever a police officer visited the lock up, but they just simply ignored it.

CHRO: Did you appear to the court?
CR: No, I did not appear to any court.

CHRO: How long were you detained in the lockup or immigration detention?
CR: I was detained for ten days in the lock up and then another ten months in the Immigration detention.

CHRO: Tell us about the detention situation?
CR: I was taken to the Lengkeng detention from the lock up after ten days. When I arrived there the officer did my paper works, and then told me to take off my shoes, bag and belt. The policeman told me to walk barefoot on the scorching road from the office to the Block. It was too hot that my feet were burnt. The detainees from the block started shouting in Bahasa Malaysia saying “Kawan baru, Selamat dating” which meant welcome new friend to the Lengkeng Immigration camp. Just before he pushed me to the block, he beat me with a stick and other detainees shouted again, “hantam hantam”-- beat him, beat him!

Once inside the block I looked around where the rest room, baths room and sleeping place were. There were some restrooms at the corner of the ground floor. But only one of them was flushable. All the rest were plugged with waste. Thousands of mosquitoes were flying all over the block. The bath room water was available for 40 minutes a day. Some times there was no water at all for a bout two weeks. The gas emanating from the rest room caused most of the detainees to have eye infections. When the guards came to count the detainees, they covered their noses and mouths with their hanker-chief to avoid the smell around there. There was no fresh air that any one could breath-in. I requested the officers who inspect the camp to do something about the restroom bath water. It was renovated after 7 months.

They fed us twice a day with very small portion of undercooked rice with salted fried fishes and unsweetened ice tea. The best food they provided was cucumber soup in the very big pot with a little bit of oil in it. I used my shirt to tie my waist to ease the pain from hunger. But it wouldn’t last long. Everybody in the blocks looked yellow in their skin due to the lack of vitamins from the food we ate. Some people who have stomach problems used to cry out loud due to their stomach pain caused by hunger. I drank a lot of water, but I was still very hungry.

There wasn't a proper medical treatment to the sick people. Only after we were in a serious state did we get some medical attention. Some lost their lives just like that. Since there wasn't any proper food to eat, proper place to waste or shower, many of us suffered from cold, dysentery flu, malaria and all kind of sicknesses.

The guards were clever enough to make money out of the detainees. They let the detainees to use and make us call some of our friends from outside who would be able to assist us with some money. The police charged 40% from that money. The police advise the detainees’ friend to put money into their bank account. Some were cheated out of that account when they were about to be deported to their country.

There is a joint shop in the camp. The police brought biscuit, breads, cigar, marijuana and other kinds of drugs to the block. Every time they came in to count the people, they were searching money from the detainees. When they were about to move to other station, they let their new friends know who has business in the block and who has some money. Some detainees stole people clothes and sole it for a packet of cigarette.

Detainees from different countries would keep a piece of wood from the frame of the building to be used as a weapon in case a brawl broke out between the groups. The police told us to line up once every four hour to do headcounts. There were thousands of bugs in the floor. There were no blanket to cover and there was no time to sleep. Days are long and nights longer. It was a terrible life being in there.

The UNHCR personnel from KL visited me after about 8 months telling me they were still dealing with my case and assisted me with some money. That was my happiest time in my life. By the grace of God, Episcopal Immigration ministry, the UNHCR Malaysia and the US states Dept, I was resettled to the US from the detention centre.

Reasons to Fear:

In spite of the risky and dangerous conditions they encounter on a daily basis in Malaysia, for most Chin refugees remaining in Malaysia is a choice between the lesser of two evils. They are consciously aware of the fact that a more dangerous condition awaits their return in Burma. Such fears have been reinforced by the fate of returnees who have been arrested, tortured and jailed in Burma.

Mr. Pu Al Bik, a businessman from Thantlang was accused by military authorities in 1996 of supporting and sympathizing with the Chin National Front and subsequently sought for arrest by Military Intelligence. Pu Al Bik escaped to Malaysia upon learning his imminent arrest where he stayed for two years. His family and relatives bribed a good deal of money to the authority in Thantlang for Pu Al Bik’s safe return. After taking a good deal of money, the authority of Thantlang guaranteed Pu Al Bik’s safe return. Thus, he came home from exile to reunite with his family in 1998. Soon after he got home, the MIS summoned him to their camp. There, he was put in a dark room and inhumanely interrogated and tortured for two weeks. During the two weeks interrogation, he was not provided food and no one was allowed to see him.

After two weeks of interrogation, Pu Al Bik was charged with Unlawful Association Acts and sentenced to seven years jail term with hard labor and sent to Kalaymyo, Sagaing Division. Just before he was sent to Kalaymyo, the family and relatives were allowed to see him. At that time his face was badly swollen as a result of the torture. The physical affects of the torture made him unable to eat or walk for a long time.

Tepi (not her real name) in her mid 20s was a young woman from XXXX town in Chin state. In the year 2000 she came to Malaysia to escape persecution by the Burmese military regime. Soon after she arrived in Malaysia, Tepi became seriously ill as a result of grueling conditions in Malaysia. The effects of her illness, compounded by depression and frustration as a result of life insecurity in Malaysia made her mentally handicapped. When she was hospitalized at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, the doctors suggested that she be returned home and thus provided her with a certificate mentioning her situation.

The Chin Christian Fellowship in Kuala Lumpur arranged her return believing that the Burmese military regime will not bother a mentally challenged young girl. When the girl arrived back in Burma, she was arrested and detained. She was released only after her family bribed a good deal of money to the authority.

Potential Organizations for Partnership in Advocacy in Malaysia

There are several associations and fellowship among Chin refuges in Malaysia based on dialects and locality such as Chin Refugee Committee, Chin Christian Fellowhip, Falam Fellowship, Tedim Cimnuai Family, Tonzang Malay Zomi Organization, Matupi Fellowhip, Mara Fellowship, Hakha Fellowhip, Zotung fellowship, Zophei fellowship, Agape Refugee Service etc. Among these organizations, the Chin Refugee Committee and Chin Christian Fellowship are the main service providers among Chin refugees in Malaysia.

Chin Refugee Committee (CRC):

Following the CHRO visit to UNHCR office in February 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur started the process of accepting and providing protection to Chin Refugees in Malaysia. Since most of them do not know the process of refugee application, the CHRO initiated the formation of Chin Refugee Committee in July 2001 with the aims of helping Chin refugees living in Malaysia in their search for safety and protection. Being a volunteer organization, Chin Refugee Committee’s primary concern is to provide guidance and assistance to Chin people seeking protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office. With the help of Asia Indigenous People Pact (AIPP), the CRC has established Chin Refugee Center in August 2002 with the aims of improving the CRC works. In 2005, with the help of Inter Pares, Canada, and Jesus Refugee Service, Kuala Lumpur, the Chin Refugee Center has extended into three centers for providing shelter for vulnerable women and children and for the operation of CRC works.

The CRC has established a good working relationship with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) as well as authorities and NGO’s in Malaysia to provide immediate assistance to those who have been granted refugee status as well as those who are in the process of being determined as refugees by UNHCR. It has also been successful in providing welfare services to those in need, informing the Chin community in Malaysia on the refugee application process, coordinating interview and communication to avoid long queues for registering at the UNHCR office, giving recommendation letters for uniting family members to the UNHCR and providing necessary information to Chin communities outside who are interested in knowing the refugee situation in Malaysia. It has also started its own registration process for those who are interested in approaching the UNCHR for refugee status.

The Chin community in Malaysia recognizes the role of the CRC and supports the continued activities of the CRC. The CRC is active in providing service among others;
1) Registration of Chin Refugees
2) Humanitarian Services in the event of a Crackdown
3) Information Dissemination on Refugee Application Process
4) Coordinating UNHCR Interviews and Communication
5) Posting Bail and Visiting Detention Centers
6) Lobbying for Chin-English Interpreters
7) Information Dissemination on Refugee Situation in Malaysia
8) Strengthening Relationship between UNHCR, NGO’s and Authorities
9) Providing Welfare Services

Chin Christian Fellowship (CCF)

As most Chins are Christians, Chin refugees in Malaysia have formed several Christian associations based on locality and dialects. The biggest and most active one is Chin Christian Fellowship (CCF) in Kuala Lumpur. CCF was formed in 1998 and at present the fellowship is led by two pastors and 20 deacons. About 600-700 Chin refugees come to CCF weekly worship service at Brethren Church, Jalan Imbi in Kuala Lumpur. It is estimated that the CCF have provided about 7000 Chin refugees in Malaysia. The primary aim of the CCF is to maintain their faith in Christianity through having fellowship on Sundays. However, as times goes by and as the population of Chin refugees gradually increases, CCF become the major social service provider among the Chin refugees in times of death, marriage and other social occasions.

The role of CCF is vital in providing moral and psychological supports to several thousands of Chin refugees who are living in constant fear of arrest and deportation. The CCF worship center provides a place of comfort and support in the face of daily hardships Chin refugees experience in exile. In 2004 alone the CCF took care of the funeral of 28 Chin refugees. It is extremely difficult to claim the death body of a refugee, who does not have any legal documents from the authority in order to have a proper burial. At lease about Rm. 3000/- is required for a funeral, most of which are usually borne by the CCF.

Recommendation
The Chin Human Rights Organization Recommends:

That UNHCR more seriously look into cases where refugees have spent a long time in jails and immigration detention and make effective intervention in a more urgent manner

That UNHCR maintain its work in protecting and assisting refugees in Malaysia and speed up the registration process for refugees and asylum seekers

That International and local NGOs and aid agencies provide humanitarian assistance to the Chin refugees in Malaysia, especially for health care and the welfare of most vulnerable persons such as elderly, women and children

That the authorities of Malaysia respect the legality of those registered with UNHCR as refugees and asylum seekers who have not yet had the opportunity to register and avoid actions that would harm refugees’ security and well-being in Malaysia

That the international communities and government agencies urgently explore effective ways to find viable and durable solutions to refugee problems, including resettlement as appropriate.

That local and international organizations working with refugees provide assistance to Chin refugee groups, particularly the Chin Refugee Committee and Chin Christian Fellowship to help build their capacities and knowledge infrastructure that are essential in the effective provision of care to refugees
.

Waiting For The New Sun
By Van Biak Thang

And I have so to run away,
Away beyond hills and valleys,
Across rivers and mountains,
All alone towards the unknown.

Family and loved ones behind,
Farther away from kith and kin,
Absconding from the Chin land,
Fatherland and motherland.

Time decided to say goodbye,
Farewell to the breeze and scene:
Panorama unforgettable
From the summit where the sun sets.

When on the verge of the border
Sobs by my little ones haunt me.
Oh! Faces striped with teardrops
And dreary eyes and hearts in tears.

Whilst in search of safety for life
Worry – who will feed hungry pets
Amongst storms and tornadoes
Awakens my drowsy gooseflesh.

A pigeon may not welcome a dove
For shelter during the rain;
But it may keep its door ajar.
Then where is what I am after?

So many sleepless nights have passed
Away with the setting sun;
The world is still spinning unchanged.
The wind blowing is still the same.

Living under the time unsure
Whether to live or to die,
I am waiting for the new sun
When a free trumpet can be blown.

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST SOULS OF THE CHINS

2007-09-08T16:09:00.000+02:00

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST SOULS OF THE CHINS
A CENTENNIAL ESSAY
WRITTEN BY REV DR CHUM AWI

Introduction

To serve the purpose of the celebration of Chin Evangel
Centennary in Burma, I want to limit myself to write a short
sketch of mission history among various Chins who live
in three major places within the Union of Burma today.
Searching of the lost Chin souls was done by first the
American Baptists and later by the Anglicans from Great
Britain. The first pioneers from the USA were Rev. Arthur
Carson and his wife, Laura Carson. They were helped by
the Karen evangelists. Later, the Chin Christians organized
themselves to carry out God's given task, i.e., to continue to
evangelize their own brothers who never have never heard
about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARIES TO NORTHERN CHINS

(1) THE ASHO-CHINS: They live in Ayeyawadi and Bago
divisions of the Union of Burma. Rev. Carson and his wife
started their mission works among the Asho-Chins in 1888.
They chose Thayetmyo for their mission station. But, they
moved their mission station to Hakha, Chin State, in 1899.
Then, mission works among the Asho-Chins did not grow
well. Most of them became Buddhists. They do not have
a written established literature. Very few Asho-Chins
became Christians. Many lost their souls as well as
their identity. Burma Baptist Convention has no works
with these Asho-Chins. In 1996, while I was General
Secretary of Zomi (Chin) Baptist Convention, we orga-
nized "JOINT MISSION PROJECT" between the ZBC
and Ayeyawadi Asho-Chin Baptist Association. Then,
we sent six missionaries from Hill Chin State. Local
Churches, such as Hakha Baptist Church, sent some
missionaries at their own program. There have been
some converts since then. Today, young people of
Asho-Chins are ready to become Christians. They
invite and challenge you and me for the saving of
their lost souls. For them, 1999 is the 111th year of
the arrival of the Carsons to the land of Asho-Chins.

(2) THE ARAKAN CHINS (Now Rakhaing Chins):
There are several tribes of Chin people in the
present Rakhaing State of the Union of Burma.
In the 1880s, Rev. Willis Thomas was an
American Baptist missionary to the Karens in
Sandawway where many Asho-Chins live
side by side with the Karens. This indicates that
there were American Baptist missionaries who
were working for the Asho-Chins. Unfortunately,

many Americans died in this particular mission
field because of malaria.The mission work was
on and off.Local leaders continued the mission
works.The Karens have been working among
these Rakhiang-Chins since long time.Growth
was very slow.The Kachin Baptist Convention
also is sending its missionaries among these
Chins.Today, Zomi Baptist Convention works
hard among the Rakhiang-Chins.Moreover,
local churches,such as Thlantlang Baptist
Church,sent young missionaries to this area.
The mission and evangelization program in
this area is a great challenge to every one of us
today.These are approximately 15 Chin
missionaries sent to this area by Zomi Baptist
Convention.

(3)THE HILL-CHINS: When the Carsons
moved their mission station from Thayetmyo
to Hakha,Chin State, on March 15, 1899,
the British administrators already were there
for 10 years.Unfortunately, the British
administration and jurisdiction were exercised
only among the Chins in the Northern part of
Chin State of the Union of Burma (Myanmar).The
British empire was not extended into the Southern
part of Chinland in those days. They called it
"unexplored or unadministrative area". The
Carsons dedicated themselves for education,
evangelism, literature, agriculture, and other
kinds of development programs. The Karen
teachers and evangelists helped them in their
programs. Dr. Tilbe, a friend of Arthur Carson,
reinforced their efforts to establish their
new mission field in 1900-1901. They were
joined by a medical doctor, Dr. East and his wife
in 1904. Dr. East was not only a physician, but
also a real evangelist. Rev. Carson died in
1908 just after he finished creating a written
language for the Chins in the Roman alpha-
bet system. He was buried in Hakha. Rev. &
Mrs Cope came to Hakha in 1910 to help
Mrs. Laura Carson. But, in 1911 they decided
to move to Tedim. There they worked hard for
30 years. Cope was dedicated for education
and literature of the Chins. In 1911, Dr. Woodin
and his wife came to Hakha as physicians of
Hakha Mission hospital. Mrs. Laura Carson left
the Chin Mission station in 1920 for good. She
continued her husband's mission for 12
years. She was a strong woman! In 1926
Rev. Chester U Strait and his wife came to
Hakha and worked there until 1941. When
Rev. Cope died in 1938 in Hakha, Rev. & Mrs
Nelson came to Tedim to continue Cope's
works in Tedim. For Hakha Mission station,
Rev. & Mrs. Johnson came to Hakha in 1947
and were forced to leave the mission field by
the Revolutionary Military government of the
Union of Burma. They worked in Hakha 26
years. In their time, Zomi (Chin) Baptist Con-
vention was born. 1/10th tithes system was
well established. Budget system in the Church
and her organizations were also established.

HOW LOVELY ARE THE KAREN MESSENGERS!
The most loveliest people in Burma to care and
nourish the souls of the Chins were Karen tea-
chers and evangelists who were employed by the
American Baptist Mission Board in Chinland.
I post this page in fond memory of their works:
1. Thra Shwe Zan worked among the Siyins;
2. Thra Maung Kun among the Laizos;

3. Thra Maung Lun among the Zokhuas;
4. Thra Po Kun among the Tonzangs;
5. Thra Maung Kya among the Thantlangs
6. Thra Kyi Khin among the Hakhas; and
7. Thra Aung Dwe among the Falams.

CHIN CHRISTIANS SOUGHT LOST SOULS
In 1905 Pu Thuam Hang and Pu Pau Suan were
baptized as believers in Christ. They were the
first fruits among the hill Chins. In 1906 Pu Sia
Khaw in Hakha and Pu Thang Sin in Lumbang
were baptized as new believers. In 1907 there
were 12 Chin Christians gathering together for
a meeting and it was called First Chin Baptist
Association. Later in 1948, they were organized
as Falam Baptist Association, Hakha Baptist
Association, and Tedim Baptist Association.
Again in 1953, these three associations agreed
to organize Zomi Baptist Convention under the
leadership of Rev. S.T. Hau Go. He was a gra-
duate with Master of Religious Education from
Eastern Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
The Tedims proposed the name Zomi Baptist
Convention while the Hakhas proposed the
name Zotlang Baptist Convention. They decided
to open the Convention office in Falam, the then
District Headquarters of the government. The
objectives of the forming of the Convention were:
1. Agriculture High School: This was never mate-
rialized due to insufficient fundings from the Mission
Board. In fact, this was one of the most needed
project for the development of the entire Chins.
Today, Sloping Agriculture Land Technology, a
sustainable technology for the Chins, is being
introduced with the funding from Lutheran Church
in Germany.
2. Mission Hospital: The Chins misunderstood the
modern medicine during the first era of mission
works. Hospital was built in Hakha. It was burned
during World War II. The doctors were on and off.
Even though the a sanction was given to the Zomi
Baptist Convention, leaders did not come together
to choose a location. The sacntion was withdrawn.
3. Theological Education: To train pastors and
mission workers, Zomi Baptist Theological School
was established in Tedim in 1953, then it was
transfered to Hakha, and then again in Falam in
1959. It became Zomi Theological College, a degree
offering institution, during the administration of Rev.
Dr. Chum Awi in 1983. It was recognized by Asso-
ciation for Theological Education in South East Asia
in the same year. A sister school was founded by Zomi
Baptist Convention in 1984 in Matupi town. It is called
Union Theological School.
4. Chin Hills for Christ: Since its conception, the Zomi
Baptist Convention tried to evangelize their brother in
the Southern part. This program was highly prormoted
by Rev. Dr. Hre Kio during his service as Treasurer in
the Zomi Baptist Convention. This was the forerunner
of the Chins for Christ in One Century (CCOC).
5. Chins for Christ in One Century: Laymen like Col.
Kim Ngin, Pu Khup Piang of Education Ministry, and
Pu Lian Uk, a private lawyer and politician, who lived
and worked in Matupi, Mindat, Kanpetlet, and Paletwa
wrote to Zomi Baptist Convention office about the
urgent need of evangelization among the Southern
Chins. It was the time of Rev. Charles Hrang Tin Khum,
General Secretary of the Convention. Mission secretary

at that time was Rev. Dr. Cuai Sang. The motivation
came directly from kachin State. It was the year 1982
when Kachin 3/300 - Three years-three hundred evan-
gelist program was winding up. Rev. Khum attended
their Winding up Program. When he returned from
Kachin State, he was convinced that he must call a
consultation seminar which later adopted Chins for
Christ in One Century evangelistic program. It aims
to bring the Good News of Christ among the Southern
Chin brothers until 1999 which is the centennial of
the arrival of the Carson among the Chins. For the
past 15 years young ministers and lay people dedi-
cated themselves for the cause of the Lord. Then,
the result was that almost all Chins heard the saving
news of the Lord. They became followers. They orga-
nized themselves as Associations. Thus, Kanpetlet
Baptist Association, Mindat Baptist Association; Palet-
wa Baptist Association; and Gangaw Baptist Association.
The revival of local sending churches happened. There
were new associations coming out of mother asso-
ciations to be able to expand the Kingdom of God.
Now, Zomi Baptist Convention has 25 associations.
6. Beyond Chin Evangel Centennary: 1999 marks
the 100th year of the arrival of the Carsons which
means the arrival of the Godpel to the Chins. Many
Chins all over the world are celebrating this auspi-
cious occasion. After this celebration, their mission
strategy will be extended to the Asho-Chins and the
Arakan-Chins.

CONCLUSION: THE UNENDING TASKS
When Dr. East baptized Pau Suan and Thuam Hang
in 1905, Rev. Carson made a report to the Mission
Board. He entitled his report, "DAY BREAK IN CHIN
HILLS". The day of the Lord is broken in the last century
in Chin State. But, greater tasks are awaiting and chal-
lenging all Chin Christians today. The tasks have to do
with developments in the areas of moral upbuildings;
education upbringings; making use of Sloping Agri-
culture Land Technology as a sustainable technology;
economic reconstruction; new spiritual pilgrimages;
Sending of missionaries to Asho-Chins and Rakhaing-
Chins; political transquility in the whole of Burma; unity
among all Chins who live in Burma as well as who
live in Bangladesh and India; and recreating a new
language for all Chins. A century is gone. But it was
just a reminder that the Chins need more strong faith
in the Lord in order to continue to work on the tasks
given to us by the Lord. These tasks are still waiting
for us!

Note: A century of Chin Christianity is just a reminder
that all of us need to know
"How lovely are
the messengers
that preach us
the Gospel of Peace."

God bless you all!

THE UNTOLD STORY: The Impact of Revival Among the Chin People in Myanmar(Burma)

2007-09-08T16:02:00.000+02:00

THE UNTOLD STORY: THE IMPACT OF REVIVAL AMONG THE CHIN PEOPLE IN MYANMAR (BURMA)1

Cin Do Kham

Today in many parts of the world, the prophecy of Joel has
been fulfilled. “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all
people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will
dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28). God,
by his Spirit is moving mightily around the world even in some
most remote places through simple willing servants who
consecrated themselves to the Lord of the harvest. However, there
are many unsung heroes and undocumented miracles of God among
different people groups. There were no photographers, no news
reporters, no missionaries and no scholar to investigate and report
to the larger body of Christ regarding what the Lord had done.

Most secular reporters investigate and report the news of their
particular area of political or economical interest. If five people
were killed in one part of the world the whole world will know
about it within a matter of hours, and the event might be put on the
front page of major news papers around the world. However, even
if one hundred people were killed at the same time in another part
of the world, the incident might not be noticed beyond their own
community.

Myanmar (Burma) is one of the poorest, isolated and backward
countries of the world. Only in recent days Myanmar gets the
world’s attention for reasons that were not very pleasant. I want to

Chin Do KHAM (Ph.D., Ckham21377@aol.com) is a missionary serving
Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, Baguio City, Philippines. He teaches
Mission and Leadership. He is also Program Director of Myanmar D.Min.
Program of Asia Graduate School of Theology.

1

An earlier version was presented during the Theological
Symposium for Asian Church Leaders, the 18th Pentecostal World
Conference, Seoul, Korea on Sept 21, 1998.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

report to the people of God that, while the spiritual strongholds
over Myanmar is still strong, the Spirit of the Lord is also at work
in transforming not only individual lives, but the whole Chin
society in Myanmar.2

Understanding the background of the Chin people in Myanmar
before Christianity will help us appreciate the impact of the gospel
which transforms the whole society, resulted in Pentecostal revival
since early 1970s. The population of the Chin (hill tribe) people is
estimated to be one million. However, the focus of this paper is on
the northern Chin people where Pentecostal revival permeated the
whole society today. The population of northern Chin State is half a
million.

1. The Chin People and Their Belief before Christianity Came
The first missionary Arthur Carson in recounting his first visit
to the Chin people described what he saw, “they are very drunken,
exceedingly savage-looking, being head hunters....”3 The Chin
people were known as headhunters. Like some other tribal groups
the Chins were animist and extremely superstitious. According to
their tradition, at death a person passed over to the other world,
assuming one’s proper rank and acquiring fresh power over others,
which the spirit might exercise well or ill in accordance with the
character during the worldly life.4

Khup Za Go described the ancient times of the Chins as
“spending most of their time in fighting and hunting. They vied
with one another to excel in these activities. There was constant
fighting between tribes and villages. Revenge was so common that
the ethic of those days did not condemn it. It was considered a
praiseworthy duty.”5

In the Chin life, religion plays an important role being closely
intertwined with everything—from planting of the crops to births,

2 The military government in Burma changed the name of the
country to Myanmar in 1988. In this paper, Burma and Myanmar are used
as interchangeable due to some writings before the change of its name.

3 Robert G. Johnson, History of American Baptist Chin Mission
(Valley Forge, PA: Robert G. Johnson, 1988), I, p. 48.

4 Sing Khaw Khai, Zo People and Their Culture (Churachanpur,
India: Kham Pu Hatzaw, 1995), p. 131.

5 Khup Za Go, Christianity in Chinland (Guwahati, India: Christian
Literature Centre, 1985), p. 14.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

marriages, deaths and festivals. Their traditional religion was
animism worshipping evil spirits. Their belief in many deities and
spirits resulted in numerous animal sacrifices.

Every Chin village has a priest who presides over various
functions relating to the spirit-worshipping ceremonies and feasts.
He is called the priest. Sick persons consult him as to what the
spirits require. After feeling the pulse of the sick person, the priest
pronounces the name of the animal to be killed to appease the
spirits. Their beliefs were guided by omens, divination and dreams

In Chin tradition, an individual is believed to be transmuted to
another form of life at the moment of one’s death; one keeps on
hungry if he or she dies hungry; one puts on in the next life the
clothes which he or she wears at the moment of death. So this belief
involves that if one is slain, the individual becomes the slave of the
victor and remains slave until the death is avenged. Hence spiritual
emancipation of the slain by means of revenge seems to have come
into practice as a duty bound.

The motive for the head-hunting was both religious and social.
It was to gain better social status rather than stemming primarily
from a religious motive. It was difficult for a headless young man
to win a fair maiden, therefore often times young men took vows to
deprive themselves of certain pleasure until they had brought home
the coveted prize.6

Their belief in the existence of the demonic beings or spirits
was at the core of Chin religious practices. Famine, epidemics,
disease and similar misfortunes were common. All these were
believed to be caused by evil spirits. These spirits were believed to
inhabit different parts of human dwellings, springs, treks, rocks,
rivers, mountains and so on. If any misfortune such as illness,
ominous dreams, etc. occurred, the affected person offered to the
appropriate spirits sacrifices of animals ranging from a chicken to a
mithun or a buffalo. The Chin people had lived in extreme fear of
the spirits. If sacrifice made to a particular spirit proved to be
ineffective then one spirit after another was tried until the whole
series of sixty-eight spirits had been offered sacrifice to. In this way
a sick person often became impoverished for life.

While the people had lived such a hard and hazardous life
filled with fear of war and evil spirits, there came to Chin land at
the turn of twentieth century the gospel of Jesus Christ, the message
of freedom from death, sin and fear. Though it was short-lived the

6 M. C. Smith, The Ao Naga Tribes of Assam (London: n.p., 1925),

72.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

door was opened in Chin hill for missionary works. The impact of
the gospel on the Chin society has been nothing short of a miracle.
It was brought “not by might, nor by power but by God’s Spirit.”

2. The Era of Christianity
2.1 The Arrival of Protestant Christianity in Myanmar
When we trace the history of Christianity to the Chin people,
we cannot ignore the heroic attempts of dedicated men and women
of God. Many of them gave their lives and the memorial stones of
their lives still speak to us today. The earliest attempt of Protestant
missionary work in Myanmar was in Rangoon, where Chater and
Mardon of the Baptist Missionary Society of England opened a
mission in 1807. Felix Carey, son of William Carey, came soon
after Chater and Mardon and remained until 1814. The London
Missionary Society sent two missionaries to Rangoon in 1808, but
within a year one died and the other left.7

Adoniram Judson and his wife, who originally came in order to
work in India, were not permitted by the East India Company. They
sailed to Rangoon at the suggestion of William Carey and arrived
there on July 13 1813.8 Judson was an outstanding Protestant
missionary to Burma.

2.2 The First Missionary Couple to the Chin People
Arthur E. Carson reached Rangoon on December 13 1886 and
was married to Laura L. Hardin just five days later. They were the
first American Baptist missionary couple assigned to work among
the Chins. On February 2 1899 they left Thayetmyo, their mission
station and headquarters for eight years, for Chin hills where no
mission work had ever been done. They arrived at Haka the capitol
of Chin State on March 15 1899.9

On the night Arthur and Laura Carson arrived at Haka, Laura
Carson wept bitterly, “not more because of my disappointment in
the place and the people than for my own inability to meet the

7 Tracy Reuben Warberton, “Burma,” The New Schaff Hergo of
Encyclopedia (London: 1908), II, p. 310.

8 Maung Shwe Wa, Burma Baptist Chronicle (Rangoon: Burma
Baptist Convention, 1963), p. 4.

9 Johnson, History of American Baptist Chin Mission, p. 11.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

situation bravely.”10 “Arthur, I can’t do it! I simply can’t do it! How
can I possibly stay here for a lifetime?” she tearfully asked. Arthur
told her, “Don’t talk that way. Things will look brighter in the
morning.”11 Then Laura remembered their motto: “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthened me” (Phil 4:13). With that
motto, they went to bed and rose the next morning determined to
give their lives for Christ to win the wild tribes.

2.3 More Missionaries Added
Although the Carsons were the first to come to the Chin hills
and truly laid the foundation to run the missionary enterprise, the
Chin people were badly in need of medical missionaries. In answer
to this need, E. H. East, appointed as a medical missionary by the
American Baptist Union on June 3 1901, arrived on March 21 1902
and made an extensive tour throughout the length and breadth of
Chin hills.

East’s evangelistic tours to the Tedim, Falam and Haka (the
major towns) were enhanced by his medical skill and treatment of
the villagers. According to Robert Johnson, he treated 2,903 new
patients and personally gave 4,000 treatments in 1906.12 However,
because of his ill health, East’s tenure was cut short. He reluctantly
left Chin hills on October 3 1910.13 Arthur Carson died on April 1
1908 and East buried him beneath the pine trees at Haka.

Laura Carson stayed at Haka after her husband died to look
after the mission station and to teach the Bible class she had
organized. Then J. H. Cope and his wife arrived in Haka on
December 21 1908. Their goal was to establish a mission center at
Tedim, but the untimely death of Carson held them back at Haka
for two full years. Before they opened a new mission station at
Tedim, Cope learned the Haka (Lai) dialect very well, and this
helped him greatly in the publication of literature for schools and
churches in the Chin hills. On September 29 1910, the Copes
started moving to Tedim.14

10 Laura Hardin Carson, Pioneer Trails, Trails and Triumphs (New
York: Baptist Board, 1927), p. 163.

11 Carson, Pioneer Trails, Trails and Triumphs, p. 163.

12 Johnson, History of American Baptist Chin Mission, p. 138.

13 G. K. Nang, “Evidences of Growth Among Zomi Baptist Churches
in Indo-Burma” (Th.M. thesis, Rueschlikon, Switzerland: Baptist
Theological Seminary, 1990), p. 29.

14 J. M. Ngul Khan Pau, “When the World of Zomi Changed”

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

In addition to learning the three major dialects of the Chins,
i.e., Haka, Falam, and Tedim, Cope’s touring among the villages
was regarded as remarkable since no transportation was available at
that time, and the steep and rough paths made the trips even more
exhausting to him. Johnson reports, “Besides continual touring he
managed to translate and publish the New Testament and the
hymnal in the language of Tedim in 1936.”15 He wrote no fewer
than 35 small text books in several dialects for the schools.

Chester Strait arrived at Haka on April 5 1926 with their two
children, Betty and Dabid. In addition to his tours and evangelistic
work, Strait was deeply concerned for the living standard of the
Chins. He introduced new ideas about raising sheep, making soap
and growing tea and coffee in the Chin hills. Strait opened a Bible
school at Haka on May 1 1928 with 13 students. All these students
graduated from the school in 1932. He prepared a number of
Sunday school lessons and finished translating the New Testament
in Haka (Lai) dialect, which was published by the Mission Press in
Rangoon in 1940.16

Franklin O. Nelson arrived at their destination at Tedim, Chin
hills on December2 1939. Nelson and S. T. Hau Go, a Chin
graduate from the United States with an M.R.E. degree, started a
Bible school at Tedim in 1947. He made many evangelistic tours
and helped in forming leaders among the established churches. His
outstanding contribution was the Tedim Bible School. They left
Tedim because of the sickness of Phileda on February 23 1951 and
could not return because their re-entry visa was turned down by the
government.

The last couple serving among the Chins in Chin hills were
Robert and Elizabeth Johnson. They were appointed as
missionaries to Burma on April 21 1941 by the American Baptist
Foreign Mission Society. After the Nelsons left for the States, the
Johnsons were the only American Baptist missionaries to the Chin
hills until 1966, when the socialist government expelled all the
foreign missionaries from Burma. Apart from his teaching in the
Bible school at Haka, Johnson was involved in the translation work
of the Haka Bible and hymnals in “tonic solfa” notation. Though

(D.Miss. diss., Portland, OR: Western Conservative Baptist Seminary,
1995), p. 122.
15 Johnson, History of American Baptist Chin Mission, p. 390.
16 Pau, “When the World of Zomi Changed,” p. 123.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

they were unable to stay among the Chin people, the Johnsons’
unstinting love and devotion have been remembered.17

2.4 The Period of Trials and Testings
With his intensive travelling from one village to another for ten
years, East underwent tremendous strain that weakened his health.
He developed a heart condition that was unbearable in a high
altitude like the Chin hills. In one of his journals he penned his
situation and the constraining love for the Chins. If he did not go
back to the United States for medical care, he would not last long,
and yet he felt the need of his presence there. So he wrote:

Today I can see Jesus sitting on the Mount of Olives, weeping
over the city. In the spirit I am one with Him, for I am weeping
over Haka. If I stay to die here, no good will come out of that,
but if I go to live, I can help from afar, and so I am choosing to
seek life, rather than to die here and be silent.18

He went home to the States. A remarkable episode of leaving
Chin hills was included in his letter to his wife Emily, which reads:

I thought I would be glad to leave as I was going home, but when
I saw the big crowd that had gathered to see me off, and when I
saw Christians weep like little children, it almost broke my
heart…. They all followed me to the golf links. Then I prayed for
them and oh dear, it was awful! When I told them I will not see
them again, they cried and I cried. I had no idea that the Chins
had any real emotion, but I know now how Paul the Apostle felt
when he said, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my
heart?” And when he told them that “they would see his face no

19

more.

The Lord gave Herbert J. Cope a longer span of life to achieve
tremendous works as a missionary from 1908 to 1938. He died on
June 11 1938 at Haka, Chin hill, suffering from diarrhea and was
buried beside Carson.

Since the inception of the missionary work in Chin hills, the
Karen (another ethnic group in Myanmar) workers shared the

17 Pau, “When the World of Zomi Changed,” p. 124.

18 E. H. East, “Burma Manuscripts” (unpublished Material, Ft.
Wayne, IN: Neil and Sowards Personal Library, n.d.), p. 146.

19 East, “Burma Manuscripts,” p. 146.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

burden of reaching the Chins. The Karens were hill people like the
Chins, and they had better access and adaptability than the western
missionaries had, and they were very effective in ministering to the
Chin people.

2.5 The First Chin Converts and Their Witnesses
In 1904, after laboring for five years, the missionaries in Chin
hills saw the first converts to Christ. The first church was born on
February 17 1906 at Khuasak village. East wrote about the first
grand celebration of the Lord’s Supper in that very church,

In getting things ready my heart was deeply touched as I seemed
to be very near the Cross of Jesus. The emblem of his body and
blood were there. I imagined myself at His burial. I wept for joy
and deep emotions. I was all alone with Christ far away from
those I love and now to commemorate His death for the first time
with Christians from out among the wild Chins. Eleven of them
gathered in Jesus name. Oh, ye heavens record this sight. It
seemed to me neither I nor the linen were good enough. Then I
cried: Lord, it is the best I have, but it is not what I would like to
do in Thy honor.20

Alexander was right to describe the enthusiasm of some of the
first converts working as evangelists: “The keenness of the
evangelist(s) is seen as he wanders from village to village,
humbling himself and becometh the disciple of the Master. Having
no fixed itinerary, but staying or going as opportunity arises”21 J.

M. Pau described it well by saying, “this rapid growth was greatly
due to the full participation of laymen very ordinary men and
women. Every new convert felt the impelling necessity to speak
about their new found religion to his friends and relatives.”22
The Christians showed love and concern especially to their
fellow believers. They shouldered together any event, be it a sad or
joyous occasion. One of the early pastors, Thang Ngin of Dolluang
village, describes his ministry: “In 1924 when there was the
construction of main road, I worked there earning Rs. 12. I met a
good number of persons, fellowshipping and witnessing to them.

20 East, “Burma Manuscripts,” p. 31.
21 Leish McAlexander, Christian Progress in Burma (London: World
Dominion, 1929), p. 70.
22 Pau, “When the World of Zomi Changed,” p. 132.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

When I recalled, I know that I’ve witnessed to more than a
thousand non-Christians.”23

The Christians abstained from participating in the festivals
which had alcoholic drinks as the prime importance. They were no
longer afraid of the evil spirits which once held them in captivity.
They stopped telling lies, stealing, cursing and swearing. They
faithfully observe the Lord’s day by coming together and
encouraging one another. They were eager to share their faith with
their families, relatives and clan members. As the people were
illiterate, the most effective way to present the gospel was through
personal contact. The first evangelists went from house to house
and from village to village. They gathered people in the streets and
presented the good news to them by all possible means.24 In 1927,
the membership had increased to 1,241 and there were three
ordained preachers. By 1937, the membership reached 4,000 with
ten ordained and fifteen unordained preachers.

2.6 Opposition and Persecution of the Early Christians
The Chin culture is collectivist and almost everything and
anything has to be done together. Thus, while an individual may
find the Christian message very good and attractive, for one to
become a Christian on one’s own was risking his or her life. The
strong fraternity and social fabric conditioned them to remain
faithful to their clan or villagers until the whole group was willing
to accept Christianity. Therefore, opposition and persecution were a
daily fare to the converts. Tsong Kham, who suffered under the
crushing hand of the village chief, said:

I believe the Christian religion is true. I am a Christian and shall
always be one. For sometime the chief continued trying to bribe,
offering more and more, but when he found it was useless he
became angry and said, “I have never in my life humiliated
myself as I have in dealing with you today. You will either take
what I have offered and give up the worship of this foreign God
or you will take the worst beating any man ever had.” “Then I
will take the beating,” Tsong Kham replied. “Bare your back,”
the chief commanded. Tsong Kham threw off his blanket. “Put

23 Gin Za Tuang, Zomi Innkuan Laibu (Tedim, Burma: Self
Publication, 1973), p. 116.

24 Robert Thawng Hlei, “The Baptist Mission and Church Growth in
Myanmar” (M.A. thesis, Seoul: Asian Center for Theological Studies,
1990), p. 96.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

your hands on your knees” was the next order, and down went
his hands to his knees. The chief called up three brutal men
armed with bamboos and told them to give fifteen strokes each.
The first man finished his fiendish task and the second began
when Tsong Kham fell on the earth. Raising his hand, he said,
“Wait a moment,” and lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed. He
asked for strength to bear the torture…. He said, resuming his
position with his hands on his knees, “Come on, I am ready now.
There is one to beat me still.”25

East, who knew the hostile reaction of the non-Christian
society when a person became a Christian, was concerned about the
future safety of three baptismal candidates. He wrote about the
courageous response from the candidates:

Before leaving the field I baptized a brother of the chief and a
son of a free man and also a young man, son of a slave. These
young men placed their hands upon their hearts and said, “They
may take all we have and drive us into the jungle and they may
kill us, but Jesus we will never deny or forsake.”26

In one of his earlier writings, East recorded one incident where
the young convert was about to be baptized when the enemies of
the gospel murdered him. The name of the unknown young convert
does not appear in the history of Chin Christianity, yet heaven has
his name in the Book of Life.

Johnson, the last missionary to Chin hills, wrote about the
sufferings and persecutions of the Christians in his article “The
Church in the Chin Hills”:

During this period, when Christianity was but a tender reed in
strength, many of the young Christians had to meet and
overcome persecution… the chiefs and the upper classes of Chin
society were almost universally opposed to the Christian
message, perhaps sensing correctly that it meant a revolution in
human relationship.27

Vial Nang wrotes about the form of punishment given to him
for becoming a Christian. It was not just expelling him from the
village; the punishment given to him was to dwell in a place where
the non-Christians were sure that the evil spirits would kill him:

25 Carson, Pioneer Trails, Trails and Triumphs, pp. 187-88.
26 East, “Burma Manuscripts,” p. 53.
27 Johnson, History of American Baptist Chin Mission, p. 388.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

Since Tonzang [his village] is firmly rooted in the traditional
Animistic belief and customs, the village elders didn’t allow me
to reside there anymore. But they have allotted me a place called
Kadang Cik (low swampy place) assuming that the Dawite (evil
spirits) of that place will kill me. But I cultivated the land, built a
house and planned a garden, till now by God’s grace I am alive.28

2.7 The Renewal Movement among the Chins
After a few decades of rapid growth in the Baptist churches in
Chin hills, many church leaders and members were confined in the
“foreign missionary syndrome.” Whatever the missionary said or
practiced was considered the only way. Church by-laws and
regulations became more important than the teachings of the Bible.
The church went through the sickness of nominalism. Because of
the strong Baptist tradition introduced in local churches, the Baptist
way was perceived to be the only way. Church leaders were
opposed to the message of salvation by faith through grace.
However, the Lord raised young people within the Baptist churches
to ignite the fire of revival which caused much headache for the
leadership.

3. Pentecostal Ministry
3.1 Pentecostal Missionaries to Myanmar
A few Pentecostal missionaries from the Assemblies of God of
USA such as the Leonard Bolton family, the Clifford Morrison
family and the Glen Stafford family had been sent to the Myanmar
mission field. Besides them were some Pentecostal missionaries
from Sweden, Finland and the “Go Ye Fellowship” who came and
labored in Myanmar prior to World War II. The Open Bible
Standard Church started a mission for a short time just before the
country’s independence from British colony.29 But no Pentecostal
missionary went to the Chin hills.

The missionaries had always struggled for their entrance as
well as their resident visa since independence in 1948. In March
1966, the Socialist government declared that all foreign

28 Tuang, Zomi Innkuan Laibu, p. 50.

29 Forthcoming Chin Khua Khai, The Cross amidst Pagodas
(Baguio, Philippines: APTS Press).

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

missionaries had to leave the country within a month. Ketcham
cited a phrase from the Guardian newspaper about the government
order, saying, “By April 30th 1966, all Christian missionaries must
leave Burma.”30 Therefore, all the missionaries left the country in
April.

The only Pentecostal work well established in Myanmar at the
time of the missionaries’ departure was the Assemblies of God. In
spite of war and the absence of the missionaries, the church showed
progress under the leadership of indigenous workers. The progress
was enabled by the Holy Spirit through the church that had been
firmly established to be self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-
governing from the very beginning.

Under the leadership of the Assemblies of God missionaries
from the United States, native Pentecostal believers took the
challenge of evangelizing their own communities. As they witness
the gospel of Christ with Pentecostal experience, signs and wonders
confirmed the preaching of God’s word. However, Pentecostal
message did not get to the Chin hills. All Pentecostal missionaries
were engaged in ministry among different people groups in the
capital city Rangoon and the Kachin tribe in the northern part of the
country.

On March 25 1966, on behalf of the General Council of
Assemblies of God, Foreign Mission Department, U.S.A., Maynard
Ketcham, the field Director of Far East Asia, came to Yangon to
wind things up in order to hand over authority and responsibility
and transfer all mission property and equipment to the national
church leaders.

Ketcham declared that the church government was officially
handed over to the nationals. Bolton quoted the words of Ketcham:

It was an emotion-packed hour; it was the end of mission era. I
went with a commemorative plague in my brief case and a
burning message on my lips. Making a manful effort to hold back
the tears, I presented my plaque to Rev. John Fish [Samuel Fish]
the Lisu general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in
Burma, with these words, “Into your hands we give the torch.
Hold it high.”31

30 Maynard Ketcham, “Burma,” Pentecostal Evangel, January 23,
1967.

31 Leonard Bolton, China Call (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing
House, 1984), p. 215.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

The reply from the national leader to Ketchem went as follows:
“Choked with emotion, brother Fish replied, ‘Brother Ketcham, we
will hold it high. We will show the world how rapidly a national
church can grow, depending only on the Spirit of God.’”32 The
Spirit of God moved upon the people and never left the church
alone. Lives were changed, the sick were healed in answer to
prayer. The people filled with the Spirit of God. Local churches
soon became a center for evangelism and outreach.

In 1966, Myo Chit, a national leader, was left alone in full
charge of the Evangel Church (Assemblies of God) in Rangoon.
Under his leadership many street preachers were trained. The short-
term Bible training school started by missionaries continue. The
work of the Assemblies of God moved forward in the capitol city
and among the Kachin people in northern part of Myanmar. But
Pentecostal message still did not get to Chin hills.

3.2 Revival among the Chins
The revival among the Chins has brought tremendous growth
since the 1970s. It began with individual renewal among the
Baptists but resulted in numerical growth in Pentecostal churches
especially the Assemblies of God as believers experienced the
power of the Holy Spirit. The revival that began at Tedim in early
1972 has spread continuously throughout the Chin hills until this
day.

Many Chins were converted to Christ through the labor of the
American Baptist missionaries as well as other pioneers. However,
the second- and third-generation Christians became so nominal that
a local church service looked like nothing more than a social
gathering. There was no teaching about salvation by faith through
grace. To make matters worse, liberalism has slowly influenced the
teachings in Bible schools in Myanmar so that the ministries of
trained pastors have become more like social gospel than
evangelistic.

About 1970, God raised up a young man, Hau Lian Kham who
would bring forth God’s message to the people for such a time. In
1971, he graduated with a B.R.E. degree from Myanmar (Burma)
Institute of Theology in Rangoon and became an ordained pastor of
the J. H. Cope Baptist Church at Tedim. Assuming his pastoral
position, he soon started teaching the word of God systematically,

32 Maynard Ketcham, “Rawang Christians Hold Silver Jubilee,”
Pentecostal Evangel, April 12, 1966.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

especially the Bible doctrines on salvation, the church and the
second coming of Christ. People in the church had never heard such
teachings before, so they were amazed and their interest was
engaged. Church attendance grew from 400 to 1000 within a few
months.

Meanwhile a great burden for spiritual awakening came upon a
group of people in the church. On January 27 1973, this small
group started praying to the Lord to send a revival to the church.
They spent hours on their knees, crying to God for days and nights.
God answered their fervent prayers. Hau Lian Kham with his
colleagues began conducting open-air crusades for the purpose of
heralding the gospel. Opposition and resistance to this activity
arose from the inner circle of the church itself.

As the evangelistic team under the leadership of Hau Lian
Kham traveled from village to village, town to town, conducting
open-air crusades in the nights, and Bible study and discussion
during the day, thousands of people listened to the gospel message
every day. As conviction and repentance toward the salvation of
God penetrated, people came to Christ in tears confessing their sins
and accepting Christ by the thousands. Gang members, thieves and
drunkards were converted and they gave their testimonies openly.
Eventually the crusade was the recognized launch pad of a revival
movement among the Chins. As revival continued, people
everywhere--in offices, in schools, in the market places, on the
street--talked and discussed the issues of being born-again and
salvation by faith alone. People were amazed at the new converts
who formerly had been gang members, drunkards, thieves and so
on, but who now showed a total turn-around in their lives.33

God raised up individuals like Pum Za Thang Tombing, Phun
Duma, Philip Ahone, Khai Khan Suan, and Dam Suan Mung along
with Hau Lian Kham to spread revival throughout Chin hills. In
some of their meetings, the conviction of the Holy Spirit was so
intense that people were weeping and crying, dancing and laughing
in the Holy Spirit.

3.3 Continuous Revival Resulted in Pentecostal Movement
The impact soon spread not only in the local area but also to
the whole northwestern area of the country. Though strong
opposition arose against the revival movement, the revivalists did
not stop witnessing and preaching Christ. The revival fire was

33 Khai, The Cross amidst Pagodas, p. 62.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

burning and spreading over the countryside rapidly. The evangelists
made gospel tours to villages far and near conducting open-air
crusades everywhere. They packed their supplies, carried them on
their backs and shoulders, and traveled many days on foot across
the high mountains and the deep valleys. The gospel was preached
at night in houses while visitation, discussion, counseling and
teaching were conducted during the day.

Many nominal Christians received the experience of the new
life in Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit throughout the
revival. In many cases, they could not remain in their Baptist
churches but joined the born-again churches, especially the
Assemblies of God.

As the revival movement intensified, more and more people
experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit without anyone praying
for them. Many of them never heard about speaking in tongues
until they experienced themselves first hand. All the revivalists
were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Young boys and girls of twelve to
fifteen years of age saw visions, older people saw dreams. As they
shared with people in public gatherings, sinners were convicted of
their sins and turn to Christ. Believers were spiritually hungry that
whatever literature was available to them was like a spring in the
desert. They could not stop as they read: they read them as they
walked, sat and stood.

The revival fire spread over the whole western region and kept
on burning. Growing toward maturity and witnessing for Christ,
believers were hungry for the spiritual gifts and fruits mentioned in
the Book of Acts and in the Epistles. As a result of receiving
spiritual gifts many believers were excommunicated from their
denominations so they joined the Assemblies of God.

In 1977, the revivalist Hau Lian Kham made a decision to join
the Assemblies of God for a broader vision of evangelization and
deeper spiritual life. Regarding his joining with the Assemblies of
God, he once stated, “We must keep a large vision of the whole
country, even the whole world for the evangelization while starting
the work at the local area.”34

Revival led the born-again people to church planting across
rural villages and towns. Hau Lian Kham, pastor and evangelist,
extensively traveled to rural villages, preaching the gospel. Other
pastor-evangelists such as Khai Khan Suan, and Philip Ahone were
known for their evangelistic preaching across the country. Also lay

34 Khai, The Cross amidst Pagodas, p. 66.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

people and students were heavily involved in the spreading of
revival.

The Assemblies of God has believed speaking in unknown
tongues as the initial physical evidence of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, as mentioned in Acts 2:4. Accordingly, believers were
encouraged to seek and experience such phenomenal outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. As they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, joy and
boldness filled their lives. As a result, they shared the gospel with
increasing effectiveness. Other gifts such as healing, miracles and
true prophecy also built up the church. Many non-Pentecostals were
added to the church as they too received the gifts of the Holy
Spirit.35

In recent years God has raised several younger Pentecostal
preachers like Kam Hau and Lang Do Khup (who were called the
“Benny Hinns of Chin Hills”) who organized and launched
crusades at different locations. Sinners were converted, and
believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

God gave the church many lay evangelists. They never
received any pay. They carried the gospel to neighboring people
and villages with the great burden of winning them to Christ. They
often traveled far distances with their own supplies.

Many lay preachers and pastors are used by God with the gifts
of healing and miracles. For instance, Tam Ki was a converted
animist from the Mindat in Chin State. He often challenged the
animists with the message that God is alive and more powerful than
the local gods. One day, as he preached the gospel to the villagers,
a group of people plotted to shoot and kill him. But the bullet did
not leave the barrel of their weapon. The animistic villagers were so
surprised that they all submitted to the preacher and his message. A
dead man was brought back to life on another occasion. All the
villagers turned to Christ. Many were saved during the nightly
open-air crusade. Many were baptized with the Holy Spirit.36

4. Conclusion
4.1 The Impact of Revival among the Chin People Today
For the last twenty-five years God has sent revival to the Chins
in Myanmar, resulted in the growth of the Pentecostal movement

35 Khai, The Cross amidst Pagodas, p. 54.
36 Khai, The Cross amidst Pagodas, p. 55.

Kham, “The Untold Story”

not only in Chin hills, but slowly spreading into other parts of
Myanmar. Today, there are over 700 Pentecostal churches in Chin
hills alone. Around 90% of the population who once worshipped
evil spirit are Christians today.37

In the Christian community they experienced a loving concern
and care which they had not experienced before. They were free
from the fear of evil spirits. They found the true liberation by the
Holy Spirit. The worship of the living God replaced their traditional
festivals. The altars and monoliths of their ancient animistic faith
were replaced by local church buildings. The traditional dances and
merry-making by drinking local alcohol on religious festival days
were substituted by Christian festivals like Easter and Christmas.

The old war songs and secular love songs were replaced by
gospel hymns and praise and worship songs. The people who once
dance for spirits of rocks and rivers are dancing before the Lord.
The gospel message of Jesus Christ enlightens their worldview and
assured them of a bright hope for the future to be fellow citizens
with saints and members of the household of God.

Today the Chin Christians, young and old, men and women
alike, are witnessing the love of Christ by taking the gospel to
everyone within their reach. There were more than 300
missionaries supported by Chin Christian churches sent out to
different parts of Myanmar and. Presently there are more than 1000
young men and women preparing themselves in Bible schools in
Myanmar and abroad, to take the challenge of taking the message
of the cross to the end of the earth. Most Chin Christians give to
missions generously and sacrificially.

Needless to say that the gospel is transforming the life and
community of the Chin people. The greatest revival among the
Chins took place after the missionaries had left. Upon the
foundation laid by the missionaries, the Spirit of the Lord is raising
up a new army of God by transforming evil spirit worshippers and
human head-hunters, and make them his children and soldiers of
the cross. We are partners in building God’s kingdom. I am a fruit
of the revival in Chin hills. Praise be the name of Jesus for the great
things He has done.

37 Khai Khan Suan, the District No. 4 Superintendent of the
Assemblies of God of Myanmar. Interview by the author.

Journal of Asian Mission 1/2 (1999)

4.2 A Growing Need for Balanced Pentecostal Theology
While the churches in Chin hills of Myanmar and other parts of
the world are enjoying the impact of revival, it also brought several
issues and confusions in the church, especially in the area of
spiritual warfare and personal prophecy. Often times one’s strength
becomes one’s weakness without careful self-examination and
biblical reflection.

There is a growing need for clear and balanced Pentecostal
theology for the clergy and laity alike. As there is always a strong
participation of laity in evangelism, praying for the sick and
travelling from place to place to share the love of God among
Pentecostals, it is also important to be aware of the possible pitfalls
so that syncretism might not mislead us.

As individual Pentecostal believers experience the power of
God in the Holy Spirit, their convictions and perceptions are strong.
This can lead us into false pride. Thus theological educators and
church leaders should prayerfully address current issues facing the
Pentecostal churches today. True revival is the work of God in the
context of human beings. To have Bible-based, Christ-centered,
and Holy Spirit-led revival in our Bible schools and churches, to
the glory of God and for the maturing and edification of the church,
may the Lord continue to teach, lead and use this generation as an
agents of God’s supernatural transforming grace with the power of
Pentecost.

SHALOM: Nat Worship: A Theological Locus in Myanmar

2007-09-08T12:33:00.000+02:00

SHALOM: Nat Worship: A Theological Locus in Myanmar

SHALOM: CHRISTIANITY IN EASTERN CHINLAND

2007-09-08T12:31:00.000+02:00

SHALOM: CHRISTIANITY IN EASTERN CHINLAND

Nat Worship: A Theological Locus in Myanmar

2007-09-08T09:22:00.000+02:00

Nat Worship: A Theological Locus in Myanmar

by Simon P. K. En

“Nat” is an anglicized form of the Burmese word meaning spirit and thus Nat Worship means Spirit Worship, which is the primal religion of the people of Myanmar.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the primal religion of the people in Myanmar can be employed as a theological locus for doing a viable contextual theology for Myanmar. Among the two-third world churches, primal religio-cultures can serve as one theological locus and the gospel will remain the unincarnated Word of God until it is perincated in the matrix of one’s particular culture and expressed with the religio-cultural element of that particular people. This is not to romanticize culture for there are many evils in culture which at best hindered people in their quest for maturity at best and at worst led to their dehumanization. If properly and critically dealt with, the religio-culture of the people in Myanmar can serve as theological locus and can enrich the gospel.

1. A Brief Survey of Christianity In Myanmar

Before dealing with the primal religio-cultural elements, the writer will offer a brief survey of the churches in Myanmar. The gospel reached Myanmar a long time ago with the coming of two Catholic Italian priests to the Kingdom of Ava in 1720. In spite of this early contact with the gospel, the following characteristics of churches in Myanmar have held them back from creating a viable contextual theology.
A.

Alienation of Christianity - The identification of Christianity with colonialism, the negative attitude of the missionaries towards the religio-culture of the people and the mass conversion of the ethnic groups in the frontier areas, led to the alienation of Christianity in the country. The theological challenge for Christians in Myanmar today is: how to Burmanize the gospel. It had already christianized the people for over two centuries with little success.

B.

Two Versions of Christianity - Two versions of Christianity, culture-oriented Christianity of the ethnic groups and Buddhism-oriented Christianity among the Bahmas living in the more sophisticated society, create great difficulties for the task of rooting the gospel in Myanmar soil. A common basis needs to be pursued. This the present writer found in Nat Worship.

C.

Struggling for SeLfhood - The churches in Myanmar practiced “selfhood” in other aspects such as self-support, sell-government and self-propagation but not in selftheologizing. In default of this, the churches in Myanmar became “duplicates” of their mission progenitors in the West. How to make the churches in Myanmar into the churches of Myanmar is a theological challenge for Christians in Myanmar.

II. Theology in Nat Worship

This writer found a common basis for a relevant contextual theology in the primal religion of the country, which is none other than Nat Worship. Both of the two imported religions, Buddhism and Christianity, are no more than veneer over the surface of “Nat Worship” and if scratched, the crude Nat Worship that lurks below must be revealed. Instead of pretending that the Nat elements have been totally discarded and eradicated, Christians have to recognize the tenacious presence of Nat elements and try to apply them in a positive and constructive way in doing vital contextual theology for Myanmar. With this in mind, the writer would like to bring out some of the theological elements inherent in Nat Worship.
A.

World view of Nat Worship (Weltanschauung) - The world view of Nat Worship is integrated and unified and also contemporaneous in that it does not look at things in a dualistic way. Life and death are both a part of existence and therefore there is no neat demarcation between spirituality and secularity. This is a right understanding of the Christian concept of salvation which embraces both the ‘here-and-now’ and the ‘hereafter’.

B.

The Concept of a Supreme Being - All the myths and traditions of the racial groups amply revealed that belief in the existence of the supreme Deity was inherent in the primal religions of the people. Myths and traditions from three ethnic groups viz, the Kayins, the Kachins and the Chins, were chosen as representative of the beliefs of all other ethnic groups. The theological task now is how to develop these innate beliefs to express the Christian God more intelligibly to the people.

C.

The Concept of Ecology - The third contribution of Nat Worship to doing contextual theology is the concept of ecology. In Nat Worship, it was believed that every place and object was haunted by the spirits - the Nats. To violate a place or an object such as a tree, a rock, a river, etc., is to a serious trespass to those guardian Nats and misfortune will fall upon the guilty as punishment. Fear of the Nats kept people from despoiling nature and led them to conserve it. When the people of Myanmar became adherents of Christianity, however, this sense of veneration and conservation of nature disappeared. Though they believe that God is both the creator and preserver of nature, as they once believed that the Nats haunted nature and objects, their belief in God could not prevent them from spoiling or destroying nature.

Though Myanmar is not an industrial country harming nature by polluting the air and water with toxic wastes, the country is being deforested without thought for its effect upon the distant future. In the remote rural areas, the practice of shifting [nomad?] cultivation with its slash and burn system will eventually make the whole region barren. Wild animals are killed in hunting games, fish cleared from rivers by poisoning and dynamiting. It is very sad that Christians have become more the destroyers of nature than stewards of God’s creation. God does not seem as powerful in his/her jurisdiction as the Nats once were in Nat Worship. How to transfer this concept of respect and veneration for nature inherent in Nat Worship to the Christian concept of stewardship of God’s creation is an urgent theological agenda for Christians in Myanmar.
D.

The Concept of the Faith Community - In Nat Worship there is a ritual community based on consanguinity. The role of the priest towards the ritual members and the responsibilities of the ritual members both towards the priest and fellow members are similar to that of the ‘church’ in the New Testament. If the concept of this ritual community can be extended to be more inclusive through the ‘blood of Christ’ (from the social consanguineous kinship) then the concept of the church in the NT will be perfectly understood by the people and a more viable ecclesiology can be restructured in the churches.

A candid survey of mission work in Myanmar will confirm the fact that the gospel has not yet encountered the culture of the People and thus the gospel remains unincarnated. A mutual cross-fertilization has to take place between gospel and culture; the gospel has to prune the culture and the culture needs to enrich the gospel.

III. Conclusion and Recommendation

There are many other elements in Nat Worship which can be conducive to a better understanding of the Christian concepts of salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and life after death, etc. To this end, Christians need to make a bold departure from the legacy of the missionaries and make a critical analysis of their own cultures. At the practical level, a Research and Study Center for Culture should be established urgently so that the innate cultural values of the multi-ethnic groups in Myanmar can be surveyed and be available to theologians. Intensive and extensive research must be undertaken for this task. In the same way the liberative cultural elements in Asia should be reclaimed and employed in doing meaningful contextual theology for Asia.