Chin party drafts first parliamentary bill

Thursday, 13 January 2011 20:32 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The chairman of the Chin National Party, Pu Zozam, said that its first parliamentary bills have been drafted to promote tourism in Chin State and to ensure the right of children to learn the Chin language in school.

He said the party’s parliamentary agenda is to boost the tourism sector in Chin State; to set a minimum wage in the country of about 3,000 kyat (about US$ 4) a day; to ensure the right of Chin children to learn the Chin language in school; and to protect the environment.

Party delegates including nine MP-elects attended the party meetings held recently to set the parliamentary agendas for all three assemblies, which will convene on January 31.

Pu Zozam said that if the national minimum wage isn’t increased, it will be hard to draw youth living overseas back to Burma: ‘Young Chin people migrate to Thailand and Malaysia where they earn about US$ 7 per day. If they can earn about $ 4 per day in Burma, they will come back.

‘Currently, the average income in Burma is very low and cannot fulfill the basic needs’, he said.

He said that the party also plans to work to create a ministry of conservation in Chin State.

‘In Chin State, people are working in hill farming. It’s very traditional, so we need to educate them and provide necessary training’, said Pu Zozam.

The party also plans to address the issue of protecting natural resources and address ways to provide relief to famine victims in Chin State, who are suffering because of the loss of crops after a rat infestation.

The party will also try to improve roads, including building a road to link Matupi and Paletwa townships.

In addition, a committee has been formed to draft a charter for people’s rights in Chin State.

Regarding the election of new officers in the Parliament, Pu Zozam said, ‘Whoever from the military is elected as president, it doesn’t matter. But, I think the vice president should be an ethnic person. I want to urge the MPs-elect to select an ethnic person to be appointed vice president’.

In related news, Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said that his party would hold meetings on January 18 and 24 to set the party’s parliamentary agenda.

Similarly, the Karen Progressive Party will hold a party meeting on January 17 to discuss issues to be addressed in Parliament, according to party chairman Saw Tun Aung Myint.