At OKKAR's request: To whom it may

[suantak@xxxxxx]

Subject: At OKKAR's request: To whom it may confused

Prepared at OKKAR?s Request: part 2

OKKAR requested me to tell him the names
of preachers and Pastors murdered by the
Burmese Army.  Here is the second one.

Reverend Luai Thang was born in Thangaw
village, Lautu Township, Thanthlang
district. He received his Bible training
at Matupi Bible Seminary. Christianity
which was brought to this area by
American missionaries spread very slowly
in the beginning up to about the Second
World War, but slowly the gospel
overwhelmed the people. The Christian
religion had gained the favor of the
Chin people here because it came at a
time when the people were realizing that
their traditional religion brought a lot
of misery.  The animist religion had
required offerings of animals to the
spirits when a person was sick that
could cost dearly as offerings needed to
be given as the sickness progress from a
cock to a dog, pig, cow, and to a
mithun, which most people could not
afford. Then there is the funeral, which
could cost a fortune because the
animists believe that an elaborate
funeral would take the spirit of the
death to a favorable place among the
spirits. Thus the people converted to
Christianity to escape from these
expensive and wasteful traditions. The
promise of life in paradise in heaven
after death, where everything is
provided free for believers draw a large
section of the people to Christianity.

Most of the converts to Christianity
happened during the latter part of the
twentieth century, that means after the
Chin people joined the Union of Burma.
During this time Lautu transformed
itself to a Christian community. After
half a century the Chin joined the
Burman to formed the Union of Burma the
village of Lautu claimed almost 100 %
Christian worshippers.  The governments
in Rangoon sent their veneral Sayadaws
to these areas but the Sayadaws or
Buddhist monks could not convert the
people to Buddhism because there was no
literature to teach the people what
Buddhism was all about. Buddhism in fact
was much closer to the traditional
believes of the Chin. The believe in the
spirits, the believes in reincarnation,
and the believe in supernaturalism are
closer to the Chin like their new found
partners, the Burman. The main reason
why the people became Christian was
because Christian missionaries
translated the Bible into the local
language and alas the people saw the
gospel and like it. But there was no
information on Buddhism.  The revered
Sayadaws sent to the Chin Hills by the
governments in Rangoon had fallen prey
to their loneliness and most of them
sought the soothing arms of Chin Women
and became family men. Even the most
revered Sayadaw in Falam, their one time
capital, had a baby with a local woman,
that to the people signifies the flaw of
the religion. Thus the people became
Christian at a surprising rate and slow
to convert to Buddhism.

However, in the southern part of the
Chin State, especially in the Paletwa
area, where the land is fertile and food
easily available, the people are less
susceptible to the flaws of their
traditional religion.  Paletwa is
further away from the center of Chin
Christian center in Haka, the people of
Paletwa were slower to accept change.
The Chin or Khami are found in Arakan
and Chittagong Hill Tracts. Even today
they keep their traditions in religion
and  customs.  One finds men with loin
cloths and traditional long hair, and
women with mini skirts and are topless
in some locations.  This is the place
where Rev. Luai Thang chose to spend his
life after graduating from the Bible
Seminary to bring the Christian gospel
and bring changes not only the Christian
religion but also education and more up
to date lifestyles.  Christianity had
brought progress in the northern Chin
Hills and Rev. Luai Thang committed to
do the same to the Chin people of the
South.
Unlike the rest of the Chin Hills the
Paletwa area had been a disturbed area
as the Burmese and Arakan communist
rebellion had penetrated the area. With
the armed uprising of the Chin students
in 1989, the SLORC sent out more and
more units of the Burmese Army. Thus the
work of Rev Luai became more complicated
as more and more restrictions were
ordered by the Burmese Army concerning
the work of Christian pastors.

When Rev. Luai Thang was conducting a
wedding ceremony at Pichaungwa village,
the elders did not inform the military
contingency. A wedding in the Chin
Christian tradition is a big feast where
one or two cows were slaughtered and one
or two villages were involved and to
celebrate and consume the meat thus
provided by the wedding.  A wedding is
an event where everybody eats meat,
which is so scares in the Chin State.
The army contingents stationed in the
Chin State considered themselves the
colonial army.  They wanted to be
invited as honored guests and when they
were not invited they felt insulted.
Sargent Tun Myint and his platoon
enjoyed the good food as well as the
patronization they so loved as members
of the Burmese Army when they were
invited to such events.

The Burmese Army contingent stormed the
wedding party, with their guns pointing
at the people.  The pastor Rev. Luai
Thang, who had to take the
responsibility of the wedding ceremony
and as the spokesperson of the wedding
ceremony had to deal with the Sgt. Tun
Myint. He was beaten already at the
location and he was taken to the camps
of the army contingent. The villages
learned that he was beaten repeatedly
and after three months he disappeared
with the army contingent. His body was
found at a stream.  He had stab wounds.
He was survived by his wife and
daughter, who was eight months old at
the time Rev. Luai Thang was murdered.
He left behind his parents, bothers and
sisters.


A baby lost its father, a young woman
became a widow, the Pichaungwa community
lost its pastor, a man lost his life
simply because some soldiers were
hungry. Worst,  the murder of Luai Thang
brought hatred between two ethnic
groups, the Chin and the Burman. The
citizens of Burma are farther and
farther away from national unity.