Kachin political parties to hold cooperation meeting

Today in Myitkyina the leaders of four Kachin state based political parties will meet to discuss their possible cooperation in the upcoming 2015 national election. Kachin Democratic Party head (KDP) Gumgrawng Awng Hkam told the Kachin News Group (KNG) that he will be meeting with his counterparts from the Kachin State National Congress for Democracy (KNCD), the Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP) and the Lisu National Development Party (LNDP).

The meeting which will be held at the Kachin Manau Park will also involve elders and respected leaders from six of the main Kachin subgroup according to one of the meeting's organizers Lamawng La Tawng, a deacon with the Hpakant Kachin Baptist Church and leader of the Hpakant based People’s Voice Committee.

KDP chief Awng Hkam says his party is willing cooperate with any Kachin party that will take part in next year's national election. The decision to look for allies was made following numerous requests from the Kachin general people, Awng Hkam said.

KSDP leader Dr. Manam Tu Ja, the Kachin Independence Organization former Vice-president No.2 told KNG that his party supports the cooperation initiative adding that this must be achieved through negotiations. KNG has so far been unable to reach the other two parties KNCD and the LNDP.

On January 25, La Tawng and 5 of his fellow committee members met separately with the leaders of the four parties in Myitkyina, in an effort to get the parties to work together. Deacon La Tawng said the People’s Voice Committee represents more than 30,000 Kachin voters in Burma’s jade-rich Hpakant township and has also gained support from Kachin communities across Kachin and northern Shan state.

The committee warns that its members will not vote for any Kachin party if they reject cooperation. They are concerned that without cooperating the parties will split the vote in Kachin state in the 2015 elections.

The Union and Democracy Party of Kachin State (UDPKS) led by Hkyet Hting Nan, a sister party of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), declined the invitation to join the meeting the Kachin News Group has learned.

During the 2010 elections, no Kachin party other than UDPKS was allowed by the government-controlled Union Election Commission to take part in the elections. This time around four independent Kachin parties have already been allowed to register.

In his Kachin Revolution Day speech on February 5tb Lanyaw Zawng Hra, the KIO's veteran chairman warned that the Naypyidaw government may manipulate party politics in order to sustain continued “military dictatorship.”