Zomi National Congress

Zomi National Congress party (ZNC) is one of the political parties registered to military
government of Myanmar in 1988, under the multi-party election law. The name Zomi was
taken to denote our true identity as we call ourselves “Zomi”. “Zomi” known as Chin in
Myanmar, is one of the ethnic groups who signed Panglong Agreement in 1947 to join Union
of Burma.

The party headquarters was located at Tiddim, Chin State. Zomi people from Tiddim,
Tonzang, Kalemyo and Tamu township joined the party to be their national party and it was
the strongest ever among its people. The party has been able to educate the people about
democracy and human rights during the campaign for election.

The main objectives of the party are :

- To proclaim our national identity, “Zomi”,

- To establish democratic government and federal union of Myanmar,

- To implement free market economy in Myanmar,

- To respect the Panglong Agreement and its democratic rights.

The party was given a chance to campaign on national television in Myanmar in which the
President proudly delivered a campaign massage to the public.

ZNC was one of the founding member parties of the United Nationalities League for
Democracy (UNLD) which comprised of all the ethnic nationality parties in Myanmar. From
Chin state, along with Zomi National Congress, Chin National League for Democracy, Mro
or Khami National Solidarity Organization and Mara People's Party are working together
under the umbrella of UNLD. ZNC played a leading role when UNLD and National League
for Democracy (NLD) formed alliance to formulate the policies for the future of Myanmar.

During the multi-party general elections in May, 1990, ZNC contended in four constituencies:
Tiddim-I, Tiddim-II, Tonzang and Kalemyo-II, and won at two constituencies. The President,
Pu Chin Sian Thang, and the General Secretary, Pu Thang Lian Pau were elected from
Tiddim-II and Tonzang respectively. In Chin state, the member parties of UNLD won eight of
thirteen seats, four seats by NLD, and one by National Unity Party (NUP).

In March 1992, the military government abolished ZNC and banned from its political
movement. From then on, military intelligence tightened its grip on its movement, followed
by detentions and interrogations of its leaders.

In 1993, military government of Myanmar convened the so-called National Convention

which had never come to a conclusion and which had never passed a single resolution.
Government hand-picked some representatives and leaders of Shan National League for
Democracy (SNLD) and NLD were invited to attend the National Convention, but only to
walk out later. An elected member from UNLD was the only representative among ethnic
political parties besides SNLD.

Although the military government did not recognize the result of the national elections, ZNC,
along with UNLD members continued the movement for democracy and human rights. Since
ZNC was not allowed to attend the National Convention, ZNC submitted some basic
principles for the constitution of future Myanmar through UNLD that drafted a proposed
constitution.

The basic principles of the Constitution proposed by ZNC are:

- A Federal Democracy system,

- Limited power to the Federal and residue power to the State,

- Two Chambers of Parliament, and

- Equal membership of representative from ethnic nationalities to Upper Chamber of

Parliament

In 1996, ZNC and three other ethnic parties, SNLD, Mon National Democratic Front
(MNDF) and Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) joined together and asked NLD to take
initiative for national reconciliation. In 1997, ZNC, SNLD, MNDF, ALD and NLD agreed to
work together for democracy and future of Myanmar. Series of discussion were made on
rebuilding the nation, formulating the constitution of future Myanmar and the role of ethnic
nationalities in the Union. ZNC discussed especially on the role of ethnic nationalities in
building the nation during the Panglong Conference and in the rebuilding of the nation in the
future. The NLD party and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were convinced that without ethnic
nationalities, the rebuilding of a democratic nation will be impossible. All the participating
parties understood the importance of a dialogue and cooperation between the NLD and ethnic
parties. It was cleared that the political solution for national reconciliation has to have
tripartite dialogue among NLD, the military government, and ethnic nationalities.

In 1998, leaders of ZNC, SNLD, MNDF and ALD jointly submitted a petition to the ruling
military government. The petition mainly focused on national reconciliation and asked:

- To recognize the result of 1990 multi-party general elections,

- To start a tripartite dialogue among the military government, NLD and ethnic
nationalities,

- To convene the people’s parliament as soon as possible, and

- To respect freedom of the press, political freedom and human rights.

The petition was simply ignored by the military government and rather the leaders were
interrogated and detained without any legal charges.
The cooperation and mutual understanding between ZNC, SNLD, MNDF, ALD and NLD
gained political strength to stand firm for democracy. In the end of 1998, Committee
Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) was formed by representatives of above-
mentioned NLD, ZNC, SNLD, MNDF and ALD. The military government immediately took
action by detaining members of the CRPP. CRPP became the target of military intelligence
even though it was internationally recognized by foreign governments and institutions.
Leaders of ZNC have been actively involved in the movement of CRPP which later increased
its members.

Later on, ZNC was one of the main sponsors to form United Nationalities Alliance (UNA)
comprising of all the ethnic nationality parties which contended in 1990 general elections.
UNA has become a political platform for all the ethnic nationalities to stage their rights and
demand together.