Common Identity??? : Murlen

1. It was not easy to put up all the facts in the paper read at theSeminar on Oct. 13-15, 2008 in the MZU on Chins as there was page limit.What I want Dr. Lai-U and those who have the same opinion with him is todistinguish national identity and geographical identity. If we take as avery good example on it, Dr. Lai-U from Mara geographical area is in hisclan Fachai from Lautu geographical area in the beginning. But he himselfexpressed that his ancestors migrated from Lautu Geographical area to MaraGeographical area. In that case he changed his geographical identity fromLautu to Mara. But he cannot change his clan name as that is concern withthe ancestry. National concept comes from ancestry and geographical identitycomes from the location of dwelling and living. 2. He cannot disowned his being Fachai clan no matter wherever he andhis descendents are living because Fachai come from his ancestry. But theirgeographical identity will ever changed to wherever they live as permanentsettlement. There are many Fachai clan men and women and Fachai families atpresent in Lautu geographical area. In geographical Identity, he is nolonger a Lautu local area person. But he is still related to Fachai peoplein Lautu local area for he is from the same ancestors of other Fachai inLautu area. They are his brethrens in having the same ancestors in theFachai clan. He himself proved that Mara is his geographical identity andnot his national name. It is exactly the same as an Indian may take UScitizenship. But in culture he is still remains Indians. Thus in culturalidentity he is Fachai no mater how long he is in Mara geographical area.Mara dialect is not Fachai dialect. It is the dialect of Mara geographicalarea. That is why he speaks the dialect of the local area where he wasbrought up and that is the way how we should explain in logical reason. 3. Mara geographical area could develop their geographical dialect.We are not pushing them to adopt other areas dialect. But what we mean ishe is not a different cultural group from Thantlang/Haka/ Matupi townshiparea people. They still can practice the same cultural tradition as thepeople in Thantlang Haka and Matupi townships though they still can practicetheir dialect by the people in the Mara geographical area themselves thoughit may have minor differences in vowels with other geographical localdialects ofThantlang Matupi and Haka townships. And the Mara dialect could be easilytransliterated not only to Haka Thantlang township dialects as it has anatural way of transliteration, but it could be transliterated even to Tedimand Duhlian dialects too.4. All cultural artifacts written in the book " The Lakhers byParry" on Lakher which is changed now to Mara recently are all exactly thesame as the cultural artifacts that are also used in Haka Thantlang andother parts of Matupi township who practice the same culture.5. In language, for person like me and others as adults, alldialects within this same cultural group are mutually intelligible in ashort period. Pu Lai U also understands all these dialects as they are tooclose to each other. Dialects in Haka cultural people are all the same inconsonants and the difference they have is only in vowels. The name of PuLai U can be transliterate easily as Lian Uk exactly like my name. Many ofmy relatives in Mara called me Paw Paw Lai U. I may have as many relativesin Mara as Pu Lai U has though our geographical area where we are dwellingare different as Mara local area and Zophai local area. Lautu cannot beMara and Mara cannot be Lautu as they are different geographical area thoughthey practice the same cultural tradition. All people in Mara geographicalarea are culturally and in blood very close to and linked to Haka ThantlangMatupi areas people. Many people and clans in Mara geographical area aredescendants of the ancestry of Haka Thantlang people. All the clans in Maraarea like Cinzah(Cangza or Cozah) and Hlawnching, Hlawnceu heng mual,Tthianhlun, have their brothers in Haka, Thantlang, atupi and Falamtownships in Burma. Descendants of two brothers cannot be differenttribes.Actually Chin people have no tribal system. We only have clan systemand geographical dialectal groups. 6. The wording "Tribal" is only used by India. It means undevelopedpeople degrading those people who are thought to be undeveloped. Peoplesometimes even comment that India use this degrading term - tribe to oppresshe national pride of the North East India people in practicing divide andrule policy on them. We request India to have mutual respect on otherpeople which has their own definite and clear cut boundary of territorywith distinct culture and language. Chin societies in differentnomenclatures have only clans and not tribes. There is also only indigenouspeople in the UN Charter and no wording of tribe in UN usage.Explaining the whole situation how it works:I will take here only Haka sub division as an example as it will take toomuch space to write the whole territory in which the Chin Hills Regulation1896 was enforced once by the British administration from 1896 to 1947/48till India and Burma Independence.***7. The British in their days of administering what is today Chin Stateas Chin Hills District with the ChinHills Regulation 1896 was formed intofive subdivisions on the minor differences in cultural boundary lines asTedim. Falam, Haka, Kanpetlet, and Paletwa Subdivisions. The wholeSubdivisions of Tedim, Falam and Haka area were ruled by the nativearistocrat royal families in hereditary system under the Chin HilsssRegulation 1896 before independence from the British. Some parts ofKanpetlet ,Paletwa and Matupi were ruled by land owners or the well to dopeople with the consent of the community concern in not hereditary systemthough some parts were ruled by aristocrat royal families like the rest ofthe subdivisions.8. Haka Sub division under the British administration was the widestone of the five with several dialectal groups though the whole people in theSubdivision all practice the same cultural tradition with minor differentdialects which are all mostly the same in consonants and different only invowels. The aristocratic royal rulers in the Subdivision were mainly ZathangChieftains , Cinzah Chieftains, Hlawnceu Chieftains, Thangnget Chietains,Siakhel Chieftains, Tthianhlun Chieftains, Lunghang Chieftains, LangleChieftains, Sawmhal Chieftains and Siakhel Chieftains etc. 9. After independence from the British, Haka division was formedinto three townships namely , Matupi, Thantlang and Haka. The whole threesubdivisions were divided into circle areas and each circle area was ruledby Circle Chairman and its council under the Chin Special Division Act1948.Thus Haka township was divided into 5 circles on the boundary lines ofminor differences in local dialects and usages such as : Zokhua circle,Mi-e Circle, Haka circle, Senthang Riva-hrawn Circle and Senthang-Bawinuhrawn circle though all the people in all the five circles practice the sameculrural tradition. People in each circle has different dialects in tonesor accent mutually intelligible at once or in a matter of weeks. You willnot see here Lai circle as Lai is what every local area call themselves intheir respective dialect. Actually Longtlai district should not monopolizethe term "Lai" by themselves. They should rather keep on the Poih orLongtlai district.10. Thantlang township is also divided into eight circles basing onminor different dialects in tone or accent such as Khualhringtlang circle,Vailamtlang circle, Vanzaangtlang circle, Zahnaktlang circle, Bual Circle,Zophai circle, Mara or Miram circle, and Lautu circle. The names of thecircles are all geographical local areas that respectively has minordifferent dialects in accent or different in vowel though the consonant aremostly the same. The dialects are mutually intelligible for the adult asthey are all very close to each other. You will not see here too any circlewith the name Lai. The reason is each regional people in circle dialect callthemselves all Lai.11. In the same way Matupi township was formed into several circles onthe line of dialectal and accent differences such as Zotung Cal-tthawngcircle, Zotung Lungngo Circle, Zotung Rezua circle, Mara Sabongpi circle,Mara Lailenpi circle which in Mara dialect is Lelaipi circle (which means inliteral meaning "Center big grand area or place circle), Cintlang circle,Ta-ua circle , Dai circle, Ngala circle. You will see here no circle withthe name Lai except Lailenpi which, in Mara dialect, is Le-lai-pi meaningcenter big place.12. There is no area which should monopolize Lai to be the only namefor the area concern as all dialects in Matupi, Haka, Thantlang callthemselves as Laimi, Lia mi, Lemi meaning being the same people from thecenter of the Universe. Thus what Salai STLN wrote about the sub tribe andthe main tribe is also totally wrong. The reason is there is no place or nogroup that can monopolize the term Laimi or Lai for one single area orsingle part in single or in group. Salai STLN seems not to know that alllocal areas of the various dialects mentioned here all have Lai, Laimi fortheir national name in their respective dialects. We have to see hereLailenpi is in Mara "Lelaipi". Here "Le" in Mara means Lai in Haka/Falamand other dialects, and "lai" in Mara means "lian" in Haka/Falam and otherlocal dialects. It means "Central or large, and "pi" means grand inalmost all the Chin dialects . So it is obvious that Mara geographical areain their local dialect also has for center "Le", and for large "lai", and"pi" for grand. Thus "Lemi" or "Le faw" in Mara also is Laimi or Laifa inthe dialects of other areas of Matupi, Thantlang Haka/Falam, Tedim andDuhlian. So no group or no area is sub of the other , and no group or areais the main of the others. They are all equally Laimi or Lemi or Liami atthe same time all together. "Liami" is in Lautu for Laimi in Haka/Falamand other dialects. I can understand or speak all these dialects though Ihave never take special times to learn them. It is such simple and easyChin different dialects. 13. Since time immemorial, before and after British administration,Zathang and Cinzah chieftains covered ruling most of the villages in Hakatownship, Thantlang township and Matupi township. Lailenpi village whichis supposed to be the center of Mara local area was ruled by Zathangchieftains though other Mara geographical areas like Sabongpi area,gaiphaipi area, Capi area were mostly under the Cinzah chieftains. Saihadistrict council area and Longtlai District council area on India side inMizoram were also ruled by royal families of Hlawnceu, Cinzah, Zathang andHlawnching, the names all being transliterated from Mara local geographicaldialects of the two, Lailenpi dialect and Tlosai dialect. 14. Chieftains in Zotung area like Lungngo village and Matupi Ngalaarea according to Pu Rev. Val Thang from Ngala(Matupi) were the samedescendants from Lunghang clan. The Lungngo Chieftains married to HakaChieftain descendants. Langle chieftains in Matupi area were said to be fromRadui and Cintlang villages.15. Mara chieftains of Sabongpi , Ngaphaipi, Chapi and in other partsof Mara area were all Cinzah royal families married to Haka chiewtaindescendants. Cinza in Mara area dialect is transliterate as Cangza or Cozadepending on Tlosai dialect or Lelaipi dialect. Chapi chieftain decendantswho are Cozah or Cangza royal families also maried to Zathang Chieftainsdescendants in Zophai circle and Haka chieftains descendants. Many Marapeople intermarried with these Mara areas ruling royal families Cinzah,Zathang, , Hlawnching, Tthianhlun and Siakhel families and all families inMara geographical areas are all linked and interlocked and knitted closewith Haka Thantlang and other clans in Haka, Thantlang Matupi townshippeople. Thus no people in Mara geographical areas were free of ThantlangHaka clans men descendants directly or indirectly. Thus the Mara area peopleas a whole have no distinct national identities from the people in HakaThantang Matupi areas culturally though the geographical local areasdialects spoken there were the same in consonant and different in vowelsfrom the other Haka-Thantlang- Matupi area dialects as mentioned before andat the same time, there is an easy natural system of transliteration fromeither dialect to the other. 16. The term "Lai" in many of the Chin dialects including Duhlian,Tedim and Kuki, comes from navels from which our umbilical cords are cut atbirth. It has the meaning of center. All the people who has differentgeographical identities among these different geographical areas asSenthang, Lautu , Zophai , Thor, Khualhringtlang, Vanzang tlang, Zanaktlang,Bual, Zotung,Mara called this navel Lai or Le or Lia. Mara of Lailenpi areacall it "a le le". T hus they all call their nationalname inrtheirrespectivedialects Laimi or Liami or Lemi . It all means the center people. That isour ancestors who stood from their mountain top believed that they were inthe center of the Universe by seeing their surrounding horizon in a widecircle. Any point in the thing that is round is all the center of the thingthat is round. They call themselves we are the people from the center of theUniverse which is really true as the earth is round. The name is veryscientific. We have in Tedim dialect Lailo which means center farm andLaitui which means center water or stream or river.Thus Laimi in Tedim andDuhlian dialects also are the "center people" as "mi" in all the dialectsmeans people. 17. Any people around the world thus can claim that they are peoplefrom the center of the Universe. But not many people in the world we know ofclaim like our ancestors to be the people from the center of the Universeexcept China in the term Tsungxua also is said to mean people from thecenter of the Universe. 18. Our ancestors therefore substitute Laimi for Chins when theBritish rulers adopt the Chins for our national nomenclature in the ChinHills Regulation 1896 as the first modern constitution of the Chin territorywith which it was ruled from 1896 to 1948 till independence of India andBurma. The term Chins in the law was defined as Chins includes Lushai,Kukis, Nagas, Chins in the Chin Hills and any person who adopt the Chinsculture and language. We do not want to impose on any of the people in theterm that Chins should be substituted with Laimi. We accept that ournational name is Chins though we still call it in our local dialect Laimifor Chins. The river name Chindwin is given after the Chin people that itwas within the Chin country. Thus Chindwin is inseparable from the nationalname Chins and thus Chindwin is for Chins like what Jordan river is forIsrael and Jordan peoples.19. Thus when the name of the territory of the Chins can be known inseveral names depending on inwhat language and dialect is it refered to, itis like in the case of India which is known as Bharat in Hindi and,Hindustan in Urdu and India is the name in alternative in differentlanguages. So Chins can have several names according to the severaldialects of the people in the Chins definition. 20. As we see in the paragraph # 18 above, the term Chins is mostinclusive of all the local nomenclatures to identify these people and it isalso the only nomenclature that is legally and officially ever recognized bythe colony nations of the British Empire which are all now sovereignindependent nations as the UN members and by the international law as thelaw of the British empire once in the long lasting history. 21. It is hoped that those who are educated in legal sense certainlyunderstand the special position of the nomenclature "Chins" for all thepeople under the definition of it given by the Chin Hills Regulation 1896and the Chin Special Division Act 1948. The Chin special Division Act 1948is also the statute of the Union of Burma recognized by the internationallaw as the legitimate law passed by the Parliament of a UN member nation,the Union of Burma.22. We all know that each territory of the thress sister states byitself at present are too small in geographical size as well as inpopulation and in economic potential to attract international attention asit has been commented in the book on international relation, "The UnitedNations and Portugal" by Franco Nogueira , Foreign Minister in thePortuguese , First Published in this Translation by Sidgwick and JohnsonLtd. 1963 First Tandem Edition 1964, Published by Tandem Book Ltd., 33Beauchamp Place, London, SW 3. 23. If people under the Chin defition ever have the desire to share asingle nomenclature as many people have the opinion on it, what the peopleunder the definition of Chins could consider as the first step is: ournational nomenclature could be either Naga or Mizo or Chins as the threestates have been each in distinct and definite clear cut boundary ofterritory and also Kuki could be one of our national name as the people whoaccept Kuki as our national nomenclature could have their clear cut definiteboundary of territory in the future. Thanks for reading it patiently. Lnk.From: YCCF-International@ yahoogroups. com