The Burmese military junta is gearing up for the elections with Kachin State's Organizer and Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraph, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw having met Christian leaders in Waingmaw on September 20 to garner support for the 2010 polls, sources said. The meeting came a day after he met ethnic Kachin Christians in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

The meeting was held at the church in Mading village in Waingmaw and over 200 people attended including, authorities from Mading, Christian leaders, a member of the junta sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in Waingmaw and a member of Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation (MWAF), a participant revealed.

In the course of the one hour meeting, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw was quoted by a participant as telling Christian leaders that "You all Christian followers have to know about the 2010 elections and have to support it."

Thein Zaw promised Christian leaders that he would sanction 15 telephone lines for Mading village at a cost of over Kyat 500,000 for one telephone line, a participant added.

There are over 800 households in Mading in four villages -- Labang, Tangbau, Hkakum and Mading.

After the meeting, Mading villagers asked for financial support to build a church in the village. Brig-Gen Thein Zaw handed over Kyat 300,000.  However, when Hkakum village people asked for agricultural inputs, he said he would think about it later, according to a participant.

Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, who was born in Kachin State and is the junta's Kachin State organizer and Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraph, has not only been mobilizing support for the 2010 election in Kachin State but also worked to generate support for the May referendum.