Church leaders and politicians in Chin state, western Burma , has requested the Chin people to stop migrating to third countries as refugees.
According to a local person from Falam Township , a campaign was conducted regarding this matter among the Chin community, earlier this month by Church leaders, politicians and elderly people of Chin State .
"Chin people are leaving their home-town on a daily basis, so the population is decreasing year by year. The bad thing is that teenagers cannot attend formal school as they have to work in other countries for their livelihood. That is why I tell people not to leave their own towns," a pastor of Falam town said.
In fact, the population of Chin State has been decreasing annually, especially after 1989. A record shows that there are two lakh Chin people residing in foreign countries during the past 20 years.
"Currently, our church members are very few compared with last year. If one of our members die, there are no workers for burial activities. Some are very lazy as they are getting financial support from their relatives in foreign countries. They do not want to work anymore. It will certainly have bad consequences for our future. Indeed Chin people have no desire to settle in their home towns," he told Khonumthung News.
Nowadays, most Chin people leave for Malaysia , India and other countries like USA , Canada , Norway , Denmark and Australia .
"There are about 4000 Chin people in Malaysia . The average of Chin people, who are entering Malaysia are 10 persons per day," a Chin lady in Malaysia said.
There are 3000 Chin people in Zokhawthar village on the Indo-Myanmar border area; they are from Chin State , Burma .
"Currently, there are about 700 houses in Zokhawthar village. Of these 500 houses are owned by Chin people. Their population may be around 3000 and some are still coming from Chin state and other parts of Burma. After two years, the number of houses will easily reach one thousand," one of the immigrants from the border area said.
The main reason for leaving their home town and migrating to foreign countries is in order to escape and survive from hardships, oppression and economic crisis in Burma.
