“We are working toensurethat ethnic people receive fair and equaltreatment, two things that they are not granted under the 2008 constitution,” she said.

She explained that the NBF realized the severe implications of the lack of these rights after it examined the results of three workshops. The organization will submit these findings to the committee currently analyzing and assessing the constitution along with several other requests.
 
“We also want to change the fact that regional Chief Ministers are not chosen by the people but by the president,” Daw Chin Thin added. “Although intended to protect the cultures of ethnic peoples, this simply suppresses the development of ethnic languages, literacy, and arts.”

Additionally, the NBF will request the passage of a law that would allow members of ethnic groups to hold administrative positions in the political, educational, and health sectors.
 
Union Parliament Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann assured critics last month that parliament is already in the third stage of drafting a provisional ethnic rights protection law.
 
Salai Nge Pee, secretary of the Chin National Party (CNP), a division of the NBF, insists that it is essential to add an ethnic rights law to the constitution.

“Ethnic people will only be able to take full advantage of their rights when such a bill is made into law,” he said.