A mass inter-university fellowship of Kachin students from secular and theological schools was held today in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina Township in northern Burma, said local sources.
Nearly 1,500 students joined in at the AD 2000 Memorial Hall of the Kachin Theological College (KTC) in Nawng Nang from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, 10 miles from Myitkyina downtown, said student organizers.
The fellowship programme was jointly organized by the Student Fellowship (SF) under the KTC and the Kachin Literature and Culture also called JLH in Kachin, under the auspecies of the Myitkyina University. The fellowship programme is held every three years, said leaders of the two students’ bodies.
“The programme is held to foster fellowship and unity among the young generation of Kachin secular and theological students. The fellowship is Kachin national-oriented but no politics is involved,” a student leader in Student Fellowship under KTC told KNG.
"The fellowship will stimulate the minds of students, make them always active and alert and they will take part in solving the current problems facing them," he added.
During the morning's special talk, Dr. Saga Hkyen Naw, principal of KTC said referring to the Bible that "If we struggle on the holistic developments and reach the goal together, our community (Kachin) will be more developed and be peaceful than what we are facing now."
Duwa Lanan Bawk, former member of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and Kachin State's organizer of the BSPP-sponsored Ethnic Solidarity Party (Ta-Sa-Nya) also encouraged students with his afternoon talk on "Youth and Education". He said "In the current age of globalization, education is very important but Kachins should adopt globalization holding on to their national identity and culture.”
He concluded with his entire talk by reflecting the Book of Hosea 4:6 with the current Kachin contexts as “My people are doomed because they do not acknowledge me. You priests have refused to acknowledge me and have rejected my teaching, and so I reject you and will not acknowledge your sons as my priests.”
The students came in cars and motorcycles to the fellowship programme despite heavy monsoon rain creating problems in transportation this morning, organizers said.
Among the participants, students from Myitkyina University and the KTC were in the majority. Others attending were students from Myitkyina Education College, Nursing and Mid-wife School, Government Technical College, Myitkyina Computer College, Lisu Bible School, Evangelical Bible Seminary in Myitkyina and Waingmaw Theological Seminary in Waingmaw Township, the head of Student Fellowship Committee under the KTC told KNG.
Today's fellowship was investigated by several military intelligence agents of the Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pa) and the special branch of the police in plain clothes. Permission for the fellowship had to seek from the Kachin State Peace and Development Office (Pa-Ya-Ka) based in Myitkyina, said fellowship organizers.
