In an unusual move the Yangon Mayor dropped into the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church, the largest ethnic Kachin church, yesterday soon after the conclusion of the regular Sunday worship service at noon, said church sources.

During a short visit to the three-storeyed Yangon (also called Rangoon) Kachin Baptist Church (YJH) in Sanchaung Township, Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin, Chairman of the Yangon City Development Committee and Mayor delivered a short talk to church pastors, preachers and followers who attended the service, said a participant.

Participants, who listened to, Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin’s talk said that the Burmese military regime is treating ethnic Kachins on a higher scale.  The officer also urged the church to seek help if needed from the city authorities.

A Baptist follower, who listened to the Mayor, told KNG, "I think the Mayor's visit the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church is to mobilize opinion because the Burmese Army is going to launch an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State".

On September 27, the church celebrated the 30th anniversary of the setting up of the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church with over 2,000 followers, church sources said.  Most of followers fled from civil wars between the Burmese Army and the KIA in Kachin State and Northeast Shan State, said church sources.

The current three-storeyed church building however could be constructed on the authorization of the junta's former Military Intelligence Chief and deposed Prime Minister General Khyin Nyunt. He inaugurated the newly-built church in 1997, church sources said.

Unlike the General Khyin Nyunt era, today, however, the church is finding it difficult to get the land grant from the junta to construct a six-storeyed hostel, Rev. KD Tu Lum, one of the YJH pastors said during the 30th anniversary service.

The Yangon Kachin Baptist Church is under the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) which has over 400,000 followers in military-ruled Burma.

Kachin church leaders mainly from the Baptist and Roman Catholic Churches in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State were called for a meeting on the issue of transforming the KIA to the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF) by Maj-Gen Soe Win, the commander of the Myitkyina-based Northern Regional Command of the junta on June 27 and July 29.

During the meeting, Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win asked the Kachin church leaders to persuade the KIA to accept the BGF. However the Myitkyina Christian Council (MCC), which represents four major churches in Myitkyina town officially, suggested to the commander that the junta should give into the demands of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of KIA.

After the conclusion of the junta-led National Convention for drafting the country's constitution in 2007, Burmese Army officers made repeated visits to Kachin churches of different denominations in Kachin State with gifts like rice, edible oil, small cash donation and, landline and mobile telephones to the churches and church leaders.