GZA to hold conference in Tedim ahead of census

23 January 2014: The second conference of the Global Zomi Alliance (GZA) is to be held in Tedim town, Chin State on 13-17 March 2014.

GZA leaders said that it had been postponed from the initial schedule, which was to take place in November last year, following the untimely death of General Secretary Rev. Dr. Chin Do Kham in October.

Rev. Dr. Go Chin Zam, Associate General Secretary of GZA, said that it [the conference] had to be organized in a rush as the country’s census-taking would begin in March.

Burma is to take a nationwide census from 29 March to 10 April this year, the first since 1983.

GZA President Rev. Dr. Simon Pau Khan En urged that the ethnic code 914 be chosen to designate ‘Zomi’ in the upcoming 2014 Burma census.

Code 914 is labelled ‘other’ and placed under the category of ‘Myanmar plus Foreigner (mix)’ while 53 tribes of the ethnic Chin are listed under Code 400.

The Global Zomi Alliance was formed in Singapore in April 2011.#