When two Kachin Baptist pastors tried to tell the truth, they paid for it: with their freedom.  

“We last heard from them on Christmas Eve…”

It was Christmas Eve 2016 in Kachin state, Burma, and Deacon Dumdaw Nawng Lat left a message for his sister saying he was meeting with military personnel that evening. That was the last she would hear of him for almost a month. Deacon Dumdaw and his colleague, Pastor Langjaw Gam Seng, disappeared without a trace that day. 

Their families and churches endured a month of silence - not knowing whether they were still alive - before the Burma Army announced on social media that they had arrested the men.  

Their crime?  Telling the world the truth about the military attacks against the Kachin people. 

Church leaders imprisoned for telling the truth

Deacon Dumdaw and Pastor Langjaw helped journalists to report a story that was getting no media attention, but one which deserved it. They guided journalists around a Catholic church which had been bombed by the military in a recent airstrike. Just three weeks later they were arrested, and convicted under the Unlawful Associations Act, and were alleged to support the Kachin Independence Army, and under the Import Export Act for operating motorcycles without a license.

Deacon Dumdaw and Pastor Langjaw were held incommunicado for several weeks after their arrest and interrogated repeatedly. They were held in military custody until their trial. In November 2017 the two men were tried and found guilty. Deacon Dumdaw, 65, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, while Pastor Langjaw, 35, was sentenced to two years and three months. According to reports, the prosecution’s case against them relied on statements signed by the men during their time in military custody, which defence lawyers said had been signed under “severe duress”. 

Deacon Dumdaw and Pastor Langjaw were released from prison on 18 April, along with 34 other political prisoners. 

Over 100,000 people in crisis

The ‘truth’ that Deacon Dumdaw and Pastor Langjaw sought to tell was the brutal suffering of the Kachin people. Around 140,000 people have been displaced, 200 villages have been attacked and 66 churches destroyed in the last five years. Deacon Dumdaw, Pastor Langjaw and their communities were among those forced to flee in 2016 because of the violence. 

Clashes between the Burma army and the Kachin Independence Army have been ongoing since the ceasefire agreement collapsed in 2011, but have intensified in the last six months, exacerbating what the United Nations (UN) describes as a “longstanding humanitarian crisis”.  Burma’s government has denied access to the UN representatives and humanitarian relief agencies. 

And while the international media attention has rightly focused on the barbaric treatment of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims, little has been reported about escalating violence in Kachin State.  CSW has visited the region many times, and we’ve seen for ourselves the devastation wrought on entire communities.  The Kachin people are subjected to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, destruction of property, torture and inhuman treatment, and sexual violence.  

Calling for concrete action

We presented our current research and analysis of the religious freedom situation in Burma to the UN Human Rights Council last month. We raised the case of Deacon Dumdaw and Pastor Langjaw, urging the authorities to release them unconditionally. Our East Asia advocacy team will continue to raise their unjust imprisonment with policy-makers and journalists until they are freed. As part of our statement, we highlighted our serious concerns about rising militant Buddhist nationalism, which has created an atmosphere of religious intolerance. 

Decisive action is needed to address the root causes of such intolerance and to ensure that all of Burma’s citizens are free to choose, change and practise their religion or belief without repercussion. 

Despite what many describe as a return to repression, we will not lose hope. We pray into the flickers of hope, we stand for justice and we continue the good work to which God has called us. 

We believe change is possible in Burma and we will not rest until we see it.