Complex population issue in Shan State
Local residents of Shan State are seeking the answers for two questions concerning the government's census data: why the number of population in the state increases and if this is connected with the increase in Chinese immigrants?
Sai Nyunt Lwin from the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD) said that many local Shan nationals in Myanmar's northern Shan State and other ethnic minorities such as Lahu and Palaung do not have national registration cards but Chinese citizens there are holding such cards.
"Our SNLD party is now preparing to obtain national registration cards for the local Shan, Lahu and Palaung nationals in northern Shan State. In some townships, about 40,000 to 70,000 people are not holding national registration cards. In Tanyang also, there are many who do not have the cards," said Sai Nyunt Lwin.
The party is ensuring that all have the cards before the general election later this year.
Another official from SLND, who asked not to be named, said that some Chinese citizens who hold the cards can cast votes if they want. He noted that the Chinese in Shan State no longer hold foreign registration cards (FRCs).
"We learned that the country's population has increased. But how many? We don't have exact data. If there is an increase, many might have come from somewhere,” said Sai Nyunt Lwin. “For example, during 1995 and 1996, Mongwun Culture Association was formed and it issued national registration cards to foreigners. They just stopped it after we showed our objection.”
He noted that there have been renewed attempts to issue the cards to foreigners. This came at the time when there were reports that the Myanmar government was to award a foreign company 600,000 acres of land for biofuel crop plantation. The plan was dropped after the locals’ objection.
Confusing data
Concerns on the population number were first raised when the pilot census data showed that Myanmar’s population was only 51.2 million. While the number dropped in other states and regions, it increased in the Shan and Kachin states. In Shan State, there was an extra population of more than 1 million.
The Central Census Commission announced on August 29 last year that preliminary results showed that Myanmar has a population of 51 million. The census was assisted by UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
Myanmar people was told that when the 2008 Constitution was approved, the nation had 57.5 million population and of total 27.3 million were eligible voters. This led to the expectation that the number would have exceeded 60 million. The figure thus sparked questions on the holding of the election in 2010 and the by-election in 2012.
Political advocate Ko Ni admitted that there were many problems regarding ballot lists for by-elections in 2012, when some dead people were on the voting list.
“In Mayangon Township, the name of one person was on five different ballot lists. We were able to trace the problems to the general election in 2010. I don’t know what the ballot lists in 2010 was based on. Was it based on the 2008 national referendum for the constitution or separate lists for the 2010 election? I can't say," said Ko Ni.
No irregularity: official
Myint Kyaing, director general of the Immigration Department, insisted that there was no irregularity in Shan State.
"According to the current data, Shan State has a population of 5,815,384. No one was left out of the census. Ethnic armed groups were included. All including Ywet Sit's group, Wa and Kokang participated in the process. No problem emerged in Shan State. We could not count all only in Rakhine State. We also had a little problem in Kachin State, as we could count only 1,643,054. The villages near the town of Laiza were left uncounted,” he said.
Yet, according to some reports, unlike other states and regions, Shan and Kachin states see their populations increase. The government also reported that there are illegal immigrants in Myanmar's territory who entered the country without border passes issued at Myanmar-China border.
A puzzle remains how Shan’s population could have increased by as much as 1 million.
"A lot of Shan nationals left their region to work abroad. Yet, there are a lot of illegal immigrants. Many Chinese citizens come here. Our country welcomes Buddhist converts and issue them national registration cards. There are many people who come in search for money, many in the region of the eastern Thanlwin River. Many tribal people from China have also settled down here though they don't understand Myanmar language or Shan language. The census was based on the number of people present, not the national registration cards,” said Sai Than Maung from SNLD.
