Junta makes white colour ID cards for Sumprabum residents

Kachin News Group
January 31, 2008

The Burmese military junta has made white colour identity cards (ID) for the residents in Sumprabum town in Putao district in Kachin State, northern Burma in November last year. The move comes in the wake of negotiations with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a source said.

The idea behind making the ID cards was that residents in Sumprabum, which is in the KIO controlled area could not travel freely in the state as they used to earlier and the KIO told the military regime to make ID cards for them, said a resident.

The junta made the ID cards within 10 days from November 1 to 10 and promised to give them after two months. ID cards were made for residents of ages between 10 years and 80 and the cost of each ID card is 2,000 Kyat (about US $ 2), a resident added.

The regime first asked the residents to get the common national ID card (red color) done at a cost of 60,000 Kyat (US $ 48). The residents could not afford to pay that kind of money so the junta authorities finally agreed to make white colour ID cards for them, a resident said.