The Rock Star Chin Refugee In Mizoram

At the time, Sum was on top of the world. He had finished as runner-up in the 2019 edition of the Myanmar Idol contest; he was being flooded with endorsement opportunities and invitations to perform on stage, and he was prepping to record his first solo album.

Success came as anodyne to the young man who had a fraught youth. His father, a missionary, had died when Sum was just four years old. Four years later, his younger sister died, and almost at the same time, his mother was diagnosed with stage-three cancer.

Music was his escape from a life filled with more than a fair share of sorrow, and it appeared that his talent was finally making up for the trauma of his childhood. And then came the military coup of February 2021, which ousted the democratic government of Aung Sang Suu Kyi. Sum, then in the midst of a concert tour, was outraged.

He said he took part in street protests, led anti-military rallies, and posted frequently on social media. His activism made him a marked man; Sum said the junta sent him a notice charging him with incitement, which carried a three-year jail term. With his ailing mother, he fled from the town of Falam and, after a hazardous three-day journey, crossed into Mizoram.

His grandparents on his mother’s side were already established in Aizawl, having moved there in 2009 from their hometown Kalemyo in Chin State. Sum and his mother moved in with them; his mother has been undergoing treatment for her cancer in Guwahati in Assam, the North-eastern region’s commercial, health and education hub which welcomes visitors from all eight states and beyond, including Bangladesh, especially for healthcare.

It fell to Sum to sustain his family--and thanks to a quirk of history, he found himself in the happy position of being the right person in the right place at the right time.

Mizoram, as also the adjoining states of Nagaland and Manipur on the Indo-Myanmar border, had latched on to Korean pop (or K-pop, as it is more popularly known) for at least two decades before the rest of India caught up with the trend. The roots of this fascination lie in a tangled mess of ethnicity, political resistance, and cultural assertion in the region.

In 2002, at the peak of an insurgency in Manipur, one of the armed groups decreed a ban on Hindi films and TV channels, declaring that it was necessary to block the ‘Indianisation’ of the Mizo peoples. Into that vacuum came Korean channels, with their music and fashion shows dominating both television and digital channels. The seed fell on fertile soil: The people of the north east bear a physical resemblance to South East Asians and East Asians like the Koreans; many young Mizos have similar tastes in fashion, food and music.

Sum, looking for a way to earn a living and sustain his family, met up with a composer, and soon launched a YouTube channel. An early challenge was the need to improve his Mizo. Although the Chin speak a similar language, there are differences in pronunciation and idiom. Once he mastered these differences, he began performing on digital platforms and in local concerts for the Chin diaspora. Once the pandemic-related restrictions were lifted, he began appearing at open air music shows and in auditoriums around the state.

Benjamin Sum, Chin rock star and refugee, at a friend's home in Aizawl, Mizoram.

Sum’s story is as seamless as the intertwined lives of communities on either side of the international border, separated by a line on a map drawn by a colonial power but joined by heritage, lineage, forests and streams. Now he is a recognisable celebrity; his shows are ticketed and draw big crowds.

He speaks warmly of his Mizo hosts and the support the state has extended to the refugees. And mindful of his own story, he does his bit: Every Sunday, he performs at a charity concert, with the proceeds going to the aid of the refugees in Mizoram.

But underlying the success, there’s a sadness he cannot shake. The Day We Meet Again, the single that put Sum on the road to stardom, remains hugely popular, now with a bittersweet edge. “I still dream of my hometown, and want to go back.”

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The refugees in Mizoram who have fled Myanmarese authority include an assortment of activists, vulnerable groups such as women, children and the elderly and the poor who live in camps. There are also some 700 police personnel who have turned against the military junta, says a senior Indian security official in Aizawl, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Sum’s stardom and public aura are very different to the lives of many refugees who live in makeshift camps or have doubled up with relatives and kin. Others who are relatively affluent are able to rent places in Aizawl or other urban centres on their own. Professionals among the refugees include doctors, nurses and teachers. Some of the doctors volunteer their services for patients in the camps; others are working in local establishments to help sustain their families. However, a large number work as daily wage labourers at construction sites including houses, or as household help or as farm workers in the districts closest to the Indo-Myanmar border.

(The first part of this series detailed life in a refugee camp and the relief effort by the state and non-governmental organisations.)

The close affinity between the Mizos and the Chins has to do both with kinship, cultural histories and ethnic relations including the fact that they speak very similar languages although Mizos say they can make out a Chin accent quite easily. Local units of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), a non-governmental group, and the local village council assist with distribution and storage here and in other camps in a process streamlined and approved by the state administration, which under different political parties including the current Mizo National Front (MNF), has become a veteran of handling Chin influxes into Mizoram since the 1960s following crackdowns by different army regimes in Myanmar. A large number of Chins have settled in different parts of Mizoram over the past 50 years and assimilated with the local community.

However, over nearly two decades back, Mizo activist groups had sought government action against the Chins, with allegations of criminal activity. Human rights groups in turn said that Chins were targeted and abused. The situation has since calmed and since 2021, there has been a political consensus across all parties that the current wave of Chin refugees needed local support.

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Christianity, brought by British and American missionaries in the 19th century, is another strong binding force although there are numerous denominations. The Chins, a local leader of the powerful Presbyterian Synod, who did not want to be identified, said in December 2022, were allowed to worship and attend services but not become members of a parish. The latter privilege belongs to Indian nationals, he said.