Wa farmers demand return to poppy cultivation

“We’ve been pleading with our local officials since August,” said a middle-age elder from Pangyang, some 30 miles west of Panghsang, the Wa capital. “They said they would forward our petition to the Central. No reply has been received so far and we are quite desperate, especially when our relatives in Mawfa (Burma Army controlled Wa territory since 1980, now renamed Markmang aka Metman township) are boasting a good harvest.”
 
One official in Panghsang acknowledged the fact saying, “The world says we are wicked when our people grow opium. But when we stop it, the Burmese military government, although it has done nothing to stop in areas under its control, is praised for doing a good job.”

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All townships surrounding the United Wa State Army’s territory, designated by Naypyidaw as Shan State Special Region #2: Hsenwi, Lashio, Tangyan, Monghsu, Markmang and Mongkhark, except those under the control of Kokang and Mongla ceasefire groups, have reported increased output.
 
Housewives are most articulate about the prevailing conditions:
“Before the ban, I was able to go to the market, held once every 5 days,” said a mother of two children, “but now, only once a month. Every time I go to the market, I see fewer buyers and fewer sellers. Many former marketeers who are my friends say they can no longer make a living as traveling salespeople so they are doing something else.”

Another housewife in Panghsang offered SHAN a different aspect of the plight. “I used to send my kids to study in Monglem (known by the Chinese as Menglien, across the border),” she said. “But now they all go to school in Panghsang, because I can no longer afford the cost.”
 
There were 5 middle schools and 240 primary schools in the year 2000, reported Tom Kramer’s The United Wa State Party: Narco-Army or Ethnic Nationalist Party? (2007). Education beyond middle school is non-existent.
 
Other stories told by migrants from the surrounding hills to the fast growing slums on the outskirts of Panghsang are more freakish:
 
“We were taught how to grow tea,” said a 54-year old ex-poppy farmer who is now making a living by digging and transporting sand from Panghsang’s Namkha river to the construction sites. “But they were even more delicate than newborns and when it failed, our instructors were never seen again.”
 
“Those who have lowland paddy fields are luckier,” he added. “The aid agencies bought them buffaloes to plow their fields.”
 
A mother in a makeshift hovel whose roofs leak when the rains come thought she was lucky to have the job of looking after the rubber plantations. “One of my friends, a divorcee with one child, was sold to a Chinese man by her parents for Y 6,000 ($750),” she said.
 
According to a Wa official, there are 600,000 acres of rubber plants in areas under its control.
 
Many other women are working in hotels, restaurants and homes. “Some are luckier,” she said. “They have relatives across the border and get jobs paying Y 200-400 ($25-50) a month.”
 
Several sources pointed out that most girls working as prostitutes on the border, although they may have haild from the Wa region, are not Wa as most people believe. “Most Wa have darker skin, which few customers prefer,” said a Panghsang resident. “So the majority of those engaging in this profession are those with fairer skin like Shans, although they may be known as Wa to the outside world.”
 
An advertisement in a Chinese website last year boasted: “Wa men flaunt their guns , while Wa girls flaunt their bodies.”
 
The ex-poppy farmers, on the other hand, are getting their regular rice donations from the World Food Program (WFP) twice a year, 20 pay (66.7 liters) each time, which, if mixed with other edibles and carefully rationed, lasts about 4 months. “So most are in dire straits for the remaining 4 months of the year,” a Wa from the hills who had recently moved to Panghsang said. “But here in Panghsang, we are close to the authorities and the aid agencies, so our situation is not as bad as those back in the hills.”
 
Taking stock, commented an educated native of the Wa territory, things have not been getting better since the ban in 2005. “In fact, it is getting worse each year,” he said. “But one might be fooled into thinking that the situation may be getting better, because you are getting a less number of complaints these days compared to the first two years, except for the demand to return to poppy cultivation.”
 
The reasons are two-fold, according to him:

• One, complaints do not bring improvements
• Two, people are getting used to their sufferings after three years

“The generals in Naypyidaw are probably counting on it,” he concluded.