Another Shan leader succumbs to illness

General

Another Shan leader succumbs to illness

Chao Tzang Yawnghwe

The third Shan leader in less than a year passed away peacefully yesterday at his home in Vancouver, Canada, according to his relatives in Thailand.

• Thirty-two years after his brother Sao Mee (Myee) died officially of an "unfortunate mistake" and later his father Prince Shwe Thaike, the first President of Burma, of "heart failure" during detention;

• More than a year after his mother, Sao Hearn Hkam, expired at the age of 87;

• And less than a year since two other Shan public figures, Sai Htun of Shan Democratic Union and Col Gunyawd of Shan State Peace Council, passed away;

Sao Shwe Thaike, the first President of Burma, father

Sao Hearn Hkam, former President, Shan State War Council, mother

Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, 65, known by other names as Sao Hso Wai, Khun Loumpha and Eugene Thaike, gave way to advanced tumor at his brainstem barely five months after he fell ill and three months after his illness was diagnosed at 06:30, Vancouver time (20:30, Bangkok Time) yesterday, 24 July.

At the time of his death, he was the principal advisor to several opposition movements including the Shan Democratic Union and the Ethnic National Council formed by non-Burman political gorupings in August 2001 to coordinate and work for Tripartite Dialogue.

Chao Tzang Yawnghwe was born on 26 April 1939 just before World War II broke out in Shan State, then known as Federated Shan States. He was inaugurated at his birth as Sao Hso Lern Hpa, "Moon Tiger Crossing the Sky", a name he had never used.

Chao Tzang with his mother and siblings:
L-R: Sao Ying Sita, Sao Harn, Sao Hso Hkan Hpa (Tiger), Sao Hearn Hkam, Chao Tzang and Sao Mee.
Seated are Sao Leun and Haymar.

He worked for a while as an assistant tutor at the Rangoon University where he had graduated as a Bachelor with honors in History and English, but the 2 March 1962 coup and subsequent events changed everything.

A year later, as a delegate of the Shan resistance, he took part in the failed peace talks with Rangoon.

Chao Tzang at a Shan National Day

In 1971, he co-founded the Shan State Army's political arm, Shan State Progress Party.

But six years later, he was ousted along with others in a purge organized by the party's pro-communist faction. "I was asked to take medical leave," he wrote later in his memoirs, The Shan of Burma.

There are two most profound contributions he had made for the ongoing struggle for democracy and state rights, according to those who knew him well:

• For all different groups and groupings to adopt and follow the principle of Common Goal, Diverse Actions;

• His tireless exhortation to all of them to fight smart. "Our task is not only to say or show the world that the SPDC is BAD, BAD, BAD," he cautioned his colleagues in February just before his illness overtook him. "It is also to convince the world that we are the available alternative, that we are smart, we get things done, that we are doers, not an audience that sits by the ringside and curses and boos, or cheers as it sees fit."

Chao Tzang is survived by his wife, Nang Nu Nu Myint and children, Sao Oongfah (an artist, one of whose paintings was purchased by pop idol Leonardo de Capricio) and Sao Onjana.

Funeral arrangements :

Diagnosed with terminal brain tumour in May 2004, underwent radiation treatment in June. Recovered slightly and returned home on 19 July. Suffered a relapse on 22 July, passed away on 24 July.

CTY is survived by his wife Nu Nu Myint from Kengtung, Shan State; a son and a daughter.