2007

Visual Points

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEAPA now accepting applications to 2007 Journalism Fellowship Program

Burma, Laos to open cross border checkpoint

Burma and Laos will be officially inaugurating their first border checkpoints tomorrow, according to a junta source in Kengtung.

Chiangmai military gets tough with migrants

Illegal migrants from Burma should be managed as soon as possible or Chiangmai will be sporting a different image in 5 years, the local Chiangmai News reported yesterday, quoting a military officer.

Border trade being held hostage

Following unclaimed bomb blast in Tachilek which had caused some damage to the biggest drug store in the city 6 days earlier, Burmese authorities have warned their Thai counterparts the two Friendship Bridges between Tachilek and Maesai are in danger of being closed again in the event of another blowup.

Shan named as Burmese officer

A retired Shan resistance officer has been selected by the film crew shooting Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye, starred and directed by Sylvester Stallone, to play the role of a barbarous Burmese commander, reports Hawkeye:

Rambo IV: Shan officer "demoted"

He has been recasted in the role of a river pirate down from the role of a Burmese commander as reported earlier, a former resistance member from the Shan State Army who was picked up among hundreds of applicants to take part in Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye, jovially told S.H.A.N.

Legend of King Naresuan II: No Muang Khang in Burma

Muang Khang, a Shan garrison town said to be conquered by King Naresuan the Great (1555-1605), as depicted in the epic movie now in theaters all over Thailand, could not be located in Burma, according to Shan scholars.

Junta unhappy with Thailand over Htein Maung

Ministerial sources say Burma's military rulers had been highly indignant over the small number of former members of the Karen armed resistance under Brig-Gen Htein Maung who surrendered last month.

Shan novitiation ceremonies in Thailand

March and April are the months when Shans, wherever they are, squander their hard-earned fortune to turn their sons, nephews, grandsons and grandnephews into novice monks.

Royal palace to be built in Shan village

Ban Mai Mawk Jarm, a Shan village in Mae Ai District, 180 km north of Chiangmai, has been chosen for a new palace to be constructed before the end of the year, according to an ethnic Shan community leader.

Akha Christians celebrate centennial

Akhas, the most numerous and widely distributed hill tribes of eastern Shan State, according to J.G Scott "Scott of Shan Hills", are marking their conversion to Christianity in 1907, report sources from the border.

General keeps ministries on toes

Thingyan, the annual water festival, is coming but personnel in the new capital are unable to make their own personal plans for the holidays as the senior general has yet to disclose his own plans, according to official sources.

Press Release: Main Office of Mizzima News Group sealed off

 

Shans throw season's last novice party

Shans in Thailand will be holding a 5-day celebration, 21-25 April, to ordain their young male children as novice monks at its northern border district of Wiang Haeng in Chiangmai province.

Gold rush near new capital

At least half a million people have been digging gold at the Mohti Mohmi mountain range east of Yamethin, 55 miles north of the new capital in Pyinmana, according to Shan businessmen.

Annual regional level meet to be held in Burma

Burma will be hosting the annual Regional Border Committee meeting (RBC) #24 in the Mon State capital of Moulmein, 10-12 May, according to Thai security sources.

Time to stop the pot blaming the kettle (Article)

Today, the first textbook on Thai-Burma relations for fourth graders in Burma, a mere 12-page history supplement, is six years old.

Kengtung: From minarets to muddy concrete

Almost 70 years ago, Maurice Collis, a former British magistrate in Burma, toured the Shan States, including a visit to the biggest and most prosperous of them all, Kengtung.

The Mental Panic

Than Htay, 50, a Burmese political asylum seeker fears he will be deported. His application to stay in Australia has been rejected seven times by the Department of Immigration departments.

Late song legends honored

A memorial was inaugurated at Piangluang, the Shan village on the Chiangmai-Burma border yesterday to honor two deceased Shan singers of the legendary Zerng-Liao (Freedom Way) band.

Piang Luang: The reality of a border

The Thai-Burma border in most places besides the official crossing points symbolizes the strange reality of how modern boundaries have come to hold such significance in lands that were once as politically fluid as the mountain ranges that blanket both Chiang Mai and Shan State.

Shan children’s schools

There are hundreds of families in Piang Luang who either cannot afford to send their children to the local Thai government-run school, or cannot gain the proper registration to make them eligible.

Education, migrant workers and the struggle for democracy

The Burmese economy continues to worsen and force people from Burma to leave for neighbouring countries such as Thailand. People leave their homes with dreams and enthusiasm.

Chiangmai marks World Indigenous Peoples Day

More than a hundred people from different ethnic groups of Thailand: Lisu, Akha,Kachin, Dara-ang (Palaung), Lua, Hmong, Thai Yai, Mien, Karen, Lahu, Urak Lawoi and Mokaen,

Processed wood from Burma suspended

Converted teak products coming from across Maehongson from Shan and Kayah states came to a stop yesterday following a signed directive from Governor Direk Konkleep.

family

 

Word of thanks

 

Direk_Konklib

 

SHAN launches oral history project

The Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) held a meeting on Sunday, 26 August, at the border village of Piangluang, Wiang Haeng district, Chiangmai province, to announce its launching of the oral history on the Shan resistance which will be 50-years old come 21 May 2008.

workshop-I

 

workshop-II

 

Shan-Dai cultural festival next month

The Dais of the Dehong Autonomous Prefecture, opposite Burma’s Shan State, are throwing a 5-day cultural party in November and have invited their cousins across the globe, particularly scions of the princely families, to join it, according to an organizer.

Khun_Sa.jpg

 

Breaking News: Now it’s time for Khun Sa to go

Khun Sa aka Zhang Qifu, 73, died at his home in Rangoon Sunday, 28 October, at 06:30, according to his cousin living on the Thai-Burma border.

Buddhist archaeology on the Shan Plateau: the first millennium AD

The roots of Shan Buddhism in Myanmar (Burma) lie in the rich but little documented Bronze and Iron Age cultures of the present Shan States. The early Buddhist archaeology follows a pattern of resource and trade exchange, described in this paper within the Shweli, Myit Ngeh, Zawgyi-Belu and the Thanlwin River regions.

Shan_Buddhism_Event_Poster_7[2].jpg

 

Justice not revenge

In ordinary life sensible people try to avoid dangerous psychopathic criminals and do not try to be “nice” to them. Those of us with common sense would try to avoid such criminals if we do not wish to be harmed by them.

khunsa-07.jpg

 

Khun Sa memorial service program

The following is the program for the memorial service for Mong Tai Army leader Khun Sa, who passed away on 28 October 2007 in Rangoon.

lfss_f.jpg

 

books-seapa.jpg

 

Letters from Shan State

What is it you want to know about Shan State and its people? If it’s about delicacies, the following titles are your meat and drink: Khao Buk and Khao Yaku, Tai Sar Mei Shan, Nam Phit Phoo and Green Tea.

Gods & Men: Freedom and Faith in Southeast Asia

There are many things to learn about your neighbors, their religious beliefs and how they influence your relationships with them.

khunsa.jpg

 

Khun Sa: The good things about him

At Ban Therdthai aka Ban Hintaek, Mae Fa Luang District, Chiangmai Province, it is the other way round. Saying anything bad about Khun Sa, ex-Mong Tai Army (MTA) leader who died on 28 October under virtual house arrest in Rangoon, could cost you a short stay at the village. Maybe a bang of the door in your face. Please find your way out of my house, Mister.

karen-au

 

karen-dance

 

Exiles raise funds for their old homeland

The Sydney based Burmese Medical Association (BMA) organized a fundraising program for Humanitarian Relief in Burma for the first time since they migrated to Australia.

Youth Dialogue: Three versions

The following reports on the youth dialogue which took place on 29 November were filed by SHAN interns: Ywe Lai, Hseng Khio Fah and Kwarn Lake.

Shans celebrate New Year in London

The Shan New Year 2102 is being marked by the Shan Cultural Association in the United Kingdom on 8-9 December, according to Zerng Tai, SHAN correspondent in London.

Happy Shan New Year 2102

Col Yawdserk celebrates New Year

9-10 December 2007

Shan New Year in New York

The following photos are per kind favor of one of SHAN’s readers. No captions were provided by the contributor however, except for the Dai(Tai) speaker from Sibsawngpanna (Xixuangbanna), whose name is spelled Nan Shan Kang but actually Nan Hseng Kham.

More on Shan New Year

The following photos come from the Sino-Burma border and Kuala Lumpur. Shan New Year 2102 began on The First Waxing Moon of The First Lunar Month (10 December 2007) No captions were provided by the contributors.

xmas-b

 

xmas

 

Shan Christians in Chiangmai to celebrate Christmas

A late Christmas party is to be given by the Shan Christian community in Chiangmai on Saturday, 29 December, according to the organizers.

Happy New Year 2008

 

2008-card