Shans show their true colors

^{25 September 2008}

9.25% of the 162 respondents had also wanted blue and white for the cover of SHAN’s bilingual (Shan and Burmese) Independence and 1.85% black. The rest of them (39.5%) said they could not care less about the cover as long as the contents were okay.
 
The tri-colored flag with a white circle in the middle was officially approved and declared as the state flag by the Palaung prince of Tawngpeng Hkun Pan Sing, then the President of the Shan States Council, on 11 February 1947, one day before the signing of the historic Panglong Agreement which banded the British Frontier Areas with Burma.

           
                     ^{Shan States flag                           National flag as chosen by the military}

“I think the Shans are totally hooked to yellow, green and red now,” says Pawnli, who reports in Shan.
 
SHAN had included the question on the colors of Independence’s cover, after observations by its distributors that issues with somber covers did not sell too well, even though it was almost always the only Shan language publication with the most information on current Shan and other ethnic affairs on hand.
 
“There’ll be only one problem to deal with though,” comments SHAN’s deputy editor in chief Hsengzuen, also known as U Sein Kyi to his Burmese friends, who edits the paper. “The SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) has adopted the same colors for the national flag.”
 
The draft charter ratified by the ruling military junta in May following a nationwide referendum, condemned by observers as a pointless exercise, had also settled upon yellow, green and white as the colors of the country’s future flag. The only difference is whereas the Shan State flag has a white circle, representing the moon in the middle, the military’s has a white star.
 
Scientific study shows that color psychology is a simple and effective clue of who you really are, wrote Dr Alfred W. Munzert in 1980. “Color can actually be a key to unlocking the secrets of your personality,” he said.
 
“Unfortunately, we don’t have anybody qualified to do that here,” apologizes SHAN’s editor in chief Khuensai Jaiyen.