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Dear Reader:
Shans had sufficient reasons to make May a month for celebrations: 

• 21 May is the anniversary of the resistance that began when 31 youths led by Saw Yanda, later known as Sao Noi, lit the torch of resistance following the flagrant desecration of the terms of agreement made at Panglong in 1947: Total autonomy both political and financial, Democracy and Human Rights by the Burma Army backed by what they regarded as the Burmese government. 

• On 20 May, Sai Nood a.k.a Sai Nyunt Lwin, de facto secretary general of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, was quietly released following a formal request by the Joint Action Committee, the Shan coalition led by the SNLD and two ceasefire groups: Shan State Army "North" and Shan State National Army. 

• The foiling of a treacherous SSA "North" commander, whose defeat, they believed, had prevented the recurrence of a Mongkoe incident in 2000, where both the "pro-Rangoon" mutineers and the "loyalists" were crushed by the Burma Army. 

However, it was also a month of tensions and sorrows: 

• Explosions in Pyu and Tachilek, on 15 May and 21 May respectively, that left 5 dead and 47 injured: 

• The Kachin trip of Aung San Suu Kyi on 6 May, a journey full of hopes and dreams, that ended with nightmarish bloodshed on 30-31 May.

Nobody, except for a handful of fanatics, know what happened and what will happen now. Some are hopeful: This marks the beginning of the end for the generals, as one reader exclaimed to us on 4 May. Some are not: The window on the dialogue strategy is gone, shut tight, as a prominent Shan mourned a day earlier. Most however are disorientated by these shocking events: Now we're at a loss what to do next, as many confided to S.H.A.N. and ask for advice. 

For which we have only one thing to say: We shall do our job, that is, investigate what took place and give you the facts. You make your own judgment. We are sure it will be the correct one.

Mysoong! (Wishing You Progress & Prosperity)

   S.H.A.N.

Letters

Shan refugees

I read your article with great interest.

Why have I never seen a proposal for how to deal with this? I asked several Shan leaders if they would like refugee camps or what, but they never responded. I understand it is difficult to deal with, but without any suggestions we can't do much from here.
JW, USA

Editor's reply:

One reason the politicians are reluctant to speak in favor of a camp is because most of them are Thai-based and hate to embarrass the host country. Another is in general Shans fare better than other groups as non-refugees because most of them can just mix in easily with the Thai community. The third reason given at a recent meeting was that Thais tend to think of Shan refugee affairs as Thai internal affairs and just want to keep it in the family. 

However not all Shans are able to mingle with the mainstream Thai society and they are the ones who should have a say instead of waiting for the politicians. 

The Shan community in Thailand has been asking for refugee camps for a long time. 

The original Thai policy for Shans worked well in the days when there were few refugees and the Thai economy was strong. It also worked for the elite who were assimilated. In talking about Shan refugees we have to emphasize that they are not 'fleeing fighting'. In other words, it is not a short-term problem. They will not return when the 'fighting' stops. That is the official Thai myth. They need to recognize that as long as Burma is ruled by an oppressive regime that brutalizes people, practise rape, forced labour, forced relocation and summary executions, people will continue to escape to Thailand irrespective of whether or not there is 'fighting'. So what is to be done with the refugees whose numbers will grow until there is a change of government in Burma.

We also need to differentiate between the SSA and its dependents, migrant workers and refugees. The SSA and its dependents are a political matter which the Thai government

has to deal with. It does not concern us as international NGOs. Refugees are a humanitarian matter that concerns the international community. Refugees who have no camps are forced to become migrant workers. The Thai economy can no longer absorb them and they are being exploited by unscrupulous employers (Thailand also needs minimum human rights standards for illegal migrant workers).

Given the longer-term nature of the problem, we need refugee camps to provide minimum care for the Shan refugees like those services being provided by the BBC. Without camps, we cannot get international help for the refugees. This means the burden will fall on Thailand because the refugees will continue to come whether or not refugee camps are allowed. If Thailand allows camps, we can get international help to ease Thailand's burden. 

A related problem is IDPs. There are more IDPs than refugees inside Burma's borders. If Thailand does not want refugees, they need to help change the government in Burma. Failing that, they need to allow cross-border assistance to IDP by the international community. Otherwise, as the SPDC becomes more repressive, more villagers will become IDPs, and more IDPs will become refugees in Thailand. 
HY

Those are good points, thanks for sharing them with me. From our perspective in the U.S., we always want to do more to help the Shan people and others who don't have access to camps. If, for example, the Shan were to propose the creation of say-3 refugee camps for women and children only--we would fully support (and also lobby for funding for that). It would be a step in the right direction.

Last year, we brought a Shan woman here who testified in the Congress and across the country--but when it came to this question--what should we do--there was little in the way of answers.

I've also noticed that the refugee advocacy groups don't seem to be moving any proposals on this. I'm not an expert on refugees, but I wonder why they're not pushing the limits. Perhaps there is more that I do not know.

Anyway, thanks for your reply.
JW

Charting the Exodus from Shan State: Patterns of Shan refugee flow into northern Chiangmai province of Thailand (1997 - 2002), a recent report posted on Shan website <shanland.org/shrf/ Chartingtheexodus.pdf> and prepared by the Shan Human Rights Foundation, says most Shans arriving into Thailand in the past six years are genuine refugees and not job seekers as claimed by successive Thai governments. The report was based on interviews with 66,868 Shans arriving in Chiangmai's Fang, Chaiprakarn and Mae Ai districts. 

Prior to 1996, most arrivals would match the term job seekers, it says. The annual influx in Fang did not exceed 4,000. Most were adult men, who worked to save money and only a few of them chose to remain in the kingdom. 

However, beginning that year when the 3-year forced relocation drive was launched by Rangoon, the number of new arrivals began to surge between 8,000 - 15,000 each year. The number of men and women were almost equal and they brought in children and elderly people. Most of them are from the 13 townships where the populace had been uprooted by the Burmese army's scorched earth campaign and, are understandably reluctant to go back. 

"Unlike on the Karen and Karenni borders, there are no official refugee camps on the Shan border. As a result, Shan refugees have been forced to survive as migrant workers," it argues.

The only Shan group that has been accepted as 'persons fleeing dangers from war' are the 400 men, women and children who have been sheltering in Chiangmai's Wianghaeng District since fighting broke out between the Shan rebels and the Burma in May 2002. 

The total number of arrivals in Thailand is estimated to have reached over 150,000 since 1996. 

Refugee number on the rise 

At the end of May, an aid worker in the Fang-Chaiprakarn-Mae Ai area reported the following statistics on the arrivals of refugees:

Between January and March, the monthly figures averaged at 1,003. However, even with the recent ban on the outflow of migrants, the average number of arrivals has gone up to 1,369, an increase of 36.8% in April and May. 

This was due to three major causes, he explained: increased purchase of paddy from farmers, enlistment of new recruits for the Army in several townships and new forced relocations in some townships, especially Kunhing and Mongton.

The World
21 May

Quake measuring 6.7 on open ended Richter scale kills 1,500 and injured 7,000 in Algiers. (Bangkok Post)

International Relations
1 May
Colin Powell, US Secretary of State will work with allies in Asean to "crack the will" of Burma's "despotic" regime. (AFP)

13 May
Rangoon has approved Razali Ismail's 6-10 June visit. (BBC) 

15 May
US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its annual report released this week, has recommended 12 countries be designated as countries of particular concern (CPC) including Burma. 

Abdul Mutallib, a Burmese national in Karachi suspected of links to al-Qaeda, arrested. 

16 May
President Bush issues notice of 1-year continuation of presidential order on 20 May 1997 extending investment ban for another year. (Press release)

30 May
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) lodges legal complaint to the ILO that Rangoon has violated Convention 87: the freedom of association and protection of the right to organize. (ICFTU online)

Thai-Burma relations
7 May
Burmese statistics show that Thai-Burma bilateral trade amounted to $ 1,252 million in 2002, accounting for 23.7% of Burma's total foreign trade and standing as the highest volume among Asean states. (XNA)

14 May
5th Joint Task Force on Illegal Workers held in Pagan discusses issue of repatriation of Burmese workers in Thailand and on the draft MOU on the employment of workers. (New Light of Myanmar)

19 May
FM Surakiart and Gen Khin Nyunt lay foundation stone of the new friendship bridge at Tachilek. The bridge is due for completion by December. (Bangkok Post) It is designed to provide access to southern China through Burma. (TPR)

21 May
At least 4 people are killed in 4 separate blasts in Tachilek. No group has admitted carrying out the attacks. (S.H.A.N.)

29 May
Labor minister Suwat Liptapanlop says 409,339 registered aliens will be allowed to renew licenses for another year. (Bangkok Post) 

Politics
1 May
Lt-Gen Shwe Mann could become SPDC's new vice chairman. (PDC)

11 May
NLD Australia branch, reporting the formation of "Vigorous Army" by Rangoon "with the intention to terrorize and crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi's tours", issues statement condemning the SPDC.

11 May
A time bomb kills one and injures 47 at a movie house at Pyu. State-run press blames KNU. 

30 May
Aung San Suu Kyi is taken into 'protective custody', after a violent clash that resulted in 4 dead and 50 injured, according to junta spokesman Than Tun. 

Shans
April

Sao Mayari and Sao Kennari, daughters of Sao Kya Seng, Prince of Hsipaw, who disappeared after he was taken by the military in 1962, writes to Gen Than Shwe to "reveal to us what happened to our father" so they can "find peace of mind." (Irrawaddy)

20 May
Sai Nood the SNLD's secretary general quietly released. (S.H.A.N) 

21 May

Shan State Army celebrates 45th anniversary of the Resistance. (S.H.A.N)

Business /Economy
2 May
Rangoon signs agreement with Leeward Capital for gold exploration in northern Shan State. (Internet News)

12 May
Gasoline prices shot up 30% on Rangoon black market to 1,000 kyat after authorities stopped fuel rations on 5 May. (Irrawaddy)

Human Rights
2 May
IB 127 and IB 128 are forcibly rounding up recruits for the army in Mongkoe. (Mizzima)

6 May
Burma is in two lists of countries:
One, countries known to have imposed death sentences in 2002;
Two, countries that retain death penalty for ordinary crimes in 2002. (AI)

9 May
Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says in Burma, a fertile country with abundant resources, millions are going hungry. (Text)

10 May
Fortune and Maykha groups open first cybercafes in Rangoon. (Irrawaddy)

12 May

46 suspected Sars patients have been treated in Rangoon since 8 April. (RFA)

13 May
People in northern Shan State's Namhsan Township are being forced to join USDA. (DVB)

17 May
8 million Muslims are the worst off under the military junta in Burma. (SCMP)

19 May
Repatriation of 21,658 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh resumes. (Kaladan)

27 May
Hina Jilani, UN special human rights rapporteur, expresses dismay over worsening conditions for Burmese dissidents in Thailand. (Bangkok Post)

28 May
Arrests, tortures, forced labor and extrajudicial killing continue despite release of Aung San Suu Kyi, reports Amnesty International. (AFP)

Environment
31 May
According to Thai dam activists, the Weigyi dam on the Thai-Burma border will cause the back-flood to reach as far as Tasarng. (S.H.A.N.)

Drugs
7 May
Speed pills bearing the stamp of the Wa have been seized in Laos, Cambodia and India. (The Nation)

19 May

Certain elements that stand to lose from Bangkok's war on drugs are planning to take PM Thaksin's life, says a written warning from the US embassy. (The Nation)

War
6 May
More than 1,000 combatants from 12 battalions are in Mongnai's Kengtawng area to participate in military maneuvers. (SSA) 

21 May
Mahn Nyein Maung, KNU central committee member, says attacks launched by the group are part of the strategy to force Rangoon to talk. (Irrawaddy)

22 May
Fuel and asphalt convoy attacked by unknown armed group north of Tachilek. Three truck drivers killed. (S.H.A.N.)

24 May
War office in Rangoon today issues a directive putting the country in a state of emergency. (DVB)

The Vesak or Visakha Day (today), (the day) that the Lord Buddha was born, became fully enlightened and passed away is actually about making efforts to understand who the Buddha was and what he did for the human world. His was an example of how a single person can change the world without political power and money but with compassion and wisdom, the two weapons that few can claim to possess. 
Sao Khu Dhamma, Oxford University, 15 May (Full Moon Day of the 6th Lunar Month)

I have come to the conclusion that the SPDC is not interested in national reconciliation. 
Aung San Suu Kyi,
Bangkok Post, 6 May 2003

To ignore the result of the 1990 elections is to have total disrespect for the people and is also an insult to the people. 
Aung San Suu Kyi, 27 May, marking anniversary of 1990 elections

Burma would have been much better off, if the British would have said that Burma is the Irrawaddy Delta and that's it. 
Benedict Anderson, scholar and author of Imagined Communities, quoted by Irrawaddy, April 2003

Secession
Had Ne Win not illegally seized power in 1962, it is probable that a more federal form of pyidawngzu (Union) would have emerged, secession would and most likely have been given up by the states in question (in exchange). 
Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, 29 may 2003

A citizen who leaves the state permanently or who acquires the citizenship or registers himself as a citizen of another country, or who takes out a passport or a similar certificate of another country ceases to be a citizen.
Burma Citizenship Law, Section 16, Special supplement (Courtesy of U Nwe Aung, Burma Bureau Germany)

Seven of them were given life sentences while the rest received 5-13 years. 

Sai Nood, whom junta officials claimed as being responsible for typing out an anti-government pamphlet, however, was set free. 

"They went to jail not because of my 'confession'," he explained. "They themselves admitted (that they did it) at the court." 

There was no news of intervention by the generals whose mediation might have settled the matter. Apparently, they did not see the need to.

Sai Nood a.k.a Sai Nyunt Lwin, officially the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy's joint secretary #1 as Rangoon wanted to keep the office of general secretary vacant since the resignation of Sai Ai Pao five years ago, was released without pomp and fanfare on 20 May. 

Although Sai Nood stated that he was freed unconditionally on the receipt of a

 joint request by SNLD led by Khun Toon Oo, Shan State Army "North" of Loi Mao and Shan State National Army of Gunyawd to the State Peace and Development Council, it appeared that some bad feelings had persisted among its allies, according to the DVB. "I am being shot at with air guns" he said, "(by some NLD members who alleged that) I was released because I became the government's witness (against 11 NLD members who were arrested at the same time in February)." 

with ethnic political parties, the paper recommends that representatives be chosen "from as broad a cross section of their communities as possible, and minimally including all groups and interests that have the power to disrupt the process of reconciliation." 

The 25-page paper, excluding the appendices, also encourages "the men in uniform" within ethnic communities "who continue to wield enormous influence" in their respective populations "just as they do at the national level" to pass on their responsibilities to people with different training, experiences and background. 

The ICG's prior report The Future of the Armed Forces, 27 September 2002, with its suggestions for both the opposition and the international community to adopt, what Chao Tzang Yawnghwe termed as "a carrots only" approach, was met with a cool reception among Burma's overseas community.

The latest paper, 7th in the series on Burma, by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) that was released on 7 May, has counseled the "ethnic minority" organizations to work together for a common agenda and refrain from taking sides between the military and the NLD. 

"The challenge is to build a broadly inclusive, nation-wide platform, open to all ethnic (nationalities) organizations regardless of goals, strategy, race and religion, and to develop general grievances and aspirations into a set of specific solutions and demands," it says in its conclusion. "Unless the ethnic (nationalities) work together for a common cause, they are likely to remain passive subjects of central government policy." 

The report also cautions the ethnic organizations of the need to maintain their independence from the main Burman groups. "Given the depth of antagonisms and confrontation between the military government and the NLD, any attempt to choose sides is likely to create tensions and limit their ability to work for specific minority interests. This would outweigh any short-term material or other gains from siding with a more powerful patron in (Rangoon)." 

The need for the ethnic nationalities to find their own way of selecting representatives if tripartite negotiations were to materialize is also discussed. Noting that while the military prefers to work with the ceasefire groups, the NLD has been emphasing relations

On 21 May, 4 bomb blasts rocked the city opposite Thailand's Mae Sai that left 4 dead, including two police officers, and wrecked the statue of the revered King Bayintnaung. 

The next day, a train of 9 oil tankers bound for Kengtung in the north was ambushed on the way by an unidentified armed group that left 3 dead, 3 tankers burned and 3 overturned. 

The two incidents followed a prior explosion in Pyu, a town near Rangoon, on 15 May, that left 1 moviegoer dead and 47 others injured (for which the Karen National Union, to no one's surprise, was blamed.)

By the end of the month, the smoke had cleared. But still no one, except for those who did it, was able to come up with definite answers for the questions: who was responsible and why. 

The suspects, not in order, were sketched out by Thai security officials as follows, each of whom has a well-founded "score to settle": 

• Shan State Army "South": It had attacked and overrun a Burmese army camp on 21 May last year, so the excuse that it was busy making merit for those who had sacrificed their lives for the cause did not carry much weight. 

• United Wa State Army :especially Bao Youhua's 476th Division, also known as Jingwei Tuan "Guards Regiment", had been nursing a grudge against the Burma Army since he was pushed out of his newly acquired areas along the Mekong in March. 

• An unhappy faction from the Thai Army : "Look at the Burengnong (Thai pronunciation of Bayintnawng)," proclaimed a resident of Tachilek. "Had it been the Shans, they would have blown up the fuel dump". (The Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise went unscathed. Only one of its workers was killed.) 

• A faction from the Burma Army : They want to discredit Gen Khin Nyunt who had gone out of his way to become "too chummy with the Yodaya (Thais)"

• "They want the Thais and the Americans to lend a hand in stamping out the SSA as a terrorist organization"

• "They don't want peace. If there were peace, there's nothing left for them to do but hand over power to Aung San Suu Kyi" 

Some border watchers noted that Burmese behavior towards Thailand had almost made a complete about turn. 

"In the past, the Burmese were predictable. Suppose there as an attack along the border, first they would accuse us of supporting the rebels and close down the border. We would ask what's going on and they would reply there was no official sanction from Rangoon to tell us anything," explained another. "But this time, no blame has been attached to us and despite our businessmen's initial concern, the border has not been closed. Besides, they were volunteering information without even waiting for our request." 

"They may have changed the rules of the game," remarked another officer in Chiangmai. "And that is enough reason for us to keep our eyes open."