Exiled Shans Elect New General Secretary

Exiled Shans Elect New General Secretary

2000The Shan Democratic Union, formed by Shan expatriates, held its third congress, amid the Songkran Festival that began in earnest on Sunday in northern Thailand. 

The two-day meeting, 9-10 April, presided over by Sai Htoon, Vice President-1, and attended by representatives from several groups including the Restoration Council of Shan State/ Shan State Army, was reported to have elected Sai Wansai, well-known and well-liked, both at home and abroad, as the new General Secretary, succeeding the hard working but colorless Khamzam Payakwong. 

"His election is also welcomed by many groups who believe he will be a better man to work with," said one participant who refused to be named. 

Wansai also holds the office of "the Ambassador of Shan States." He is also known internationally for his paper, "Secession as an ethnic conflict resolution: the case of Shan States" that was presented to the 1998 Barcelona Conference held by UNESCO. 

Jose Ramos-Horta, the East Timorese who won a Nobel peace prize, and is slated to head the foreign ministry of the newly independent country, reportedly took "deep interest" in the paper and discussed it at length with him. 

The Shan Democratic Union is led by Sao Hsohom, Prince of Mongpawn, a former principality in the Shan State of Burma. His father, Sao Sam Htoon, together with Aung San, the Nobel Laureate's father, was assassinated in 1947, a year before independence. Sao Hsohom was also the co-author of the Federal Bill that brought about the coup d'etat of General Ne Win in 1962. 

The Shan Democratic Union, according to its Basic Principles, upholds 6-guiding principles: National Cohesion, Peace, Rule of Law, Equality, Democracy and Right to Self Determination.