Thai Superstar meets Shan leader

Thai Superstar meets Shan leader

One of the Thai-language newspaper disclosed recently of the meeting between Thailand's famous pop singer and the Shan State Army leader Yawdserk on its latest issue. 

The Nation Weekend, 14-20 May, featuring Yuenyong Opharkul, 47, better known as Add Carabao, in Shan army uniform, with Shan State Army's Col. Yawdserk on its cover, also carries an article by the singer former himself on Page 10. 

He said he arrived at the Shan camp, across Fang District, Chiangmai Province, on 4 May, 2-days after the battle of Pakhee where Shans were reported to have seized nearly 200,000 amphetamine tablets. 

"It was only a morale boosting visit and an informal meeting between a former fighter from the (defunct) People's Liberation Army of Thailand and Chao Yawdserk, the top leader of the Shan resistance army," he wrote. 

He commented to S.H.A.N. four days later that during his days as a fighter against the then military dominated government in Bangkok, the greatest need was to cultivate and preserve one's ideology. "But in a national independence struggle, you need a hero to keep you going through hell and water," he said. 

"I'm sure Chao Yawdserk fits that role." 

Add Carabao has been one of Thailand's most popular singers since he made his first major hit with the song, "Made in Thailand" during the early 1980s. Throughout the years he also wrote songs lauding the struggles of Shans, Karens and Aung San Suu Kyi.