No.11 - 01/2006
13 January 2006

Politics

Towns relieved of sculpted reliefs

Relief figures of Shans beating drums, a common sight at the entrance of each town and city in northern Shan State, have been removed by the order of the Burma Army's Lashio-based regional commander, report sources from the Sino-Burma border:

The two columns that form part of the gateway on both sides of the road have now been decorated with relief designs of flowers.

Drivers, who ply between Lashio, the north's capital city, and Muse, 110 miles away on the border, agree the change came with the New Year. "A new insult to the Shans to remind them once again who their bosses are," one van driver said.

One of his passengers went as far as to blame the groups, both ceasefire and non ceasefire, that had surrender to the Burma Army since last year for the latest state of affairs. "When you yield to evil, you only help evil to grow," he remarked.

Some fellow travelers meanwhile expressed support for the Kachin Independence Army that has "stood up" defiantly against the killing of 5 of their members and 1 civilian on 2 January in Zelan village tract, Muse township, by the Burma Army's Infantry Battalion 68.

Relief figures of a Shan beating a drum at the entrance of Muse,
Courtesy: The Golden Land of Myanmar, 2001