LNDO Interview

In the Talang village tract, there are three villages: Talang, Wan Yang, and Wan Bong, altogether about 150 houses, or 1,000 people. Now some have gone to Thailand, some have gone to Tachilek, and some to Murng Phyak. The reason is that in 2001, about 2,500 houses of Wa from the North and Wa from Murng Yawn came and set up four big villages in the area.

These Wa came and took all the fruit and vegetables planted by the local people without asking any permission. If the owners politely asked them not to, they answered back rudely, and gestured that they would cut off their heads. The villagers’ wives and children became scared even going out to work in their fields and gardens. Their pigs, chickens and dogs were stolen by the Wa. Cattle and buffalo also disappeared. No one could complain about these thefts since the Wa were armed.

Since I was the assistant headman, I was always busy. When the SPDC soldiers came to our village, wherever I was, I would always have to rush back to the village. If the soldiers wanted porters, and I couldn’t arrange this in time, or if I couldn’t give them chickens or alcohol, they would kick me. This happened again and again. One time, they ordered 50 porters and when there was one person short, I was kicked by them and made to go also as a porter for 17 days.

When the fighting on the Thai border at Pang Noon between the Shan army and the SPDC happened (in February 2001), a group of SPDC came into our village. I was arrested and ordered to summon all the villagers together. Some were too afraid to come back to the village, and hid in the forest. They then accused them of contacting the Shan rebels. They covered my head with a wet blanket, and beat me again and again with a bamboo stick on the head until I passed out. When I came to, I found myself tied up under a house in a cow stall. They told me again and again that I would be killed. Even though the headman pleaded with the SPDC, and said no one in the village had any contact with the Shan army, the troops carried on being brutal. They shot and killed the pigs and chickens in the village. The headman collected together all the money he could in the village, altogether 122,000 kyats, and went down on his knees before the SPDC officer in charge. The officer took the money: “I pity you, so I’ll be easy on you,” he said. “If not, I could have killed all of you.” He said the headman could have got a 20-year jail sentence. I was beaten the whole night before I was released. The soldiers were from Murng Phyak, Regiment 221.

In Murng Kan village, about 300 Wa households have set up 3 new villages. There were about 30 Chinese households which came too. Because of this, all the Shan villagers have either gone to Thailand, or Tachilek. The Wa who moved in were very badly behaved, and did as they pleased. They had no discipline at all. Not only the Wa men, but also the women and children, when they argued with the local Shan villagers, they would make gestures they would cut their throats.

We people of the hills are used to living with each other. Shan and Lahu have been living together since the time of our ancestors. Even though not all of us are literate, the villages have their own rules. Even if some of our customs are different, we know what is right and wrong. For cases of theft, or other crimes, we have our own customary measures. This means that people cannot take advantage of each other. We have thus co-existed for generations.

Now, with the SPDC in power, even if we go and complain about injustice, they don’t take any action. The SPDC make accusations at whim, like claiming that villagers have contact with Shan rebels, and they arrest and beat them. Many have even been killed.

The Wa have their own headmen, and district leaders. They understand what is right and wrong. They have strong military leaders. But now they are making themselves leaders. We have become their subjects. Now we must bear injustice and see our native lands being taken from us.

Shan elders have a saying: “Stay in one house, grow up in one compound.” Even though cattle, buffalo and horses can stay in one field, their habits are not the same. Cows and buffalo can graze in bushes, but horses stay in open fields. So if you keep cows, buffalo and horses in one stable, the cows and buffalo will attack with their horns, and the horses will kick with their feet.

We are like in this saying. We don’t hate the Wa, but we live in different ways. In other words, since they are living by the rule of the gun, we can never be equal.