New ballpark on border

The funds for the project reportedly came from Maj-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Commander of Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command and Chairman of Peace and Development Council-Shan State East. “He’s a first-class nut about sports and games since he was a student at Rangoon’s Latha High School #1,” said a friend who knew him. “He has already built new stadiums in Kengtung and Monghsat at a cost of K 150 million ($120,000) and K 50 million ($40,000) respectively.”
 
He is also said to be supportive of people engaging in sports and games. “There was a bicycle rally from Tachilek to Kengtung last month, 28-31 January,” recalled a resident of Kengtung. “He had personally given a blessing to it and even provided accommodation to the participants in Kengtung.”

 _{Maj-Gen Min Aung Hlaing}

It is not known whether Min Aung Hlaing will preside over at the official opening tomorrow. The stadium’s renovation was supervised by Police Lieutenant-Colonel Khin Maung Htwe, Tachilek’s police chief.
 
“Min Aung Hlaing seemed to have chosen people like him to run the place,” commented a Burma border watcher. “Both Khin Than, the district administrative chief, and Col Myint Han, the district military chief, are also sportsmen. I recently saw them playing soccer from beginning to end of the game.”
 
“The Shan State Army (SSA) South will not do to underestimate these men, if they are in a fight,” he concluded. The SSA’s nearest base is Loi Gawwan, 60-km west of Tachilek.
 
The group has been fighting for self determination and democracy since 1964. Its northern faction however signed a ceasefire pact in 1989.