Something is rotten in the Golden Triangle

Don Pathan
The Nation

Although it was billed as an inevitable occurrence, the indictment in absentia of eight Wa drug lords jolted the Burmese government and has made the Thais, Chinese, and even the UN wonder what the future holds for the politics of opium in the notorious Golden Triangle. 

UWSA Chairman Bao Yu-xiang (Don Pathan, 2003)

The US Justice Department last week indicted eight leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) ñ a pro-Rangoon outfit that controls an autonomous region near the Chinese border

with trafficking heroin and methamphetamines to various destinations throughout the world. Among those indicted were powerful UWSA chairman Bao Yu-xiang and his commander, Wei Hsueh-kang, a Han Chinese who arrived in the Golden Triangle decades ago to seek fortune and glory.

With an abundance of opium, fortune was not hard to come by. But everlasting glory remains nowhere in sight, as the heavily guarded Wei, who has a US$2-million (Bt76.92-million) price on his head, continues to move around freely, albeit discreetly, in northern Burma.

Observers who monitor UWSA activities said the indictments have jolted the leadership of the nearly 20,000-strong outfit, which thought it had been making headway in its quest to be recognised as running legitimate businesses. Bao has received foreign envoys, persuaded the UN to set up a small crop-substitution project and threatened to punish farmers in his territory if they continue to grow opium after this year. He even managed to obtain a Bt20-million commitment, with the help of then Burmese prime minister Khin Nyunt, from the Thai government to support crop substitution.

Wei Hsueh-kang (file photo)

The indictments are humiliating for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who decided to give the UWSA the benefit of the doubt despite having publicly stated that he would get Wei one day, dead or alive. In December 2003, Thaksin dispatched then Third Army Region commander Lt-General Picharnmate Muangmanee to participate in the opening ceremony for a Thai-funded school in Wa territory. For a brief moment, it looked like things would change for the better in that region, where gun-toting opium warlords play for keeps. But nobody seriously believed the good times would last. After all, that particular event had more to do with whitewashing the worldís largest drug-trafficking army ñ and strengthening Thai-Burmese relations ñ than it did with the interests of Wa peasants or any long-term peace settlement.

Throughout the entire kiss-and-make-up episode between the Thais and the Wa, Wei and his gang continued to run their drug-funded businesses through his associates in Burma, China and Thailand, while heroin and methamphetamines coming out of clandestine labs in Wa-controlled areas continued to flood the world. But that has all changed with the indictments. A cloud of uncertainty hangs over UWSA territory, as Wa leaders wonder what the future holds.

Moreover, there is now tremendous pressure on Rangoon to consider a military option against the Wa. One Wa official in Panghsang said Rangoon has tried to bluff them by dispatching a couple of battalions to their Special Region 2. But there is no indication that the junta is prepared to engage in full battle, which many say could be costly for the generals, both politically and militarily.

Chairman Bao Yuxiang (left)  and Don Pathan (center) 2003.

A senior UWSA officer told The Nation during a visit last November to the groupís headquarters in Panghsang that Rangoon will likely push for a renegotiation of the 1989 cease-fire agreement.

Under that agreement, which was orchestrated by Khin Nyunt, the UWSA was given the right to govern its own autonomous region and maintain its own army. Bao has said he would like to see such guarantees included in the countryís constitution.

The US indictments have also put the Chinese authorities, especially those along the border, in an awkward position now that their cosy relations with the Wa are in the spotlight. Wa drug money has been invested openly in Chinese hotels, shops and department stores in Chinaís border towns.

Historically, the Wa have come a long way ñ from being the butt of Burmese jokes because of their head-hunting rituals two generations ago to the countryís biggest political and security liability.

Even at the height of the Communist insurgency two decades ago, Wa fighters were a force to be reckoned with, forming the largest block of foot soldiers in the now-defunct Communist Party of Burma. Like other insurgent groups, they turned to opium to finance their campaign. And like the leaders of other ethnic armies operating along Burmaís border, Bao and his commanders have been unable to kick the habit. For years, Bao has said UWSA territory would be drug-free by the end of 2005 ìor you can have my headî. With his indictment, one wonders just how safe his head is now.