REMNANTS of the disbanded Mong Tai Army seek to regroup and start new lives under a peaceful arrangement with the Rangoon government. Don Pathan reports from Hua Muang, Shan State.
A faded wooden sign inscribed with "Mong Tai Army" hangs besides the dusty road leading to the heart of this small town and serves as a vivid reminder of how this 14-kilometre stretch of valley had managed to land itself on the world map.It was here that world famous opium warlord Khun Sa and his 15,000-strong Mong Tai Army (MTA) maintained their headquarters five years ago before giving themselves up to the military government of Burma in return for a generous amnesty. It was also from here that experts say about half of the world's heroin was produced and then smuggled out to flood the streets of America and Europe.
During a recent two-day visit by The Nation, the new king of the valley, Mahaja, tried desperately to shake off the ugly past and the stigma that still haunt many of his former colleagues and other ethnic leaders in Shan State.
In early 1996, Mahaja, a feared MTA commander, joined Khun Sa in surrendering to the Burmese but stayed behind to form the Southern Shan State enterprise to look after various business ventures, primarily in garment manufacturing, logging and gem mining.
Though Mahaja insisted that he no longer harboured any political ambitions to form an independent Shan State, this hardened tiny man nevertheless looks every bit a fighter.
Mahaja never leaves home without his bodyguards and two loaded pistols on his belt.
"I have given up the armed struggle in return for rural development," said the wizened 50-year-old leader who has been a soldier ever since he was 13, as his armed bodyguards look on a few feet away.
As a reward for entering Burma's "legal fold", Mahaja was given the reins to a semi-autonomous region stretching from this former MTA stronghold across the Salween River over to Taunggyi, a major commercial centre in southern Shan State.
A tacit but cosy arrangement has the Burmese government troops providing security along the perimeter and Mahaja and his paramilitary troops handling their own internal administrative and economic affairs. Rangoon has dispatched three battalions to the area as well as a military intelligence unit to look after the rugged border crossing that links Hua Muang to Thailand's Mae Hong Son. Rangoon also helped out with sculpting out rice paddies and other infrastructure projects.
"In return, they asked us to stop trafficking in drugs and to stop engaging in arms sales to other rebel groups," Mahaja said, as he blew a big puff of smoke from his bamboo tobacco pipe. "This is the best set-up. I urge all other armed ethnic groups to do the same," he added.
Mahaja has in mind to establish a new trade route passing through Hua Muang and linking Mae Hong Son and Taunggyi. This would save lots of time and money considering that the current outlet for goods from Taunggyi is the faraway Tachilek-Mae Sai crossing, he said.
Living in the area under his control are nearly 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Shan but also some Karen and Wa, and about 3,000 paramilitary soldiers. The Southern Shan State, set up two years ago, looks after the community's wide range of investments.
The main road that runs through the town is being upgraded, while Khun Sa's old homes and other official residences are being renovated to accommodate foreign VIPs. The spacious marketplace is as busy as usual, though locals said it was a much more bustling place when the MTA ruled the area.
A hospital, once packed with wounded MTA soldiers, is up and running with Burmese physicians overseeing it, while a church and two Buddhist monasteries are well attended. Unlike in the past when the Burmese language was prohibited, a Hua Muang school now teaches in both Shan and Burmese languages.
"When Khun Sa was here, we were taught to hate the Burmese," said an MTA veteran who finally came to grips with reality, joined Mahaja's outfit and now works alongside the Burmese. "It's still tough for many Tai (Shan) here. Many are still uncomfortable with all the Burmese officials around."
Mahaja, himself half Shan and half Wa, gained a reputation as a fierce soldier in the early 1990s when his unit successfully fended off MTA's arch rival, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), in a series of bloody attacks on Doi Lang - the 32-square kilometre patch of land adjacent to Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district that is now the focus of dispute by Thailand and Burma.
During Khun Sa's time, Mahaja said, resources were plentiful. Soldiers were paid regularly and the town, about one hour from the border crossing in Mae Hong Son, was vibrant.
"Today, these militia join me willingly. They don't get any pay but the Southern Shan State helps them with rice and other expenses, including health care," Mahaja said.
Burma's old hands and Mahaja himself said he is in the best position to run Hua Muang. Over the years the man has managed to establish dialogues with various rebel groups, including those who have cease-fire agreements with Rangoon, such as the UWSA, and those who are still fighting the junta for autonomy, including his former colleague Colonel Yawd Serk, the leader of the Shan State Army.
When asked why ethnic rebels are still fighting the junta government, Mahaja replied: "It's partly because of foreign influences and partly because of the selfishness of the leaders themselves."
But his dream of turning Hua Muang into a commercial centre may not be realised any time soon. Thai and Burmese relations are currently experiencing one of their lowest ebbs in the past decade following crossing border shelling on the northern border over a month ago.
"They accused one another of supporting this and supporting that rebel group. I don't think either side is blameless," Mahaja said without elaborating.
Nevertheless, Mahaja said he still has hopes that the international community will take him seriously. He urged international anti-drug agencies, including the US Drug Enforcement Agency, to visit his area to verify for themselves that it is drugs-free. He also expressed interest in seeing United Nations development assistance programmes for his people.
Rangoon's peace deals with these rebel groups vary from one to the other, depending on the bargaining power of each group.The UWSA, for example, has managed to keep its 20,000-strong contingent and over the year extended its supremacy from its stronghold on the Chinese border to an area adjacent to Thailand's Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. Burmese government troops have to disarm before entering Wa territory.
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The Nation - April 05, 2001.
'I WILL SHOOT THEM'
HUA MUANG, Shan State, Burma - Despite having laid down his weapons in return for limited self-rule, Mahaja, once a fierce military commander in Burmese drug lord Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, said he would not hesitate to pick them up again if the Wa and Kokang Chinese invade his area.
"I will shoot them," Mahaja said during a recent interview with The Nation from one of his homes overlooking the 14-kilometre valley that served as the stronghold of Khun Sa's army.
"If these groups enter our territory we are more than ready to fight. We won't be the first to shoot but we will definitely defend our territory," Mahaja said.
Mahaja said he has been somewhat heavy-hearted by the ongoing mass relocation of the ethnic Wa and Kokang Chinese into the area by another pro-Rangoon group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
Mahaja, who is of mixed Wa and Shan ethnic backgrounds, followed Khun Sa five years ago in surrendering to Rangoon in return for amnesty, but remained behind to pursue business opportunities. He now controls a 3,000-member militia, and is still regarded as a fierce, battle-hardened warrior.
He said the Burmese government has asked if the Wa and Kokang Chinese could move into the area under his control.
"They said they want to help us develop the area. We said no because we can look after ourselves," he said.
When asked why he was so opposed to sharing his territory with the Wa army, Mahaja said it was the stigma of drugs.
Thai authorities have accused the UWSA of flooding the Kingdom with millions of methamphetamine pills and see the unwanted neighbours as a security threat. But Rangoon defends the relocations to Hua Muang as part of the UWSA's drug-eradication programme.
"If the UWSA moves here, what will the international community think of us? They'll look at us as another drug trafficker and won't have anything to do with us," said Mahaja, adding that he is ready to let the UN and the US Drug Enforcement Agency inspect the area, once a major outlet for the world's heroin supply.
"But if they don't find anything [drugs], they should help us develop the area," he added.
For the past year or so, the UWSA has carried out mass relocations of ethnic Wa and Kokang Chinese from the area along the Chinese border to recently built towns adjacent to Chiang Mai's Mae Ai and Fang districts.
Rangoon defended the moves as part of the Wa's anti-drug programme, saying Thailand's closure of the border checkpoint leading to Mong Yawn has hampered the UWSA's efforts to become drug free.
For decades, Rangoon has come under constant condemnation from the international community over the treatment of its people, including the practice of forced labour. Mahaja asked the world to put the situation in perspective.
"There are wars going on. All sides violate the rights of their own people. In the end, it's the people who suffer," he said.
Mahaja also urged the general public not demonise the ethnic Wa, many of whom are living under his control, just because some armed groups call themselves Wa.
"Wa is just a name. The real culprits are the Chinese drug dealers from the mainland. You can take a methamphetamine and show it to any Wa villager and he won't know what it is," Mahaja said.
Mahaja also accused the international community of being biased against Burma's military junta, especially its relationship to the Wa.
"Burma doesn't give permission to ethnic groups to produce drugs. But some of these groups do it anyway," he said.
But convincing the international community, especially neighbouring Thailand, that he is drug free has not been easy, he said.
In the past, some Thai officials have made their way here to talk about possible investments, he said. "But for the past two years, because of the tension along the border over drug trafficking, these visitors have pretty much disappeared," he said.
Indeed, shaking the ghosts of the past must not be easy for a man who once worked under the notorious Khun Sa, reportedly one of the wealthiest men in Burma.
Experts said no anti-drug policy in Burma will succeed unless it is linked with a real political solution that includes the armed ethnic groups fighting the government for autonomy.
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