When Shans think about Scotland, 3 men come into mind:
The first is William Wallace (with the face of Mel Gibson, who played him in the Oscar winning Braveheart in 1995) whose 13th century revolt against the British beat the path for Scottish rebels who followed him later.

The second is Robert Bruce who is immortalized in the King and the Spider story, which goes like this: Bruce was taking refuge in a cave after being beaten time and again by the British. He was thinking of giving up the struggle, when his eyes were caught by a spider that had fallen down from the cave’s ceiling. It climbed laboriously up but again it fell back to the ground. Fascinated, Bruce watched the spider that refused to accept defeat but went back to his struggle every time he fell back, until at last he succeeded. Fired by the spider’s example, Bruce returned to the resistance against the British until he too won.

Later on Scotland became a member of the United Kingdom, not unlike Shan State, through a treaty signed between it and England.
Now 8 centuries after Wallace, many Scots that included Sean Connery, famous for his role as the lady killer British spy 007, are pushing for Independence despite London’s decentralization policy.

The result is that on Thursday, 18 September, all Scots over the age of 15 will be offered the choice between “Yes Scotland” and “Better Together” aka “OK UK” in the referendum, according to 1 February report by the Economist.

Many are still undecided, but the “Yes Scotland” Scottish National Party (SNP) is devising several enticements to induce them, “such as a package of council-tax benefits a month”. According to The Economist, it also “will try to drag the debate onto the free market evils of the London government.”

So what does it augur for the Shans? No doubt there are at least half of the Shan population, reeling after the Burmese Army’s bullying, who are for an independent Shanland as proven by the short-lived but overwhelming support given by exiled Shans to the Interim Shan Government (ISG) when it declared Independence in 2005.

But the Burma Army and its leaders need not panic in a hurry, if its intentions to form a federal union (as outlined in the latest Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement draft) are pure. It must also change its ways: from a burn all-kill all-rape all war machine into a help all-love all-and gentle to all movement for peace.

Both separation as well as unification has its pros and cons. What an enlightened government needs to show is that there are more pros than cons in a union for all. Remember and implement what Aung Sun said: The right to secede must be given. But we must do what we can to make them not want to secede.

But if the Burma Army refuses to stop being the bully boy, whatever results there are will be the Burma Army’s  own doing.