“The Secret Army”: What Shans may like to know
The book has been published since 2011. But it
is only this year I have the luck to receive a copy from a friend in London. And
I’m not disappointed.
It answers a lot of questions that have myself
and other plagued Burma watchers, both Shans and non-Shans alike. It also
brings back memories which have been left undisturbed at the bottom of my
brain.
The Sao Shwe Thaike enigma.
For
instance, why was the Burmese government, especially the military, accusing Sao
Shwe Thaike, the first president of independent Burma, for whom they had their own non de guerre,
“The one who shines like the sun and the moon,” as having ties to the
Kuomintang intruders and the CIA behind it?
The book written by Mr Richard M. Gibson with
Wenhua Chen, tells us one of his relatives was married to Lii Kuo-chuan, the
Kuomintang’s 26th Army commander, who had a home in Bangkok. The
relative, according to Sao Shwe Thaike’s son Sao Harn Yawnghwe, was a daughter
of Sao Weng, the prince of Lawksawk, who fought against the British and
following defeat took refuge in China’s Xixuangbanna. It was there she was
born.
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(Photo: Panglong)
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War with the KMT
Another is why the Burma Army was then accused
all-around as not really doing much of its job as the defender of national
sovereignty.
Here is the authors’ explanation quoting Gen
Li Kuo-hui:
Although the record is
not clear, there appears to have been some understanding with Ne Win as
Nationalist Chinese troops moved from Tachilek to Mong Hsat. Li Kuo-hui makes
that claim in detail and veteran officers from Li Mi’s army have told the authors that they
had left Tachilek under a deal with Ne Win that allowed them to remain in a
remote part of Kengtung if they stayed out of sight and did not draw Peking’s
attention. In return, Ne Win could claim victory over them.
A deal with the Nationalist Chinese
would allow the general to concentrate on Rangoon’s internal enemies.
KMT alliance with Karens
What I had never understood was why the
Kuomintang forces, whose main base is Shan State, would forge an alliance with
the Karen and Mon fighters who were (and still are) far down south.
Here’s the book’s explanation:
“Due to food shortages, by the summer
of 1952 YANSA (Yunnan Anti-Communist National Salvation Army) had for several
months been engaged in small, informal arms-for-food exchanges with the Karens.
The Nationalist Chinese, however, were running short of excess weapons for that
exchange. The Americans had stopped
their supply operations the previous year.
Much to Li Mi’s supply problem would be
solved if his army could gain access to coastal areas of Burma’s Tenasserim
Peninsula. Ships from Taiwan could then deliver troops and supplies to the cost
for subsequent movement across Karen and Mon controlled areas to YANSA’s Shan
State bases.
In March , Li Mi and Karen military
commander Brigadier Saw Shwe agreed at a Bangkok meeting to exchange YANSA
weapons for Karen rice and military cooperation. That July, Saw Shwe led a KNDO
delegation to Taipei by Fuhsing PBY from Mong Hsat to formalize the agreement. Returning
to Burma, Saw Shwe met senior YANSA (Yunnan Anti-Communist National Salvation
Army) deputy Li Tse-fen in Chiang Mai on August 7 and 8 and initiated concrete
planning for Operation Earth (Ti-an). The operation ‘s threefold objective was
to establish a reliable maritime supply line, relieve Tatmadaw pressure on YANSA,
and shore up Li Mi’s Karen and Mon allies.
According to Operation Earth, 166 metric tons
of military cargo were to be shipped by sea to Burma’s Tenasserim coast in
early 1953. But somehow things went wrong and the cargo returned to Taiwan, setting
“a disastrous setback for Li Mi’s forces.”
On Khun Sa
And, of course, the book couldn’t have been
complete without saying anything about the late Khun Sa aka Chang Chifu (Zhang
Qifu).
“Seeking to improve cooperation among
former YAVA (Yunnan Anti-communist Volunteer Army) groups in Thailand, Li
Wen-huan initiated and April 1962 conference at which remnants of the First,
Second, Third, and Fifth Armies formed the Southeast Asia Anticommunist
Volunteer Army (SEAAVA). Tuan Hsi-wen was named acting army commander pending
formal recognition from Taipei. When that did not materialize, the new grouping
dissolved. Among the first to leave, only a month after SEAAVA’s formation,
were Chang Su-ch’uan and Liang Chung-ying, former ROC Special Forces and BS 111
officers that had joined Tuan Hsi-wen after leaving Laos in late 1961. They and
50 others left the Fifth
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Su-chuan
(Zhang Suquan)
(Photo: Panglong)
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For those who are unfamiliar, Chang Su-chuan
(Zhang Suquan), who become Khun Sa’s Chief of Staff, was known to the Shans as
Falang (Thunder) and Liang Chung-ying (Liang Zhongying) as Liang Zeun.
Regarding his adopted Shan name, Zhang had reportedly asked his new
boss Khun Sa who wanted him to have one, “What’s thunder in Shan?”
When Khun Sa told him it’s Falang (Hpalang) he
said, “Well, that’s going to be my Shan name.”
He was
said to be an admirer of Col Suzuki Keiji who had adopted the Burmese name “Moegyo”
(Thunderbolt) when he helped Aung San and the Thirty Comrades to form the Burma
Independence Army (BIA) during World War Ⅱ. Probably he also
dreamed of being an agent for Shan independence like Col Suzuki did with Burma.
It wasn’t his fault he didn’t become one. He died on 3 June 2011, in Bangkok,
with his dreams unfulfilled.
No doubt the book must also have something to
say about “the Opium War” at Ban Kwan, Laos, where the Kings Romans Casino
stand at the site of the 1967 battle today.
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(Photo:
http://druglibrary.eu)
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“Not so,” Khun Sa told
me during an evening chat with him. “A week later I went to see him. He said, ‘Well.
Khun Sa, it looks like I’ve got to keep you here for all the mess you’ve made
for us.’ I told him he knew he wouldn’t do that. Now with the KMT being under
pressure by the Thais, the general would have to wait a long time for a big
seller like me before he could find one. With a big laugh, he patted my
shoulder and said, ‘That’s just a joke. I wouldn’t have received you as a guest
in the first place, if I were thinking of that.’ So I got back all the opium he
had taken from me.”
There are many other things you are going to
learn too, if you can get hold of a copy. In fact, I’m planning to have another
read to see if I can learn more. Only I can’t say when it’s going to be.
Because other books are also waiting and demanding my attention.
Tags: Opinion
