Words impact meaning and they convey power – is 7th February a day to celebrate Shan ‘nation’ or ‘state’? When the elders from Shan State came together at Panglong, they were declaring the intention of establishing an independent Shan administration – independent from the British government colonial rule. When their statements were broadcast on Burma radio, it sent shock waves through the British establishment and cheers from the people of Shan States and the rest of Burma. 

Shan National Day is celebrated by all the peoples of Shan State - Lahu, Palaung, Pa-O, Danu, Intha and Wa, as well as all Tai peoples of Shan State. Shan National Day is a day on which all the united nationalities of Shan State stood up to declare their independence from colonial rule. The present junta try to tell people that the day is Shan State day – a government sponsored cultural event of little significance – any other opinion is likely to leave you imprisoned on one of the SPDC’s numerous bogus charges made against those who oppose them.

Colonial Rule

None of the peoples of Burma wanted to keep the old colonial rule, and the new post-war leaders were struggling to recapture their role after the momentous defeat and abandonment of Burma in 1941. When Somerset Maugham travelled through Shan States in the 1920s, he wrote of the British colonial rulers; “… the spectacle of a horde of officials who held their positions only by force of the guns behind them trying to persuade the races they ruled that they were there only on sufferance. They offered efficiency to people to whom a hundred other things were of more consequence and sought to justify themselves by the benefits they conferred on people who did not want them.” He might as well have been writing in 2007 about the SPDC junta! 

The colonial rulers of 1947 were a little different; they thought that they knew best what was good for Burma. The Shan State elders knew different; they wanted to be free of the old empire and establish their own federal council to govern Shan States. The British administration sent a telegram to Panglong telling the Shan elders not to proceed with their proposals. The Shan elders responded with their declarations of forming the Shan States Council. The formation of this council signalled the intention of Shan States to become an independent nation, free from colonial rule. It was after some days of the conference and the momentous events on 12th February that the newly formed Council on 15th February declared 7th February as Shan National Day; they also defined the Shan flag and as a temporary measure made a Shan song the Shan National Anthem. It was the Shan States Council that agreed with Aung San on a Federal Union for the future of Burma, to gain independence from Britain at the earliest opportunity – Burma was independent within a year.

Lost

At no time since 1947 have Shan leaders accepted the destruction of the Union or the Union spirit engendered at Panglong. Successive Burmese governments have wrenched power from the Shan leaders and concentrated power in Rangoon, and now NayPyiDaw – in doing so they have destroyed the spirit of the federal Union that Shan leaders have fought to establish since 1947. On the question of alliance with Burma, Shan leaders were of the same opinion that freedom would be speedily achieved for all if they could join forces on the following principles: Autonomy in both political and financial affairs, democracy and human rights and the right to secede "at anytime we wish so".

Found

The struggle for self-determination has remained a driving force in Shan State politics since 1947, and has led to armed resistance to invasion by Burmese troops and continues to this day. Over the years, politics and war have become intermingled with the burgeoning narcotics trade and with ideological struggles between the Maoist Communist Party of Burma, the nationalist Chinese Kuomintang and the so-called anti-fascist socialist army from Rangoon – now taken over by a fascist racist dictatorship. The scene now is that there is still armed resistance to Rangoon/NayPyiDaw to offer protection against terror and persecution; cease-fire armies have become toothless tigers emasculated by the National Convention bulldozer pushing the SPDC’s rules onto an unwilling bullied group of hand-picked ‘representatives’ – who are not allowed to represent anyone except the junta; Shan politicians who stand by their principles of serving the population of Shan State are carted off to prison on trumped up charges and incarcerated for life after unjust travesties of a trial; and Shan culture is suppressed with a vehemence and brutality reminiscent of medieval despots. 

One would think that after decades of repression, there would be no fight left in the people of Shan State – but that is what the junta think. What they fail to realise is that Shan people are resilient, Shan culture is finding its renaissance, and Shan politics is alive and well – even if it can’t voice its opinion inside Shan State for fear of harassment.

The Future is Bright

The situation in Burma has at last come onto the world stage, albeit with setbacks in getting resolutions through the UN Security Council. But Shan politicians have helped to develop the Shan State constitution – one that was developed in a truly participatory manner – and hotly debate the issues of federalism and independence. We can see the light at the end of the black oppressive tunnel of our past. The people of Shan State are fully prepared for momentous changes wrought from self-determination and the blood, sweat and tears of our people. We are pushing the dinosaurs out of Shan State and out of Burma for good. Shan National Day will be a day to celebrate those first steps towards nationhood and statehood – Shan State will take its rightful place on the world stage.

References

The Gentleman in the Parlour
W.Somerset Maugham, 1930
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentleman-Parlour-Vintage-Classics/dp/0099286777

SHAN NATIONAL DAY (S.D.U. press release)
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/reg.burma/archives/199902/msg00168.html

Marking Shan National Day in Bangkok (S.H.A.N.)
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/reg.burma/archives/199902/msg00233.html

Shan National Day Message (S.N.O.)
http://www.shan-orphans.org/SOS%20Message.html

Messages for Shan National Day/Shan State Day (S.H.A.N.)
http://www.shanland.org/articles/general/2006/General-080206

The 58th Anniversary of Shan National Day (U.N.P.O.)
http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=1886

How the National Day came into being (S.H.A.N.)
http://shanland.org/politics/2002/shan_national_day_celebrations_b.htm

Youth unaware of Shan National Day's significance (S.H.A.N.)
http://shanland.org/politics/2005/Youth_unaware_of_Shan_National_Day_s_significance.htm/?searchterm=shan%20national%20day