When SWAN issued the “Licence to Rape” report to the international community, it told a sad and true story of Shan State and Shan State peoples to the outside world. Later, the “Licensed to Lie” report of the SPDC appeared, and it rambles on slowly as though waking up from sin, and running with a limp, to shout their lie squarely, to the inside peoples of the so-called Union of Burma with a special hateful racist attitude.

However, as many people know, it is not unusual for the Burmese regime to always retaliate and avenge in this way to all kinds of opposition. It is their normal behaviour and their own way. But after I had read SPDC’s “Licensed to Lie” that responds to SWAN’s “Licence to Rape”, I suddenly remembered my friend’ face when he passed the book to me and ask me to read it. He, who did not know who Charm Tong is before, and what SWAN is, and what their work is. But his face was very angry and he said to me, “you just read this book, your mother’ xxx marn” which surprised me. Now I understand his feelings and learned that, although he is an ordinary young Shan like me who had been educated under Burmese ideological school since childhood and had been taught Burmese ideological concepts, his consideration and the conscience of his human nature means that he realizes what is right and what is wrong.

Yes, “Licensed to Lie” is not just a personal attack on Charm Tong and SWAN, but it is a book written to humiliate the whole Shan history, Shan heritage, Shan identity, Shan leaders and Shan peoples. Many indexes in the book are not concerned with Charm Tong and SWAN but concerned with all Shan peoples, Shan State and all Shan leaders, since the early Shan history to this day. The book started with “the beginning of the history of the Burmese race”. And it said the Burmese race had settled in today’s Burma for more than forty millions years. And so, “Myanmar race is the beginning of the human race” (lu tha myo nwe a sa Myanmar ka) and it complains that the organisations and countries which do not accept the name of Burma as “Myanmar” as they re-named it, have very dirty attitudes.

But the Burmese had named Tai peoples as “Shan”, Jinghpaw Wunpawng peoples as “Kachin”, Zomi peoples as “Chin” etc., since earlier times, and no one made any complaint. But most ordinary Myanmar citizens, regardless of any nationality, understood, and are used to this way of speaking in the country, as in “Myanmar”, which means the whole country of the so called “Union of Myanmar”, and Burma means the low lands of Burma proper. When compared with other countries they called our “Myanmar Naing-ngan”, but when they travel in the country they say they “go to Shan Pyi” “go to Chin Pyi” “go to Kachin Pyi” etc….and when they go to Mandalay, Yangon or any low land region of proper Burma, they say they go to Bamar Pyi etc., although the whole country is governed by the Burmese regime. But I don’t know the true attitude of why the Burmese dictatorship regime extremely opposes and dislikes the peoples calling their current governing territory and their government as “Burma”. Maybe they think “Myanmar” is more meaningful and suitable to call the whole country because they would prefer the whole country to be Burmese owned. 

The book includes sections stating that the Burmese had established their Kingdom as a military Empire since from 11th century to 19th century by the first, second and third Burmese Empires until the British occupied the whole of Burma and then Shan State. But the book does not express who had ruled the region of Burma today, from about (AD-1220 to 1515), and who really ruled during Pin-ya age and Ava age in Burma history. Because of the many different conditions, different people, the different behaviours of Autocratic Burmese Kingdom and their ruling systems with Shan feudal rulers (Shan Saophas/ Ruling Princes) and Shan State, although the British had taken the Burmese King (Thibaw Min) to India and declared Burma as the British colony, the British allowed the Shan Saophas to continue their administration and rule of their States and their peoples. (During that time, the persecutions, oppressions and power rivalries in Mandalay royal palace were very bad). This point made the Burmese nationalist dictatorship regime extremely unsatisfied and jealous of Shan State and Shan Saophas and their peoples to this day. So after independence, they started to revenge “divide and rule” of the British on Shan peoples and Shan leaders. Finally, on 2nd Mar 1962, they ousted the elected government from power and gave birth to their craziness. They put all retired Shan feudal Saophas and Shan State government into jail and occupied Shan State to start their “divide and rule” and created the conflicts with Shan State peoples. Later, they inspired all non-Shan in Shan State to go against Shans, sowing the seeds of hatred and spreading the virus of racism.

In this book, it is as though they stand in front of the mirror and shout out every ugly thing in the mirror about what the Shan leaders and Shan Organisations had owned in the past and today. Although all leaders had done for their own peoples with the right as well as the wrong actions, because they had no experience or understanding, but the good and sincere leaders wished and really changed their wrong implementations into the right ones for their peoples and their state, unlike Burmese dictatorship regime who never express regret for their guilt. Today Shan feudal system is long gone, and it is nearly half a century, but the so-called rebellion armed groups to the Shan feudal system and many of the rebel armed groups in Shan State are still existing, and their lives also have not changed because they are facing the modern fascist system that is a lot worse than the Shan feudal system. 

They (the Burmese regime) destroyed all non-Burmese National solidarity and then recalled non-disintegration of the National solidarity for the country to build the country. After the Burmese dictatorship regime held the power, they start to humiliate and erase Shan history, Shan identity, Shan culture, Shan literature, Shan heritage, Shan activists, Shan leaders by every possible mean. So, “Licensed to Lie” of SPDC has come out just to ruminate their gossips about Shan leaders and their works. The book said there were no true and genuine Shan leaders since the British occupied lower Burma to this day!

So, because the Burmese dictatorship regime is always sneaking and seeking how to take advantage to humiliate and insult Shan peoples and Shan leaders, the “Licensed to Lie” gives them a great chance to air profitable reasons. The true target of “Licensed to Lie” is not Nang Charm Tong and SWAN, as the book also said that the whole Myanmar women citizens as well as Shan women locally do not know SWAN Organisation, and SWAN does not identify with the mass of Myanmar women citizens and does not represent any Myanmar women citizens. So, Myanmar’s citizens do not need to be concerned with the SWAN Organisation and their works. But Licensed to Lie has come out to perform and show the special attitude of SPDC to the mass of Myanmar citizens.

The true target of “Licensed to Lie” is Shan State, Shan leaders and Shan peoples. So, it is more visible to see their intensions. In Shan State, Shan leaders, Shan political parties and Shan activist groups were standing to defend Shan State National welfare toweringly. So, if the Burmese regime wants to destroy or occupy or rule Shan State permanently, the first target must be the Shan leaders and Shan peoples. If they wanted Shan State to be less protected, they must remove Shan leaders and Shan peoples first. Targeting to attack Shan leaders and Shan peoples is targeting to attack the rights of all Shan State national citizens. For example, the first time this happened in March 1962, when they put all Shan leaders into jail and, for the second time in February 2005.

Although the Burmese dictatorship regime is very afraid of the external justices intervening in their internal affairs and their works, they have themselves interfered with Shan State and Shan State peoples’ affairs as negatively, as they like, by every means, since 1958 to this day. And, regarding the oppression and injustice on the peoples of rural area of Shan State where the majority of Shan farmers lived, the elders said “We have not seen such bad kinds of events even during the time of the foreign British and fascist Japanese rule in Shan State. But we are now seeing these bad events bitterly because our fellow friend, the Burmese regime, rules our state”. “As they (Burmese) and we (Shan) were in alliance and fellow friends in the past, we have agreed and co-achieved independence from the British and have co-defended the country during the multiple rebellions and uprisings just after independence. But after they had passed from the plight and got stronger, they showed their true colour and extra goodwill to re-build the country.” 

Yes, the Union of Burma was co-built and formed with other different States and different nationalities. But the Burmese dictatorship regime always claimed that only Burmese dictatorship military regime had taking the obligation to save, maintain and defend the Union and not allowed any other nationality leaders and other state leaders to join and build the country. Even Noble Prize winner Daw Aung San Su Kyi was denied. Instead of doing so, the Burmese regime arrest, put into jail and assassinate them. Then they persuade one ethnic group to compete as rivals with one another, one armed group to fight against another to arouse confusion and haziness and thus create covers and buffers for them.

Now, the director of “Licensed to Lie” of SPDC also borrowed and manipulated non-Burmese authors Htone Yaw Pe & L Hkaung Nu to knock the Shans as buffers to cover their faces from the un-expected impacts. They also borrowed a bit of some references from the books of famous Shan authors and leaders like U Htun Myint (Taunggyi) and others. Although all books of U Htun Myint were written with good intentions and positive criticism for the welfare of Shan State and Shan State peoples and called for positive changes, SPDC subtracted some critical points and re-used these in their negative intention to humiliate and insult the Shans and Shan leaders and Shan State.

In this third world or fourth world age, or which some call globalization age today, there are no human, no race and no nation who can live alone in isolation. Whether we like or dislike each other, love or hate each other, we cannot get rid of each other. The only thing that we can do is to search the right way to live with our friends, our neighbours, our fellow humans by conscious means. So, for all peoples to live peacefully, prosperously, instead of insulting each other, humiliating each other, oppressing each other, we should persuade, inspire and sow new tolerant attitudes for the new comers, therefore, let us together erase old intolerant attitudes, erase the wrong relationships and instead we should give priority to honour each other with mutual respect and to leave as a legacy, our loving, peaceful heritages and to leave books, the educational heritages of how to live together peacefully, harmoniously, humanly and naturally with our fellow humans for the new generations.

The clever brains provide prosperity and development for human life.

The tender hearts provide peace and happiness for human life.