Extravagant favours being showered upon Lahu militias by the Burma Army, since its relations with ceasefire groups have steadily deteriorated are unsettling enlightened Lahu figures, according to the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), an anti-Naypyitaw movement in exile.
“Lahus are the only race that have not betrayed the country,” a Burma Army officer, was quoted as saying, during a recent ceremony marking the completion of a training course in Monghsat, opposite Chiangmai’s Fang and Mae Ai districts.
“They were also urged to work harder in the interest of the nation, after being promised military ranks and promotions,” said Na Ve Bo, a woman activist. “Some militia leaders were not fooled. They say, ‘We don’t even know how to read and write properly. How can we become officers?’”.
Lahus have a history of fighting for causes other than their own, according to Solomon, another activist. “Initially, for the Kuomintang against the Chinese communists, then for the Burma Army against the CPB (Communist Party of Burma) and for the CPB against the Burma Army and now for theBurma Army against resistance groups,” he said. “It’s time we stood for ourselves,” he added.
Lahu militias in eastern Shan State have been given guns, permission to recruit and receive training, an operational area for each and license to develop their territories, which include poppy cultivation and setting up refineries, according to sources. “Militias have been formed under our supervision,” aBurma Army colonel, was reported as saying in Hand in Glove: The Burma Army and the Drug Trade inShan State. “Ceasefire groups (on the other hand) are merely enemies, who have taken a break in the fighting against us,” he said.
Many militia leaders are aware that they would be bearing the brunt of the fighting anytime it breaks out. “If the Burma Army thinks Lahus can be used as their attacking forces like the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army that has been leading the Burma Army’s offensives against the Karen National Union), nothing can be more wrong,” said Solomon. “It is against our nature to fight a regular warfare. We are natural-born irregular warriors,” he added.
The Lahu activists, therefore, believe many Lahu militia men would leave their home villages and join the ranks of the struggle against the country’s rulers once they are used as proxies against the resistance movement. “They hope to be treated with understanding by all when that time comes,” he said.
Nevertheless, given a choice, the Lahus, they say, would prefer to live following the old ways, which include buying guns just to hunt and protect their families and villages.
Lahu, of Tibeto-Burman stock like the Burman majority, are found in considerable numbers in eastern and northern Shan State. Sir James George Scott, who was Commissioner of Shan State, wrote: “The Lahu have much more of a nose than most of the Tibeto-Burmans and have straight set eyes.”
Their first resistance movement against the regime was born in 1973, when Pu Kyawng Long, their politico-religious leader, staged a rebellion and took Monghsat and Mongton, both opposite Chiangmai.
