Soldiers take formation on the parade ground during a Shan National Day rehearsal.
A Shan girl studies in class at the school run by the Restoration Council for the Shan State (RCSS) in Loi Tai Leng—one of the very few schools where Shan kids are allowed to be taught their own history, culture, and language, alongside other, more standardized subjects such as math, computer/technology, and science. Due to their proximity to the Thailand—Burma border and the state’s precarious political situation, the children are also taught four different languages: Shan, Burmese, English, and Thai.
Chairman Yawd Serk and General Sai Yee pose for a portrait during the Pyi Thee Ka Sam Kong celebration—an occasion which marks the first time the Buddhist scriptures were officially translated to the Shan language. Sai Yee heads the SSAS, while Yawd Serk leads the RCSS, the political wing that oversees them.
In the front yard of the refugee camp Ong Leng Soong, children play. The town of Loi Tai Leng was originally created to be the military headquarters for the SSAS. Yet, as fighting continued within the Shan state, refugees started fleeing to Loi Tai Leng in search of safety from the government troops. Thus, Ong Leng Soong was created to house, and shelter, the influx of people coming to settle along the border.
A soldier walks towards Loi Tai Leng, repair tools in hand. The town of Loi Tai Leng was aligned along the Thailand–Burma border with definitive purpose. Yawd Serk, after refusing to surrender with Khun Sa and the Mong Tai Army, set out to create a military base with the goal of launching operations against the Burmese military. Through Yawd Serk’s fervent political opposition, Loi Tai Leng was born.
Two military police patrol the main strip of Loi Tai Leng leading up to the celebrations of Shan National Day—a date in which the first time all the Shan principalities came together to form the Shan congress, and subsequently formed a unified state, on February 7, 1947.
SSAS commandos are shown during a military demonstration for the Shan National Day celebrations.
A rappel tower at the military parade ground in Loi Tai Leng displays a mural of a tiger. The tiger is a very significant animal to Shan culture: there is a legend about a very significant Shan king, Chaolung Sukaphaa, who was raised by tigers as a boy. As he grew into adulthood, he also grew into greatness, becoming King of the Shan Kingdom. The kingdom Chaolung Sukaphaa conceptualized stood for six hundred years, and was able to unify the intricate balance of ethnic and tribal communities to form the first boundaries of the Shan state.
This is the Thailand–Burma border along which the SSAS have been pushed by the Burmese military. In the heart of the golden triangle, Shan history is closely linked to the South Asian drug trade. Before there was the SSAS, the region had the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA). Formed in 1969, SURA was the first post-colonial Shan army to fight for autonomy against the Burmese military. After 16 years of fighting and gaining little ground, the SURA joined the famous Mong Tai Army, run by famous drug kingpin Khun Sa. After 11 years of international pressure, and in an attempt to stay out of jail on drug charges, Khun Sa surrendered to the Burmese military. This is where today’s SSAS was borne. Fathered by a disgruntled Yawd Serk, the SSAS served to rejuvenate the fight for Shan independence and distance the Shan state from the drug trade.
Lum Sien was living in the Burmese-occupied village of Na Mun Om when, one day, in 2009, he asked one of the Burmese military officers if he and two other friends could get permission to leave the village to go and hunt. Lum Sien, along with two others, was granted permission. However, upon their return, all three were accused of contacting the RCSS, and were beaten and tortured for their suspected offence. Lum Sien was released, but only after he was physically assaulted by Burmese the military. He decided to flee his village out of fear, eventually landing in Loi Tai Leng. For the past six years, Lum Sien has lived in the mountaintop military base where he works as a carpenter.
Loung Nan Da is no stranger to Burmese military tactics of fear. In 1999, the Burmese military accused him of being an RCSS supporter—an accusation that changed Loung Nan Da’s life forever. He was swiftly detained and tortured using the technique of waterboarding, and when the information the military garnered from this technique was found to be insufficient they persisted and intensified their torture, taking red hot iron rods and using them to pierce his chest; sharpening bamboo sticks to stab deep into his leg muscles; and using needles to mutilate his genitals as a last ditch effort to attain information on Shan spies. Delirious and in pain, Loung Nan Da was then taken to Mun Nai City where he was used as a slave. It took him seven days to gather the strength and the courage to escape to the city of Ho Mung. For a decade, Loung Nan Da peacefully hid in Ho Mung until one day a Burmese military patrol recognized him. He then fled to the safety of the mountaintop military base of Loi Tai Leng in 2009.
The grave of a Shan soldier in the Kong Fu Hat Han graveyard, which translates to: Mountain of the Knight.
In the Kong Fu Hat Han graveyard there lays old moss-covered gravestones of soldiers who have given their lives fighting the Burmese military.
Nai Eh was a 12-year-old monk when drug lord Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army took his family’s farmland and conscripted him as a soldier within its ranks. For the next 26 years, Nai Eh fought in a war in which he never wanted to participate. In 1996, when Khun Sa surrendered to the Burmese military, Nai Eh was left with nothing. He decided to do the only thing he knew how, soldiering. He joined the Burmese-aligned Southern Shan State Army (SSS), fighting in their ranks for eight long years; enduring hundreds of battles, poor living conditions, and rampant drug abuse. When his limit for destructive conditions was reached, Nai Eh was driven to flee the Burmese SSS and join the opposing SSAS. He then fought for another five years for the SSAS until he finally retired from soldiering—after 39 years of fighting wars with three different armies. He now makes money by collecting large pieces of lumber for construction purposes, and farming a small plot of land in Loi Tai Leng.
For Lun Yom, life in his home village, Mung Lai, was never easy. More than ten times in his life, Lun Yom had been forced at gunpoint to be a porter for the Burmese military, sustaining beatings every time he slowed of showed fatigue. The Burmese military uses ethnic minorities as a resource while fighting its skirmishes throughout the country. Burmese soldiers will come to a village and seize able-bodied men to serve as porters and human land mine detectors while they are on patrol. Lun Yom decided to flee Mung Lai seven years ago due to intense fighting between Thai and Burmese forces, and has since resettled with his wife in Loi Tai Leng.
Ong Leng Soong refugee camp, seen here hugging the crest of a mountain in the Shan state fortress of Loi Tai Leng.
Ba Kam loves the safety of Loi Tai Leng, and the fact the she will not be forced to become a porter again. Yet she still dreams of going back to her home village of Wan Lu, even though it burned to the ground at the hands of the Burmese military over a decade ago. In 2002, after the Burmese military set fire to the village’s small bamboo huts, Ba Kan had little choice but to abandon her village. Wan Lu had been ransacked for supplies and to forcibly recruit porters many times before, but this desecration would be its last.
Sai Wei Ling lost his leg in the most horrifying way imaginable—as a human land mine detector. In 1991, the Burmese military came to Sai Wei Ling’s village and forced him to walk ahead of a column of Burmese soldiers for a patrol, when he stepped on a land mine and tragically lost his leg. Decades later, Sai Wei Ling now lives in the safety of Loi Tai Leng.
In the lead up to the Shan National Day celebrations, perfect military form is of the utmost importance. Soldiers are punished for entering formation late by doing squats in the midday sun.
A monk watches soldiers practice parade marching during the Shan National Day celebrations.
A military police officer patrols Loi Tai Leng. The quiet mountaintop military base is turned into a small city for one week during the Shan National Day celebrations. During this time, given the influx of visitors, the area requires additional security for the safety of the arriving guests.
A law-breaking soldier is reprimanded through forced labour—a standard punishment issued by the SSAS—which is typically enforced in small stints of a few weeks. However, the severity of the crime can greatly increase or decrease the type of punishment.
A Burmese-aligned Border Guard Force (BGF) soldier shows off his Buddhist good luck tattoos. Many Shan soldiers have Shan Buddhist script inked into their bodies; these are meant to protect them from evil, disease, and enemies. Monks, from within their monasteries, tattoo soldiers after they have received a blessing by their Lord, Buddha.
A Special Forces commando rests during a rehearsal for the Shan National Day celebrations.
As he rests, a Special Forces commando poses for a portrait in the lead-up to the Shan National Day celebrations.
Kham Phit and Mwe Leng ride their teacher’s motorbike to the Loi Tai Leng International School. Loi Tai Leng has an international school for older students to perfect their English, which is generously run and funded by the much-admired Taung Mu Shwe—a man who has dedicated his life to helping the Shan community through tirelessly raising funds abroad for his school.
A young Shan boy poses for a portrait in front a column of soldiers during the Shan National Day celebrations.
A young school girl poses for a portrait outside of her classroom.
Kheun Sai poses for a portrait in the library of the Pyidaungsu Institute, a non-profit organization for peace and dialogue. Kheun Sai is the president and founder of the Shan State Herald, the most well-known Shan publication, as well as an RCSS advisor. Kheun Sai fought alongside Khun Sa in the Mong Tai Army, and was in his top leadership.
A soldier guards his comrades’ weapons as they grab lunch during a Shan National Day parade rehearsal.
A gentleman, known as the grandfather of Shan martial arts, poses for a picture on a hill overlooking the Shan National Day Parade.
Soldiers in formation during a rehearsal for Shan National Day.
Two soldiers pose for a portrait in front of Yawd Serk’s personal residence following a press conference about ceasefire talks with the Burmese government.
A soldier stands guard atop the parade ground.