Shan refugees question Thailand

Shan refugees question Thailand's Wa project

Many Shans who fled from the border areas where thousands of Wa newcomers had been relocated were questioning the wisdom of a Thai-initiated crop substitution project for the Wa, said a source from the Shan State Army of Col Yawdserk. 

"We who have been driven out from our homes and farms are being ignored while every effort is being made to accommodate the encroachers. Are cousins of ours trying to lend a hand to the Burmese (army)'s divide-and-rule policy?" the source quoted a former headman from Mongtoom-Mongkarn area, Monghsat township, opposite Mae Fa Luang District, Chiangrai province. 

Thousands of Shans and Akhas have arrived in Thailand since the relocation program of Wa people from the Chinese border in the north began in 1999. Around 600 villagers more landed on the Thai soil after hostilities between the two countries broke out in February last year.

"Burmese officers said they didn't trust us," according to a villager who came from Mongkarn. "Our crime was that we're Shans." (Ejected villagers take refugee in Thailand, 3 April 2001) 

According to another source, they were accused of gathering information for Thailand and the Shan State Army. Their houses and fields were also confiscated. [Order for a new forced relocation drive out, 31 May 2001] 
"The Wa settlers should also be asked whether they have come voluntarily and their participation both in the decision-making and implementation sought," said the SSA officer of Wa parentage. "We should not forget that although they are collectively called Wa, the cream, especially among teachers, physicians, shopkeepers and village headmen, are Chinese." 

Thailand offered a GSP privilege and a 20-million baht development project for the Wa in August. The Wa side recently proposed the project site be Nayao (Yawngkha in Wa), 7 miles north of Pangnoon in Mae Fa Luang District.