Mongla

Mongla's crash is Tachilek's boom

Drugs

The unexpected collapse of eastern Shan State's border town, Mongla, opposite China's Daluo, in July due to the abrupt recall of tens of thousands of Chinese citizens working there had somehow served as a rationale for hundreds of hard-core gambling operators to move 240 km down south to Tachilek, opposite Thailand's Mae Sai, according to sources from the town's business sector. 

"They don't speak either Shan or Burmese, or Thai for that matter," said a Shan businessman whose calling shuttles him back and forth between Mongla and Tachilek. He was commenting on the city's estimated 300 new residents, two-thirds of whom are of the fairer sex. Apartments in Sansai Tai, Mae Khao and Tawkaw neighborhoods where Wa influence is paramount have now been filled out by the newcomers who had lost no time to set up shops. "The only things they needed were safe conducts provided by the Wa authorities and kickbacks for the local authorities that go up from the township officer to the top man in Kengtung," said a source who works for them both as an assistant and translator. 

Mae Sai's Jao Paw (Big Boss) known to all as "Sid", whose underground operations are being held up by Bangkok's ongoing crackdown, was quick to seize the opportunity by providing necessary facilities to his new clients across the border, most of whom are under thirty, said S.H.A.N.'s principal source. "As a result, the new gambling dens are packed day and night," wrote another. 

In contrast, Mongla, whose boss Sai Leun a.k.a Lin Mingxian had been awarded a distinguished service certificate by Rangoon for declaring his Special Region #4 a drug-free area in 1997, has become a ghost town, they said. "It used to be a town that buzzed through day and night," said a source from nearby Mongyang. "Beer from Thailand was consumed 1,000 crates per day. But now, you find nobody on the streets by 10 p.m., because Chinese citizens coming to Mongla are not allowed to stay overnight and permitted to carry only up to Y 5,000 (B. 27,500) each. Sellers of beverages are also looking up for alternative sources income." 

Mongla, since its boom began in 1989 up to 1997, had been known as a city built on drugs. Even Sai Leun had been on the American blacklist until 2000. "He's in a tight spot," commented the source from Tachilek. "If he returns to his old ways, he'll get back on the list in no time, and if he doesn't, he will no longer be able to hold his group (National Democratic Alliance Army, Eastern Shan State) together again." 

Some others, however, said if Wa leaders could survive under drug stigmas, so could he.