At 72, Sai Mon has seen more than his fair share of change in his lifetime. A former commander in the Mong Tai Army (MTA), he was once a close confidante to Myanmar’s most notorious drug lord. But when Khun Sa “joined the legal fold” in 1996 and moved to Yangon, Lt Sai Mon stayed behind in north-eastern Shan state to start a militia of his own.

Now, after a failed attempt to win public office five years ago, he is ready to try his luck again. If successful, the former lawbreaker will join the ranks of the country’s lawmakers, and his transformation will be complete.

Sai Mon is contesting this year’s election in Tangyan township, in eastern Shan state’s Lashio district, as a candidate for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). This also happens to be the home base of the Manpang militia, an armed group now run by his son. 

In addition to Tangyan township’s Manpang village tract, Sai Mon is said to control about 50 village tracts in Mongyai and Lashio townships, making him an influential figure in Tangyan and beyond.

 

 

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“There are things we know and maybe things we don’t know,” MP Sai Aung Pwint said of the Manpang militia’s finances

He is also widely believed to retain a significant degree of control over the Manpang militia, despite officially stepping down as its leader ahead of the 2015 election.  

“He did hand over his position, but it’s still under his influence,” said Sai Aung Pwint, the current Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Tangyan township.

Sam Vara, a liaison officer for the militia, insisted that Sai Mon’s son, Sai Kham Mon, was now in charge, even if the father still had a role to play.

“He has retired completely. Of course there’s some guidance to his son, who is now the leader. But he [Sai Mon] is no longer officially involved,” he told Myanmar Now.

Notably, however, Sai Mon was present at a meeting held in Naypyitaw in September between Tatmadaw commander-in chief Min Aung Hlaing and leaders of Myanmar’s various militia groups and self-administered areas.

The leadership question is not the only one that hangs over the Manpang militia. There is also some suspicion about how the group finances its operations.

“Like other militias, it receives no funding from the government, so they have to find some way to make a living. Do you understand what I’m getting at? There are things we know and maybe things we don’t know,” said MP Sai Aung Pwint.

The militia economy

According to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), Sai Mon owns three companies: Shan Yoma Aye Chan Yay Co. Ltd., Shan Yoma Aye Chan Yay Gems Co. Ltd., and Shan Yoma Aye Chan Yay Gold & Mine Product Co. Ltd. He also operates agriculture and mining businesses.

Sai Mon is director of all three of these companies, with his son Sai Kham Mon and liaison officer Sam Vara acting as members on their boards of directors.

There have been charges that the Manpang militia often extorts money from local villages in Tangyan, Mongyai and Lashio townships, where it is also said to recruit new members and stands accused of land-grabbing.

Sam Vara denied this last charge, saying that all of the group’s land acquisitions have been legal.

“The militia paid for the plots of land, and some people took advantage of vacant plots whose owners are only appearing now,” he said.

However, according to an Amyotha Hluttaw committee on confiscated farmland and other land issues in Shan state, the militia is involved in disputes with local farmers over thousands of acres of land in the village tracts of Nampaung and Mai Kyaing.

“The villagers lost not only the land but also the water,” MP Sai Wan Hlaing Kham

Amyotha Hluttaw MP Sai Wan Hlaing Kham, who is a member of the committee, said the Manpang militia acquired the land under a company’s name but took more than they applied for.

“On more than one thousand acres of land in Nampaung, they got Chinese people who don’t even speak Myanmar or Shan and started planting pumpkins and chilli with the villager’s water resources. The villagers lost not only the land but also the water,” he told Myanmar Now.

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Tangyan township is located in the middle of an area that is notable for its economic activity, both legal and illegal. Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan state, is about 135 km northwest of the town of Tangyan, and the ruby-mining centre of Mong Hsu is roughly 80 km due south. Panghsang, the headquarters of the United Wa State Army, is about 169 km to the southeast, along a well-maintained highway.

The town itself is unremarkable, except for its association with Khun Sa. The former home of the drug lord is located in ward 1, and is known to locals simply as “Khun Sa House”. It is currently being used as the office of the Manpang militia.

A pattern of harassment 

Candidates from parties other than the USDP have complained of being followed by armed members of the Manpang militia while trying to campaign in areas under its control. In some cases, they say, they have even been barred from entering the region.

Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) candidate Sai Hla Htwe said members of the militia tailed the party during a recent campaign trip to Manpang and Na Nang village tracts.

“This is a threat to our voters,” he said.

Sai Naw Kham, a candidate for the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), said he had a similar experience.

“Other parties feel they have to be careful about gathering without the militia’s permission, which has made it difficult to run campaigns. The militia has ties to someone contesting in the election and we would like to ask for help so that we can campaign freely,” he said.

Liaison officer Sam Vara scoffed at suggestions that there was anything unusual about the way the former militia leader engages in politics or makes his money. He added that Sai Mon has spent billions of kyat on developing the region.

“Where does he get the money to do these things? He is involved in the jewellery business in Hpakant and Mong Hsu on a huge scale. He spends money he gets from his Shan Yoma Aye Chan Yay companies,” he said.

He was less forthcoming, however, about the militia’s finances (and with a response to Myanmar Now’s request for a meeting with Sai Mon himself).

“Where would a militia get money?” he said, laughing.

The answer to that question might come from local civil society organizations, who say that the Manpang militia routinely exploits people living in areas under its control.

Sources from the Ta’ang Students and Youth Union and the Ta’ang Women’s Organization said that a total of about 50 households in several Ta’ang villages are forced to provide 12 bags of rice each to the militia annually, in addition to 200,000- 300,000 kyat in cash. They are also pressured to provide recruits and volunteers, the groups said.

“People just post whatever they like on Facebook. In reality, we haven’t seen any recruitment,” said Sai San Sein, a USDP MP in the stateparliament 

They also said that the Ta’ang Health Committee, formed by youths living in predominantly Ta’ang villages, has been prevented from providing health care to villagers in the Manpang region.

Sai Kham Aung, of the Tangyan branch of the Shan Youth Organization, said that many villagers have lost their land to the militia.

“There’s someone called Lieutenant Lon Aing. He’s been confiscating land in four or five village tracts. When I say confiscating, I mean he pressures villagers into selling their land at a really low price,” he said.

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He also accused the militia of using coercive methods to recruit new members. In some cases, he said, former drug addicts are forced to join if they can’t pay for rehabilitation treatment provided by the militia. 

Others are offered up to a million kyat to join. “It happens quite regularly,” he said.

However, Sai San Sein, a USDP candidate who represents Tangyan township constituency 1 in the state parliament, dismissed these claims.

“People just post whatever they like on Facebook. In reality, we haven’t seen any recruitment,” he said.

According to official figures, Tangyan has a population of over 174,000 residents living in 10 wards and 49 village tracts. Most are Shan, Ta’ang or Lahu, while about 5 percent are Wa or Kokang. There are over 109,000 eligible voters in Tangyan.

Two of Tangyan’s three elected representatives are from the SNLD; the third is from the USDP. A total of 11 candidates from six parties are contesting in the Tangyan constituency this year.