Mai Soong Kha on Tai National Day

The Shan National Day, the 7th. of February symbolises the day when all the Shan Leaders and the peoples of the Shan State got together in 1947 to adopt the Shan flag and the National Anthem. This was a very important occasion because we, as a nation, were about to embark on the most important decision in the history of the Shan State. On the 14th. of February 1947 Shan and other Non-Burman ethnic Leaders signed the "Panglong Agreement" with Bogyoke Aung San, who represented the Burman ethnic state, Burma Proper, to ask the British government for joint independence. A Union Constitution was drafted and passed in 1948, which was witnessed by the British Government Officials. Thus the Union of Burma came into existence.

According to the Agreement and Constitution the Union of Burma was made up of several states and not one single state"Myanmar or Burma" as termed by the military junta, and as perceived by most international communities. The Agreement also stated that all member states should have equal status and equal opportunities and that the Shan State and Karenni State have the right to secede from the Union after a period of ten years which was the year 1958. The Shan and other non-Burman ethnic states put their faith and trust in their more experienced partner, the Burman politicians and were ready to work with them for the benefit of the Union. Alas! The non-Burman ethnic nationals were betrayed and the Panglong Agreement" was dishonoured when the military staged a coup and immobilised our Leaders by putting them in prison. The Costitution was also destroyed and the Union of Burma was dissolved

By destroying the Constitution the military regimes thought they could put the states together by using brutal force but they have not succeeded in the forty years of their regime. The country has not progressed. The only claim that the military dictatorship can make is that they have brought sorrow and suffering to millions of people.


THE PANGLONG AGREEMENT, 1947 (7th February 1947)

A conference having been held at Panglong , attended by certain Members of the Executive Council of the Governor of Burma, all Saohpas and representative of the Shan States, the Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills:

The Members of the conference, believing that freedom will be more speedily achieved by the Shans, the Kachins and the Chins by their immediate co-operation with the Interim Burmese Government:

1.A Representative of the Hill Peoples, selected by the Governor on the recommendation of representatives of the Supreme Council of the United Hill Peoples (SCOUHP), shall be appointed a Counsellor for Frontier Areas shall be given executive authority by similar means.

2.The said Counsellor shall also be appointed a Member of the Governor's Executive Council, without portfolio, and the subject of Frontier Areas brought within the purview of the Executive Council by Constitutional Convention as in the case of Defence and External Affairs. The Counsellor for Frontier Areas shall be given executive authority by similar means.

3.The said Counsellor shall be assisted by two Deputy Counsellors representing races of which he is not a member. While the two Deputy Counsellors should deal in the first instance with the affairs of their respective areas and the Counsellor with all the remaining parts of the Frontier Areas, they should by Constitutional Convention act on the principle of joint responsibility.

4.While the Counsellor, in his capacity of Member of the Executive Council, will be the only representative of the Frontier Areas on the Council, the Deputy Counsellors shall be entitled to attend meetings of the Council when subjects pertaining to the Frontier Areas are discussed.

5.Though the Governor's Executive Council will be augmented as agreed above, it will not operate in respect of the Frontier Areas in any manner which would deprive any portion of those Areas of the autonomy which it now enjoys in internal administration. Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas is accepted in principle.

6.Though the question of demarcating and establishing a separated Kachin State within a Unified Burma is one which must be relegated for decision by the Constituent Assembly, it is agreed that such a State is desirable. As a first step towards this end, the Counsellor for Frontier Areas and the Deputy Counsellors shall be consulted in the administration of such areas in the Myitkyina and the Bhamo Districts as are Part II Scheduled Areas under the Government of Burma Act of 1935.

7.Citizens of the Frontier Areas shall enjoy rights and privileges which are regarded as fundamental in democratic countries.

8.The arrangements accepted in this Agreement are without prejudice to the financial autonomy now vested in the Federated Shan States.

9.The arrangements accepted in this Agreement are without prejudice to the financial assistance which the Kachin Hills and the Union Hills are entitled to receive from the revenues of Burma, and the Exeutive Council will examine with the Frontier Areas Counsellor and Deputy Counsellors the feasibility of adopting for the Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills financial arrangement similar to those between Burma and the Federated Shan States.