The Panglong agreement

Aung San Suu Kyi

History

The origin of the Tai peoples is said to be that they were among the diverse groups living in Kwangsi and Kweichow provinces south of the Yangzte River before the southward expansion of the Chinese empire in the 2nd century BC. A western group migrated down the Salween river around 63 BC into what it presently Shan State and established a number of principalities.

In 1287
The Shan had gained control over upper Burma until 1604 when the Burmese took it over. Burma became a part of British India in 1886, and in 1937 it was granted self-government within the British Commonwealth. The Shan were administered under a separate system as protectorates and the British recognized the authority of the Shan saophas, who enjoyed a high status.

In 1922
The British created the Federated Shan states and the Federated Shan States’ Council, under which peace and order were established for the first time in many centuries. During World War II, the Shan were loyal to the Allies while the Burmese assisted the Japanese in invading the country. Many battles were fought in the Shan Hills, and both the Allies and the Japanese bombed Shan towns, and in 1943 the Japanese ceded all but 2 Shan States. After the war British rule was restored.

Jan. 4, 1948
The newly formed Union of Burma was scheduled to gain its independence on Jan. 4, 1948, and on paper everything was ready. On Feb. 12, 1947, the Burmese nationalist leader Aung San and the leaders of the various ethnic groups signed the historic Panglong Agreement, setting up guidelines for the governing of ethnic minority groups in Burma and granting Shan State the right to succeed from the Union after ten years. However Aung San and a number of the other leaders were assassinated just a few months after the signing of the agreement (July 19, 1947), leaving the nation in a state of total chaos at the time of its independence. In an effort to create unity, Shan leader Sao Shwe Thaike was given the post of the first President of the Union of Burma, and U Nu was the first Prime Minister. A Chinese army invaded the upper Shan States, and the fighting spread until full-scale civil war rupted. A Shan nationalist movement developed, and the central Burmese government was uneasy as the date given by the Constitution (1958) approached when the Shan States had the right to secede from the Union.

April 24, 1959
The 34 Shan saophas gave up their rule on April 24, 1959 and the Shan States became Shan State, administered by an elected state government. The Burmese military became more and more powerful, and the Shan were unable to prevent attacks on their people through democratic means. It climaxed in 1962 when General Ne Win staged a coup d`etat and took over the entire country, capturing and executing a number of the government leaders. The new leaders called themselves the State Law and Order Restoration Council, recently re-named State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

1991
Oct 14: Aung San Suu Kyi wins Nobel Peace Prize.

Sources