Guest Post | A new frontline against the junta: notes on the Yaw region of Myanmar
By Khin Zaw Win: the junta’ stupidity and brutality has turned a quiet and bucolic corner of the country into a gory and fiery battleground.
Burma has been plagued by conflict and wars for more than 70 years (excluding the Second World War). The centre – civil and military – had been able to hold on and assert itself because it held sway over the Burman majority population in a number of ways. Spatially and historically, the central part of the country and the broad riverine plains were occupied by the Burmans. In just one year – 2021 – those advantages that the centre enjoyed have been irretrievably lost.
The Yaw region is on the western edge of the historic Burman-dominated heartland of the country, where it meets the Arakan Yoma range and the Chin Hills. Since the anti-military armed revolution erupted early last year, not many months after the 1 February 2021 coup, the Yaw region has emerged as hotspot for clashes. Here, the revolution is primarily led by the Yaw Defence Force (YDF), which has staged daring attacks against military convoys and also managed to gain control of some territory.
Most of the Myanmar people themselves would have only a vague and foggy notion of what the Yaw region is. Within living memory, it was regarded as a backwoods stretch of area most noted for its ‘say-sayas’1 and witchcraft – somewhat romantic as Transylvania used to be. A famous fictional character was ‘Yaw-Pyan Ba Shein’ – who had returned from Yaw after learning the esoteric arts. Yet another, lighter side was the pretty womenfolk of Yaw who would cast spells on male ‘outlanders’ just for fun.
In history, one Yaw Min-gyi in late Konbaung Mandalay was a statesman and man of letters. Throughout the ages, the Yaw folk were seen as kind and hospitable, if a little “backward.” They spoke a dialect of Burmese, which may be classified as archaic Burmese. The region was noted for its remoteness and thick forests. Pakkoku was the river port and entrepôt for southern Yaw and southern Chin State and the people there regarded Yaw as their hinterland.
The region can be divided into:
Northern Yaw – centred around Gangaw district, more hilly2, and the river outlet being on the Chindwin;
Southern Yaw – Pauk is the ‘gateway’, and includes Saw, Kyaukhtu & Htilin.
Both parts have the Chin hills to their west. It is an amicable, symbiotic, inter-ethnic relationship with no instance of tension at all. In 1991, I had seen a dance performance in Mindat where the Chin girls wore Burmese anyein dresses.3
There is a town by the name of Yaw, but it is not prominent in modern times. Paddy, pulses and oilseeds are the agricultural mainstays. The rich forests provided pyinkado hardwood, but are degraded now from over-exploitation. The local economy is marked by self-sufficiency.
Politically, the area and people were very quiet. True, the area was once controlled by the Communist Parties because of its remoteness. The ‘adversaries’ were hard-bitten revolutionaries, with only a few local recruits. The rebellions petered out early, with surrenders and the Party HQ moving elsewhere.
Pakokku is a prosperous town. It used to pride itself as the ‘capital of the west bank’. It was quite pro-BSPP (first authoritarian post-coup administration beginning 1962) and many families had scions in the army and the air force. In recent years, it became noted for MaBaTha monks and their followers. There is no history of political agitation, as in the oilfields for instance. The 101st Infantry Division is stationed there.
Seemingly, the entire region was an unlikely candidate for becoming what it is now. There were protests following the February coup, and following orders, the army came down hard on them. Protesters at Myaing were among the first to be shot in their heads. So, the populace was only reacting to this awful brutality. Since then, it has been witnessing a protracted ‘low-intensity warfare’, marked by guerrilla ambushes and counter-insurgency operations up to now.
It is the junta generals’ stupidity and their men’s brutality that turned a quiet and bucolic corner of the country into a gory and fiery battleground. There are, unfortunately, many examples of agrarian regions and peoples having to face militaries bent on waging wars of terror. In Ukraine, after having suffered Stalin’s ‘Red Famines’, the Ukrainian people had greeted Nazi German invading columns in 1941 with the traditional bread and salt. They were unaware at that time that Hitler was no better.
Armed conflict in Yaw and elsewhere will continue, and one can wait and see what can be accomplished by feats of arms by either side. But in the hearts and souls of the local people, the institution of the sit-tat has been smashed to smithereens.
Khin Zaw Win is the Director of Tampadipa Institute, Yangon. He is a former prisoner of conscience in Myanmar.
Traditional healers and workers of charms good and bad.
The Pondaungia anthropoid fossils had been found there, which General Khin Nyunt proudly called ‘Burma Man’.
Public performances usually on temporary stage. Includes dances, a short play and comedians. The lead female dancer is the top draw.