Meaning of the Shan-National Flag
The design of the national flag is as sanctioned at the Panglong Treaty conference in 1947.
The size of the flag is ( 5ft. x 3ft)
Diameter of the Moon is (1. ½ ft)
The breath of the three colors: yellow, green and reddish (1 ft) each.
The meaning of the color:
1. yellow is religion
2. green is forest, and rich in natural resources and peace
3. red is bravery,
4. white is purity
The Shan Herald Agency for News has a great selection of photos of folksy Thai “songs for life” icon, Yuenyong “Ad” Ophakul, celebrating Shan State National Day with troops back in February. Famous as “Ad Carabao”, he appears to have been accompanied to the Thai-Burma border by a delegation of other Thais. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about his circles to proffer any names. More coverage of his visit is also available here.
For some context, The Irrawaddy has a useful interview with Ad Carabao from 2002, just after his pro-Shan album Don’t Cry: The Story of the Dispossessed was released.
In my 2003 ANU Honous thesis I made some brief comments about his involvement in the Shan struggle. Some readers may find them interesting.
From: Nicholas Farrelly, Focus on the Tai Village: Thai Interpretations of the Shan along the Thai-Burma Border, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2003 .
One extreme version of this affiliation is espoused by Thai singer, social critic and activist Yuenyong “Ad” Ophakul. Better known as “Ad Carabao”, he sings about the Shan in his 2002 album, Don’t Cry: The Story of the Dispossessed. The album refashions Bob Marley songs with lyrics that describe the suffering of the Shan. The lyrics emphasise Tai unity and the affinity that the Thai and Shan feel for each other. Ad Carabao’s brief introduction to the situation is a cry for attention and support. He declares that the “Shan are the majority population of the Shan State. Those 10 million people – citizens and soldiers… are involved in a legitimate battle for an independent homeland”. The legitimacy of that fight is underlined by the title of track nine, which exhorts listeners to “Grab your weapons” (จับอาวุธ). Carabao positions himself as a Tai: as part of the Shan struggle. In the song book there is a picture of Carabao holding the flag of an independent Shan State while wearing a Shan State Army uniform. This gesture is aimed, no doubt, to motivate Thai support for the Shan war against the Burmese government. To achieve the goal of a free Shan State, there is a need, the title of track four suggests, to “Settle Accounts” (คิกบัญชี). In that vein, Carabao cries that the:
Land of the Shan State is ours.
The land of the Shan State is the Shan’s.
Don’t make us forget.
For Carabao the prize is the “Shan State Our Home” (รัฐฉานบ้านเรา).
The Shan National Day and Chinese New Year fall on the same day in Burma this year. But while the country’s Chinese residents are celebrating on Thursday, the native Shan are officially barred from publicly marking the occasion.
The regime banned the Shan festival, also known as Shan State Day, in 2001, apparently because it was worried about growing political awareness among the Shan.
The festival commemorates the day when the Shan nation adopted its own flag and national anthem on February 7, 1947.
A resident of the Shan capital, Taunggyi, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that no celebration of the Shan festival was being held there. Many Chinese residents were gathering to celebrate Chinese New Year, she said.
The woman, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy, said the official ban on the Shan celebration was a further indication of how the regime was suppressing the Shan people.
Low-key ceremonies were being held in some locations, however.
In Rangoon, alms were offered to monks at a Shan monastery in the city’s Mayangone Township. The organizer of the ceremony, Nang Boe Seng, said: “We are celebrating so that our [Shan] people do not forget our culture, tradition and religious customs. We also want the young generation to love and uphold our culture.”
The day’s program included dance and music on Thursday evening by Shan performers, including the famous Shan singers Sai Htee Saing and Sai Khan Lait and Burmese singer Zaw Paing.
The Shan National Day was also being observed on Thursday in celebrations in Loi Taileng, headquarters of Shan State Army—(South).
Outside Burma, Shan migrants working and living in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, also celebrated the festival.
Despite the ban on Shan National Day observances in Burma, the regime permitted celebrations of the Shan New Year festival in Taunggyi in December.
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