Pheung Kya-shin

Pheung Kya-shin (Chinese: 彭家声; pinyin: Péng Jiāshēng, Burmese: ဖုန်းကြားရှင်)[note 1] was the chairman of the Kokang Special Region in Myanmar (Burma) and the leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Pheung.
Pheung Kya-shin
Born1931 (age 88–89)
Red Rock River, British Burma
AllegianceKokang People's Revolutionary Army (1965–69)
Communist Party of Burma (1969–1989)
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (1989–present)
Years of service1965 (1965)–present
RankCommander in chief of the MNDAA
Battles/warsInternal conflict in Myanmar

Biography

Pheung is of Chinese descent, and was born near Kokang's Red Rock River (红石头河) in 1931. He was the oldest of seven children.[1] In 1949 he studied military affairs under Sao Edward Yang Kyein Tsai, the saopha of Kokang at that time, and became the captain of Yang's defense force, where he remained until Yang's was deposed by the Myanmar Armed Forces (the military junta ruling Burma) in 1965. Later that year he established the Kokang People's Revolutionary Army and began leading a small group of youth in guerilla warfare against the Myanmar Armed Forces, at which time his younger brother Pheung Kya-fu also became a military leader.[1]

In April 1969, Kokang province was established with Pheung as its leader.[1] For 20 years he controlled Kokang as a member of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB).[2] In 1989, however, the CPB split up[2] and Pheung established his own army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army,[1] with which he mutinied and captured the city of Mong Ko.[3] After this he signed a cease-fire with the military junta, which allowed the Kokang army to retain their weapons, and established an autonomous Kokang region as the "First Special Region" of Myanmar.[1][4]

Pheung has played a large role in drug production in Burma. According to Bertil Lintner, he established the first heroin factory in Kokang during the 1970s and continued trafficking heroin for at least 20 years.[5] In 1990, he legalized opium planting in Kokang.[1] Later, however, he said he opposed the drug trade: in a 1999 talk to journalists and narcotics experts he said he was working on "purging the area of opium", and that he had been trying to end the opium trade for 10 years.[5] The Kokang government declared the region "drug-free" in 2003.[1][6][7] The central government and narcotics experts, however, still suspect the region of being involved in the drug trade.[6][7]

The cease-fire with the military junta was broken in August 2009 after the government sent troops to conduct a drug raid on a factory suspected of being a drug front,[4][8] and on Pheung's own house.[6][9] At the same time, Pheung was challenged from within the army, as his deputy Bai Suocheng and others were said to have become loyal to the junta.[10][11][12] The confrontation with junta troops eventually led to violent conflict (the Kokang incident); Pheung himself was driven out by his competitors from within the army[12] and is rumored to have fled,[1] after a warrant was issued for his arrest.[11]

He reappeared in an interview with Global Times, a newspaper backed by China's Communist Party, in December 2014. He said that he would retake Kokang from Myanmar army control. Armed clash between his troops and Myanmar armies erupted in February 2015 with an initial heavy causality of Myanmar Government.[13]

He is known to have close ties to Asia World's Lo Hsing Han, a former opium kingpin, and his son Steven Law (Tun Myint Naing), and is believed to have investments in Singapore through them.[14]

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See also

Notes
  1. Other spellings include Peng Jiasheng, Phon Kyar Shin, Phone Kyar Shin, and Peng Kya Shen. His name in Chinese is 彭家声.

References
  1. 果敢乱局当前 传“果敢王”已逃离 (in Chinese). 南国都市报 (Southern Metropolitan). 29 August 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  2. Lintner, Bertil; Chiang Mai (28 June 1990). "A fix in the making" (PDF). Far Eastern Economic Review. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  3. Tucker, Shelby (2001). Burma: The curse of independence. Pluto Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-7453-1541-6.
  4. "Tense situation in N. Myanmar's Shan state prevails". Xinhua. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  5. Peck, Grant (5 March 1999). "Foreign nations question support for Myanmar's opium battle". Associated Press.
  6. Lawi Weng (10 August 2009). "Kokang Thwart Burma Army Drug Raid". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  7. "Junta's ploy: push Kokang to shoot first". Shan Herald. 14 August 2009. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  8. Agence France-Presse (27 August 2009). "More fighting feared as thousands flee Burma". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  9. "Situation in Myanmar's Kokang region remains". China Daily. 29 August 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  10. Wai Moe (28 August 2009). "Junta Renews 'Divide-and-Rule' Tactic in Shan State". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  11. "Kokang capital falls: "Not shoot first" policy under fire". Shan Herald. 26 August 2009. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  12. "Myanmar military moves to crush Kokang Chinese". Earth Times. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  13. http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/13108-tnla-arakan-army-join-kokang-fight.html
  14. "Kokang rebels produce drugs in Asia World Company dam sites". Kachin News Group. Burma News International. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
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