The Legacy of the Lost Army

On the map of Thailand, there is a place that points to Shan State in Burma with a finger at the very northeastern end. It is Ban Hin Taek (The Village of Broken Stone), 28km east of Doi Mae Salong.

In 1982, the Thai government renamed it to Ban Thoet Thai (Village to Honour Thai) in an attempt to erase the village’s drug-tainted reputation, but still the old one is better known among the people. Ban Hin Taek, 3km from the Burmese border, is surrounded by mountains 1000~2000m high scarred by slash-and-burn agriculture. 

But it is not a small village and no different from any other lowland Thai villages at first glance. Modern hospitals, tennis courts, ATM machines, 7-Eleven and WiFi have been added everywhere around. Its prosperity is influenced by the agricultural trade, but also because of the drug trade, although the Thai government has been making great efforts to combat the trade.

Originally Ban Hin Taek was founded by the Akha hill tribe who came down from Burma in 1903, but over the years it has become a multi-ethnic village. Among the 4,000 residents in Ban Hin Taek, Akha is still the majority with 40% but Lahu, Lisu, Yao, Shan and Yunnanese live together. 

As the Akha leader Teichin said, the Akha colour is now fading away in the village. Full of colorful traditional costumes that once dazzled visitors have become a story of the past. Unless a very discerning tourist, it would be difficult to find the ‘multi-racial, multi-cultural tourism’ slogan emphasized by the government.

Instead, what tourists can see in Ban Hin Taek are numerous ‘Houses of God’. A Catholic cathedral, a Christian church and a mosque stand in the middle of the village, and Thai-style, Yunnan-style as well as Shan-style Buddhist temples surround them. If these various religions are symbols of multiculturalism.

But how many people would come all the way to this deep mountain valley, where even transportation is difficult, just to see this religious symbol made of concrete?

“It’s just tourism as a slogan, only about 1,000 people visit our village a year,” Teichin said disappointingly. However, you don’t have to be discouraged in advance if you recall the famous saying “You see as much as you know.”

Ban Hin Taek was the heart of the so-called Golden Triangle, which bordered Burma, Thailand, and Laos and produced over 1,000 tons of opium annually in the 1970s. The person who controlled the drug production and route was Khun Sa, known as the ‘Opium King’.

He established the headquarters of the Shan United Army, SUA here. The notorious drug lord died long ago. but he still lives in the hearts of the village people. “Khun Sa was a very warm person. He gave money to the poor and built hospitals and schools…we can’t forget him,” says native Ki, who has lived his entire life as a farmer.

In fact, Khun Sa’s traces can be found everywhere in Ban Hin Taek. The Tatong Middle and High Schools where nearly 1,000 students study, the modern Mae Fah Luang Hospital, and the roads leading to each village are all legacies left by Khun Sa. No matter what the world says, the people of Ban Hin Taek have always revered Khun Sa as their great benefactor, calling him ‘father’, ‘uncle’ or ‘commander’.

“The older people say that back then, there was no trace of opium in Ban Hin Taek, and Khun Sa strictly punished people so that they could not even touch opium,” says village chief Tai Chin. The Thai government has long banned poppy cultivation and has been working hard to eradicate drugs, and there are no poppy plantations today. 

‘Opium King’ or ‘National Liberation Leader’, there are few figures as controversial as Khun Sa, who has two incompatible nicknames. Khun Sa was born in 1934 in Mongyai, Shan State, Burma. The son of a Chinese father and a Shan mother, Khun Sa, also known as Zhang Qifu, was originally a warlord who led the Ka Kwe Ye, KKY in Loimau, Shan State. 

KKY was a militia organisation that Gen. Ne Win, who seized power in a coup in 1962, allowed local warlords to arm themselves and act as self-defense forces to fight against the Burmese Communist Party and Shan State rebels. In return, the Burmese military government turned a blind eye to KKY’s opium trafficking.

However, when KKY became more obsessed with the opium business than with local defense, the military government imprisoned Khun Sa in 1969 and branded KKY an illegal organization in 1973. Burmese government released Khun Sa in 1973 in exchange for a Russian doctor kidnapped by his subordinates, and he came to Ban Hin Taek with his family in 1976. 

From then on, Khun Sa transformed from KKY to the leader of the Shan United Army, who called for Shan independence, and appeared on the Burmese-Thai border stage. With 20,000 troops in his arsenal, Khun Sa fought a war for drug supremacy with the remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang who had been chased by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and crossed the Burmese border, and explosively expanded the international drug market. 

Before World War II, Indochina’s annual opium production was only 60 tons, but by the mid-1970s, it had surpassed 1,000 tons. At that time, 40% of the opium produced in Burma and 70% of the drugs flowing into the United States passed through Khun Sa’s operations.

In 1975, when the Vietnam War ended, the US government, led by the CIA and the DEA designated Khun Sa as the number one wanted enemy. Thus, Ban Hin Taek became the target for strikes. In 1980, under pressure from the US government, Thai Prime Minister Gen Prem Tinsulanonda raised the flag of drug eradication. 

Finally, the Thai army attacked this mountainous border village Ban Hin Taek with tanks and fighter jets in 1982. After several days of fierce resistance, Khun Sa led the Shan United Army crossed the Burmese border.

Since then Khun Sa set up the headquarters of the Shan United Army and a heroin factory in Ho Mong, Shan State, Burma, bordering Thailand. In 1985, he founded the Mong Tai Army by bringing in the Shan United Revolutionary Army, a regional warlord alliance. Having grown in power in Ho Mong, Khun Sa dominated the international drug market until he surrendered to the Burmese military government in 1996. 

Despite pressure from the international community, including the United States, the Burmese military government never indicted Khun Sa and he died in Rangoon in 2007. On November 7th of that year, the Ban Hin Taek people held an enormous memorial service for Khun Sa.

They then named Khun Sa’s old headquarter, located in a mountain foot behind the central market, the ‘Khun Sa Museum’ as a tourist attraction. A statue of Khun Sa on horseback was erected on the site of the old parade ground, and on one side of the barracks, all kinds of photos and materials commemorating Khun Sa’s struggle for Shan State independence were hung. To be sure, there was not a single word about opium or drugs. And Khun Sa sat as a wax doll in a dark and eerie old office. 

“Khun Sa fought for Shan State independence. When Khun Sa was here, it wasn’t as hard to make a living as it is now. We all respect Khun Sa,” says Tai Chin.

The life of Khun Sa is still connected to the reality of the Burma-Thailand border. For instance, the United Wa State Army which emerged as the world’s largest drug warlord after Khun Sa, is calling for Wa independence against the Burmese government. Drugs that use ‘national liberation’ as their brand are rolling around the Burma-Thailand border even today. 

Just as the remnants of the Kuomintang used ‘anti-communism’ as their brand of drugs. This is the political economy of drugs. Ban Hin Taek, a remote mountain village, was once the heart of the drug front disguised as the national liberation front.