Shan resistance leader Col. Yawdserk, who presided over a 4-day festivities (7-10 June) at his Loi Taileng camp opposite Maehongson in commemoration of King Bhumibol Adulyadej´s 60^th anniversary of accession to the throne, told S.H.A.N. politics had little to do with his public display of veneration to the Thai king.

"Even if Thais and Tais (Shans) are not kinsfolks, that won´t stop us from coming together to pray for his longevity," he said.  "He is a man of the people and an exemplary ruler, in whom people who are in suffering, whether they be Thais or otherwise, seek refuge.  Everything he says or does is for the good of the people. That is why he´s getting the respect and admiration from us, although he has never called for them."

At the same time, he lashed out against some Thai officials who customarily blame "Burmese minorities" for all the troubles between the two countries.  "Everyone who studies history must know that the two had already waged wars against each other long before there were "minorities," when these so-called minorities like Shans were living under their own independent rulers," he said.

Huge Shan communities in the kingdom are found in Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai in the north and Bangkok and its satellite provinces in central Thailand.

Thailand and Burma had fought several wars from 1534 to 1826, the end of the First Anglo-Burmese war, according to W.A.R. Wood´s A History of Siam (1924).