Resumo de Children Of The Dragon - David Scott Mathieson

The ethno-linguistic tapestry of Burma engenders confusion, disbelief and a lot of ignorance in people both inside and outside the country. Historiography and "classification" are contests convoluted by the wide range of ethnic nationalities and their dialects, and distorted by a military regime that wants to contain groups in a safely subordinate web of colorful tribal loyalty to the central state. The result is often bewilderment. This rare and welcome book on the Pa-O, one of the country's sadly neglected ethnic groups, is a timely challenge to the sinister drive for slow state homogenization. The Pa-O are one of Burma's smallest ethnic nationalities, estimated by the authors to number 750,000 and living in a region stretching from southern Shan State to Karen State. Their ethno-linguistic origins are similar to those of other hill tribes along the eastern mountains of Burma, but they were also a major component of the Mon empire centered on Thaton and conquered by the Burmese in 1057. Since then they have spread across the mountain ranges, becoming vaguely "Burmanised" in Karen State and more prominent and assertive in Shan State. Their old name, Taungthu (or Taungsu in Shan), is derogatory and not welcomed by the modern Pa-O. Their legendary genesis is more colorful: they believe they are the progeny of a union between a weikja (wizard) called pa-weikja and a female naga (dragon) named moo-naga, who produced three eggs and gave birth to the Karen, Pa-O and Karenni (the Karen and the Karenni don't subscribe to this myth). The colorful turbans of Pa-O women, called pok-wa, symbolize the dragon's plumage and make them easily identifiable in markets from Hsipaw to Thailand's Mae Hong Son. This slim book looks briefly at the history of the Pa-O and their armed struggle in the late 1940s, first against the oppressive feudalism of Shan sawbwas (princes), and then against the growing power of the Burmese state, before turning to the Pa-O in Thailand and the experience of one refugee village, and concluding with six evocative accounts of a range of people's experiences over the last five decades. Testimonies are long overdue in accounts of the Pa-O and the book would have benefited from more than just these. The strongest sections of the book outline the brutal in-fighting involving various factions of the Pa-O armed resistance, over ideology, religion, ethnicity, greed, and egotism. It is dispiriting to read of the rounds of assassination, splinter factions and military misfortunes of the Red (Communist) Pa-O of Tha Kaley and his Shan State Nationalities People's Liberation Organization against the White (Nationalist) group, the Pa-O National Organization, and their further conflicts with Shan and Karenni forces, while also combating the vastly stronger Burmese army. For people unfamiliar with the Pa-O it is a well-drawn description of the ethnic group and its place in Burmese history. Yet the book's brevity is also the cause of frustration, leaving the reader with many unanswered questions. What of the Pa-O National Organization/Army ceasefire in 1991 that gave the group control of a semi-autonomous region southeast of Taunggyi? What were the terms? Is the agreement sound or shaky? How many soldiers does the group have now? What of its economic ventures in tourism, agriculture, road building and opium cultivation? More could also have been written about the Pa-O in Thailand. One answer would have been to look at a range of sources, including the Burmese military version of the ceasefire and the Pa-O role in the National Convention, its links with other exiled groups and the emerging promise of the women's organization and the Pa-O youth wing, which are moving away from destructive bickering. What has resulted from the ceasefire for the Pa-O of Shan State Special Region 6? Has there been a steady emergence of civil society, as some observers claim, or are leaders enriching themselves with ceasefire booty, as in other areinterviews with the various people involved would have been welcome. The book could also have achieved greater depth from engaging with the wider literature on civil war and internal displacement in the border region. Disappointingly, the authors fail to mention the Pa-O penchant for rocketry, which until recently generated large festivals called look-pai, where pipes packed with explosives are launched into the sky, in the belief that they bring rain. Stirring patriotic songs are sung at the festivals, probably one of the reasons the events were banned by the Burmese authorities in 2005. The Pa-O are rightly proud of this unique and endearing tradition. Exception must be taken to the author's claim that this is the first book on the Pa-O in English, as Mika Rolly's flawed but still engrossing Pa-Oh People, published nearly 20 years ago, is well known among Burma watchers. But, frustratingly brief though it is, this latest book on the Pa-O is a welcome contribution to the historiography of a long-neglected ethnic group. One hopes that it will be followed by further work by Western scholars, but more importantly, and at greater length, by the Pa-O themselves.

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