Reach for the sky: Shan paper airplanes
By Naw Liang (London, UK)

Mai soong kha!
Well, we are finaly at the end of another year - Tai/Shan New Year 2014 was just celebrated a little over a month ago - and, as the year draws to an end, I find myself daydreaming, fiddling or just spaced out more than often. I guess I'm simply drained after another long (but fruitful) year of work, study, reading and writing. Time for a break....

More and more these days, I find myself up on the roof of our ofice building, scanning the horizon and thinking about things. Don't worry, there's nothing sinister about it. To be completely honest, though, I prefer the roof because it allows me to continue my (rather childish) hobby of making and testing paper airplanes, something that I have done longer than I can remember. If you ever find a uniquely designed paper airplane flying high over Finsbury Circus/Moorgate, that's probably mine, so cheer it along. Thanks.

Shan kids like paper airplanes too
It might sound strange, but Shan children are just like all other children. Of course they are. They ride bikes, play football (soccer), spend hours at chin lone (sepak takraw), play hide & seek and much more like children worldwide do. They also like paper airplanes, just like I did (do). But, it might be said, that no one likes (and is as skilled) at paper airplane flying than Mong Thongdee, a 12-year-old ethnic Shan who found himself in the news in late September this year after qualifying for and representing Thailand at the 4th Origami Plane Competition in Japan, the world championships for paper airplane piloting. In fact, Mong Thongdee was so skilled that he not only participated, but won a bronze (in the individual category) after previously winning gold - with a flight that lasted 11 seconds - for the Thai team. It appears that Mong knows his paper folding and flying, having won the national title - a pre-requisite to attending the world championships in Japan this year - in Bangkok with a flight of 12.5 seconds in 2008.

So Mong is a paper airplane whiz. Good for him. But, in all honesty, this wouldn't have been much of a story if it weren't for something out of Mong's control, beyond drafts, damp paper and sweaty hands that is. You see, Mong is, as stated above, an ethnic Shan living in Thailand. 'So what. There are many Shan living in Thailand," you might retort. Yes, very true. But Mong had one big problem prior to attending the international event in Japan. You see, despite having been born in Fang in 1987 and living his entire life in Thailand, the fourth grade student at Ban Huay Sai Primary School (outside Chiang Mai, Thailand) isn't officially a Thai citizen. He is, in fact, one of many (tens of thousands it is assumed) illegal immigrants living in Thailand's northern regions.

Tai but not Thai
Mong's case echoes many other Shan (and other ethnic minorities) living in Thailand. His parents, Sai Nyunt and Nang Mo, are ethnic Shan who left their home in Kho Lan village, Shan State, Burma/Myanmar in 1995 to seek a better life in Thailand. They have been there ever since, working in a variety of industries to support their family, but never officially registering with the Thai state. Why didn't they (and many others)? Because to do so would surely mean a swift return to Burma/Myanmar, something that is not an option. So, many Shan, Karen and others don't, working on the sidelines or in the shadows, mingling only within their own circles and networks, happy to avoid all attention.

That would have continued for Mong and his family if it weren't for his airplane prowess - his family would have remained anonymous for as long as they could hold out, swelling the growing number of Shan that make Thailand - legally or not - their permanent home. While estimates vary wildly, of the total population of Tai Yai/Shan (approximately 6m), some 2m are believed to live in Thailand. For many others, day-to-day life unnoticed is the best they can hope for.

Drawing attention - spotlights or isolation
However, this wasn't in the cards for Mong. Because of his skills, Mong's story was thrust under the microscope: it wasn't until it was uncovered that he was an 'illegal resident' and almost denied his chance to compete Japan that his case (and many like him) came to light. When the Thai Ministry of the Interior decided to refuse his request for a travel document to visit Japan - having illegally alien Burmese migrant parents and no Thai identification card didn't help his cause - Mong too was labelled an illegal immigrant despite upbringing and life being entirely Thai to date. Most damaging of all, his birth in the kingdom appeared to have no meaning/significance at all and to anyone.

As the media swirled - there have been several major articles and exposes on the plight of ethnic minorities in Thailand and their citizenship/residency issues - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva finally stepped in offered Mong a passport after meeting the boy in person in Bangkok. Mong and his family cheered the decision, and Mong himself said that Prime Minister Abhisit told him that they would meet again if he won first prize in Japan. It is hard to read the sentiment of that comment.

Homeward bound...

In the end, Mong was allowed to travel and excelled when he got the chance; I am sure his return visit to Bangkok, with his cheering parents by his side, was a pleasant end to this memorable time in his short life. He may even have become a minor local hero - I am sure his buddies at Ban Huay Sai Primary haven't askedhim a single question about his 'nationality', but have smothered him with requests on how to build the perfect paper airplane. And Mong has even said that, while he likes paper, he would prefer to become an airplane engineer in the future. I hope he gets the chance because he appears to have all the natural talent he needs. But, beyond the congratulations and praise, I wonder what is in store for him and his family, now well-known to everyone around them as 'illegals' in Thailand. More sinister, it has recently become known that Mong and his family are already on a repatriation list prepared by the Thai government of people to be return to Burma in February 2010. So, after 12 years in Thailand - the country of his birth - and representing (victoriously) the kingdom abroad, Mong and his family might be leaving in just a few short months.

With that in mind, I wonder if it had been better if he wasn't so hot with airplanes. Or, maybe, if he could just make them stay up in the air a little longer....

Jom lii kha,

Naw Liang