Up the Kwai River: Part Two-The Burma Border

1984 - Traffic jam on a Sanklaburi Road.

The Kwai River Christian Mission is near the border with Burma (Myanmar) and especially at that time, was seen as kind of a frontier. For a variety of reasons neither the central governments of Thailand nor Burma had spent much time, interest or effort in their mutual border areas. In fact, even today, there are portions of the Thai/Burma border that are not clearly defined and claimed by both countries. At Kwai River, the patients, students, church members and everyone were a mix of ethnic Karen, Mon, some Thai, Burmese, some Muslims from Burma, and more. Ask a person their nationality and some would say Thai, some Karen, some Burmese and many would just give you a suspicious eye wondering, “Why do you need to know?”

In 1983, the government of Burma, for its part, did not even have control over much of the eastern part of the country that neighbored Thailand. For the Kwai River Christian Mission, the neighboring country was essentially “Kawthoolay”, the homeland of the Karen people. Apparently, that was more or less OK with the Thai government as it is my impression, that after a long history of wars with Burma (but none  recently) the Thais liked the idea of having a buffer between them and the Burmese. The Karen could serve that purpose. Besides, even though the Karen were native to Thailand as well as Burma, Thailand was still coming to terms with the idea of seeing the Karen and other minorities in the country as citizens and therefore, worthy of interest and support.

Since January of 1949, the Karen people of Burma (though not those in Thailand) have been and remain in conflict with the central government of Burma. At times, the Thai government has been supportive of the Karen military efforts by allowing arms destined for the Karen to pass through Thai territory or look the other way when Karen fighters might seek shelter on the Thai side of the border. At other times, the flow of arms and ammunition would be blocked and the Thai would allow Burmese military to cross into Thailand and cut off the retreat of the Karen. There were even times the Thai attacked Karen positions though I don’t recall hearing if the Thai ever attacked the Burmese.

Eventually, Marcia and I would be heavily involved with Karen and other refugees that had crossed into Thailand and later, resettled into the US. In 1983 however, Karen people were coming and going back and forth across the border at will, generally on a seasonal schedule. In the dry season, the Burma army would attack Karen villages chasing the people into Thailand. But, the Burmese had to retreat early in the rainy season before the roads became impassable. So as the Burma army retreated, the Karen would return to their villages to rebuild and plant crops to maybe survive another year. This was on the cusp of change however, as roads were slowly being improved within Burma limiting the need for the Burma military to retreat and therefore, limiting the ability of the Karen to go back to their homes and fields inside Burma. Thus, increasing numbers of Karen were forced to remain in Thailand for longer and longer periods of time and straining the capacity of local villages to absorb the influx of new residents. In 1984, Bob Coats representing our Baptist mission, along with other organizations and individuals began to provide support for the Karen fleeing the fighting. It was the precursor to what is now ‘The Border Consortium’ that supports all the refugee camps along the Thai-Burma Border.

In 1983, on our first trip to the Kwai River Mission, we were pretty oblivious to the border situation but we knew we were on an adventure. It was easy to see that the political, ethnic, cultural, and every aspect of the situation was complicated. Our main instructions for when we were to start our work with the Karen people was to stay away from any armed groups and stay away from the border in general for fear of jeopardizing our relationship with the Thai government and getting everyone thrown out of the country. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t go to a border crossing and take a peek! So, that’s what we did.

The "Three Pagodas" with Marcia, Peggy Smith
 and Anna Lee Cox - 1983

In the Kwai River Mission area, the border crossing was at the legendary “Three Pagodas Pass”. We’d
heard a lot about the pass and all that went on there so we expected something special. The story was that this was the place that goods of all kinds that came from or through Thailand arrived, were taken off the trucks that got them there, then put on oxcarts and smuggled into Burma. The Burma Karen were charging import duties on these goods and supporting their de facto country within eastern Burma. With all the smuggling, mystique and intrigue surrounding the Karen, Burmese, Thai and other groups we expected a spectacle. Surely the three pagodas at the pass would be spectacular!

Ox cart ready for black market goods then
covered with straw for a trip into Burma for sale

Alas, upon arriving at the three pagodas the pass was named for, we discovered they weren’t much taller than we were! Though we were no experts, they were probably the smallest pagodas we’d seen in Thailand, but indeed, there were three of them. We took the requisite photos, but I have to say, as a tourist stop, it was a let-down.

Smuggling operations though were alive and well and happening in plain sight. Ben Dickerson was our guide and he explained that the goods were put on the bottom of an ox cart, covered with straw and off they went into Burma to be sold. I’m sure if we knew what they were doing and even allowed to snap photos, everyone else knew as well. I suppose the straw cover was just to keep up appearances? I doubt it fooled anyone.

Site of new town of Sanklaburi - 1983

Ben also took us around to see where the new town
was being built on an elevated area to keep it up out of the lake that was coming. An impressive new temple was being built by ethnic Mon Buddhists, another significant minority living in the area. Generally, the lake and all the relocation activities signified a new interest by Thai authorities in the area and the whole area looks very different today. For the Karen in Burma though, 1983 was early in a long streak of hard times. It may be looking better a little now, but the struggle still continues.