Martyrs' Day - Also a Shan Leader's

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Subject: Martyrs' Day - Also a Shan Leader's Birthday: 

19 July 1999 

A Shan leader quietly celebrates his birthday, 19 July, which was
designated as Martyrs' Day  in 1947, the year he was born. 

Sao Ood Kesi, Chief Foreign Affairs Officer of the Shan States Army,
commanded by Yawdserk, says he is making offerings to the Buddha's shrine
at his home, marking not only his birthday but also Martyrs' Day which
falls on the same day. 

His father was Sao Zing, heir apparent to the Kesi throne. His mother was
Sao Kyi, younger sister of Sao Htun Yin of Banyin State, the famous prince
who served in the British army during World War II and won a medal for
bravery. 

Sao Ood was born in Kesi, a small Shan principality in the central Shan
State of Burma, then known as the Shan States. He received his bachelor
degree in law in 1979 and the LL.B. the following year. He became an
advocate in 1982 and practised law until 1988. In 1989, he joined the
Democratic League for the National Races of Shan State. 

Three years later, in 1992 disillusioned by the failure of the Rangoon
junta to honor the results of the 1990 elections, he joined the armed
resistance. 

Martyrs' Day has been observed since 1947 to mark the assassination of Aung
San, and his colleagues, among whom was Sao Sam Htun, Prince of Mongpawn,
Shan States, father of Sao Hso Hom, President of the exiled Shan Democratic
Union.