Mae Sariang: Northwestern Border of Thailand …

Mae Hong Son was a principality of Monthon Payap⁷¹ (northwest circle). Mae Sariang or the old name Muang Yuam was once a muang (city) of “Western Chiang Mai Boriwen [area]” along with Muang Mae Hong Son, Muang Khun Yuam, and Muang Pai.

Afterward, the Western Chiang Mai Boriwen was changed to Payap Nuea Boriwen and the office was relocated from Muang Khun Yuam to Muang Yuam [Mae Sariang]. Boriwen (n.) were subdivisions of monthon and a Boriwen consisted of several muang. The term Boriwen was renamed to Changwat [Province] according to the government gazette no.24 (p. 1156) of 26 January 1907 [Rattanakosin Era 126].⁷² Currently, Mae Hong Son Province has seven administrative districts as follows: (1) Mae Hong Son, (2) Khum Yuam, (3) Pai, (4) Mae Sariang, (5) Mae La Noi, (6) Sop Moei, and (7) Pang Mapha (see Figure 2.4 and 2.5). This northwesternmost province, which is 924 kilometers far from Thailand’s capital:

Bangkok, has been promoted to domestic and international visitors through its official provincial slogan “Mists throughout the three seasons, the Kong Mu (monastery) that scrapes the sky, verdant forests, gentle people, beautiful customs; renowned land of sunflowers”.⁷³

Figure 2.4 Districts of Mae Hong Son Province (left) Figure 2.5 Location of Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand (right)

(Photos source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Hong_Son_Province, retrieved on 21 June 2017)

71 In the reign of the King Rama V (1868-1910), the monthon administratisve system was adopted as a political model. Monthon Payap covered the past principalities of Lanna kingdom, i.e. Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Phrae, and Nan. Lately in 1915, the eastern principalities of Monthon Payap including Chiang Rai, Lampang, Phrae, and Nan were separated into Monthon Maharat.

72 Source: http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2450/043/1156.PDF (accessed on 24 May 2017)

73 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Hong_Son_Province (accessed on 21 June 2017)

Mae Sariang has its old name as Muang Yuam, which was derived from the local river basin: Yuam River. According to the exhibition in Mae Sariang Museum,⁷⁴ Yon Sa Lin was recorded to be the present Mae Sariang’s name on The Great Royal Chronicle of the Glass Palace during the late of Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351-1767). Yon Sa Lin or Muang Yuam Tai [Southern Muang Yuam], which was located 1.5 kilometers in the south of nowadays Mae Sariang, is an ancient site of Mae Hong Son. Hallett (1890: 30) mentions that this area was called Muang Longyee by Burmese, and Muang Nium [Muang Yuam] by Tai Yai (Shan). In 1442, King Tilokraj (reign in Mangrai Dynasty 1441-1487) came to govern Muang Yuam Tai. Thep Sing, who salvaged the Lanna Kingdom from Burmese domination and became the independent ruler of Lanna in 1727, was the hero of Mae Sariang. Until 1809, because of the flood, the Muang Yuam center was relocated northward to the present Mae Sariang area. Muang Yuam was promoted to be an administrative district of Mae Hong Son Province in 1900 before its similar name to Khun Yuam District was renamed in 1917 to Mae Sariang District by using the name of Mae Sariang River that flows through the area.⁷⁵

Keyes (1970: 230) provides the description based on the observations of several scholars and northern Thai chronicles that “Mae Sariang appears to have become a border province [elsewhere, a provincial outpost] of the Yuan Kingdom of Chiangmai at the end of the 13th century when it was given as part of a dowry of a daughter of the King of Pegu [the present Bago of Myanmar, known as Hongsawadi in Thai transcription] to King Mengrai [Mangrai, reign 1292–1311] of Chiangmai”. Tai Yuan culture was expanded to this area.

Around 1800, however, Tai Yuan departed from the west of Salween River to resettle in Chiang Mai due to the Burmese reattacks. It was at the same time when King Kawila, who was the ruler of Chiang Mai, tried to force out various ethnic inhabitants to Chiang Mai. The abandoned area was displaced by Sgaw Karen, whose population had increased in number rapidly and widely, occupied the area. These Sgaw Karen came from

74 Mae Sariang Museum is located on the opposite side of Pra That Chom Chaeng Temple (one of the four famous temples of Mae Sariang as mentioned in the district slogan “Pra That Si Chom”) near the intersection of Highway no.108 (Chiang Mai—Mae Hong Son) and Highway no.105 (Mae Sod—Mae Sariang). I visited the museum in March 2015. The museum which was a raised floor teak building and displayed the history of Mae Sariang as well as its peoples, including Lua (Laveue, Lawa), Karen, Tai Yai (Shan), Tai Yuan (Northern Thai), and Pakistani, were completely destroyed by fire in October 2015. The new building is currently under construction.

75 The Announcement of Changing Amphoe [District] name was in the government gazette on 29 April 1917 (B.E.2460). (source: http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2460/A/40.PDF, accessed on 28 May 2017)

Burma [Myanmar] across the Burma-Siam border to seek for settlement and arable lands.

Sgaw Karen population had also rapidly increased in Pa Pae Sub-district area. They were skilled mahouts who worked for wages in European lumber industry during the 19th and the 20th century. Concurrently with the departure of Tai Yuan in Mae Sariang, there was also the emergence of the Red Karen’s robber bands in Mae Sariang. From the existing history, I notice that it is consistent with the period of Pa Pae village’s consolidation when Laveue constituent villages united to fortify the village’s defense.

The spread of Christianity in Mae Sariang became notable after the Second World War period. The Protestant New Tribe Missionaries came to evangelize among Laveue people in Mae La Noi and Mae Sariang districts in the 1950s during the Communist period.

Although the American Baptist Missionary had influenced transnationally across Burma-Siam border in Mae Hong Son areas during some decades earlier, the mission was well-received among Sgaw Karen people but it was not really connected with Laveue people.

By centering in Mae Sariang town, the New Tribe Missionaries went to evangelize in remote hill villages. The Bible Training Center Nong Mae La was established in 1982 by Donald Schlatter, who translated Lawa-Thai Bible and has worked with Christian Laveue for several decades. In the present, there are 21 congregations under Lawa District Churches located in Mae Sariang and Mae La Noi of Mae Hong Son Province, and Mae Chaem and Muang of Chiang Mai Province.⁷⁶

Concurrently, the Roman Catholic mission expanded westward from the northwestern districts of Chiang Mai Province (Chom Thong and Hot) to the adjacent Mae Sariang District of Mae Hong Son Province in 1955.⁷⁷ The Western priests traveled several days on foot and passed through Karen villages in Hot District to Mae Sariang District, at that time the electricity had just reached. The priests had been responsible for Catholic missions in Mae Hong Son Province in both Mae Sariang and Mae La Noi districts since 1956 until there was the division between Mae Sariang for the lower Mae Hong Son and Mae Tho for the middle and the upper Mae Hong Son in Mae La Noi—Khun Yuam District in 1958. According to the bulletin board at Saint Paul Mae Sariang Catholic Church that I saw during my visit in September 2016, there are approximately 6,600

76 (1) Ban Santisuk, (2) Ban Phae, (3) Ban La Up, (4) Ban Dong, (5) Ban Dong Mai, (6) Ban Tha Song Khwae, (7) Ban Pa Pae, (8) Ban Saam, (9) Ban La-ang Tai, (10) Ban La-ang Nuea, (11) Ban Kok Noi, (12) Ban Pae, (13) Ban Kok Luang, (14) Ban Suk Jai, (15) Ban Toon, (16) Ban Huay Sai, (17) Mae La Noi, (18) Evangelical Center Ban Mae Tia, (19) Evangelical Center Nong Mae La, (20) Christian Thai-Lawa Dormitory, and (21) Chiang Mai

77 In northern Thailand, the spread of the Catholic gospel was primarily started by Bishop Lucien Lacoste, Priest Joseph Seguinotte, and Priest Pedebido, who devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram, in 1953 among Sgaw Karen villagers in the foothills of Chom Thong District, Chiang Mai Province.

Catholics or 1,300 Catholic families in 103 villages under the administration of Mae Sariang Church in 2011. Almost all of thirty-one Catholic Churches are established in Karen villages.⁷⁸

In opposition to Christianity, the spread of Buddhism in border and highland areas was initiated by the Thai government targeting to animist ethnic groups in the 1960s. This Buddhist missionary is well known as Thammacharik Project. Moreover, since 2008 the Volunteer Graduate Monk in Highland Areas Project (Thammacharik) of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), the oldest Buddhist University in Thailand, was launched to send the graduate student monks as volunteers to work proactively among the ethnic groups. There were 35 ashrams [monks’ secluded residence]

in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Lampang provinces, especially in remote areas (Jamaree et al., 2017: 74-75 cited Phrapalad Suchat, 2010: 86). Therefore, Mae Sariang is diverse in the respect of ethnicity and more importantly of religion.