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U
Sai Leun
U Sai Leun
စိုင်းလင်း
	Sai Leun in 2019
President of the Shan State Eastern Special Region 4
	In office; 30 June 1989 – ?
Deputy	U San Pae; Khun Hsang Lu; U Htein Lin (Lin Daode)
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	U Htein Lin (Lin Daode)
Chairman of the Peace and Solidarity Committee
	In office; 2005 – 7 August 2024
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	U Htein Lin (Lin Daode)
Personal details
Born	Lin Mingxian (林明贤); 1948 or 1949; Hainan, China
Died	7 August 2024 (aged 75); China
Nationality	Burmese; Chinese
Political party	Peace and Solidarity Committee [zh]
Other political; affiliations	Communist Party of Burma (?–1989); National Democratic Alliance Party (1989–2005)
Spouse	Nang Yin
Children	at least one son (including U Htein Lin)
Occupation	War lord, State leader
Military service
Branch/service	National Democratic Alliance Army
Years of service	1989–
Rank	?

Sai Leun (Burmese: စိုင်းလင်း; Chinese: 吴再林; also known as Sai Lin; born Lin Mingxian; 1948 or 1949 – 7 August 2024), commonly known as U Sai Leun, was the chairman of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the leader of the Shan State Special region 4.^[2]^[3]

Biography

Sai Leun was an ethnic Chinese, and was born in Hainan, China either in 1948 or 1949. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, he moved through Yunnan into Burma and then joined to help strengthen the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), has until now enjoyed considerable economic success in Mong La. He became a field commander in CPB zone 815, or present-day Mong La.

When the party disintegrated after the Wa rank-and-file revolted against its leadership in 1989, he headed one of the largest breakaway factions, the National Democratic Alliance Army. He was one of the several ex-CPB commanders to sign a ceasefire with the government in Rangoon, allowing the former communist the opportunity to create his own fiefdom centred first on the opium trade and then gambling as Special Region 4 became “opium free” in 1997.

To placate Sai Leun and guarantee he would not take up arms again, Burmese authorities granted him generous terms. Mong La became an autonomous zone and his well-equipped private army of several thousand men retained its arms. Additionally, he was given several business concessions: the tacit permission for the opium trade being the most lucrative. As the billboard commemorates, Khin Nyunt flew in to seal the pact with a shady handshake. Soon new refineries in his area went into operation. By the early-1990s Sai Leun headed one of the most powerful drug syndicates in northern Burma with an output of one to two thousand kilogrammes of pure heroin annually. For years he was high on the hitlist of the US State Department.^[4]^[5]

Sai Leun made a few abortive attempts to develop traditional business interests in the city. He invested some $US4 million in a sugar mill outside Mong La, only to find that no market existed for the sugar. A similar attempt to cultivate new varieties of rice also faltered when he failed to attract Chinese buyers. Sai Leun’s construction business, Asia Wealth Company, has built a new sealed road that links Sop Lwe to the outside world.^[6]

Sai Leun was married to Nang Yin (Chinese: 彭新春), the eldest daughter of Pheung Kya-shin, the former chairman of the Shan State Special Region 1 in Myanmar and leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

On 7 August 2024, Sai Leun died in China after battling lung cancer. He was 75.^[7]