Lo Hsing-Han

   (Luo Xinghan, 1934- )

   Born in Kokang in northeastern Shan State, Lo Hsing-han served in forces commanded by the ruling Yang family before defecting to the Ne Win government in 1963 and becoming leader of a Ka Kwe Ye militia force. By the early 1970s, Lo had earned the title "king of the Golden Triangle" for his prominent role in the lucrative export of opium and heroin to Thailand and international markets. When the government issued an order disbanding the Ka Kwe Ye militias in 1973 he went underground, but he was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Burma, where he was sentenced to death in 1976. Released from jail in a 1980 amnesty, Lo cooperated with the government as leader of the Shan State Volunteer Force. When the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) broke up in early 1989, he played a crucial role in negotiating cease-fires between the State Law and Order Restoration Council and ethnic components of the CPB. Retiring to Rangoon (Yangon), he established postsocialist Burma's largest business conglomerate, Asia World, which has made substantial investments in real estate, tourism, and transportation and seems to have received "laundered" funds from the flourishing drug economy. One of its enterprises is a toll road connecting opium-growing areas in Shan State with the Chinese border. Asia World's managing director is Lo Hsing-han's son, Steven Law, who has close ties with Singaporean and Malaysian business people.

   See also Khun Sa.