Brang Seng, Maran

   (1931-1994)

   Leader of the Kachin armed resistance against the central government, considered one of the ablest ethnic opposition figures before his death in 1994. He graduated from Rangoon (Yangon) University in 1954 and became headmaster of the Kachin Baptist High School in Myitkyina in 1957. In 1963, he joined the newly founded Kachin Independence Army/ Organization (KIA/KIO) and rose quickly to positions of responsibility, including leadership of KIO delegations to the People's Republic of China in 1967, 1968, and 1979. Becoming commander of the KIA and chairman of the KIO in 1975-1976, he worked hard to promote cooperation among ethnic nationalist armed groups and the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and was chosen vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Burma in November 1988. His death by stroke in August 1994, after the KIA/KIO had signed a cease-fire with the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), was a serious blow to the Kachin community and the ethnic nationalist movement in general. He was succeeded as KIO chairman by Zau Mai.