APPENDIX HH

_______________________________________________________________ CHIEF KHAI KAM - A Brief Biographical Sketch ( See SPECIAL TABLES 2/A & 2/B for his Genealogical Tree) He was one of the eleven children (4 sons and 7 daughters) of Chief Khup Pau and his wife Pii Cing Niang of Khuasak. When he was young, he was known among his contemporaries as a brave and skilled hunter. He alone had had seven guns. Khai Kam and Thuam Thawng, Chief of Kapteal, were mainly responsible for the preparation and implementation of the SiyinGungal Rebellion of 1892-93. When the rebellion was suppressed by a 2550-man British force under the command of Brigadier-General Palmer [later General Sir], C.B., and the they had upper-hand in 1893, Khai Kam, his brother Mang Pum and their father Chief Khup Pau went underground with hundreds of their followers and resorted to guerrila warfare. ... The four unsurrendered rebels included the two most important Chiefs Kuppow [Khup Pau], Chief of the Siyins, and Kaikam [Khai Kam], his notorious son, and as it was all-important to secure these Captain Murray and Lieutenant Sutton continued to search the country with unabated energy, while Mr. Fowler [Assistant Political Officer] and I [Mr. BertraM Carey] continued to bring pressure on the Siyin villages to force the the people into handing them up...(The Events of 1893-94: (2) The Operations against the Siyin Rebels. Carey & Tuck, p. 105) Later, the rebels had no other choices left except to give themselves up, because their relatives and other Chiefs and elders not only in the Siyin tract, but also even in the Sokete tract as well, were arrested and cultivation was strictly forbidden. So, Chief Khup Pau, his two sons and, Kam Suak, another hero of the rebellion, surrendered in May 1894. They were then brought to central Burma. Khup Pau was imprisoned in Myingyan Jail for four years, Mang Pum was interned in Insein Jail for nearly four years, but Khai Kam was banished for life on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, off Burma. As Mang Pum had mastered Burmese while he was in prison, he was appointed when he was released in 1897 as First Interpreter by Mr. Fowler at Tedim. He then enrolled in the Chin Hills Battalion, which was formed up on June 1, 1909. He finally rose to the rank of Subedar (which was equivalent to lieutenant of British rank), and was made Station Officer. In 1910 he made an appeal to the British Govern-ment for his brothers from his freedom. Thanks to his loyalty and good service the British released Khai Kam after 16 years of banishment. He was back at his native village on May 5, 2010. He was married to Pi Thuam Ciin and they had only one son. He passed away in September 1919. (Excerpted from Subedar Mang Pum (1880-1951) by David Hang Za
Pome; Pu Khai Kam by Pa Ngin Do Pau (Port Township Law Office Rangon), 2007. http://thangkhatpum.multiply.com/reviews/item/25 _____________________________________________ - Prepared and created in this form by Thang Za Dal. November 2012.