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"SAI Wansai is an astute Shan political analyst, who has written extensively on Myanmar´s ethnic conflict and political situation. His new book, Tracking the Transition: The Path from Quasi-civilian Rule to Fully Fledged Democracy, brings together his most important articles, and for the first time makes these available to a wider audience. As he points out, after decades of civil war and military rule, there is still a long way to go before ethnic conflict can be solved in Myanmar. Sai Wansai´s clear writing provides an excellent guide to navigate through Myanmar´s complicated political process to achieve peace and reconciliation. He explains the history of the conflict and conflict dynamics in Myanmar, the key grievances and aspirations of the country´s ethnic nationalities, the conceptual differences among the key stakeholders, and he points towards possible solutions. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand ethnic conflict and the current political reform process in Myanmar."
Tom Kramer, Transnational Institute (TNI)

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SAI WANSAI is the nom de guerre of Sai Myo Win born in 1950, in Myanmar´s Shan State. Belonging to the Shan people, a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia, he has been a lifelong activist in the Shan political scene from childhood to the present day.
As a schoolboy, he was an active member of the Tai Youth Association and later at Mandalay University became keenly interested in Shan literature and culture. After leaving university, he joined the armed struggle with the Shan resistance movement, before going into exile in Thailand. Following five years in exile, he immigrated to Germany where he was eventually naturalised as a German citizen.
During his political career, he has been secretary of the Shan Literature and Cultural Committee at Mandalay University; general-secretary of the exiled Shan Democratic Union (SDU); has worked as an international emissary for the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) party, which won the majority vote in Shan State during the 1990 elections - before the result was annulled by the military regime - and has served as a representative of the Shan people at the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), The Hague, Netherlands.
He is married with two daughters, and currently lives with his family not far from the city of Hamburg in Germany.

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