He had little effective control over his southern vassals but agreed to an alliance with Pinya's longtime rival Sagaing to face off the northern Shan state of Mong Mao.
In 1358–59, while he tried to help Sagaing in the north, his home region of Kyaukse came under attack first by his erstwhile vassal Toungoo, and later by Mong Mao Shans.
[4] At his coronation, he took the title Thiri Tri Bhawanaditya Pawara Dhamma Yaza and Saw Omma of Thayet as his chief queen.
He never attempted to impose tighter control over his southernmost vassals Prome (Pyay) and Toungoo (Taungoo), which were practically independent.
Soon after his accession, at least one key governor, Swa Saw Ke of Yamethin, defected to Sagaing, the kingdom immediately north of Pinya.
Indeed, when Maw Shans attacked Sagaing from the north in the following dry season of 1358–59, Pinya's southern vassal Toungoo not only revolted but raided the lightly defended Kyaukse capital region itself.
[5] Kyawswa II's decree dated 12 March 1359, issued a week before his death, is the earliest known land survey (sittan).