Contexts - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 499

GENERAL MADNESS
The despotic excesses of modern Myanmar's two leading generals, Ne Win and Than Sh-
we, have been widely reported. What is less well known is their quaint shared beliefs in
antique superstitions and old wives' tales - some of which appear to have played a major
role in shaping huge national policy decisions and other affairs of state.
Rumours abound concerning Ne Win 's (1910-2002) penchant for numerology and
yadaya . Warned by his astrologer of potential assassination attempts, the great dictator is
said to have stood in front of a mirror, stamping on a piece of meat and then shot himself
in the mirror in order to deflect the anticipated bloodshed. In 1987 he was also responsible
for disastrous currency reforms during which new K45 and K90 notes (both divisible by
nine,andsaidtobenumerologicallyauspicious)replacedformerhigh-denominationnotes,
wiping out the lifetime savings of many Burmese at a stroke - a decision which played a
major role in the 8888 Uprising which erupted the following year.
Ne Win's successor Than Shwe (b.1933) was no less superstitious. The grandiose new
multi-billioncapitalofNaypyitawwasestablished,it'srumoured,largelyathisastrologers'
say-so, while he is also thought to have indulged a weakness for many other forms of al-
most cabalistic superstition. On one occasion following the Saffron Revolution in 2007 -
an incident entertainingly related in Emma Larkin's Everything is Broken - his wife Kya-
ing Kyaing is reported to have walked a pig and a dog counterclockwise around the Sh-
wedagon Pagoda in a yadaya ritual aimed either at breaking the power of Aung San Suu
Kyi and/or protecting Than Shwe's own family from a cowardly people (with pig and dog
symbolizing either Aung San Suu Kyi or the backsliding Burmese populace - or possibly
both). Whatever its intentions, Kyaing Kyaing's attempt at Buddhist black magic had little
influence on subsequent events - although at least no animals appear to have been harmed
in the making of this particular military fable.
The 8888 Uprising
Popular discontent at military rule finally erupted during the 8888Uprising (named after the
key events which occurred on August 8, 1988). The initial spark for the uprising occurred in
March 1988 when a student was shot dead by police following a trivial after-dark altercation
in Yangon. Protests rapidly spread across the city's universities and several more students
were killed during a protest at Inya Lake. By June, demonstrations had spread nationwide,
with widescale unrest and numerous deaths in cities across the country.
Then, at the height of the crisis, Ne Win unexpectedly announced his retirement, promising
a multi-party democracy in the near future but also stating, ominously, that “If the army
shoots, it has no tradition of shooting into the air. It shoots straight to kill.” Further protests
ensued, including a huge nationwide demonstration and general strike starting on August 8,