Myanmar's New Captial

[kittyboy]

Here is an article I found interesting. The junta has built themselves a new capital out in the jungle. It is pathetic that they enslave their own people while they build themselves a grand tribute to themselves.



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/A ... ir.html?hp (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Myanmar-Generals-Lair.html?hp)

Mark

[Marsilius]

The article cited above offers several suggestions as to the motivation behind the move - but fails to mention one that has been widely quoted in the western media: it seems that the members of the ruling junta are a very superstitious lot and that the new capital was suggested to them by a soothsayer.

From The Times, November 8 2005:

"Although government employees had expected a move from the old capital for nearly two years, most learnt of the order to go only at 6.30am on Sunday. They were told to leave their families behind, pack their belongings and join convoys moving about 200 miles north to Pyinmana, the city that only a year ago was little more than a collection of straw huts and rice paddies.

"The timing was believed to have been chosen as auspicious by astrologers. Moving the seat of government to an easily defensible valley surrounded by jungle is the latest sign of paranoia exhibited by a pariah military regime that fears both invasion by the United States, which has branded it an outpost of tyranny, and an uprising by its own downtrodden populace.

"A senior soothsayer may also have advised building a new centre of power, as BurmaтАЩs kings frequently did in the past. Astrologers play a key role in Burmese life and have prompted some of the strangest and most disastrous episodes in the countryтАЩs recent past."

[kittyboy]

Maybe the plan should be to slip a few million baht to the chief junta astrologer with the proviso that he advise them to step down before a terrible calamity (brought down from the heavens) befalls the lot of them... Probably not, as the guy would be dead in an hour.

What I don't get is why they would want to isolate themselves in the jungle? I would think that a military junta would want to be close to the population centers in order to keep track of the populace. I guess I would make a lousy dictator.

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From The Times, November 8 2005:

"Although government employees had expected a move from the old capital for nearly two years, most learnt of the order to go only at 6.30am on Sunday. They were told to leave their families behind, pack their belongings and join convoys moving about 200 miles north to Pyinmana, the city that only a year ago was little more than a collection of straw huts and rice paddies.

"The timing was believed to have been chosen as auspicious by astrologers. Moving the seat of government to an easily defensible valley surrounded by jungle is the latest sign of paranoia exhibited by a pariah military regime that fears both invasion by the United States, which has branded it an outpost of tyranny, and an uprising by its own downtrodden populace.

"A senior soothsayer may also have advised building a new centre of power, as BurmaтАЩs kings frequently did in the past. Astrologers play a key role in Burmese life and have prompted some of the strangest and most disastrous episodes in the countryтАЩs recent past."