A video of the lavish wedding that Myanmar's military ruler Than Shwe threw for his daughter sparked outrage yesterday in one of the world's poorest countries.
In the 10-minute clip posted on the Internet, Thandar Shwe is shown covered in layers of pearls, diamonds and other gems, while her groom splashes champagne across rows of glasses at the July wedding.
She and her groom, Major Zaw Phyo Win, are also shown in a bridal suite the size of a ballroom, standing before a gold-braid bed with a towering red canopy.
The Myanmar news magazine Irrawaddy estimated the value of the gifts at more than US$50 million -- or more than three times the nation's health budget.
Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo said he was stunned by the video and struggled to find a comparison.
"You might want to talk about Marie Antoinette," he said. "They don't know what is going on outside and they just keep making themselves more rich."
"I'm not surprised that people are very angry," he added.
"The whole affair is very tasteless ... Four, five, six diamond garlands. I've never seen it before," he said.
Myanmar is one of the world's poorest countries, where the UN estimates 40 percent of children are malnourished.
Even the relatively well-off in Yangon experience power outages that last up to seven hours a day and struggle to find gas for their cars.
The leak of the video offered a rare opportunity to peak under the blanket of secrecy in which Than Shwe wraps his government.
"This video clip was originally obtained from a private Web log in Rangoon [Yangon] and had been circulating within the former capital for more than a month," read a brief note attached to the video on the Web site YouTube.
"It was a glittering affair," said one Yangon resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said the lavish wedding gifts were given by the guests in hopes of winning favor with the regime.
"They bring a lot presents so they can try to receive favors later," he said.
While the video has sparked outrage among exiles, relatively few people inside Myanmar are likely to see it.
The military keeps tight controls on the Internet, and while DVD copies have circulated discreetly among Myanmar's markets, few of the nation's impoverished people have any way to play them.
The junta keeps such tight control over all its activities that the appearance of the video immediately sparked questions as to how it was leaked.
"Outsiders cannot even dream about getting close to the first family. So the cameraman I think must be highly regarded and trusted by the first family," Aung Naing Oo said. "The very fact that the video is out [means] that someone close to them must have leaked it."
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS