“Dee Poat Htair Ga Dee Pair” (”The Same Beans from the Same Basket”)

_ by David Law

In 1988, Ne Win was desperate to preserve his power because the country was in an uproar and people were up in arms. Thus, to deflect their anger, it is hypothesized here in this cartoon that when he announced in July 1988 he was quitting from national leadership, it was only a strategic ploy while he kept operating from behind the scenes to apppoint Sein Lwin as the new leader. When that did not work, he appoint “Dauktah” Maung Maung, a sycophantic judge, as the next leader, and when that also did not work out, he replaced him with Saw Maung. The G. prefixes here are intended as insults.

The Burmese phrase on the top left of the cartoon is the title of this piece. 1988 was also notorious for the ridiculous attempts of Ne Win and his minions to change the government, party, and leaders. The Burma Socialist Programme Party aka Myanmar So-shel-lis Lanzin Pa-tee is lampooned here as the Mayanar (pronounced M’ranar) Sauk-Shellist (lack of any damn shame) Htanzin (stretcher or palanquin) Pa-tee. M’ranar means Death, and the Socialists are totally shameless in the way they mismanaged the nation and abused the people.

The party was renamed the National Unity Party (note how the words, National and Socialist, is like the name of Adolf Hitler’s Nazional Sozialismus Partei.) In Burmese, this has been parodized into Tamyolone Nyit-pat-yay Pa-tee, or the whole clan filthy party instead of its real name, Amyothar Nyi-nyoot-yay Pa-tee, or National Unity Party.

The star in the previous emblem has been turned upside down to depict Satanism and the words Nga Yeah (Hell) are written beside it. The podium with its splintering ramshackle wooden boards is to illustrate the state of the nation and government.

What is the purpose of digging up this old cartoon that I drew almost two decades ago?

Than Shwe today is facing a crisis of his own and one method he could employ is this a face-saving gesture like Ne Win to step down and appoint a trusted subordinate such as Thura Shwe Mann ……. which will not solve the people’s problems. But it could provide him with an avenue of an escape or a way of avoiding any further responsibility. But of course, we know that whatever ploy he uses, he will be held responsible for all eternity by the natural forces of Kamma (Karma).