Buddha Than Shwe, no No NO !

A Cartoon Essay by Yebaw Day

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Some Iconographic Notes 

The Burmese captioning simply means Buddha Than Shwe, and the NO’s are to denounce the thought of Than Shwe trying to sanctify himself as a holy man, in fact, commissioning a sculptor to carve a Buddha with his face.  The NO is also intended to encourage people to vote NO this coming 10 May ReferenDUMP. Worthless, meaningless garbage dump where millions of votes are going to waste.  This election will not be fair and all the NO’s will go to nought.  Thus, it is going to be a dumb dump since no one can protest.
 
The second phrase simply means Ma Hoak Ka Yah which means wrong, nonsensical, to rhyme with Buddha.  The Ma is pronounced very briefly so that it is almost like M’Hoak. Likewise, the Ka is very brief, like K’Yah. The Budd in Buddha is pronounced Boad as in the English bode and boat.  Thus, Buddha and M’Hoak K’yah are  rhyming words.  The last part of the phrase is Lan Dway meaning roads or pathways, as in Lanzin, or way of life, philosophy, set of values. Lan Dway rhymes with Than Shwe. 
 
The entire message conveyed is:”Vote NO for Than Shwe who acts holier-than-Thou but is really GOing down the wrong pathway”   that will lead him to Hell.
 
The hand that is trying to stuff the bulging ballot box is crammed full of X votes which signify NO in the  Burmese voting system.  YES is a check mark, depicted here with a V but really a check mark.  The votes are intentionally colored pink alluding to the “pink slips” used in America to notify someone he is being kicked out of his job.    I don’t really know what color the votes will be; most likely plain white paper.
 
The grenade above Than Shwe’s head comes from China.  This is to signify the Almighty Power of weaponry which, supplied by China, has empowered Than Shwe all these past two decades.  Without China’s help, he would have perished years ago. With the power conferred to him by China, he thinks he can get away with anything in the world.  So far, he is getting away with not just murder, but with masacre and mayhem.
 
 In the classical depiction of Buddha, there is a protuberance of the brain at the top of the head which signifies Thabyinyuta Nyan, or the All-Knowing Omniscience power of the Buddha, with the long graceful ears, the flowing robes, the perfectly folded hands and crossed feet. 
 
In the lampooning of Than Shwe, I’ve added extra jowls to comply with the national popular opinion that he is a Khway Biloo, Dog Ogre, the Burmese word for bulldog.  He is a military man all his life, so even though he tries to portray himself as a holy man, his filthy green uniform always shows through underneath the Buddhist robes, and his combat boots are grossly misshapen and misplaced  because he is no Buddha, no matter how many pagodas he builds and how much money he tries to donate to monks to clean up his sins and crimes. 
 
His ears, in contrast, are grotesquely long on account of the heavy earrings which symbolize the  billions of dollars revenue he receives from ASEAN, and in particular, Thailand through  sales of natural resources, or rather,  the plundering thereof.  Again, without this support of ASEAN and Thailand, Than Shwe would have vanished in smoke years ago. 
 
Lastly, Buddha is usually presented on a lotus blossom.  My colleague, Dr. TS, commented that instead of the pink petals, he can only imagine the flames of Hell, so I changed the color and shape accordingly.  But the man is the Devil himself, the Devil Incarnate, so the flames do not seem to bother him at all.
 
And the Devil’s Throne is provided by the massive support India has provided Than Shwe in vying for his favors, trying to woo him from China.  Between the three of them, the Asian CIA,  —  China, India, and ASEAN —  this vile triad of  CIA is what keeps Than Shwe in power. 
 
In a free referendum, no evil CIA, despite their bases of support, the diamond earrings, the grenades of power, could ever hope to ensure Than Shwe’s survival.  If all the votes were cast freely and fairly, Than Shwe would truly burn in flames.  May he one day, soon, burn up in flames. Taung det hsu net pyayt bah zay. (May this prayer be fulfilled)