_ translation & commentary by Yebaw Day

This is a translation and commentary on “Deeperinga,” a Poem on Depeyin  by Kyi Maung Than, published in Cherry magazine, June 2008 issue, page 7, as reported  in an article of the Burmese section of Khit Pyaing  e-zine, dated 1 July.

In the Free World, poets can write whatever they want but as we all know too well,  it is not so in Burma.   Poet Kyi Maung Than had written a poem called “Deeperinga” (pronounced deeper-in-GAH, with stress on the last syllable to be short and abrupt)  which is the ancient name of the town of Depeyin (pron. deeper-YIN, stress on the last syllable.  Please note that the Y and R are used interchangeably in Burmese, e.g., Rangoon/Yangon)  the place where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her motorcade were ambushed 30 May 2003 by a thousand thugs.  KM Than had accused no one and had attacked no individual and yet now his life is in danger and already two editors of the abovementioned magazine have been sacked for no good reason.

 

Rangoon (Yangon) is located in the lowest-central area of the map.  In the upper central area, find Mandalay, and then move to your left to find Monywa.  To the north-northeast of Monywa is Ye-U (also spelled Ye-Oo).  Depeyin aka Deeperinga is located between Monywa and Ye Oo.

Back then in early 2003, Ma Ma Suu had been travelling up-country holding rallies; everywhere she went, streets were completely filled with people who came to listen to her speak, and her huge popularity created such murderous paranoia in General Than Shwe that by late May, he made plans to assassinate her.  It was to be like a spontaneous riot where  she would end up getting beaten to death – and worse.   

A sight that surely caused Fear and Paranoia in the minds of Than Shwe and his cronies.  DASSK is a Tuesday-born; Than Shwe and his wife were told by their trusted astrologer that a Tuesday-born person would rule the nation and hence the extreme hatred and prejudice they have  for DASSK.

On that fateful day, uniformed troops were set up along the side of the road but stayed behind cover.  Some of the soldiers and MI agents were in civilian clothes and they openly joined civilian thugs from the USDA (Union Solidarity & Development Union), the Swann Ah Shin, and prison convicts who were armed with rocks and clubs waiting by the roadside. The NLD motorcade was preceded by some young men on motorcyclists who acted as point men.  But according to surviving witnesses, it appears that the motorcyclists were most likely the first victims attacked to prevent them from driving back to warn the approaching convoy.    There were several hundred members in Ma Ma Suu’s motorcade which was blockaded by the attackers who then threw rocks and beat them with their sticks and clubs.  The thugs yelled obscenities.  Just because Ma Ma Suu was married to an Englishman, the attackers yelled at the women victims, calling them the wives of Kalah (a derogatory word for Indian or foreigner), and demanding them to be THEIR wives.  They  stripped the women naked, yanked their hair, using their long hair as to pound their faces against the ground –  some were killed,  or raped and killed.    It must have been like a primeval stone-age battle except for being completely one-sided.  The NLD party members were not armed with any weapons as Ma Ma Suu had always emphasized a non-violent policy for her followers.

In contemporary cartoons, we sometimes see funny scenes of a cave man hitting a cave woman with a club and then dragging her off by the hair, presumably to be made into his mate.    We sometimes read about  anthropological articles where the illustrator depicts  stone-age men fighting each other with stones and clubs.   Well, all those occurred  but there was nothing amusing about it.  It all erupted on a horrendous scale that  hellish night of 30 May 2003.  Imagine several hundred NLD Party members desperately warding off the hail of rocks and being pummelled by sticks, surrounded by a thousand club-wielding ruffians which included prison convicts who were promised their freedom for their evil work.    In this modern day dictators order assassinations using the latest weapon technology, but it is remarkable how Gen. Than Shwe reverted to a stone-age mentality in his crude barbaric schemes.  More “remarkable” still is how Chinese diplomats were seen shadowing the NLD convoy from the time they left Monywa to go towards Depeyin and how there is a total lack of condemnation over this attack from Russia, China, India, and ASEAN nations, the Russia-C-I-A supporters of Than Shwe and SPDC.  These foreign supporters and their puppet dictatorship, SPDC are guilty of Crimes against Humanity and must all be punished.   

 

About a hundred members of the NLD Party died protecting Ma Ma Suu; the attackers came very close to laying hands on her, but her driver was finally able to drive around the obstacles and escape, only to be later arrested by the local police when they went to report the attack.  Yes, you read it correctly: Ma Ma Suu  went to report the attack; the police did nothing against the criminals  except to arrest and imprison her, the victim (and the survivors).  Such is the nature of  the Beast in Burma.  Ma Ma Suu has been incarcerated ever since then, for the third time in the past 18 years for a total of 12 years.    She was scheduled to be released in June this year after five years imprisonment, but inexplicably, the government extended her time for yet another year.

It was against this blood-soaked backdrop that Poet Kyi Maung Than wrote his composition.  June was the birth-month of Ma Ma Suu, and the poem was likely intended to illustrate this evil ambush that occurred 5 years ago.  Kyi Maung Than spoke to Khit Pyaing and denied that he had ever been arrested or detained, although many in the literary circle feel that he will soon be.  He asserted that he had dutifully submitted his Poem to the Censor Board which had read and passed it.  It was only after it was published  that the Board had second thoughts and became paranoid:  they then ordered the firing of the Chief Editor of Cherry magazine, Daw Thabyay, and the Executive Editor Lin Hteik Shin with the accusation that the Poem WAS INDEED referring to the Depeyin Attack.  A wizened journalist in Rangoon commented that the Literature Censor Board authorities realized their stupid error in passing the Poem and letting the Author go free, so instead, they vented their rage on the Editors who had nothing to do with it, i.e., with the composing of the Poem.  The Censors were supposed to read all publications carefully and reject any that was deemed unacceptable.  But there have been times when they have read and not understood the meanings and let through some publications, only to realize their stupidity later on, and then viciously blaming others.

Khit Pyaing ezine recalled that back in January 2008, Poet Saw Wai had written a Poem, “February 14^th” in honour of lovers in general which had been duly analyzed and allowed for publication.  It was only AFTER the magazine hit the streets that the Censor Board again awoke from their stupor and realized that if one takes out each of the first words in each line of the Poem the result is:  “Ah Nar Yoo Gyi Mhoo Gyi Than Shwe”  which means  “Power-Crazy Senior General Than Shwe”. (See Burma Digest article written by me on Saw Wai’s Poem (click).  In any modern nation, this would have been laughed off and the author would have been ignored. Not so in Burma, for that is the nature of the Beast.   The government arrested Saw Wai under Section 505 – B of the Penal Code.  As of this date, there have been 3 court sessions.  Many among the literary circle in Burma think that Kyi Maung Than will also end up like Saw Wai.  Kyi Maung Than is a political poet and used to have the pennames Hla Thein, and also Leik Pyar Thant Thant, but the government blacklisted him, so he then changed his penname to this present one.

Below is his Poem

DEEPERINGA by Kyi Maung Than, June 2008

_ English ranslation by Yebaw Day

1. It is not a town from story-books	Poan pyin htair ga myo lair ma hoak
2. It is not a town from mythology	Dandar yi htair  ga myo lair ma hoak
3. It is a town that existed since the Bagan Era	Bagan khit htair ga sheet det myo ta myo
4. It is a town that  existed since 700 years ago	Loon get det hnit paung 700 kyaw htair ga sheet det myo ta myo
5. A town that is a historical town.	Thamaing win myo ta myo.
A royal court in Sagaing, the same region as Deeperinga
A procession in Bagan, further south of Deeperinga
6. This town was founded by the Gadoo People	Dee myo go Gadoo loo myoh dway tee htaung get dair
7. King Alaungsithu,	Alaungsithu Min
8. While he was making a royal tour	Taing khan hlet lair yin
9. And reached the northern region (of his kingdom; his capital was further south in Bagan)	Myauk phet a-yat a-yauk
10. The nat spirits from the East pretended to be goats	A-shayt bet ka nat tway hseik yaung hsaung
11. They pretended to drink water and made (goat-like) noises which gave rise to why	Yay thauk met han myi than pay dar go a-swair pyoot lo.
12. This town received its name.	Dee myo dee nam mair twin get ya.
13. To the East is Irrawaddy (River)	A-shayt hmar E-yar-wa-dee
14. To the West is Chindwin (River)	A-nauk hmar Chindwin
15. Nearby is Moo River	Ma nee way hmar Moo Myit net
16. Agriculture was successful here.	Saik pyo yay loak ngann dway pyit htoon get dair.
17. There are many religious buildings	Thar tha neeka a-hsauk a-oan dway paw myah
18. Many scholar monks and scholars have become famous	Ya-han pyinnyar sheet, loo pyinnyar sheet dway htoon gah
19. It is easy to trade and do business back-and-forth with other towns	Ta char myo dway net seebwar koothan thwah lah bo lwair koo
20. According to the records during the reign of King Bodaw	Bodaw Phaya let htet sit tan dway a-yah
21. This was the most festive town of all 12 towns.	A-see gah zoan myo; 12 myo htair ga myo ta myo.
22. During the reign of King Alaung Phaya	Alaung Phaya let htet hmar
23. This town was given to the Crown Prince Naung Daw Gyi	Einshayt gan Naung Daw Gyi dee myo go sah ya
24. During the reign of King Bodaw, the Great Warrior Maha Bandoola	Bodaw Phaya let htet hmar Sit Thu Gyi Maha Bandoola
25. He was the Governor who received the Award of the Sun	Nay myo thura Ye Gaung bwet net dee myo yet myo woon.
26. The Master Abbot Ashin Aggah Thamahdi	Boan khan bo saya  Ashin Aggah Thamahdi
27. The Great Warrior Maha Bandoola	Sit Thu Gyi Maha Bandoola
28. Abbot  Ashin Woontha of Moandaing win	Moandaing win Saya Ashin Woontha
29. Abbot  Ashin Yatha of Atoola	Atoolah Sayadaw Ashin Yatha
30. Abbot  Ashin Zina of Mya Thein Dan Pagoda	Mya Thein Dan Sayadaw Ashin Zina
31. U Noh of Ayoodaw Mingala	Ayoodaw mingala oono
32. Abbot of Lair Tee	Lair tee Sayadaw
33. These are the famous native sons of this town.	Dar dee myothar poaggo kyaw dway.
34. In this town —- (the man) who rebelled against King Mindon.	Dee myo hmar —— Mindon Min go poankan charnar det
35. Prince Padein, once took shelter	Padein Minthar kho hloan get boo dair
36. From this town — the evil City Mayor U Khann	Dee myo ga nay —-Kauk kyit  yoak mar det Myowoon U Khann
37. Escaped to the Lower Land (i.e. Lower Burma)	Auk pyi go htwet pyay get dair
38. And so	Dee lo net
39. At this town — heroes have been lost	Dee myo hmar —-  Thu yair gaung dway pyauk hsoan get ya dair
40. At this town — traitors have sprouted wings	Dee myo hmar —-  Thissarbauk dway ataung pauk khet ya dair
41. At this town — a young man lost his (motor)cycle	Dee myo hmar —-   Loongair lay ta-yauk  thoot cycle kya pyauk khet ya dair
42. At this town — a Lady’s time to die was not reached, (her) life was not lost	Dee myo hmar —-   Amyothamee ta-yauk thay kan ma-yauk thet ma pyauk hpyit khet ya dair
43. At this town — there were events where teeth had to be clenched.	Dee myo hmar —-   Ankyeik ya det khauk ya det  aphyit apyet tway sheet get ya dair.
44. One day, in this arid region	Ta nayt dawt  mo nair det dee day tha
45. During the time and season of winter	Hsaung dwinn akhar thamaya hmar
46. Don’t even mention rain	Moh ywar bo ma hso htar net
47. There was no reason for rain clouds	Moh oan bo daung akyaung masheet bay met
48. Suddenly a great rain fell	Yoak ta-yet moh gyi ywar cha laik tair
49. Even the elephants’ tracks	Hsin chay yar  dway taung
50. The rain washed out and wiped out	Teingaw pah pyauk thwah aung ywah det moh moht
51. Northerners call it the rain that wipes out elephants’ tracks.	Anyar akhaw hsin yar teinn moh det lay
52. While traveling along the Road from Monywa -(to)- Ye Oo	Monywa – Ye Oo Lan go phyat thann yin
53. When (I) looked at this town from the car	Dee myo go car baw ga hlann kyi meet det akhar
54. Ghosts from the past are haunting still.	Ateik ta-hsay ga nga go chauk hlant nay lay yet.

FOOTNOTES:

As readers can see, the first part of the poem deals with historical background.  KM Than extols the fame of Deeperinga exceedingly up to line 33.

Then, he takes an ominous turn, quoting unsavory characters from the past (lines 34 to 37).  Thus far, the Censor Board should have nothing to be concerned about.

On line 39 onwards, the heroes who died refer to the hundred or so NLD members who bravely shielded Ma Ma Suu.  (You will notice in many pictures how she is surrounded by young people who quietly look out at the crowd.  They are the Party Faithful who have pledged to give up their lives in defense of Ma Ma Suu.  Every patriotic Burmese has recited an oath to honor Ma Ma Suu’s father, General Aung San, who was assassinated in a hail of bullets back in 19 July 1947.  Thus it is no surprise that the Party Faithful would be willing to die protecting Ma Ma Suu since it is a matter of personal pain to every patriot that the Father had to die.  Every Burmese boy and girl has been taught about how cruelly the National Father was murdered and everyone is acutely aware Ma Ma Suu could easily be assassinated like her Father.  Hence as soon as  the attack began, dozens of her people sprang to defend her.

Line 40 apparently refers to the thousand or so thugs and soldiers who participated in the attack.  They, along with their coordinator, the deceased Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win, and the SPDC Officer Corps, foremost being Sr. Gen. Than Shwe,  will forever be branded in Burmese History as TRAITORS.  When traitors sprout wings, they are flying and going around everywhere,  i.e.,  they are ubiquitous.    But please note that Kyi Maung Than never accused the government –  none of them – at all.  All he mentioned were “traitors” which could mean anything.

Line 41 must mean the advance scouts, the point men, who were probably the first ones beaten to death and their motorcycles seized and sold by the abovesaid traitors.

Line 42 is Ma Ma Suu

Line 43:  the Poet was restrained in describing only clenched teeth. He should have added clenched fists and boiling blood.  How do you feel that Ma Ma Suu could have been dragged out by her hair, and her frail body pummeled on the hard ground, and then gang-raped by a thousand bloodthirsty goons?  If it were not for the hundred party members who sacrificed their bodies as shields, this unspeakable horror could have happened.

Line 45: It was not winter time when the Depeyin Ambush occurred in May 2003, but the Poet was using poetic license.  What he meant was for us to think of winter only as an analogy which in Burma means the dry cool season where there is NO rainfall.  What he means is that Depeyin which is nowadays  a small, sleepy town where nothing big happens, suddenly, a tremendous cataclysm occurred.

Line 49 – 51: Elephants are the largest land animals, and the barbaric crimes of the SPDC are being likened to their foot-tracks.  Here, the rain also means massive  official lies to cover-up the entire affair.

Line 52.  If you leave Mandalay and go about 80 miles to the northwest, you reach the city of Monywa with its famous Than Boadday Temple.  Then, you travel along from Monywa to Ye Oo.  Depeyin is in between these two towns.  From Ye Oo, you finally reach Kalewa where you cross the Chindwin River and go on to Kalemyo.  From there, you go straight north to Tamu, and then you can cross the border into Moreh town in Manipur State, India.  That route, the Mandalay – Monywa – Ye Oo – Kalemyo – Tamu, the last stretch called the Tamu Road, was the route via which the Allies escaped when the Japanese invaded Burma from the south.

It is incredible how the Sarpay Seesit-yay, meaning the Literature Censor,  was extremely lax.  Any child who has heard about the Depeyin Ambush of 2003 can readily see that from  Line 39 onward, the Poem clearly refers to it.  Seesit-yay means the matter of ANALysis, and it is apparent that the Censor Board has been extremely ANAL in its treatment of the two hapless Editors of Cherry magazine, blaming them for allow the Poem to be published when it is they, the Censors whose job is to Seesit and reject.

However, the Seesit-Yay only See and then Sit on their butts and don’t do any real work. In English, we talk about how one can look, but not see.  In the case of the Seesit-Yay, they look, and they see the literary works, but they don’t understand what they are seeing.   They were not at all anal when Kyi Maung Than submitted his Poem to them.  It shows the Seesit idiots are very lazy fools who don’t know how to do their jobs, as evidenced last year when a Scandinavian group put in an advertisement pretending to be travel agents urging  Europeans to go to Burma. Their ad secretly mentioned words about how there was no freedom and how people were persecuted and killed.  The Seesit dumbkopfs did not catch on.    As a final touch, or touché,  they called their agency  Ewhsnahtrellik  which is really  Killer Than Shwe   in reverse and the blind fools of the Seesit Censors passed it, only to realize their mistake later and took  belated action against the magazine and editors.

The same thing with Poet Saw Wai who deliberately sacrificed himself in publishing his Poem.  He knew Than Shwe and his maladroit Seesit would finally See – It and imprison him, but he made an very important point.  By not escaping and allowing capture, he proved beyond doubt how true his Poem was:  he claimed Than Shwe was  Power-Crazy, and TS proved how true to form he was by obligingly arresting him.  If TS were NOT power-crazy, then he would have ignored this Poem.

Likewise, KMThan is baiting the Seesit-yay and setting himself up for arrest.  In his Poem, he does NOT accuse Than Shwe nor his government. All he mentions is elephant tracks, rain, heroes, traitors, clenched teeth, a Lady, and ghosts.  If this case were ever brought to trial, KMThan would be exonerated because he slandered no one in particular.  Therefore, if Than Shwe and the Generals are innocent  then what should they care about this Poem? The government  claimed that the attack was simply a clash between local people who did not like the NLD that unfortunately turned into a riot and that the government was in no way involved.  In that case the Seesit Yay does not have to act.  They should not act at all.   But  the government exposed  itself when it overreacted.  First against the Scandinavian group, second against Poet Saw Wai, and now thirdly, against the two Editors of Cherry magazine.  They once again, STUPIDLY proved to the World that they ARE guilty.

In Burmese, there are a couple of  funny anecdotes.  Sometimes, in a group of people, one person secretly farts and it smells terribly.  No one in the room knows who is the offender.  But we have all seen cases where the guilty offender gets up and denies he never farted when no one is accusing him, and he angrily accuses someone else.  Than Shwe is just like that. A fat old fart who has farted and farted  horribly, and each time he jumps up off his massive butt and accuses others.  (This also applies when government agents secretly explode terrorist bombs and then  TS accuses freedom fighters of the crimes.)

The other anecdote is, “OH Ma Lone Oan PWINTT !”   i.e., when a pot is boiling (with guilt) the lid cannot stay closed, but must boil over blow up on its own.    Kyi Maung Than is truly a most courageous man risking his life and career.  We at Burma Digest salute him and the equally brave  Editors of Cherry Magazine which dared to publish it.  Any further punishment taken against them is additional proof that Than Shwe and his goons are truly guilty.