Mazel tov!

November 2, 2006 5:45 AM

It was alleged that Than Shwe's wife Kyaing Kyaing instructed that their daughter’s wedding must be the biggest and grandest in the history of Burma, bigger than the famous wedding of the daughter of SPDC vice-chairman Gen Maung Aye and the son of No.1, Industry Minister Aung Thaung.
posted by thirteenkiller (27 comments total)

Please see here and here for other monuments to Burma's clever leaders.
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:51 AM on November 2, 2006

So let me guess, the bait is that I'm supposed to complain that the "biggest/grandest/mous wedd" links have nothing to do with the wedding itself, and then you respond that they have everything to do with the wedding, and we all go home from the internets a bit wiser?

I don't support the regime in Burma and I intentionally avoided it while in SEAsia but your post would have been a lot more interesting if you added some depth to it such as how it's in Thailand's best interest for Burma to maintain the status quo.
posted by furtive at 6:04 AM on November 2, 2006

Suck it, hater.
posted by thirteenkiller at 6:09 AM on November 2, 2006

Well I wouldn't want to try and read the headline aloud three times quickly.
posted by clevershark at 6:37 AM on November 2, 2006

Don't let the bastards get you down, thirteenkiller, complaining at the top of the thread seems to be par for the course on MeFi. I thought your post was interesting.
posted by squidfartz at 6:40 AM on November 2, 2006

From the Burma Digest link, under Shwe's "Foolish moments under spell of astrologers":

Than Shwe let his wife Daw Kying Kying to marry Lu Min. Sold off all the government’s GOLD (SHWE) to declare there is no more Shwe, to ward off the end of SHWE (himself). Than Shwe and top three Junta, wearing Burmese Tha Mee (ladies skirts) donate and recorded at a pagoda as danated by Daw Than Shwe, Daw Khin Nyunt and Daw Aye because the astrologer

You can't made this stuff up.
posted by clevershark at 6:46 AM on November 2, 2006

Furtive, can you explain how it's in Thailand's best interest for Burma to maintain the status quo? What does this mean? Is Thailand supporting the Burmese regime?

I'm genuinely interested, but also - expanding on the topic is a lot more interesting than just snarking. We're not all SEAsia experts.
posted by riddley at 7:07 AM on November 2, 2006

Erm, what is this post supposed to be about? Are we supposed to be outraged by a lavish wedding held in a country where the huge majority of the population is poor? Or where political oppression is rampant? For the former, I bet you could pretty easily find video of American weddings that cost something like a hundred grand, and then pretend to be shocked by such lavish spending while other Americans are dying from lack of proper health care, are homeless, etcetera. For the latter, a handful of links to news articles hardly suffices. And the "suck it" comment is just the icing on the cake. This post is badly constructed, confusing, and I just spent ten minutes watching the wedding video waiting for some kind of big payoff-- a public sacrifice of political prisoners or something, anything to justify the annoyance in this post)-- and I would like that time back please.
posted by jokeefe at 7:46 AM on November 2, 2006

This post is too clever by half. (Suck it, thirteenkiller.) I hate the Burmese regime too, but "ooh, look at the lavish wedding" doesn't really cut it as a killer argument, and if it was just an excuse to post a bunch of nasty-regime links because we haven't had a Burma post in a while, then it was a bad idea. Impressive video, though, and I like this from the comment thread:

I also think that everyone should leave the happy couple alone and stop criticising them. Even daughters of ruthless dictators are allowed their happy day...

Also, how come when I got married I didn't get a white skullcap with a wing sticking out on one side? Now I feel cheated.
posted by languagehat at 7:57 AM on November 2, 2006

(I should point out that I only watched the first couple minutes of the video—when I say "impressive" I just mean it's amazing we can sit here and watch video of some Burmese jerk getting married in inappropriate splendor. I wouldn't want to lure anyone into watching ten minutes of it; I take jokeefe's word for it that there's no payoff, and so should you.)
posted by languagehat at 7:59 AM on November 2, 2006

What's your problem? You need an explosion or something? Fuck off.
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:00 AM on November 2, 2006

(That was for jokeefe, I would never* be so rude to langaugehat.)

Anyway, the point is: The video is interesting. There are people who are interested in how others conduct their lives. The other links are pointing out the absurdity of the people in the video. I don't care if you're outraged or just mildly amused (like I was) or.. whatever.

*maybe
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:07 AM on November 2, 2006

You know, telling people to "suck it" and "fuck off" aren't really ways to endear yourself to people who apparently actually have gone ahead and perused your post.
posted by clevershark at 8:20 AM on November 2, 2006

(That was for jokeefe, I would never* be so rude to langaugehat.)

Wellll, and a merry fuck you too, right back atcha. Are you six years old, or what?

And I know not of this "langaugehat" of which you speak-- someone with a prediliction for the measuring of hats, perhaps?-- but languagehat is, like, a friend, and if I ask him nicely maybe he'll tell you to bugger off.

Meanwhile, I sadly say goodbye to this interesting thread, leaving only my flag behind.
posted by jokeefe at 8:42 AM on November 2, 2006

Meanwhile, I sadly say goodbye to this interesting thread, leaving only my flag behind.

Hey, you could have done that in the first place, instead of being a jerk. That's all. I'm sorry you didn't like my post, I'm just not sure why you had to come in here and make a scene about it. That kinda hurt my feelings. I was hoping people would appreciate that there are interesting things in those links.
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:48 AM on November 2, 2006

Huh? I said something supportive of thirteenkiller and it gets removed? Twice?

Hmmmm... now that's an interesting piece of thread editing.

It's weird being new to MeFi -try as I might, I can't entirely figure out how this site works.
posted by squidfartz at 9:00 AM on November 2, 2006

*hugs Emilia*

Some of us are stupid and uneducated and didn't realise that Burma was so messed up, or even involved evil dictators.

It's almost like you people think everything you already know is bad and wrong and worth so little of your time that you would rather complain about it than just ignore it.
posted by public at 9:02 AM on November 2, 2006

jokeefe, you can open a discussion, or you can flip the bird. To do both, you'd need...tact.

That's not intended as a dig against you. It's polite advice.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:03 AM on November 2, 2006

*slaps forehead*

Sorry, Joe.

thirteenkiller, you can open a discussion...
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:05 AM on November 2, 2006

riddley: We can safely assume that if the regime in Burma were not in power then trade sanctions imposed would quickly be lifted to help development thus resulting in increased economic competition with it's neighbour Thailand, who shares a border and access to the Andaman sea with Burma. So it's in Thailand's economic interest to leave things the way they are. The persecution in Burma and the poor economy there also results in a cheap disposable labour force for Thailand (in construction, tourist or prostitution industries). Burmese make can make ok money in Thailand, but not good money because if they speak up they are threatened with deportation back to Burma.

Former Thai PM Thaskin was criticised outside of Thai circles for keeping a rather laisser faire attitude about Burma even when he was in a position to put pressure on the regime, instead playing the wait and see card on Burma's "democratic reforms". I was in Laos during the ASEAN summit in 2004 and the Western countries that came to witness the going ons were rather disappointed that the pressure they applied to Thailand didn't result in greater action on Thaskin's part.
posted by furtive at 9:22 AM on November 2, 2006

I was hoping people would appreciate that there are interesting things in those links.

I was hoping that the biggest/grandest/famous wedding links were going to be links if big grand famous weddings instead of bait and switch pap. Smart Dalek said it best.
posted by furtive at 9:30 AM on November 2, 2006

Thanks for clarification, Smart Dalek.

Hey, you could have done that in the first place, instead of being a jerk. That's all. I'm sorry you didn't like my post, I'm just not sure why you had to come in here and make a scene about it. That kinda hurt my feelings. I was hoping people would appreciate that there are interesting things in those links.

What the heck? If I make a badly constructed post, I expect to get lumps for it, and I'll try not to be so thin-skinned about it, either. The fact is, I'm unsure about the purpose of your post. If it was to say, "Here, look at these home movies of a despot's daughter's wedding" (that sounds like a Decemberists song, but nevermind), then okay; but you seem to be trying to construct an editorialized post about Burma's totalitarian state. Which is it? is all that I'm asking. The framing for this could have been much clearer, is all.

And, you know, you were the one who set the antagonistic tone from the start.
posted by jokeefe at 10:11 AM on November 2, 2006

MeTa is just two doors down, whyn't you guys and gals take this party over there?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2006

The lavish wedding video doesn't sound so interesting, but I'd really like to watch the documentary from the "biggest" link, called Burma's Secret War. Does anybody know anything about it? I can't figure out when it aired or if DVD copies of it are available.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 11:14 AM on November 2, 2006

*cough*
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:28 AM on November 2, 2006

Burma: State of Fear
posted by homunculus at 11:39 AM on November 2, 2006

What jokeefe said: it's not about hating your post, it's confusion as to what you had in mind. Don't take it to heart; just make your intentions clearer next time. If it was primarily about the video, then it might have been a good idea just to link to the video, with an appropriately snarky link text, and let us do research on Burma ourselves if we need to.


Sorry, Joe.

Dude, she's a she (and a very nice one, too)—if you go to her userpage, you'll see her given name is Juliet.
posted by languagehat at 12:36 PM on November 2, 2006