Hunt for a white elephant

[Guest guest]

There is a famous Hindi film by Tapan Sinha called 'Safed Hathi' based on

the relationship between a child and a white elephant named Airavat. Airavat

is captured by a king and the child rescues him with the help of all

denizens of the forest. Mysore Zoo had a white elephant at one point of

time, saw the creature on television. An animal of ethereal beauty.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-burmas-dictatorship-is-desperat\

ely-hunting-for-a-white-elephant-1934018.html

Why

Burma's dictatorship is desperately hunting for a white elephant

 

Sighting of rare albino animal – a symbol of power in Asia – has generals

scouring jungle

 

By Phoebe Kennedy in Rangoon

 

Friday, 2 April 2010

 

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tely-hunting-for-a-white-elephant-1934018.html#font-xlarge>

For

centuries, white elephants have been revered as a symbol of power and good

fortune in south-east Asia. Their discovery is a sign that the nation will

prosper, and its rulers are wise and just. Small wonder, then, that when one

of these rare creatures was spotted near Burma's western coast earlier this

year, the country's ruling generals sent in a special army unit to capture

it.

 

Never mind the international condemnation of Burma's military dictatorship,

suspected war crimes or shocking levels of poverty. If a white elephant is

found, so the superstition goes, then all will be well.

 

In the forested hills behind Ngwe Saung beach, elephants are used to haul

timber. It was one of their handlers who spotted the rare albino among a

herd of wild elephants in January. He reported the sighting to the head of

the timber company, the military was informed and the news was quickly sent

up the chain of command. According to soldiers in Ngwe Saung, Senior General

Than Shwe – the country's head – himself dispatched a company of some 50

soldiers, with an entourage of elephant handlers and veterinarians armed

with tranquilliser darts.

 

Soe Tin, a local farmer, knew what this meant for him. The first sighting of

the elephant in 2008 brought a swarm of soldiers to the area. The military

commandeered the local workforce of banana farmers and charcoal sellers to

assist in an unsuccessful three-month search. When the hunt resumed in

January, Soe Tin was recruited again. " The village authorities demanded one

person from each household, " the 41-year-old said. " We were forced to work

without pay. "

 

The soldiers demanded that all the villages near the beach provided them

with unpaid labour – a practice that is common in Burma. The men left their

homes and their farms to act as guides and porters. " The soldiers ordered us

around. I just did what they said. I didn't dare speak up, " the farmer said.

 

 

The legend of the white elephant originates in tales of the birth of Buddha:

a white elephant reputedly appeared before his mother and presented her with

a sacred lotus flower. The ancient Burmese kings believed that white

elephants were found only during the reign of good kings and that the

possession of one would help a country prosper. Conversely, the death of one

of these creatures could spell disaster. The demise of King Thibaw's

favourite white elephant – who lived in extravagant surroundings, adorned

with diamonds and fed from a gold trough – was soon followed by the

monarch's ousting by British colonisers in 1885.

 

Burma's modern-day rulers revere the white elephant just as their royal

predecessors did. In 2001, the capture of a white elephant in the jungles of

Arakan state was hailed in the media as " an omen for the emergence of a

prosperous, peaceful and modern state " . The " royal elephant " was brought to

Rangoon and presented to General Khin Nyunt – then first secretary of the

ruling State Peace and Development Council – who dressed it in full military

regalia and kept it at his private temple in a northern suburb of Rangoon.

But when Khin Nyunt was purged from his post as Prime Minister in 2004, the

elephant fell out of favour.

 

The junta's leader, Than Shwe, and his army chiefs, now in their newly built

capital Naypyidaw, are still waiting for a white elephant of their own. This

would be an auspicious year to find one. Burma's first general election in

20 years will be held later in 2010, but Western governments have already

dismissed the vote as a sham.

 

Recently announced election laws forbid the detained opposition leader Aung

San Suu Kyi from running for office. Her National League for Democracy,

faced with the choice of expelling its leader or boycotting the election,

has chosen to boycott it.

 

Amid the chorus of international criticism, the regime may be hoping that

the capture of the elephant will bestow legitimacy on its rule. But the

Burmese people, run down by years of political repression and economic

mismanagement, may not see it that way.

 

" Old symbols of the monarchy still hold some sway, and the possession of a

white elephant might boost the confidence of some, but I think for most

Burmese people today, just a little more spending on health and education

would be a much more welcome sign of enlightened government, " said the

historian and author Thant Myint-U.

 

In the Ngwe Saung hills, the hunt goes on. Local farmers say they think the

herd is protecting the elusive beast – estimated to be around five years old

and 5ft tall. Farmers in the area where the creature was spotted say they

have been driven off their land. They claim soldiers have cut down hardwood

trees and allowed their hunting elephants to trample crops.

 

The search is causing misery and hardship, said Soe Tin. " No one has any

idea where this elephant is, " he said. " If there is a white elephant out

there, I just hope they catch it very soon. "

 

Additional reporting by Win Myat

 

*White elephants Useless or exalted?*

 

While the white elephant is revered in Burma, the phrase has a rather

different connotation in Britain, where it is defined as a " a possession

that is useless or troublesome, " according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

It derives from the practice of the kings of Siam, the former name for

Thailand, to give rare albino elephants to ambitious courtiers. So great was

the honour and so prestigious the gift, that they would have no choice but

to look after the animal. However, the unwilling owner would soon be ruined

by the enormous cost of looking after it, with its insatiable demand for

bananas and sugar cane. The mystique of the animal continues in Thailand

through the honours system and the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant,

established in 1861 by King Rama IV.