A few days ago, Minister of Information Ye Htut posted images from a cluster of stupas in Sagaing Division that had been defaced with graffiti. With the images, he posed the question: “Is that good to see now?”
The graffiti included Happy New Year messages and indecipherable scrawling. Ye Htut shared the photos from another account.
Naturally, many did not think it was “good to see now,” with one person even suggesting surveillance to catch violators in the future. Some comments were infused with politics.
“Dear Minister, please help us before you leave,” wrote user Minn Khant on Ye Htut’s page, alluding to the fact that as the NLD comes to power, Ye Htut will likely be out of the job. He has said he won’t seek a post in the new government. “Please install CCTV cameras in famous pagodas around the country using state funding. It is not so expensive at this time.”
The graffiti, in Sagaing’s Minn Gunn Township, was apparently done on New Year’s Eve.
“Instead of shouting ‘time to change,’ one user wrote, referencing the NLD’s campaign slogan, “change that kind of stupid attitude first.”
But another put the blame back in Ye Htut and the ruling Union Solidairty and Development Party’s court: “That is because of very weak or No “Rule Of Law” in Burma since your military government systematically destroyed it. Nobody really cared about Law since they could escape from prosecution if either they have money or they know someone from military families.”
