A Burmese author known for his love poetry has been arrested after penning a Valentine's Day verse carrying a hidden message about the leader of the country's military junta, Senior General Than Shwe.
The poet, Saw Wai, was arrested on Tuesday, a day after his poem February 14 was published in the popular weekly entertainment magazine A Chit, according to friends and colleagues who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The eight-line poem in Burmese is about a man broken-hearted after falling for a fashion model, whom he thanks for having taught him the meaning of love. But if read vertically, the first word of each line forms the phrase: "Power crazy Senior General Than Shwe."
Than Shwe, 74, who has headed the junta since 1992, has little tolerance for criticism. He keeps himself sequestered in his remote, newly built capital, Naypyitaw, deep in the country's interior.
The junta drew worldwide condemnation after turning its troops on peaceful anti-government protesters last September. Some 100 people, including Buddhist monks who led the protests, were killed in the crackdown according to human rights groups. Saw Wai regularly writes innocuous love poems for Burmese-language magazines and journals. He is also a member of an organisation of local artists and actors called White Rainbow, which helps HIV-infected orphans.
"You have to be in love truly, madly, deeply and then you can call it real love," reads the poem for which he was arrested. The verse ends with a call for unity in the name of love: "Millions of people who know how to love please clap your hands of gilded gold and laugh out loud."
The Burmese word for million is "Than" and the word for gold is "Shwe." In Rangoon, the largest city in Burma, the magazine has been removed from newsstands.
Saw Wai's poem is the latest attempt by artists and others to circumvent the junta's muzzle on expression. A comedy troupe known as The Four Fruits has recently become popular for satirical jokes about the September crackdown. A well-known comedian who uses the stage name Zarganar was arrested during the crackdown and held for three weeks for providing food and other necessities to the monks who spearheaded the protests. He had earlier been imprisoned twice and his comedy routines were banned for their jokes about the regime.
Several monks have gained strong followings for delivering sermons with anti-government messages thinly cloaked in religious language, such as one stating that, "Those who kill monks will go to hell." CDs of the sermons are widely circulated.
