KEY POINTS:
He would not be the most obvious choice as the man to organise the catering at your daughter's wedding. But then Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar's military dictator, is not a man driven by convention.
They say you can judge the man by the company he keeps. In
this case the wedding planner for one of the world's top 10 dictators was Lo Hsing Han, one of Southeast Asia's infamous opium lords, "reinvented" as a Yangon businessman.
Welcome to the world of General Than Shwe - nicknamed, in muted whispers, the "Bulldog". Alliances in the tight circle surrounding him are oiled by money, influence and business, including arms and heroin dealing, and defined by paranoia, self-enrichment and astrology.
Than Shwe, 74, in power since 1992, is famed for his megalomania. The junta's bunker capital, Naypyidaw, was built on the advice of his astrologer. He commissioned a Buddha statue, whose face is uncannily like his own, which stands in Yangon's most sacred pagoda, Shwedagon.
But it was last year's extravagant wedding of Than Shwe's daughter that offered his subjects a rare glimpse inside this secretive world.
A video was leaked on to the internet, showing a well-fed Thandar Shwe, perspiring under the weight of diamond-encrusted necklaces and hairbands and swathed in yards of silk as plump junta members sat on gold-trimmed chairs in front of a five-tiered wedding cake and champagne. For the Burmese, who struggle to find basic foodstuffs, the lavishness seemed surreal.
Lo Hsing Han, chairman of Burma's Asia World conglomerate, which owns a share in Yangon's famous hotel, Traders, organised the catering. Another crony, Tay Za, head of the Htoo Trading Company, footed much of the bill. While Lo Hsing Han's relationship with the junta has focused on a joint interest in the heroin trade, Tay Za is reputed to have dated one of Than Shwe's daughters.
When Than Shwe and his family go on holiday, it has often been to the beach at Ngwe Hsaung where Tay Za owns a resort.
The quid pro quo for Tay Za's close relationship with Than Shwe has been access to arms deals. Tay Za serves as the representative in Myanmar for Russian aircraft maker Mapo and helicopter firm Rostvertol. Opposition groups say that in 2002, Tay Za was instrumental in securing a deal that saw Russia sell 10 MiG-29 jet fighters for US$130 million ($168 million) to the junta.
Than Shwe's life is far from his humble beginnings. Born in 1933, and failing to finish high school, he was a clerk before joining the Army in 1953. By the age of 50 he had risen through the ranks to take command of a relatively tranquil post in the Irrawaddy delta.
By the time dictator Bo Ne Win was shunted aside after the coup that followed the suppressed uprisings of 1988, Than Shwe was one of three in line to replace him. Profiting from the rivalry between the other two, he came out ahead.
After orchestrating the move to Naypyidaw, in 2005, Than Shwe became even more isolated from the 50 million people of his country.
Observer
