Painting "Our Lady of Scorpions" copyright Kyi May Kaung"What the hell is a kyet soo pin -- kyet soo plant?" all the Conference attendees wanted to know at a closed door conference on Burma in Bangkok last July.
Someone told us it is "physic nut."
Now it seems that the junta in Burma is making people plant physic nut, even on their balconies in town.
This is somewhat reminiscent of Mao's backyard steel furnaces -- for which Chinese had to contribute their cooking pots and pans and farm tools in China's Great Leap Forward, which predictably, fell on its face.
It wasn't till China started using market reforms in 1978 under Deng Xiao Ping that it started to achieve the 10% per annum growth that has made it now into one of the world's leading producers and exporters of industrial goods.
Now Burma is using a policy like Mao's "to get rid of sparrows" in a nation wide campaign.
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Physic nut looks like a hibiscus plant, without the attractive flowers.
Nats in Burma are the 37 spirits of the pre-Buddhist pantheon, most of whom are "green dead" and died a violent death. Some are based on historical figures such as the Yun Bayin (Siamese King) Mae Ku of Chiangmai, taken to Burma as a prisoner of war.
The junta should not be so scared of Burmese democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. After all, she is worshiped like a saint, (or a nat?) and is already a legend in her lifetime.
A country covered with kyet soo plants will hardly hide her story.
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
