\n Though it is a pariah on the world stage and battling fierce domestic opposition to its rule, Myanmar's junta has found grounds for optimism -- the birth of a rare albino elephant.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since seizing power, the junta has crushed democracy protests, jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and been accused of committing war crimes in its bid to quell dissent.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the birth of the elephant -- more milky-grey than white -- in western Rahkine state last year is being portrayed by junta-controlled media as fortuitous.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ancient rulers regarded white elephants as extremely auspicious, and their appearance was taken as a symbol of righteous political power.\n<\/p>\n
\n The pale pachyderm will feature on a special postage stamp released this week to mark the 75th anniversary of Myanmar's independence from Britain, state media said on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n A set of gold commemorative coins bearing the animal's image is also already being cast for the occasion, another report said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The tusker tot's highest-profile engagement so far was a meeting with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in October, when the senior general bestowed it a name at a televised ceremony.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Rattha Nandaka\" comes from the ancient Pali words for \"country\" and \"happiness.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n To bolster the credentials of its newfound good omen, state media has insisted the beast has an almost impeccable pedigree.\n<\/p>\n
\n According to the experts quoted, it possesses seven of the eight standard characteristics for an albino elephant, including \"pearl-coloured eyes\" and a \"plantain branch-shaped back\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'The Powers of Nature' -\n<\/p>\n
\n In Myanmar, where astrological charts are drawn at birth and fortune-tellers consulted for both daily and political decisions -- the craze for white elephants goes back hundreds of years.\n<\/p>\n
\n Traditional chronicles tell of kings in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar -- then known as Burma -- warring to capture the beasts from rivals.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ruinous cost of keeping them in appropriately lavish style gave rise to the modern expression in which a \"white elephant\" is a useless, if beautiful, possession.\n<\/p>\n
\n One creature inherited by a 19th century Burmese king was waited on by thirty servants and dressed in a \"fine red cloth plentifully studded\" with rubies and diamonds, according to a visiting British official.\n<\/p>\n
\n The king, who had usurped his brother, \"would gladly hail the capture of a real white elephant in his own day as an assent from the Powers of Nature to his own legitimate royalty,\" the envoy added.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the fortunes of the creatures are tied up with the ruler under whom they were captured.\n<\/p>\n
\n Two elephants, once feted by a former junta, are now confined to a damp, out-of-the-way compound in commercial hub Yangon where they receive few visitors.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Rattha Nandaka\" will spend its days in a special compound for white elephants in military-built capital Naypyidaw.\n<\/p>\n
\n But with swathes of the country still ravaged by fighting and the junta widely reviled, his birth has been met with public scepticism and scorn.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It seems like they forgot to put suncream on,\" one social media user wrote about the baby elephant's more grey than albino appearance.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Now it's black.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Black or white, another wrote, the baby was \"now a prisoner\".<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though it is a pariah on the world stage and battling fierce domestic opposition to its rule, Myanmar's junta has found grounds for optimism -- the birth of a rare albino elephant. Since seizing power, the junta has crushed democracy protests, jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and been accused of committing war crimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-110788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n