BURMA: Showdown Under the Fans

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Outside the cream-colored Chamber of Deputies in Rangoon last week, troops in battle dress lined the streets; Bren-gun carriers patrolled the bazaars; anxious citizens stood nervously by, holding umbrellas against the monsoon rains and clutching their wind-blown longyis (Burmese sarongs). Inside the building, 248 Deputies were jammed together under the rhythmic movement of 18 ceiling fans that fluttered the loose ends of their yellow, pink and blue head kerchiefs.

Buried Treasure. The Deputies were met for a showdown between Prime Minister U Nu and his ministerial rivals, U Ba Swe and U Kyaw Nyein, whose personal and political differences have torn asunder the ruling Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (TIME, May 12). Behind them were tension-ridden weeks of politicking, rumblings of military coups, intrigue and insult. In the struggle for votes, one Deputy jailed on a murder charge was let out to cast his ballot; another, who had been hospitalized by an auto accident, was badgered daily by special pleaders; another resigned his seat in protest against continual harassment.

Both sides consulted astrologers and soothsayers (U Nu sent his favorite astrologer to India to check his findings with expert colleagues). Deputies were exhorted to drink "oath water" proffered by Buddhist monks, vowing allegiance to one side or the other. The opposition accused U Nu of being the sort of man "who, to gain power, would dig for buried treasure in his father's forehead," and charged him with entering an "unholy alliance" to deliver Burma to the Communists. Nu's supporters struck back by reviling Swe and Nyein as "American stooges" who wanted to force Burma into anti-Communist blocs, including SEATO.

Bland Explanation. To win a vote of confidence, U Nu needed the help of the 45 votes held by the National United Front, a collection of Communist and other left-wing parties. Two days before Parliament met, U Nu made his deal with the left-wingers by ordering high-treason charges dropped against two Communist Deputies who had been in jail a year awaiting trial. His bland explanation: both men had said they were sorry they had done wrong and had promised not to commit treason again. With U Nu's victory assured, the tension of the past weeks abruptly vanished in a flood of Burmese euphoria.

In the Chamber of Deputies, U Nu lolled on the Premier's bench, relaxed and smiling, waving to friends and reporters. When his rivals, Swe and Nyein, entered to a storm of applause, U Nu cordially joined in. In his speech during the temperate six-hour debate, the Buddhist Prime Minister told a scatological joke about a king, his queen, and two domestic animals that convulsed the Deputies, and then won the biggest applause of the day by promising that "as long as I am Prime Minister, our neutrality policy will remain unchanged. I, too, believe Communists should never be put into power. As long as I am Prime Minister, I shall see that power does not go to them."