Book Review:

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Book Review 

?Burma and the Village of the Generals?  

A bombshell from TNT 

	The village of the Generals is in Bahan Township in Rangoon. It used to be
owned by a Chinese millionaire named Ching Chong and later by the Shan
princes collectively. It fell free into the hands of the generals who took
power in 1962 and hence the name which is known today. And its all-time
undisputed village headman is none other than Ne Win, the aging but still
powerful Burmese strong man. 

	The author, who took the pen-name TNT, used to live on its rimland and had
the opportunity to acquire intimate knowledge of the stories which he wrote
in the Independence monthly newsletter. Having a wife, who was a close
schoolmate of the Super General?s daughters, also helped a lot. 

	He wrote with feeling and he wrote with a sense of humor. Both of these
permeated into his stories which did not fail to entertain his readers,
among whom were the MI officers, who were among the first to mourn his
sudden death in 1996. The deepest mourner, apart from his family, was of
course S.H.A.N. that gained readers by two fold after his first article was
published. 

	Altogether he wrote 17 articles, 16 of which were reprinted as a book, by
the demand of his fans who just love to reread them and think the others
may also love them. 

	The reviewer?s favorite is ?Three Stations beyond Kalaw? though it is
unfortunately not among the collection. It tells you about the night life
activities created and upheld by the junta. The author recounts his
experiences in one of those places, how he was ?mauled by a tigress? in his
drunken sleep and "had to empty his pistol into the tigress to get rid of
her". No reader was left dulled by his amusing anecdotes. 

	Of course, that doesn?t include the generals themselves. They were
reportedly out for his scalp. Fortunately, he was already out of their
reach and murderous clutch. 

	Read it and see how Ne Win became one of the celebrated Thirty Comrades
while seeing the original team off at the ship before departure. Also see
how Khin Nyunt cultivated himself into a supercat by looking after his
adopted father General Tint Swe's petcats. See too how Maung Aye became
SLORC's vice chairman after presenting U Ne Win's favorite daughter with a
bag of selected gemstones from Monghsu. and lots of other gossips. And
you?ll surely agree that TNT had indeed thrown a bombshell into the junta?s
midst. 

S.H.A.N. 

N.B. 	The price is B.50 plus postage. It is written in Burmese. 
	The Euro Burma Officer is its funder.