Yet there are at least a few exhibits of interest:
the Lion throne of King Thibaw and some fairly well-preserved royal robes worn by
Burma’s last kings.
But the lighting is dim, the labeling inadequate and often absent altogether, and the 5 FEC entrance fee is not well spent.
If only for its curiosity value, however, Rangoon’s Drug Elimination Museum probably will be worth the expense when it reopens after extensive renovation. Much of the work on the museum in Kamayut township involves the removal of all traces of disgraced premier Khin Nyunt, whose presence dominated the entire building when he was still in power. Large portraits of Khin Nyunt hung on the walls, and a life-size dummy resembling the former leader featured in a second-floor diorama portraying the destruction of a poppy crop.
It’s to be hoped that the museum will retain a bizarre highlight: a display that gives visitors the chance to “eradicate” some illicit drugs. At the press of a button a fan comes into life and blows gold and red cellophane paper over what looks like a plastic bin-liner. Was this what the New Light of Myanmar meant when it described the museum as “high- tech” in 2004?
But forget the disappointments, the paucity of the exhibits, the intrusive staff—even the washing on the line. A trip to Rangoon’s museums can be as insightful into Burmese culture as any other tourist haunt, offering visitors a taste of history Burma-style: selective, politically charged and often downright falsified.
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