it was rumoured that after the election, he approached Aung San Suu Kyi asking to be given the presidency.16 Aung San Suu Kyi is said to have refused his request, leading to Min Aung Hlaing’s humiliation, and escalating a private rivalry into a national crisis. With limited options, and a 516,000-strong military17 indoctrinated with unquestioning obedience at his disposal, and confidence owing to the success of similar power grabs in Myanmar’s history, Min Aung Hlaing undertook what he may have viewed as the only path available for preserving his skin and family resources. In the month after his coup, Min Aung Hlaing followed many of the same strategies used in earlier military coups. The military arrested key political leaders and engaged in tactics intended to divide the remaining political opposition—for example, by inviting other political parties disaffected by the NLD into the new SAC government. It paid obeisance to the head of the State Sangha Council or Ma-ha-na, and it performed yadaya rituals to combat bad karma.18 It arrested bedin saya—soothsayers or astrologers—who challenged Min Aung Hlaing’s dark rituals with “Why Myanmar’s Military Seized Power in a Coup”, Aljazeera, 1 February 2021, www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/1/who-is-min-aung-hlaing (accessed 5 April 2021). 16 Even though Myanmar’s army is reportedly half a million strong on paper, many analysts believe that that figure number is inflated, for example, by the dead (ghost soldiers) and incapacitated veterans. Personal communication with Aye Aye Mar, VOA Burmese correspondence and former member of All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), 13 March 2021. The figure of 516,000 men and woman under arms is from Global Fire Power Index, “Myanmar”, 3 March 2021, quoted in Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung, “Back to the Future? Possible Scenarios for Myanmar”, ISEAS Perspective, no. 2021/30, 12 March 2021, https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ISEAS_ Perspective_2021_30.pdf (accessed 18 March 2021). 17 Myanmar’s military rulers have since independence drawn upon supernatural sources for the enhancement of their personal political power to include propitiation of spirits, astrological alignment, prophetic forecasting, alchemy, runes and wizardry among other repertoires that intersect and engage Buddhist practices but are seen as existing outside of Buddhism proper. Yadaya rituals are a dark art form directed at temporarily reversing or postponing power arrangements in the unfolding karmic moral order. 18 6 21-J07648 01 Trends_2021-7.indd 6 28/4/21 9:34 AM