ミャンマーで珍しい白象誕生、市民の反応は冷ややか

【ヤンゴンＡＦＰ＝時事】ミャンマー西部ラカイン州でこのほど、珍しい白い象が生まれた。国営メディアが３日、報じた。（写真はミャンマー・ラカイン州で生まれた白い子象。ミャンマー軍提供）
　国営英字紙ミャンマーの新しい灯によると、白象は７月に生まれた。体重約８０キロ、体高約７０センチで、名前はまだ決まっていない。
　子象は、真珠色の目や特徴的な尾など貴重な白象の八つの特徴のうち、七つが見られるという。
　東南アジアでは、白い象は非常に縁起がいいとされてきた。古代の支配者らは財力を高めるため、できるだけ多くの白象を所有しようとしたといわれている。
　だが、白象の飼育には膨大な費用が掛かるため、現代では「白象」が美しいが役に立たないものの表現として使われることもある。
　国営メディアによると、ミャンマーでは現在、首都ネピドーで６頭の白象が飼育されている。
　ミャンマーでは昨年の軍事クーデター後、軍による反軍政派に対する弾圧が続いており、白象の誕生に対するＳＮＳ上の反応は鈍いもしくは冷ややかだった。
　あるユーザーは「私の目がおかしいのかな。この象、茶色くない？」と投稿。「象が大切だったのは昔だけ」「この哀れな象は刑務所行きだ」などのコメントも見られた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/04-13:37）

A rare white elephant has been born in western Myanmar, state media said on Wednesday, unveiling what many in the Buddhist-majority country believe to be an auspicious creature.
Born last month in western Rakhine state, the baby weighs about 80 kilograms (180 pounds) and stands roughly 70 cm (two-and-a-half feet) tall, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Footage released by state TV showed the tusker tot following his mother to a river and being washed by its keepers, and later feeding from her.
The mother -- a 33-year-old called Zar Nan Hla -- is kept by the Myanma Timber Enterprise in Rakhine state, the Global New Light said, adding the baby possessed seven of the eight characteristics associated with rare white elephants.
Pearl-coloured eyes, plantain branch-shaped back, white hair, a distinctive tail, auspicious plot signs on the skin, five claws on the front legs and four on the back legs and big ears, the newspaper reported.
Social media users first posted about the birth of the elephant -- which has not been named yet -- late last month.
Historically, white elephants were considered extremely auspicious in Southeast Asian culture, and the region's ancient rulers acquired as many as they could to boost their fortunes.
But the ruinous cost of keeping the beasts in appropriately lavish style gave rise to the modern expression in which a white elephant is a useless, if beautiful, possession.
There are currently six white elephants in captivity in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, according to state media -- mostly from Rakhine state and the southern Ayeyarwady region.
With Myanmar reeling from a military coup last year and its bloody crackdown on dissent, the reaction of many on social media was muted or sceptical.
Am I colourblind if it just looks brown to me? posted one user.
Elephants were important only in the old eras, said another.
Now the poor elephant will have to go to jail.