Press Release Concerning Two Lady Dolls Viral on Facebook

CONCERNING the video clip files posted on 22 October morning on social media (Facebook), which showed a person placing the two lady dolls on a pedestal within the precinct of Shwedagon Pagoda, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture has scrutinized the video clip files.

Upon scrutiny, it is found that the video clip files were first posted on the page “Lawka Weikzado Meinmahla Dewi Ahtet Gaing Gyokgyi”. The page account is found to belong to U Shine Zarni Aung, who has placed the two lady dolls on a pedestal.

At about 7 am on 22 October, a group of about eight people inclusive of U Shine Zarni Aung ar­rived with a black colour Alphard car bearing the number plate 6M/6648 at the car parking lot at the southern entrance of the pagoda. They brought with them two big dolls and one small doll measuring seven inches in height. The small doll represents Surassati goddess, and it is a glaze idol.

As the security personnel did not allow them to bring the big dolls onto the pagoda platform, they left the idols in the parking lot. The group led by U Shine Zarni Aung went up to the pagoda platform using the escalator. They circumambulated the pa­goda clockwise, bringing the glaze idol representing Surassati goddess, and arriving at the southwest corner, they held the ritual incantations with a bowl of the offertory and the glaze image placed in front of the goddess image there.

Afterwards, they came down via the southern stairway, and they put the two lady dolls on a pedes­tal near the stone inscription in the car parking lot. While performing their ritual incantations, pagoda security personnel called them for interrogation, and rid the pagoda precinct of the dolls.

Regarding this matter, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture has issued an announcement, which says that the ministry will file a case against U Shine Zarni Aung and the group for defamation of the Buddhist Religion and that the staff member who has permitted the ritual incantations without seeking the approval of the Shwedagon Pagoda Board of Trustees will have severe action taken as decided by the departmental enquiry commission, it is learnt.

Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture