Comedian Zarganar organized the Thee Lay Thee dance troupe and led the group. How do you think Zarganar, who has been imprisoned, feels about your return ?
He is in prison, and we don’t have any contact with him so we can only imagine what he may think. He will welcome our return. We reviewed ourselves during our four-year exiled period. Our performances were not as effective as they should have been. When we knew that we could not achieve our aim, we decided to return. We will explain everything to Zarganar when he is released from prison. I believe that Zarganar will accept it.
Earlier, Thee Lay Thee criticized the former Burmese junta in humorous ways not only in Burma but also when you performed in foreign countries. Burmese people like your jokes. Do you think that you can say similar jokes now when you perform in Burma ? I think so. Because we already explained that we were criticizing the weak points of our country in a constructive way. Our aim to return is to point out the weak points. But, we cannot only talk about the weak points; we have to talk about the good points too. Everyone has both good points and weak points. The new government is taking steps toward democracy so I believe that it will grant things (freedom of expression) gradually. We wanted to return because we believe that.
If your hopes are dashed because the government does not permit freedom of expression and makes restrictions, what would you do ? We don’t think that our hopes will be dashed. We believe that things will happen positively. We hope that the government will grant freedom and the relevant authorities act accordingly. We don’t believe that the government will restrict us.
Thee Lay Thee traditional dance troupe leader comedian Godzilla, and comedians Sein Thee, Zee Thee and dancer Chaw Su Myo returned to Burma this week after four years in exile. Comedian Pan Thee, Kyel Thee and dancer Mya Sabai Ngone have remained in Thailand. Comedian Zarganar formed the popular dance troupe. In 2007, members left Burma after severely criticizing the former Burmese junta in performances inside the country and in foreign countries. Zarganar was arrested in June 2008 while helping Cyclone Nargis victims. He is serving a long prison term in Myitkyina Prison in Kachin State. Before the troupe returned to Burma, Mizzima correspondent Kyaw Kha talked with Godzilla about the decision to return and their future plans.
Burmese version Bur ျမန္မာ 2011.09.14 Mizzima - Godzilla talks about returning to Burma
2011.09.14 Mizzima - Godzilla talks about returning to Burma