MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2013 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 Teenagers say inside goodbye to CAMPUS • University students Facebook and hello pushed to the limit in to messenger apps Leadership Challenge P | 4 P | 12 WHEELS • 2014 Honda Odyssey hits Qatar roads P | 6 HEALTH • Trans fats in processed foods bad for health: US P | 7 FILM • The Armstrong Lie deconstructs cyclist’s myth-making P | 8-9 BOOKS • Japanese hone LOST the art of making miniature books KINGDOM P | 11 In a modest apartment, the granddaughter Learn Arabic of Myanmar’s last king lives poor and • Learn commonly used Arabic words unrecognised by her neighbours — a far cry and their meanings from the power and riches of her ancestor. P | 13 2 PLUS | MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2013 COVER STORY By Kelly Macnamara and deposited in the small Indian seaside town of Ratnagiri. n a modest Yangon apart- Thibaw died in India aged 56 in ment, the granddaughter of 1916, shortly after suffering a heart Myanmar’s last king lives poor attack, and the family eventually Iand unrecognised by her neigh- fractured. bours -- a far cry from the power and Some settled in India while others riches of her ancestor. made their lives in Myanmar, which Princess Hteik Su Phaya Gyi said remained part of the British empire the childhood days when her family until 1948 and came under junta rule had a bevy of servants and retained in 1962. some of its royal status were now a A cloak of silence was thrown distant memory. over the monarchy by successive The British colonial regime Myanmar regimes that viewed it as dethroned her grandfather King a potential rival, while army leaders Thibaw in 1885 and later the mili- sought to evoke much earlier war- tary junta, which ruled the country rior royals. for decades, kept the family out of “Most of Myanmar has forgotten the public eye. about the king,” said deputy culture “They didn’t want us to be some- minister and royal historian Than body,” said the silver-haired princess, Swe, who has spearheaded a cam- swathed in a shimmering purple paign to return Thibaw’s body to shawl worn especially for the rare Myanmar. interview. A visit by President Thein Sein to “I have lived as an ordinary person Thibaw’s tomb in Ratnagiri during Myanmar’s for 60 years,” she said. an official trip to India last December “Of course I repent a little over the reignited interest in Myanmar’s glorious times that we had when we monarchy. were young,” she said, displaying a But Than Swe said Myanmar’s lively wit undimmed by her 90 years. government had more immedi- forgotten The demolition of the monarchy, ate priorities, such as the sweeping at the end of the third and final war reforms implemented since junta rule that brought the nation firmly under ended in 2011. the colonial yoke, smashed centuries Queen Suphayalat’s tomb in of royal rule in the country then Yangon is barely marked. When called Burma. the family tried to place a simple royals Thibaw and his wife, Queen sign there to inform visitors of the Supayalat, were swiftly and uncer- pedigree of the occupant, the former emoniously removed from Myanmar junta immediately removed it. PLUS | MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2013 3 Thibaw was born into a courtly life- Olympics before he was assassinated by style steeped in incredible luxury and insurgents in 1948. his fall was bewilderingly sudden. Princess Hteik Su Phaya Gyi and The royals lived a lavish and isolated her younger brother Prince Taw existence within the walls of their Phaya, the 89-year-old potential heir gilded teak palace in Mandalay. They of the Konbaung dynasty, are the only could only be approached by people surviving grandchildren. crawling on their knees. “He was worshipped by his people,” Living with snakes and leeches said Sudha Shah, author of The King The royals, refusing the small allow- in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family of ance offered after the British left, were Burma. forced to make their own way in the “Suddenly he was controlled like a world. puppet on a string by the British.” The princess used the impeccable The British wanted Thibaw off English she learned as a child studying the throne to appease business and in a Catholic school in the southern Christian missionary interests in the city of Mawlamyine to land positions at country, Shah said. both the Australian and US embassies They opted for complete destruction before settling as a teacher — a job she of the monarchy, partly due to fierce still does today. resistance to their incursion which saw But a family quarrel in the late 1990s the country flooded with British forces. saw her lose her inherited home and There were also doubts over find- end up living “in a hut”. ing a pliant royal heir that the British “During the rain the water was up could rule through -- Thibaw and his to here,” she said indicating knee-deep queen notoriously executed dozens of flooding. “The snakes come into the potential rivals for the throne. house. And leeches.” Restitution of the royal line was She now lives with her daughter, vaguely considered as Myanmar who works at a burial association, and entered independence. said none of her six children, 20 grand- But one episode when the military children and eight great-grandchildren tried to enlist the royal family to help showed an interest in reviving the it counter communist insurgents ended royal line. the generals’ enthusiasm for the mon- She is “grateful” that Thein Sein archy, Shah said. took the time to visit Ratnagiri but Local people thronged to catch a believes her grandfather should not be glimpse of the family and women knelt moved. and spread their hair on the ground for Several members of the family the family to walk on. scraped together the money to travel “So taken aback were the gener- to India in the early 1990s — her only als by the depth of public sentiment visit to her grandparents’ home in demonstrated for the royal family, that exile. they no longer involved the family in She recounted her own mother’s sto- any further campaigns,” Shah said. ries of the queen standing on a balcony The family had a brief period of overlooking the Arabian Sea and weep- public activity when the princess and ing for her homeland. her siblings set up the “Miss Burma” “When I went there I looked up at beauty contest — she was in charge of that little veranda and the sun was set- catwalk training. ting. So I said ‘Oh my grandmother The eldest brother, Prince Taw must have felt the same’, and I had Phaya Gyi, also became involved in the tears in my eyes.” AFP The princess used the impeccable English she learned as a child studying in a Catholic school in the southern city of Mawlamyine to land positions at both the Australian and US embassies before settling as a teacher -- a job she still does today. 4 PLUS | MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2013 CAMPUS Park House Pink Day Celebration Park House English School students took part in a fund-raiser to raise money for breast cancer research as part of their annual Pink Day charity initiative. Dressed in pink, the children raised QR13,300 with bake sales and selling pink ribbons and pink stationery to their peers. It was a fun-filled week with the message of breast cancer awareness shared throughout the school in a series of school-wide assemblies to educate students on the importance of ‘Pink Day’ and raising awareness and funding for breast cancer research. “We are very proud of our students; they took a responsible approach to support such a great cause. Not only were they very generous in their donations but our senior students prepared and presented four very informative age appropriate assemblies to raise awareness,” said Dougie Smith, Headmaster. Organised by Akshaya Ranjangam, Veronica Mugi and the students of the Scientific Medical Club Sixth Form Committee, and with the support of staff and parents of the Park Rangers, this year was Park House’s biggest Pink Day to date. The winning team with officials. University students pushed to the Teams taking part limit in Leadership Challenge in a challenge. with strategies to win in a competi- International assisted us to review atar’s leaders of the future leadership coaching before heading tive environment.” different leadership and learning have completed a testing two- to the desert, where they gathered Blair Aboutaleb, Student Activities styles and the most effective ways to Qday competition in the desert oilfield data, purchased rights, and Coordinator at VCUQatar, was one of work as a group.” at Zekreet to help develop leader- extracted and sold oil in an environ- the facilitators at the event. In a tight finish, team 2 — made ship, team work and business strat- mentally safe way. She said: “This is the only type of up of students from Qatar University, egy skills. Eight teams of students Mohammed Abdulla, a mechani- programme I know of in Qatar that Texas A&M University at Qatar, and from Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s cal engineering student at Qatar focuses on outdoor education, qual- Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (HBKU) partner universities and University, said: “Learning in a class- ity leadership and team-building in a — were crowned winners, in a cer- Qatar University, competed over four room is great, but the Leadership competitive setting. The Leadership emony attended by Sheikh Jassim Al stages of the Maersk Oil & HBKU Challenge takes it to a new level by Challenge was not just a two-day Thani from Maersk Oil Qatar and Leadership Challenge.