Danish art group ridicules Myanmar military rulers

Jun 4, 2008, 15:52 GMT

Copenhagen - A website ridiculing the military rulers of Myanmar has been set up by satirical Danish art group Surrend, known for staging provocative exhibitions, reports said Wednesday.

The group tweaked the semi-official website www.myanmar.com by adding an extra 'a' to create the spoof website www.myanmaar.com where the artists spell out their criticism of the military junta.

The fake website - dubbed 'Welcome to Golden Land - The true guide to Myanmar - includes an image of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, and links to headings like 'Torture,' 'Arts&Violence,' 'Lifestyle/Corruption,' and 'Censorship.'

The official website calls itself the 'ultimate guide to Myanmar.'

'If the junta is angered or annoyed over this and if the people of Burma get a laugh at the expense of the junta then the website has fulfilled its purpose,' Surrend co-founder Pia Bertelsen was quoted as saying by the news agency Ritzau.

Surrend had earlier published an advertisement critical of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a Tehran newspaper and recently trigged a Muslim protest over an exhibition in Berlin.

One of the 21 posters displayed at a Berlin gallery depicted Islam's holiest place, the cube-like Kaaba in Mecca, with the words 'Stupid Stone' written above it.