Scandals and crop failures in the countryside On a dry, hot evening in the summer of 1998, a group of angry farmers in a small village in upper Burma silently walked toward their paddy fields located outside their village. They were accompanied by a camera crew from town. The cameraman began to videotape the dying paddy fields. A few minutes later, a woman appeared in front of the camera. She cried out loud, beat her chest, and pointed towards the dying crops. Once the farmers believed they had made a satisfactory record of the damaged crops, they returned home. Nervously, they waited for the next morning when they would meet with local military officials.