E Thi, that's her name, though for Myanmar generals and powerful Thai politicians, she's known as ET. For years the diminutive, deaf-mute Myanmar fortune-teller has read cosmic signs and predicted the course of national events and become an unlikely character in Southeast Asian politics.
Now her life will become a TV mini-series made by a Thai company.
In Bangkok yesterday for a press conference, ET staunchly refused to talk about politics _ it's well-known that Thaksin Shinawatra, among many others, has sought her advice, including the critical moment before he was overthrown in Sept 2006.
She admitted, however, that she had been contacted by several Thai clients to read their fortune while she was in Bangkok, but that was not her mission on this trip.
In a blue blouse with embroidered flowers, ET was joined on stage by Nirattisai Kaljaruek, an executive of Kantana, the Thai television production company making the mini-series.
The series does not yet have an official title, and the Kantana team is now casting for a woman to play ET. The 12-part drama series following ET's life story, from her childhood to her present fame, is scheduled to go on air in October on Miracle Channel, a cable channel known for its horoscope, horror, amulet-guide and Twilight Zone-style content.
Kantana publicists say that the show will be in both Thai and Myanmar languages, and 80% of the shooting will take place in Myanmar. The woman who'll play ET will be from Thailand. At this point, there's no plan to air the programme in Myanmar.
ET's fortune-telling technique is yet to have an official name.
She's famous for predicting the serial number of a banknote in your wallet: the accuracy rate is reportedly high. And her reading of national affairs and political fates has made her an unofficial oracle for the Myanmar junta, Thai officials, as well as other high-ranking office-holders in Southeast Asia.
Since she cannot speak, ET issues her prophecies through writing, and her sister also acts as her lip-reader and translator. Yesterday at the press conference, ET said that Thailand was not her country, so she wouldn't say anything about the future of politics here.
The only prognosis she made yesterday was encouraging, and enough to please local fans: Thailand, ET predicted, would not suffer from great floods this year.
