YANGON: Tiny, frail and barely able to speak, Myanmar's most famous fortune teller—known as ET—has for years whispered predictions to Asia's rich and powerful, from generals to foreign politicians.

The soothsayer, whose popularity has inspired a recent Thai biopic, is one of a plethora of mystics in Myanmar, where generations of rulers have sought ethereal advice.

Sprightly despite a range of disabilities—including, her family say, that her internal organs are all on the wrong side of her body—ET looks every bit the mystic when accompanied by her sister Thi Thi, whose penchant for shawls and elaborately embroidered frocks enhances the spiritualist image.

“My sister (is a) very, very grand and special one,” Thi Thi said in a recent interview in Bangkok, adding that her guidance has been sought across the region.

“Some is politician, some is business people... Everybody happy, became very famous,” said Thi Thi, who acts as an interpreter for her sister.

Myanmar's fortune tellers are thought to be behind several unexplained occurrences in the country, from the abrupt decision by the former junta to relocate the capital in 2005, to bizarre episodes when the generals appeared wearing women's longyi—a sarong-like skirt.

Normally sartorially conservative, the top brass resorted to cross-dressing “so that a woman would not become president in the country,” said Aung Zaw, editor of the Irrawaddy, a news magazine started by Myanmar exiles, referring to the junta's fear of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. “They are very superstitious,” he said.

Mystics have been ascribed great influence in a country where the workings of the secretive junta were kept hidden from the public for decades.

Aung Zaw said that amid the wilder speculation were strong indications that the army chiefs did dabble in the dark arts to try to reinforce their power.

“There is a lot of interpretation... but they do these things quite often,” he said, adding that the practice of consulting astrologers dated back hundreds of years, with Myanmar's former kings regularly consulting fortune tellers.

Ne Win, the strongman who ruled Myanmar for around three decades, was notorious for his reliance on fortune tellers and their “yadaya”—an occult practice where a symbolic act is performed to influence the future.—AFP