When Buddhists Go Bad

NIKI2

Sunday, June 23, 2013 6:29 PM

It's a photo essay, and I don't want to take the time to resize the photos, so here they are
with foreshortened captions:


Wirathu, the spiritual leader of the 969 Buddhist Nationalist movement, and his entourage


A Wirathu supporter bows at his feet


burnt-out vehicle and damaged buildings razed by Buddhists in ethnic violence in March


Villagers from Kyaw Min drive ahead of Wirathu's vehicle


Burned trees and damaged buildings razed by Buddhists in ethnic violence in March


Thai Army soldier provides security as monks collect alms on morning rounds


Lieutenant talks to military trainers from Thai Army (left) and Buddhist volunteer defense militia (right)

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NIKI2

Sunday, June 23, 2013 6:55 PM

Quote:

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Buddhist monk Wirathu leads violent national campaign against Myanmar's Muslims

Ashin Wirathu was unapologetic when asked about his role at the center of a rising tide of Buddhist extremism that has crested in a wave of anti-Muslim violence resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people and displacement of some 150,000 from their homes in recent months.

“Muslims are like the African carp. They breed quickly and they are very violent and they eat their own kind. Even though they are minorities here, we are suffering under the burden they bring us,” Wirathu, 48, said .

“Because the Burmese people and the Buddhists are devoured every day, the national religion needs to be protected,” he said, announcing that he would push for a ban on interfaith marriage before the next parliamentary session and vowing to continue the so-called “969” campaign that calls for Buddhists to only do business with other Buddhists and exclude Muslims who have a strong tradition as merchants in Myanmar.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is made of eight major ethnic groups, but 90 percent of the population is Buddhist.

Wirathu’s sermons play on the fear among some Buddhists in certain parts of Myanmar of a rising Muslim population that some feel is threatening the majority Buddhist religion and its traditions. Wirathu and others have spurred a movement known as “969,” which calls for Buddhists to band together to defend their faith and for Buddhists to do business only with other Buddhists. The numerology of the “969” movement refers to the virtues of the Buddha, the practices of the faith and the community. The distinctive “969” stickers are ubiquitous on shops, motorcycles and car windows.

Wirathu has also pushed a ban against interfaith marriage, claiming that the Buddhist majority is diluted by such marriages and reeling off one anecdote after another of forced conversions of Buddhist women to Islam. Many critics here and abroad say Wirathu’s sermons are racist rants against Muslims who he has likened to “mad dogs” and “cannibals” and, in perhaps a more charitable and consistent reference, as simply “troublemakers.”

But Wirathu’s movement is gaining a wider and wider following.

He heads the Ma Soeyein monastery attended by some 2,500 monks, has an active Facebook page and leads speaking tours that attract thousands of followers. Wirathu is also gathering signatures for a petition to introduce the interfaith marriage legislation which he has titled, “Safeguarding the National Identity.”

“The people are requesting that we put forward the ‘Safeguarding the National Identity’ law,” he said, adding, “I am committed to working on this law until it is passed.”

This proposed law, if it does come to a vote, would likely put pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected to parliament two years ago, and those who support her efforts in a difficult position.

Political observers say it will put them between their hopes to unify the many different ethnic groups that have been fighting a series of open conflicts with the previous military regime and a broad populist streak among the majority ethnic Burmans who are coalescing around this new brand of Buddhist nationalism.

The proposed ban on interfaith marriage is not new in Burma, and it has been implemented in other countries in the region, including Singapore. It is similar to a popular idea that first emerged in the 1930s and called for a strong nationalist movement. And this is not the first time that Buddhist monks have used their authority to influence the history of Myanmar. They have always been part of major political movements.

Wirathu himself is no stranger to activism; he was arrested in 2003 for political incitement and served seven years in prison before he was reportedly released as part of a government amnesty program. Buddhist monks were also at the head of the 2007 "Saffron Revolution,” in which monks took to the streets in large numbers to protest the rising p

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