The April 28 forced closure of two madrassas in downtown Yangon by a mob of ultra-nationalist protestors backed by Buddhist monks was the latest indication that anti-Muslim vehemence is still a virulent undercurrent of instability in Myanmar’s unconsolidated democratic transition.
Two Islamic schools in the former capital’s Thaketa township were padlocked by protestors who alleged the madrassas were serving as illegal mosques. Police stood by while journalists covering the incident were harassed and threatened by the mob. Five days later the madrassa’s remain shuttered and the neighborhood tense.
The incident was less a resurgence of Islamophobic bullying than a resurfacing. The ultra-nationalist Ma Ba Tha movement, known for its anti-Muslim 969 boycott campaign and sparking periodic riots against Muslim communities, may have been diminished by the 2015 election victory of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD). But they have clearly not disappeared.
The assassination of prominent constitutional lawyer U Ko Ni at Yangon’s airport in January was a thunderclap to any complacency that may have settled over the country’s politics. The prominent journalist Swe Win faced a possible jail-able defamation charge by a Ma Ba Tha supporter who became enraged by the reporter’s critical portrayal of monks who supported the Muslim lawyer’s assassination.
Anti-Muslim sentiments in Myanmar are often misinterpreted internationally as a byproduct of the repression of the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority. But this obscures the broader fears and distrust of Muslims throughout the country that have constantly simmered and not subsided under Suu Kyi’s and her NLD’s elected rule.
Recent attacks on Muslim buildings include the sacking of a mosque in the southern central Bago region in June 2016. Thereafter came an arson attack on a mosque in Hpakant town in Kachin State. Often these attacks are predicated on the alleged unlawful status of a building, giving local authorities the leeway to side with ultra-nationalist, anti-Muslim protestors.
Last week’s madrassa closure in Yangon revealed once again Suu Kyi’s government’s disinclination to repudiate the message of anti-Muslim ultra-nationalist groups and affirm its commitment to protecting minority groups against communal violence.
Suu Kyi and the NLD prevailed over the Ma Ba Tha during the 2015 elections because they shrewdly recognized the election was a de facto referendum on decades of military misrule, and not an opportunity to give voice to religious extremism.
As a result, Ma Ba Tha, which openly campaigned against Suu Kyi and the NLD, lost some of its standing in society and was openly criticized in Myanmar’s emerging social media space. But there is still a tendency to view Ma Ba Tha as a hierarchical, structured national movement rather than a collective of nationwide franchises that often merge national and local issues to mobilize support.
Senior NLD official criticisms in mid-2016, followed by apparent restrictions imposed on Ma Ba The by the State Sangha’s Maha Nayaka Committee, or Ma Ha Na, a government appointed religious body, were not the decisive denunciations that they originally appeared to be.
Matthew Walton, a research fellow on Myanmar at Oxford University, noted in a 2016 article that Ma Ha Na’s findings against Ma Ba Tha did not spell de-registration but were merely a caution against extremist activities.
The Ma Ba Tha affiliated firebrand Buddhist monk, U Wirathu, now also on the receiving end of intensified social media criticism, has launched a series of public stunts following a one-year ban on public preaching imposed by the Ma Ha Na in March.
To protest, he appeared at a sermon with tape across his mouth, and soon after released a short video deriding the NLD government as a ‘dah-mocracy’ (dah is a sword in Burmese) threatening his freedom of speech.
Wirathu is often viewed as the prophetic progenitor of attacks on Muslims, but he is more a self-promoting tub-thumper than an effective nationalist leader, critics say. Yet the NLD government’s response has been short-sighted, episodic and devoid of the high-level principled messaging needed to repudiate the vigilantes who have thrived in a rule of law vacuum.
Government-led inter-faith dialogue, support for effective community policing and local administration reform would all help to defuse the situation.
But the problem will persist if the NLD fails to form coalitions of national and local political representatives to challenge the activities of ultra-nationalists, many prone to violence, without curbing basic freedoms of expression, assembly and association. Not all Ma Ba Tha activities are negative or extreme.
The NLD’s bigger shortcoming, however, has been its bid to weaken and discredit its potentially most effective ally in neutralizing ultra-nationalists: civil society.
A range of women’s rights groups, human rights activists, health and education workers, think-tanks and the media have been at the frontline of critiquing ultra-nationalist forces and have thus been the target of social media threats and intimidation that have translated into occasional violence.
Civil society networks play an important role as transmission belts of information between government and communities, including causes of localized animus and distrust of Muslim minorities in rural communities. Yet the NLD have sought to distance themselves from these groups over the years, especially since it took office in 2016.
The NLD has openly criticized many of them to international donors in a bid to dilute their grass roots power and influence. Suu Kyi apparently views civil society not as valued allies who supported her nearly three decades long struggle against military rule but as unruly, unaccountable and a threat to national unity – a frequently aired siren call for unquestioning loyalty to her leadership.
When Suu Kyi gave a speech on March 30 extolling the achievements of her government’s first year in power, she used the term “together with the people” while stating that for “national reconciliation, we have to treat everyone equally.”
But Suu Kyi’s and her government’s seemingly studied silence after each anti-Muslim incident, including last Friday’s mosque closure in Yangon, raises questions whether her administration is truly committed to such high-minded pursuits.
Omar Shereef How many Buddhists have commited terrorist attacks in the last 16 years? How many Sunnis and Christians have committed terrorist attacks in that same time period?
This picture is appropriate for jihadists trained in madrassas and making comments using deceit and misrepresentations called Taqyiyya
Very well written. Thanks.
Also read:
Madrassas and Muslim Militancy in Bangladesh by
Professor Dr. Golam HossainDepartment of Government and Politics Jahangirnagar UniversitySavar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
at
https://www.scribd.com/document/4836809/Madrasas-and-Muslim-Militancy
"Madrassas … patronized by General Ziaul Haque in Pakistan and General Ziaur Rahman in Bangladesh and their Saudi allies in the1980’s …. THE ROHINGA SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATION HAS ALSO DEVELOPED LINKS WITH OTHER ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUPS LIKE GULBUDDIN HEKMATYR’S HIZB-E-ISLAMI IN AFGHANISTAN, HIZB-UL-MUJAHIDEEN IN JAMMU AND KASMIR, AND ANGKATAN BELIA ISLAM SA MALAYSIA (THE ISLAMIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION OF MALAYSIA)."
"recruitment and training in the inaccessible hilly terrains of Cox’s Bazaar and Banderban, and along the NO Man’s land in the Bangladesh – Myanmar border and enjoy support and patronize from about 30 Madrassas in the Chittagong region. Investigative reports disclosed the involvement of several Madrassas in the border areas of Naikhangchhari and Ukhia in providing weapons, training and motivating the Muslim youths to launch an Islamic revolution."
Do you also have CIA’s The World Sex Book 2007? I already knew that you are a neo-Nazi Buddhist; I was just trying to bring out the devil in you. About 50000 of American and Korean Christian missionaries were waiting in Jordan to proselitize the Iraqis days before Americn invasion. I am an absolute idiot who had experienced people’s cultures, religions and and history for over 30 years. I admit that I am still an idiot; not a genius like you who copied the articles spred out by anti-Muslim right-wingers over the internet. The job of you and Thein Maung is to help Myanmar government with ethnic-cleansing agaisnt Myanmar Muslim minorities. About 1000 Rohingyas are brutally slaughtered in front of their families, and thousands of women were raped. There was mass killings like holocaust, but it is a slow-genocide by Buddhists. One Rohingya woman had to watch her children’s throats slit while she was gang-raped by Buddhist soldiers. Myanmar government including Suu Kyi refused to allow UN monitors into the region because it was a genocide making Buddhists look bad. Maung Zarni is the only Myanmar Buddhist revolusioary who is out-spoken against genocide. Read UN Rapporteur by a Buddhsit Korean lady on Myanmar.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21355&LangID=E
This is an articcle by Maung Zarni on Asia Time in 2013.
http://ngunjawa2011.blogspot.com/2013/04/myanmars-neo-nazi-buddhists-get-free.html
You are a liar and a racist. You want genocide. You don’t want peace and co-existence.
Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a host country to agitate for their so-called ‘religious rights.
When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ‘the reasonable’ Muslim demands for their ‘religious rights,’ they also get the other components under the table. A big problem of over population in Bangladesh mainly cause Myanmar anxious.At first, they sneak in illegally and start their lives as peddlers hawkers etc. They cement their foot in Rakhine State in Myanmar peacefully.Then they caret to become more and more population ( taking four wives and having multi kids system) so that they can overwhelm there with their huge population and create different problems to the native Rakhine people.
By May 1942 the Bengali-Muslim men from all the Bengali villages in the frontier area and many more from across the border of Bangladesh had gathered, armed with guns and swords and spears, and began their genocidal campaign against the Buddhist-Rakhine villages.
About 30,000 Rakhine Buddhist were killed in this absolute genocide in the Buthidaung area.
Today,in this Buthidaung area, Native Rakhine people are becoming less and less and Bangalies people are becoming more and more.Muslims population have reached 90% while native Rakhine are left with 10%.
They only bring chaos and destruction to the host countries like Burma. They are parasites to any civilized societies.
Now they are hijacking Rakhaing people identity "Rohingya" and also demanding independent Sharia Islamic state in this country .
As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:
United States — Muslim 1.0%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1%-2%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%
At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:
Denmark — Muslim 2%
Germany — Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom — Muslim 2.7%
Spain — Muslim 4%
Thailand — Muslim 4.6%
From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population.
They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. (United States ).
France — Muslim 8%
Philippines — Muslim 5%
Sweden — Muslim 5%
Switzerland — Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands — Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad &Tobago — Muslim 5.8%
At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.
When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions ( Paris –car-burnings) . Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats ( Amsterdam – Mohammed cartoons).
Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 10-15%
After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:
Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%
At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:
Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%
From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:
Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77.5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%
After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:
Bangladesh — Muslim 83%
Egypt — Muslim 90%
Gaza — Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia — Muslim 86.1%
Iran — Muslim 98%
Iraq — Muslim 97%
Jordan — Muslim 92%
Morocco — Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan — Muslim 97%
Palestine — Muslim 99%
Syria — Muslim 90%
Tajikistan — Muslim 90%
Turkey — Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%
100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace — there’s supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:
Afghanistan — Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%
Somalia — Muslim 100%
Yemen — Muslim 99.9%
Of course, that’s not the case. To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a varieties of reasons.
(percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book 2007)
Omar Shereef wherever you go terror follow
Are you Buddhist or Christian? You speak like as if your mother is a prostitute and your father is a convict. I don’t they the are. Didn’t they teach you manners. My mother is an honorable woman. Be nice, and grow up.
For 1.6 billion Muslims, you are like a little Chihuahua. Enough of insults! All Muslim and Christian minorities in Myanmar wants is peaceful co-existence and removal of racist discriminating laws and end of Buddhist violence. Let UN enter to see what Buddhists have done. Teaching of Buddha is peaceful, but not all the Buddhist monks.
Omar Shereef Bengali Rohingya terrorists movement
Bengali Rohingya Terrorist Network
No Rohingya in Burma
Go for Google image for Rohingyas or Wirathu, and see all the rapes, murders and ethnic-cleansing Buddhists are doing. Don’t be an idiot or a racist or worse. You have to share the world with 1.6 billion Muslims. I promote all three Abrahamic faiths. Remember, Western civilization was stupidly Antisemitic for almost 2000 years. Military generals are stealing billions, Myanmar Buddhists are too naive and ignorant about anything. I don’t want to wait and see all Myanmar and Myanmar version of Theravada Buddhism are destroyed.
Omar Shereef SOB.Still barking
John Boyd, you don’t know the meaning of truth. Only if you can understand all I have written on this post?