Hardline "Ma Ba Tha" Buddhist monks and supporters celebrate Myanmar’s adoption of laws that "protect race and religion" in Mandalay, September 2015. The laws further marginalized the country's religious minorities, especially Muslims. (ucanews.com photo by John Zaw )
Christians and Muslims in Myanmar say they are concerned that hardline Buddhist monks are continuing to stoke levels of intolerance in the Southeast Asian nation.
More than 1,000 Buddhist monks and their supporters gathered on the outskirts of Yangon June 4-5 to celebrate the third anniversary of establishing of the Buddhist hardline group "Ma Ba Tha" (Committee of the Protection of Race and Religious).
The two-day event reviewed Ma Ba Tha's achievements and outlined its future plans. Via their website the group said that they would protect the "four race and religion laws" under the new National League for Democracy-led government. They also called upon the government to protect Buddhism, the main religion of the country.
Ma Ba Tha was a strong supporter of the previous military-backed regime under president Thein Sein.
Outspoken Catholic leader, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, called the hardline monks "peddlers of hatred" who were against the Buddhist teachings of universal compassion and mercy.
"The ill-treatment [in Myanmar] of other religions has caused chronic conflicts and displacements," said Cardinal Bo in his Easter message.
"The leaders of this nation need to heal this wound of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities," he added.
Nearly 90 percent of Myanmar's population practices Theravada Buddhism while 5 percent adhere to Christianity and 3.5 percent follow Islam.
Tin Maung Than, general secretary of the Islamic Religious Council of Myanmar, said that minority groups in Myanmar for decades suffered discrimination and a lack of rights.
"Despite a new democratic government in Myanmar, the situation of minority religious groups has yet to be improved," Tin Maung Than told ucanews.com. "Law enforcement has failed to take action against those who oppress minority groups and against those spreading hate speech," he said.
Tin Maung Than said the government needs to be pro-active in taking action against those who fuel religious conflict in Myanmar and send a message that such behavior is unacceptable.
Saw Shwe Lin, general secretary of the Myanmar Council of Churches, observed that there are attempts by some hardline Buddhist groups to fuel tensions under the new government. Saw Shwe Lin cited the building of Buddhist pagodas on church land and near a mosque in Karen state.
"They were unsuccessful attempts as Muslims and Christians have patience and responded to the situation carefully. But we need to be careful on responding those situations in the future," Saw Shwe Lin said.
Zaw Min Latt, a Muslim leader of Yangon-based interfaith youth group, Pray for Myanmar, criticized the idea of pro-Buddhist laws in an ethnically diverse country where Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus live together.
"Support or the protection of religious minority groups by the government is lacking. The government's Religious Ministry is only favoring Buddhism and helps build pagodas while there is a long process of permission for even repairing churches and mosques," Zaw Min Latt told ucanews.com.
Rakhine and the Rohingya
Nationalistic Buddhist fervor emerged in 2012 and helped fuel sectarian conflict in Rakhine state. Violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims left scores dead. More than 120,000 Rohingya remain in squalid internal displaced camps.
Ma Ba Tha say they fight against the granting of Myanmar citizenship for those who self-identify as Rohingya and they support the 1982 citizenship law.
The 1982 law states that only ethnic nationalities, and others whose families entered the country before 1823, are entitled to Myanmar citizenship. Through the law the Rohingya's have been denied citizenship and accompanying rights.