Movement Seeks Freedom for Revolutionary Buddhist Monk in Myanmar

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U Gambira released but not free, pending trial without medical treatment.

CHICAGO, USA -- U Gambira, aka Nyi Nyi Lwin, was released on bail from Insein Prison, Yangon, Myanmar. He is with family and headed back to his family home 3 hours north of Yangon.

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Despite the good news of this current release, U Gambira is not free. The government still has a trial date set for Friday December 14, 2012. This is the third re-arrest since his conditional release in January 2012 with other high profile political prisoners. The current official reason and charges surround the Feb 2012 U Gambira and other monks accessing their old monasteries, which were locked by the military government after the 2007 Saffron Revolution. U Gambira was arrested and released immediately after this Feb 2012 event.

U Gambira's conditional release is such that he is likely to be sentenced to the remaining years of his 68 year sentence handed down at his 2008 trial for his leadership role in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, in addition to new charges from 2012.

U Gambira's over 4 year political imprisonment included sustained and prolonged psychological and physical torture, no medical attention for injuries or illnesses. He suffered repeated head trauma that caused immediate and persistent traumatic brain injury.

He has been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression directly related to his initial imprisonment and post-conditional release re-arrests, constant military intelligence overt and covert harassment and spying. He was unable to obtain a position in a monastery, which forced him to de-robe in order to live with his family. Health care providers have refused to see him for fear of government retaliation. A doctor family friend saw him and prescribed a medicine that improved his sleep disturbances. This relief was inadequate and short lived as the medicine ran out.

U Gambira has been in need of specific torture survivor and traumatic brain injury evaluation and treatment, which is not available inside Myanmar or nearby Thailand. U Gambira has agreed to specialized treatment for his illnesses overseas. But, he remains dedicated to spreading to increasing the love, understanding and peaceful co-existence and oneness, ie the Buddhist teachings and Metta, inside Myanmar. Therefore, he will not leave Myanmar illegally to pursue treatment that he desperately wants and needs. He cannot apply for a passport without his national identity card, which the government confiscated. June 2012, he first applied for the return of his national identity card, without success as of Dec 1, 2012.

Background

Since their release from prison late last week, Ashin Gambira and Ashin Issariya (aka Daung Dsaw) have moved in to Meggin Monsatery in Rangoon. They plan to rebuild and reopen this monastery that was destroyed by the Burmese regime following the Saffron Revolution of 2007. Both monks are now joined by the abbot of the monastery, Ashin Win Deka. Shortly after the monks started working in the disheveled monastery, authorities arrived and questioned them. U Gambira and U Issariya told them that this is their monastery, and they can not to go another monastery — they do not have any other place to go.

Meggin Monastery was demolished by soldiers during the brutal crackdown on the monks’ uprising in 2007. Most monks were arrested, and the monastery locked. It had been closed ever since. Meggin Monastery is one of the more than 60 monasteries that were raided, closed, and destroyed during the crackdown.

Ashin Gambira insisted in a recent interview that the military regime still needs to apologize to the Buddhist< Sangha.

“The government has transformed its external appearance into a civilian one, but their efforts to implement democracy are still rather weak, while many cases of human rights violations continue,” he told DVB. The alms boycott (Pattanikkujjana) is still in place.

Ashin Issariya (aka King Zero) says the pressure on monks is still very strong. There is no freedom of speech. Shwe Nya Wah Sayadaw, for example, was recently banned from giving Dhamma talks for one year, and was threatened with closure of his monastery.

He was accused of giving a sermon at the Mandalay headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) on November 20, 2011. The Maha Nayaka Sangha Council refused his apology letter with more than 10,000 signatures and asked him to appear in front of the council on January 19.

U Gambira said, “People are talking about change in Burma, but I never see any change. It still is the same as before.”

“We want to see a real change,” adds Ashin Issariya aka King Zero.

Thirty monks have had a re-ordination ceremony in Rangoon since being released recently from prison.

However, it is difficult to find out how many monks are still incarcerated.

“The monks from our network have been released,” says Ashin Issariya. “But there is no reliable data of how many other monks still remain in prison.”

This is due to the fact that Burmese leaders waver on even acknowledging that Burma has political prisoners.

If people are arrested, they are often charged with criminal offenses, such as the Electronics Act. Ashin Pannasiri was arrested shortly after the Saffron Revolution and indicted not for his anti-military and pro- democracy activities, but for holding foreign currency.

When asked about going back to Burma, Ashin Issariya answers: “We don’t know if it is safe to go back now for those who had to flee Burma. I will go back one day. But that needs preparation and will take time.”

Ashin Sopaka remains under village arrest at this time. We have not been able to make contact with him for several weeks now. The only way of contact is through the village phone, but the villagers can’t give us any detailed information. We only know that he is still in the monastery in his home village.

“I am sure if Ashin Sopaka had a chance to leave his village, he would go back to Mandalay to connect with others. He is in a very small village, far away from the city. He can not do anything there. So the fact that he hasn’t come back yet means that he is still under village arrest,” said Ashin Issariya.

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Ensure freedom of religion without deceit

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- “The accepted theory of freedom of religion is the freedom to believe in any particular religion of one’s own choice, changing one’s religion should be a personal decision taken independent of any coercion, influence, terror, deceit or secrecy.”

The above is an excerpt from Chapter 6 (page 89) of the report of the Commission that the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress appointed to inquire and report on the unethical conversions of Buddhists to other religions.  The English edition of the 385-page report was ceremonially launched under the patronage of World Federation of Buddhists Vice President Dr. Ananda W.P. Guruge at the ACBC Hall, Colombo on July 2.

The commission has recommended that the Bill to prevent unethical conversions grafted after prolonged discussions between Buddhist and Hindu organizations be forthwith placed before parliament as a government bill instead of reintroducing the private member’s bill that lapsed at the end of the last parliamentary sessions.

The commission notes that the Christian religious community was conspicuous in its united and outright opposition to the Bill to prohibit religious conversions by unethical means.  The commission wants Buddhist organizations meet this challenge at national and regional levels by bringing pressure upon their respective MPs to get the Bill passed in parliament.

“To make this legislation meaningful, the State shall give assurance to the Buddhist public to undertake the issue and directives and regulations needed to implement it. If the government hesitates to take such steps, a sustained pressure shall be brought on it at a national level unabated.  The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress should give leadership to this movement mustering the active participation of all other Buddhist organizations in the country.”

The commission has also called for banning non-governmental organizations from implementing any projects that directly or indirectly provide facilities to lure people into unethical conversions. This includes incorporating strict conditions to ensure the transparency of the activities of foreign companies who arrive in Sri Lanka on investment agreements with the Board of Investment.

Among the other recommendations is the need for enforcing stricter laws when issuing visas to foreigners visiting Sri Lanka. The commission wants the visas issued to those arrived in this country under the pretext of engaging in social service projects, but are found engaged in missionary activities to be cancelled.

The commission observes the main reason for the success of unethical conversions has been the ability to entice poverty-stricken people by providing them with financial and material assistance. It has been revealed that a very high percentage of such funding is provided by foreign sources. The Buddhist community and Buddhist organizations do not possess such economic resources to counter this threat, states the report.  It cites an extract from the Sri Lanka Telecom Directory 2008, showing 261 different Christian churches and organizations in the Western Province alone.

The report also warns that unethical conversion to other religions would lead to conflict situations, which are then reported by some local newspapers particularly in the English media “casting malicious, wrathful, partisan false aspersions against Buddhists.”

According to the commissioners “The reporting of these falsified news are intended for dissemination by the foreign media, which highlight these as atrocities committed against minor religious groups”. 

Speaking at the launching ceremony Ven Prof Induragarey Dhammarathana, Sanskrit Studies Faculty, Kelaniya University said Sri Lanka’s Buddhist population had dropped to 61 percent according to the latest census whereas when he was young the percentage was 79 percent.  He did not rule out the possibility that the next census would show the percentage coming down to 51 indicating that Sri Lanka was gradually losing her Buddhist identity.  

Dr. Ananda Guruge, delivering the keynote address said that he, having been associated with the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry of 1956, was sad to see Buddhists continued to face the same problems. No proper steps had been taken to deal with them for the past 60 years.  According to him, it is the very reason for the current crisis.   The biggest problem was the flow of unlimited foreign funds to evangelists and proselytizers for converting the poor and to mislead the young.  He assured, he would draw the attention of the world Buddhist community to unethical conversions in Sri Lanka.

ACBC President Jagath Sumathipala appointed the commission on June 11, 2006 at the historical Mihintale sacred site with retired Supreme Court Judge Sarath Gunatilleke as its Chairman.  The Commission first issued its report in Sinhala in 2009 after touring the country for almost four years collecting evidence on unethical conversions from the Buddhist clergy and the laity. A total of 348 witnesses had given evidence before the commission.

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Khmer Krom: Vietnam’s Record On Religious Freedom Denounced

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Washington D.C., USA -- The US Commission on International Religious Freedom published a report on the situation of religious rights in Vietnam and slammed the State for its countless instances of violations.

<< Khmer-krom Buddhist monks in street demonstration (Civic Center, San Francisco)

Below is an article published by IBIB:

In its Annual Report for 2012 unveiled in Washington D.C. this week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has named Vietnam as one of the world’s worst religious freedom violators along with Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan,Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and recommended that these countries be designated as “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US administration for “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations” of religious freedom.

The USCIRF, a federal government commission that monitors global religious freedom, was created under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to provide independent policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress. Each year since 2001, the USCIRF has urged the US to place Vietnam on the CPC list. Vietnam was designated CPC by the State Department in 2004 and 2005, but removed in 2006 prior to the visit of President Bush to Vietnam for the APEC summit conference. Under the 1998 Act, the U.S. may impose a series of measures, including economic sanctions, on countries blacklisted as CPCs.

In its 21-page chapter on Vietnam, the USCIRF reported that “the government of Vietnam continues to control all religious communities, restrict and penalize independent religious practice severely, and repress individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority”. It noted “marked increases in arrests, detentions, and harassment of groups and individuals viewed as hostile to the Communist Party” over the past four years, and an overall climate of religious repression in which “individuals continue to be imprisoned or detained for reasons related to their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy; independent religious activity remains illegal; legal protections for government-approved religious organizations are both vague and subject to arbitrary or discriminatory interpretations based on political factors.”

The USCIRF also observed that “the U.S.-Vietnamese relationship has grown quickly in recent years, but it has not led to needed improvements in religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam.” The report urged the US government to use the CPC designation to press for “measurable improvements”, and adopt programmes to “protect and support those in Vietnam peacefully seeking greater freedom and the rule of law”.

The report detailed widespread abuses against the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), “Vietnam‘s largest religious organization with a history of peaceful social activism and moral reform”, noting that the UBCV had “faced decades of harassment and repression for seeking independent status and for appealing to the government to respect religious freedom and related human rights”. It deplored the detention of UBCV Patriarch Thich Quang Do and other senior monks, restrictions on humanitarian activities of UBCV Provincial Committees and the UBCV Buddhist Youth Movement, and harassment of UBCV followers.

Mr. Vo Van Ai, Director of the International Buddhist Information Bureauand international spokesman of the Unified Buddhist Church in Vietnam(UBCV) welcomed the USCIRF’s report, commenting that it reflected the reality endured by UBCV followers and members of all other religious confessions in Vietnam. “Having failed to eradicate religion by force, Vietnam is increasing controls on religious activities and reducing religion to the practice of quasi-superstitious rites”, he said. “The recent nomination of Major-general Pham Dung, a high-ranking Public Security official as the Head of the Government Religious Board shows how Hanoi intends to pursue its religious policies in Vietnam”.

Mr. Ai stressed that UBCV members all over the country routinely suffer harassments and abuses in all aspects of their lives. Earlier this month, UBCV monk Thich Thien Phuc was intercepted by Police and subjected to interrogations and harassments as he attempted to visit Venerable Thich Thanh Quang at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang. The Giac Minh Pagoda, which is also the headquarters of the UBCV’s Buddhist Youth Movement and the UBCV Provincial Committee for Quang Nam-Danang, has been the target of systematic Police surveillance in recent years. Police prohibit the celebration of Buddhist festivals such as Vesak and Vu Lan at the Pagoda, and intercept all Buddhists who try to attend.

In Dong Nai province, UBCV monk Thich Vien Duc, Superior monk at the Buu Duc Meditation Centre has been repeatedly interrogated and harassed. In Quang Tri, UBCV monk Thich Tu Giao has been intercepted and threatened by Police, who broke into his Pagoda during the monks’ summer retreat and assaulted several Buddhists. In Hue, senior UBCV official Thich Thien Hanh reports routine Police harassments and intimidation at many UBCV Pagodas, including the Kim Quang Pagoda of which he is Superior monk, and at the Mai Vinh Buddhist Centre, which has been confiscated by the authorities.

Mr. Ai noted that religious freedom violations, notably against the UBCV, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Instead of imprisoning UBCV leaders or staging well-publicized public crackdowns, the government’s policy is to quietly isolate UBCV leaders by maintaining them under de facto house arrest, threaten and intimidate Buddhist followers to prevent them attending UBCV Pagodas, and prevent UBCV Pagodas celebrating major Buddhist festivals, thus cutting off all contacts between the UBCV leadership and their followers.

This is exactly the strategy devised by the Communist Party in 1981 when it set up the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) to supplant the UBCV. The architect of this policy, former high-ranking religious cadre Do Trung Hieu, described this policy in “Buddhist Unification”, a document circulated underground in 1994, which led to his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

According to Do Trung Hieu, the Communist Party’s aim was to “transform Vietnamese Buddhism into a people’s association. Its structure should be inferior to that of an ordinary association, restricted exclusively to monks and nuns without any participation of lay-followers - a top-level structure without any popular structural base”.

The activities of the State-sponsored VBC, he said “should be confined exclusively to the celebration of religious ceremonies and worship in Pagodas. It must on no account be allowed any activities related to society or to the people... Thus, the mass following of Buddhist laity will never be allowed to structure its forces into organic units of the Church.”

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