Myanmar arrests 44 suspects after Buddhist-led attacks in Thandwe

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YANGON, Myanmar -- Authorities in Myanmar arrested 44 suspects for their alleged role in sectarian violence that wracked a coastal township in western Myanmar over the last week, state media reported.

<< Distorted corrugate panels are scattered among debris of a burnt building in Thandwe, Rakhine State, western Burma, Oct. 2, 2013.

Five Muslims were killed and scores of homes set on fire when Buddhist mobs went on a rampage in Thandwe, a coastal township in Rakhine state.

The violence came even as President Thein Sein visited the region last week for the first time since in Rakhine in June 2012, killing hundreds of people and forcing more than 140,000 more to flee, the majority of them Muslim.

Few details were released about the latest arrests but a report broadcast on state television late Saturday indicated members of both communities were arrested.

Officials in Rakhine state said last week that the chairman of a Rakhine political party and several of its members were among those detained.

On Sunday, the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper put the total of houses burned down in Thandwe last week at 114 houses. It said three religious buildings - most likely mosques - were destroyed, and 482 people were left homeless.

Thein Sein has been widely praised for overseeing an unprecedented political opening in the Southeast Asian nation since the army ceded power two years ago to a nominally civilian government led by retired military officers.

But rights groups also accuse his government of tolerating, or even abetting, what they describe as ethnic cleansing directed against Muslims in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

They say authorities have done little to crack down on religious intolerance and failed to bridge a divide that has left hundreds of thousands of Muslims marginalized, many of them confined by security forces in inadequately equipped camps after fleeing their homes.

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Late S.N. Goenka's ashes to be scattered in the Irrawaddy River, Myanmar

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Yangon, Myanmar -- The ashes of the late Guruji S. N. Goenka arrived in Yangon today, 7 October at 2:00 pm by air from India.

Announcements have been made that the ashes will be scattered at three locations in the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.

First off, the ashes will be taken to the Dhammajoti Meditation Centre, Yangon in a special vehicle decorated with flowers. People will be allowed to pay tribute overnight.

The next morning, the ashes will be taken to Myit Kyi Nar (Capital City of Kachin State, Northern Myanmar) by air.

The first scattering is site will be at the Myit Sone (beginning point) of Irrawaddy River. On Wednesday (9 October), the remaining ashes will be taken to Mandalay, the birth place of Guruji and scattered into the Irrawaddy River at Mandalay.

On the evening of the same day, the remaining ashes will be brought back to Yangon for overnight public tribute in Dhammajoti Meditation Centre.

The final scattering would be on Thursday (10 October) morning at the entrance of Yangon River in Yangon by Myannandar boat.

Mata Elaichidevi, the widow of S.N. Goenka, will not able to accompany the ashes to Myanmar due to health problems.

Spiritualist and pioneer of Vipassana meditation in India, Goenkaji, died on September 30, 2013 at his residence in Mumbai due to old age. He was 90. He is survived by his wife Mata Elaichidevi and six sons.

Born and raised in Myanmar, Goenka started teaching Vipassana meditation in 1969 and followed it up with a meditation centre in Igatpuri, near Nashik, in 1976. He is widely credited as one who brought Vipassana meditation back to India.

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Buddhists Get Prison Terms in Myanmar

Previously, the majority of those sentenced in the country?s Buddhist-Muslim violence have been Muslims, even though Muslims have suffered most of the casualties over a year of sporadic outbursts of anger between the two groups.

The sentences issued on Wednesday and Thursday did not erase a sense of unequal justice in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority nation; earlier in the week, a Muslim man received life in prison for killing one of the 43 people who died during the violence in the town of Meiktila.

The attacks, mostly by Buddhist mobs, have killed about 200 Muslims, and the government?s inability or unwillingness to stop the assaults has marred the nation?s image abroad as it moves toward democracy after nearly five decades of military rule.

On Wednesday, the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, issued what appeared to be his strongest criticism yet of the country?s handling of the growing religious tensions, saying the government?s promises to protect lives and punish wrongdoers had to be ?translated into concrete action.?

While Myanmar?s leaders have moved troops into Muslim areas after the attacks to stem the bloodletting, some leaders have expressed support for a growing radical Buddhist movement, known as 969, whose hate-filled sermons have been blamed for helping to inspire the violence.

The toughest of the latest sentences stemmed from the deadliest episode of the Meiktila riots: a brutal mob attack on an Islamic school that killed 36 people.

The state-run daily newspaper Keymon said eight people - seven Buddhists and one Muslim - were convicted in Meiktila district court for crimes connected to the school massacre.

Tin Hlaing, a local reporter who attended the hearings, said that four of them were convicted of murder and causing other injuries, and were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.

On Tuesday, one Muslim man received a life sentence and three other Muslims got sentences of at least seven years in prison for their roles in the murder of a 19-year-old university student during the unrest, Tin Hlaing added.

Sectarian violence in Myanmar, formerly Burma, began over a year ago in Rakhine State, in the country?s west, and spread to the central towns of Meiktila and Okkan.

Most of those charged with crimes in the rioting there are Buddhists, said Tin Maung Soe, the Meiktila district chairman.

Asked why Buddhists were given lighter sentences than some Muslims, Khin Win Phyu, the Meiktila district legal officer, said, ?The courts passed their verdict according to law, and there is no bias or privilege toward any group.?

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Myanmar govt, Suu Kyi slam attack on Buddhist shrine

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NEW DELHI, India -- The Myanmar government and Opposition leader Aung San Suu kyi expressed unhappiness about the terror attacks in Bodh Gaya which damaged the Mahabodhi shrine and injured a young Myanmarese monk on Sunday. The Bihar government has been criticized for ignoring intelligence warnings that the shrine may be under terror threat.

The Bodh Gaya blasts will be a diplomatic embarrassment for India among countries who India courts as the repository of Buddhism's holy sites from Japan, China, Bhutan, Thailand to Myanmar and Sri Lanka. For all these countries, India's position in the world of Buddhism is unique. This incident could cast a shadow on that, which would mean India would have to work doubly hard to secure religious sites that have an international presence.

It also means India would have to play a stronger role in security in its neighbourhood, specially in the growing conflicts between Muslims and Buddhists.

In separate meetings with foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who is visiting Yangon, Myanmarese leaders condemned the blasts and requested increased security. Mathai, said MEA officials, has promised that India would keep Bodh Gaya as a place for "pilgrimage and peace". Mathai met Myanmarese foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin in Naw Pyi Taw, and Suu Kyi in Yangon. Suu Kyi expressed shock and hoped for greater security.

Mathai also gave an update on the status of the Myanmarese monk, Vilsagga, who was injured. He said the monk would be taken care of by Indian authorities. India and Myanmar have agreed to step up security cooperation. Mathai also met with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Vilsagga (30), a Myanmarese monk, was praying near the Bodhi tree and suffered serious injuries in the blast.

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Dalai Lama condemns Buddhist attacks on Muslims in Myanmar, Sri Lanka

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NEW DELHI, India -- The Dalai Lama has reached out to monks in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, imploring them to end recent violence towards Muslims in their countries.

<< Peaceful words: In his speech at the University of Maryland, the Dalai Lama implored Buddhist monks to stop the violent and deadly anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka and Myanmar

The Buddhist spiritual leader blamed those of his own religion for recent violent attacks in south Asia, while giving a speech at the University of Maryland.

Hundreds have died and more than 135,000 people have fled their homes in Myanmar, also known as Burma, in the past year's brutal assaults.

In Sri Lanka, Buddhist groups have recently attacked Muslim businesses.

In his speech on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama condemned all killings in the name of religion and admitted that not even Buddhists were exempt from carrying out religious attacks.

‘Killing people in the name of religion is really very sad, unthinkable, very sad,’ the Nobel Peace laureate said.

‘Nowadays even Buddhists are involved, in Burma and Sri Lanka. Buddhist monks destroying Muslim mosques or Muslim families - it's really very sad.’

Dalai Lama begged Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Myanmar to look to their own religion to end the recent escalating violence against Muslims.

'When they develop some sort of negative emotions toward the Muslim community, then please think of the face of Buddha.’

'If the Buddha is there, he will protect the Muslims, he said in the speech in front of 15,000 gathered at the University of Maryland.

However, his calming words may be in vain as Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, which is separate from the Dalai Lama's Tibetan school, which means they do not answer to his authority.

Religious violence in Myanmar flared up a year ago when mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes in the western Rakhine state, leaving hundreds dead and forcing 125,000 people to flee.

That violence has since spread into a campaign against the country's Muslim community in other regions.

In March, at least 43 people were killed and 12,000 displaced in the central city of Meikhtila when Buddhist mobs rampaged through the town and police stood idly by. Most of the victims were Muslim.

Last week, one person was killed and nine others injured when Buddhists stormed a township 50 miles north of the main city Yangon, ransacking mosques and burning villages to the ground.

Sri Lanka, where 70 per cent identify themselves as Buddhists, compared to 9.7 per cent Muslim, is seeing a rise in attacks on Muslim-owned businesses and hate speeches in public places.

Groups led by Buddhist monks accuse the small Muslim minority of dominating business on the island nation and secretly sterilising Buddhists.

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Who can stem the tide of Buddhist supremacy in Myanmar?

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Yangon, Myanmar -- The recent communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar seems to be a result of the conflict which took place in Rakhine State last year.

<< Demonstrators shout slogans and burn placards reading “Stop 969 Group!” during a protest in Kuala Lumpur on March 25, 2013. (AFP)

Muslims already feel threatened throughout the country and the tension has been building. However, there are more than two million Muslim people in Myanmar who have been living peacefully side-by-side with Buddhists in the country for generations.

It just needed a trigger like a brawl between the Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in Meiktila to flare up into serious inter-communal violence like it did. The devastating effect of this violence was many deaths, countless injured and the destruction of Muslim mosques and businesses.

Finally, the army stemmed the unrest in Meiktila. However, not before the violence spread to other towns nearby and then further south to the Bago Region, closer to Yangon.

What is most alarming is the organized nature of these Buddhist zealots who travelled to different towns and villages in groups on motorcycles. There, in the dead of night, they set fires to mosques and Muslim-owned businesses.

The initial violence in Meiktila could have been mass-hysteria, but the relentless destruction of Muslim homes, mosques and businesses in different towns and villages seems to be a concerted attack by zealots fired up by a Buddhist clergy preaching a mix of religion and nationalism. The sheer ferocity of the attacks and destruction is alarming.

One hopes that this trend is stopped before it spreads across the nation and grows into a “Buddhist Supremacy” movement.

Although Muslims comprise of only four percent of the population, traditionally it was harder for Muslims to assimilate into the main Myanmar population due to the religion's strict marital codes that requires anybody who inter-married have to convert to Islam. This has always been a thorn in the side and a projected threat by the majority Buddhist society.

Other religious groups—Christians, Hindus and even Animists—have assimilated more easily as there are no strict marital codes like in Islam.

Buddhists and Muslims lived in peaceful co-existence for more than a century before the violence in Rakhine State left most Muslims in Myanmar feeling threatened.

This inter-communal strife must be stopped at this juncture through concerted measures by the government, inter-faith religious leaders, Buddhist Sangha Councils, politicians, civic society groups. Not to do so may allow these zealots to morph into something like the White Supremacists who launched attacks against the black minority in the USA.

The American case is similar to the phenomenon taking place in Myanmar but in a different form. It is Buddhism mixed with nationalism, which is proving to be a dangerous and explosive combination.

Current unrest can be contained through the law, but these zealots are not going to go away overnight—especially when 969 Buddhist monks are preaching against the Muslim minority. It seems that this is the most dangerous source of this anger and violence. Why is the Supreme Sangha Council doing nothing to reign in these wayward monks?

President Thein Sein came out fairly strongly in his speech to the nation—this is what the people on both sides need to hear.

There are also some interfaith dialogues being held at the Myanmar Peace Center, chaired by Minister Aung Min.

Mandalay held an interfaith vigil; the National League for Democracy (NLD) in places like Taunggyi is spearheading the formation of committees to assure stability in the region; and the 88 Generation leaders are forming civic society and interfaith groups.

But why is Aung San Suu Kyi not speaking up? Is she going to stay silent like during the Rohingya and Kachin issues? Where is she in the battle to stem this tide of hatred?

She should at least appeal to the wayward monks to separate Buddhism and nationalism. She is a national hero to both the clergy and the Myanmar population. Here is the perfect chance for her to mediate and try to resolve the situation. Otherwise she may find that she will inherit a huge mess if the NLD wins in 2015.

The whole nation needs to be vigilant and create a safe atmosphere for both Buddhists and Muslims if Myanmar does not want to end up grappling with its own religious supremacists further terrorizing the minority Muslims.

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Myat Thu Pan is an interested observer of the political, socioeconomic and crucial issues happening in present-day Myanmar.

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Fanatical Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu Calling for Boycott of Myanmar Muslims

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Yangon, Myanmar -- Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu, the self-styled "Burmese bin Laden", has called for a national boycott of Muslim businesses in Myanmar in a controversial video that emerged on YouTube.

Wirathu, who has led numerous vocal campaigns against Muslims in Burma and was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature, urges Burmese people "to join the 969 Buddhist nationalist campaign" and "do business or interact with only our kind: same race and same faith".

"Your purchases spent in 'their' (Muslim) shops will benefit the Enemy," says Wirathu. "So, do business with only shops with 969 signs on their facets".

The numerology of 969 is derived from the Buddhist tradition in which 9 stands for the special attributes of Buddha; 6 for the special attributes of his teaching or Dhamma and 9 for the special attributes of the Sangha or Buddhist order.

In the footage filmed from Mandalay's Ma-soe-yein teaching monastery, Wirathu accuses Muslims of entertaining ties with the military junta that ruled Myanmar for five decades. The apartheid-like speech stirred shocked reaction on Twitter, with users calling the monk a "neo-Nazi" inciting anti-Muslim pogroms in Burma.

Wirathu played an active role in stirring tensions in a Rangoon suburb in February, by spreading unfounded rumours that a local school was being developed into a mosque, according to the Democratic voice of Burma. An angry mob of about 300 Buddhists assaulted the school and Muslim-owned businesses and shops in Rangoon. The monk said that his militancy "is vital to counter aggressive expansion by Muslims". He has also been implicated in religious clashes in Mandalay, where a dozen people died, in several local reports.

Sectarian clashes erupted this week in the central Myanmar city of Meikhtila, where mobs of Buddhists, some led by monks, have attacked a Muslim neighbourhood leaving at least 20 people dead.

"Buddhist monasteries have been distributing leaflets that were critical of Muslims on various things, and that has been going on for months" said Burma Campaign UK's director Mark Farmaner. He maintains there were individual reports, around 10, of monasteries around Rangoon and in the Rakhine state distributing anti-Muslim leaflets.

Muslims in Myanmar represent the 4 percent of a total population of 60 million, according  to government census. However, according to the U.S. State Department's 2006 international religious freedom report, the country's non-Buddhist populations were underestimated in the census. Muslim leaders estimate that as much as 20 percent of the population may be Muslim.

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Armed Buddhists, including monks, clash with Muslims in Myanmar

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Yangon, Myanmar -- Buddhist monks and others armed with swords and machetes Friday stalked the streets of a city in central Myanmar, where sectarian violence that has left about 20 people dead has begun to spread to other areas, according to local officials.

Members of the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Meiktila township have clashed this week after a dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and two Buddhist sellers Wednesday ignited simmering communal tensions.

Rioters have set fire to houses, schools and mosques, prompting thousands of residents to flee their homes amid unrest that had echoes of sectarian troubles that killed scores of people in western Myanmar last year.

Late Friday night, President Thein Sein announced on state television that four townships in the affected region are under a state of emergency.

The United Nations and the United States have expressed concern about the violence in the lakeside city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Mandalay.

Win Htein, an opposition member of parliament for Meiktila, said the number of dead in the city has risen to about 20 by his estimate -- most of them Muslims -- after charred bodies were found in the streets.

"I have not seen this scale of violence before in my life," he said. "I am very sad. The community used to live in peace."

Myanmar is emerging from decades of military repression and has taken a number of significant steps toward democracy in recent years under President Thein Sein. But it has been plagued by bouts of ethnic violence that some analysts say are a byproduct of the changing political climate.

Burning mosques

A group of about 100 Buddhists, including some monks, went around Meiktila on Thursday night torching mosques, said Police Lt. Col. Aung Min, and while most of them have returned home, some are still wandering the streets, carrying weapons.

Although Aung Min declined to provide an official death toll, he said the violence had spread to a nearby town, Win Twin, where a mosque was burned down overnight.

He said about 1,000 Muslims had taken temporary shelter in a soccer stadium in Meiktila, where about 30% of the 100,000 residents are estimated to be Muslims.

Win Htein said he believed that more than 5,000 Buddhists had fled to monasteries around the city to escape the violence.

Many members of both communities had lost their homes, he said.
Journalists in the city who tried to take photos of the clashes said they were threatened by Buddhists, some of them monks, who were holding sticks and knives.
Violence in Rakhine

In the western state of Rakhine, tensions between the majority Buddhist community and the Rohingya, a stateless ethnic Muslim group, boiled over into clashes that killed scores of people and left tens of thousands of others living in makeshift camps last year.
Most of the victims were Rohingya.

"The ongoing intercommunal strife in Rakhine State is of grave concern," the International Crisis Group said in a November report. "And there is the potential for similar violence elsewhere, as nationalism and ethno-nationalism rise and old prejudices resurface."

A failure by authorities to address deepening divisions between the communities could result in a resumption of violence in the future, the report said, "which would be to the detriment of both communities, and of the country as a whole."

Vijay Nambiar, special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on Myanmar, on Thursday expressed "deep sorrow at the tragic loss of lives and destruction" in Meiktila this week.

He called for "firm action" from Myanmar authorities, combined with "the continued fostering of communal harmony and preservation of peace and tranquility among the people."

Win Htein, the local lawmaker, said that he believed there were now about 1,000 police officers in the area.

He said he had spoken to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, who had said local authorities should use police to control the situation according to the law.

The U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, said Thursday that he was "deeply concerned" about the reports of violence.

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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.

<< U Gambira

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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Buddhists seek voice in strife-hit western Myanmar

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SITTWE, Myanmar -- Disgruntled by international support for Muslim Rohingya in unrest-hit western Myanmar, ethnic Rakhine Buddhists are demanding recognition of their own plight and venting a rage that veers into racism.

<< Myanmar Buddhist monks rally on the streets of Mandalay (AFP, File Pic)

More than 150 people have died in communal clashes in western Rakhine State since June and thousands of homes have been torched, leaving some 75,000 people displaced, in a convulsion of violence that has torn apart neighbourhoods.

Losses have been incurred on both sides, but the international community has mostly focused on the fate of the area's Muslim Rohingya, long considered by the United Nations to be among the most persecuted minorities in the world.

But many Rakhine, whose state is one of Myanmar's poorest, are adamant it is in fact they who have been wronged, first by grinding years under the iron-fisted junta rule and more recently by rising numbers of Rohingya on their land.

"We have no right to speak, we are marginalised in the international arena," said Oo Hla Saw, general secretary of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

In an attempt to push their point, hundreds have taken to the streets in recent weeks. Led by robed Buddhist monks, the demonstrators openly spoke of their desire to drive out the Muslim minority.

They also protested against plans by the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open an office in the country.

"We can live with many kinds of people, but not with the Muslims from here," said U Ohattama, a senior monk at Klak Kha Mout monastery. "The Muslims from here are like animals."

Many in Myanmar rail against the presence of around 800,000 Rohingya in their country, viewing them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Myanmar authorities have for decades refused to provide the minority group with papers, rendering them stateless.

But despite their difficulties, ethnic Rakhine are quick to heap scorn on the assistance provided to the Rohingya by the United Nations and foreign charities.

"Rakhine society always relies on itself. Muslim people are always eager to rely on international aid when they have problems," said U Nya Na, leader of a monk association in Sittwe. "Rohingya are like beggars in a market."

The international community helps only the "kalar", agreed Myar San, a 28-year-old internally displaced Rakhine resident, using a derogatory term for Muslims.

She is one of several thousand ethnic Buddhists in the state who have been forced to take shelter in monasteries and camps since the recent communal violence made her homeless.

But whereas the Buddhists displaced have freedom of movement and can get to work, tens of thousands of Rohingya are trapped in squalid camps on the outskirts of the state capital Sittwe, relying on humanitarian aid.

Aid agencies refute accusations that their help is partial.

"We are there to help the people who are in need and our assistance is based on that criteria only, it is not based on any other criteria of race, ethnicity, religion," said the UN chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam.

Mostly clustered in the north of Rakhine state, the Rohingya have for decades been subjected to movement restrictions, forced labour and land grabs, while access to education and health services has been limited.

But the ethnic Rakhine community would like the world to pay more attention to its plight.

With 44 percent of its population living under the poverty line Rakhine is the second-poorest state in one of the world's most impoverished nations, according to a UNDP report last year.

While the state is rich in natural resources, notably oil and gas, locals have benefited little and "this area became very poor because of the military dictatorship", according to Oo Hla Saw.

Like other "official" minorities in the ethnically diverse country the Rakhines suffered under the yoke of the junta for nearly half a century until it was replaced by a nominally civilian, reformist government in March 2011.

"This is a population that has faced terrible abuses... everything from forced labour to land confiscation, to other violence and abuses by the Burmese military," said Matthew Smith from Human Rights Watch, using Myanmar's former name.

But today, many ethnic Rakhine appear to have found an ideal scapegoat for their hardships in the Rohingya community, which they see as threat to the survival of their "race".

"Rakhine people are nearly a minority here," said businessman Ba Aung, 57, vowing not to rehire the three Muslims who worked for him prior to the outbreak of violence.

The current situation might have been even worse if hundreds of thousands of Rohingya had not sought exile in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh or Malaysia over previous decades, observers say.

This fear of the Rakhines being "submerged" is quite real and explains their "radical" attitude, according to Jacques Leider, a Thailand-based scholar at the French School of the Far East.

"Some (Rakhines) recognise they grew up with an anti-Muslim, racist reflex that is difficult for them to undo today."

And if this reflex is likely to alienate the international community, Rakhines hope they can at least count on the new, more democratic administration in Naypyidaw to side with them on nationalist issues.

"The democratic government will follow the wishes of the ethnic Rakhine," Nya Na said with conviction.

The monk has at least one reason to be optimistic. In the wake of this month's protests, the government blocked the OIC from opening a branch in Myanmar.

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Buddhist monks march in Myanmar to thwart Islamic office plan

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YANGON, Myanmar -- Thousands of Buddhist monks marched in Myanmar's two biggest cities on Monday to protest against efforts by the world's biggest Islamic body to help Rohingya Muslims involved in deadly communal clashes four months ago.

The monks, a potent political force in the predominantly Buddhist country, denounced plans by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to set up a liaison office in northwest Rakhine state, where violence erupted in June between ethnic Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingyas.

Just hours after the monks dispersed, President Thein Sein's office announced it would not permit an OIC representation in Myanmar. It was not immediately clear if the announcement was linked to the protests or had been planned in advance.

"The government will not allow the opening of an OIC office as it is not in accordance with the desire of people," said a statement posted on its website.

The monks were joined by ordinary citizens in Yangon and Mandalay. Some carried placards with the words "get out OIC", and "no OIC" and said they would hold demonstrations until the government agreed to their demands.

Despite being one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries, there is entrenched ill-feeling in Myanmar towards the estimated 800,000 Rohingyas, most of whom live in abject conditions.

Accused of being illegal immigrants and usually referred to as Bengalis because of their South Asian origin, the Rohingyas are not recognised as citizens by Myanmar.

"The OIC is only for Bengalis, not for us," said monk Pyin Nyar Nanda at one of the rallies.

Anger and fear still smoulder between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists after the spree of arson and machete attacks that killed at least 77 people and displaced tens of thousands.

A delegation from the OIC visited Rakhine state last month after several Muslim countries voiced concern about the welfare of the Rohingyas, whom the United Nations has described as "virtually friendless".

In a report in August, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had found evidence of "state-sponsored persecution and discrimination" against the Rohingyas in the weeks after the violence, claims that the government strongly rejected.

While all sides of the political spectrum have called for calm, the issue has become a hot political issue for Nobel laureate and lawmaker Aung San Suu Kyi. She has faced international criticism for failing to speak out in defence of the Rohingyas, who are denied the same rights as Burmese.

During the trouble, many Rohingyas tried to flee in rickety boats to neighbouring Bangladesh, which also refuses to recognise them. Most were turned back by security forces.

The government had earlier indicated it would consider allowing the OIC to open a temporary office in the Rakhine capital, Sittwe, where aid groups and journalists say the two communities remain deeply divided.

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Letter: May Loving-Kindness Spread to the Arakan State of Myanmar

That momentous event, although undoubtedly tends to depict the monastic as compassionate heroes who fought for the benefit of the poor peasants and citizens in Myanmar, also raises several issues that pertain to Buddhism. For example, one very prominent question was how could the monks, who have renounced the worldly affairs, interfere in the political arena? But then, when thrown with this question, many Buddhists prefer to justify it as an act of compassion for the suffering Burmese people.

Recently, the Burmese Theravada monastic was thrown into the spotlight again when several monks’ associations played on the nationalist sentiment and aggressively called for the “extermination of the Rohingya Muslim community” due to their “cruel nature.” While monks are not prohibited from having a sense of nationalism and love for their country, it may not appear right in the eyes of Buddhism if the monks start asking or encouraging others to kill, no matter how cruel or wrong others could turn out to be.

Lack of respect for one another is one very common reason how conflict begins. Recall that during the Buddha’s time, there were also many different sects and teachers. Throughout his 45 years of teaching, neither had he proclaimed that those others as evil or cruel, nor he called upon his disciples to exterminate them. He even drew up the “Charter of Free Inquiry” as manifested in the Kalama Sutta where he encouraged individual freedom and respect for others by telling that one should not blindly accept his teaching. Hence, if the Buddha himself had never condoned such act of violence and slander in propagating the Dhamma, his disciples, even from this contemporary generation, should never set the precedence for it.

Even if a conflict breaks out, violence is never the solution. Recall the Buddha’s intervention to stop an imminent war break-out following the quarrel between the Sakyas and the Koliyans over the Rohini river. Respectful compromise, patience and most importantly, non-hatred, should be one’s best armor in dealing with conflict, not anger or violence. Again and again, we are reminded of the Buddha’s timeless message as recorded in Dhammapada v.5: “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. Only by non-hatred is hatred appeased. This is the eternal law.”

What happen to the famous Karaniya Metta Sutta that has often been chanted during the Saffron Revolution in 2007? The sutta says that one should not deceive, despise or wish any harm to another with insult or ill-will and that one should cultivate a boundless heart toward all beings just like how a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her life. Wouldn’t it be very contradictory if those monks were to chant this sutta but at the same time inflicting harm on the Rohingya community?

At this point, perhaps it is clarifying to emphasize that I do not intend to criticize the Sangha Order in Myanmar. I am not attempting to question the purity of the Sangha there. Rather, I am airing my opinions to only those certain quarters of the Burmese Sangha who subscribed to such violence against the Rohingya community. I personally believe that there are still many blameless bhikkhus who arduously practice the teachings of the Buddha in its true spirit and promote the Buddha-sasana through peaceful and respectful means in Myanmar.

In fact, to help alleviate the current predicament that tarnishes the reputation of Buddhism and the Sangha Order, we would need to rely upon this group of blameless monastic members. It is through their strict adherence to the Dhamma-Vinaya that the members of the Order could be inspired to practice likewise and be less inclined to engage in unskillful deeds. I definitely do not expect all the monks to be saints, but at least I hope they could see and live by the spirit of ahimsa as preached by the Buddha. 

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In Buddhist Myanmar, Monks Gone Wild

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For a country steeped in Buddhism, Myanmar is accruing terrible karmic debts.

Yangon, Myanmar -- Alarming news and images of attacks and killings by the Buddhist majority in Rakhine Province against a Muslim minority there have been slowly trickling out onto the Internet and the wider world. Pictures of charred bodies and crying parents have stirred largely unheeded calls for intervention, mostly from Muslim nations.

“The attacks have been primarily one-sided, with Muslims generally and Rohingyas specifically the targets and victims,” Benjamin Zawacki, a Bangkok-based researcher for Amnesty International, told The Associated Press. “Some of this is by the security forces’ own hands, some by Rakhine Buddhists with the security forces turning a blind eye in some cases.”

The government in Myanmar, recently lauded for taking steps toward democratization, declared a state of emergency in June following the outbreak of violence allegedly sparked by the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman by members of the Rohingya minority -- a largely Muslim group on the country’s western border with Bangladesh. The official death toll stands at 78, though activists say it is likely much higher.

The Rohingya, meanwhile, remain caught between a hostile populace and a neighboring Muslim nation in Bangladesh that refuses to open its borders to fleeing refugees.

Such is the irony in a country famous for its Valley of the Temples and its unrivaled devotion to the Buddha. Alas, while Buddhism through a Western lens can appear rosy for its message of compassion, inner peace, and self-cultivation, in Asian societies Buddhism as an institution has much broader political applications.

Five years ago thousands of monks across Myanmar led in mass demonstrations against the military junta that paralyzed the former capital Yangon and other cities. The catalyst was an economic crisis, coupled with a devastating typhoon that destroyed homes and rice fields. The government’s failure to respond drove the monks to revolt, leading to the arrest and beating of hundreds of clergy. In such an overwhelmingly Buddhist country as Myanmar, the crackdown posed serious risks for the leadership.

For the monks, on the other hand, if fighting on behalf of the people seemed a moral necessity, such “spiritual engagement” apparently does not extend to the country’s Muslims -- estimated at around 800,000. They are a population denied citizenship and, by extension, the beneficence of the Buddha.

In 2001 monks handed out anti-Muslim pamphlets that resulted in the burning of Muslim homes, destruction of 11 mosques and the killing of over 200 Muslims in the Pegu region. Four years earlier, another anti-Muslim riot broke out in Mandalay during the worship of a Buddha statue at the Maha Myatmuni pagoda. In that incident, an estimated 1,500 Buddhist monks led the attack on nearby mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, looting as they went.

As for the current crisis, Human Rights Watch is strongly urging the Burmese government to end arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and “redeploy and hold accountable security forces implicated in serious abuses. Burmese authorities should ensure safe access to the area by the United Nations (UN), independent humanitarian organizations, and the media.”

“The Burmese government needs to put an immediate end to the abusive sweeps by the security forces against Rohingya communities,” noted Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Anyone being held should be promptly charged or released, and their relatives given access.”

So far the killings have garnered little attention in the West, where they have registered little more than a blip in the news cycle. Equally as troubling, however, has been the muted response of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – an icon of human rights across Southeast Asia. Her recent tepid call for ethnic equality in Myanmar, nearly two months after the violence erupted, was met with uniform criticism around the world.

In the 1960s the renowned Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh coined the term “Engaged Buddhism.” The intent, then as now, was to exhort fellow monks to emerge from their temples and engage with a society then in the grips of war.

The practice continues across much of South and Southeast Asia today. One example is the long drawn out war in Sri Lanka, during which militant monks formed their own political party, held seats in parliament and advocated military solutions to the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

In Vietnam, the ruling class knows each time a Buddhist monk sets himself ablaze they'd better watch out. That was certainly true in 1963 when a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in downtown Saigon to protest a crackdown on Buddhism. Unrest grew as civilian fear turned into anger, and the Catholic controlled regime of Ngo Dinh Diem fell soon afterward. The current communist regime still keeps a number of leading clergymen under house arrest for fear for a popular revolt.

But if Myanmar’s monks held the moral high ground five years ago when they protested against government oppression, that standing has quickly turned into a deep and dark sinkhole of depravity amid calls for the majority to oppress their neighbors.

“Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech and a life of service and compassion renew humanity,” the historical Buddha, Gautama Siddharta, once said.

One wonders what he would say now, as innocent blood is shed in his name, and the path toward enlightenment that he taught to relieve the suffering of all beings had somehow derailed into a dark road of rebirth in the lowest levels of hell?

---------------
NAM editor, Andrew Lam, is author of East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres and Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora. His next book, Birds of Paradise Lost, a collection of short story, is due out in 2013.

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Myanmar is reminded of its ethnic realities

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Communal violence flares up even as the country tries to return to democracy

Arakan, Myanmar -- A week ago, a Buddhist woman was raped, allegedly by a Muslim man in the Rakhine province (once known as Arakan) in Myanmar, once known as Burma. Incensed Buddhists stopped a bus which had many Rohingyas, who are Muslim, and killed at least ten, injuring others.

The death toll in the unrest since has risen to 21. Myanmar is sending troops to the region. Rohingyas are fleeing their villages for Bangladesh, which has rushed its own troops to the border. Yesterday, the Bangladeshi border authorities sent back three boats full of civilian Rohingyas fleeing conflict.

The stream of good news coming from Myanmar had to stumble at some point, and this is perhaps the time, where Myanmar’s horrific past and tragic presence have cast a shadow on its future. That this week Aung San Suu Kyi will receive her Nobel Prize 23 years late combines the ironies of the country impeccably.

This reality check doesn’t come from some generals expressing unhappiness with the effortless re-emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi in public life, but it reveals a far older problem, of how the country treats its minorities.

As an ethnic pot, heterogenous is a mild word to describe Myanmar. While Burmans (or Bamars, as they are known in the country) form the majority - and hence the country’s former name, Burma - there are other minorities dominant in specific geographic terrains, such as Kachins, Karens, Chins, Shans, Mons, and Karennis. Many of these groups have fought battles for decades against the army, with some demanding more autonomy and others demanding independence. The government has signed ceasefire agreements with all but one community, although some agreements are fragile. Aung San Suu Kyi has said reconciliation with the ethnic groups is important, and she draws on the Panglong Agreement her father signed, representing the Burmese Army, with three key groups before independence in 1948.

Notice the absence of Rohingya Muslims in the conversation. This group is a minority in Myanmar, and they “look” South Asian and not Southeast Asian. They follow a different faith - Islam - unlike the majority Buddhists. (Some ethnic groups which have fought the Burmese army are majority Christians). Since independence, relations between Rohingyas and the Buddhists have been poor, and in the 1980s the government actively pushed them out, with most of them becoming de facto refugees in Bangladesh. Myanmar denies them citizenship rights and places many restrictions on their personal lives. Over the years, Bangladeshi governments have negotiated with Myanmar and repatriated some Rohingyas. Officially, there are fewer than 30,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, but there are claims that the real figure is ten times larger.

The unrest has brought out horrendous atavistic emotions. When Irrawady, the independent magazine based in Bangkok that opposes the generals and is cautious about the current reforms, reported the riots, its message board began looking like the worst of the no-holds-barred comments against the Rohingyas. They’re not Myanmar citizens, said one; other epithets and comments were more pejorative. (Myanmar citizens who object to give citizenship to Rohingyas apparently don’t seem to mind Chinese nationals acquiring citizenship in their country. China has invested heavily in Myanmar, creating tens of thousands of jobs - for Chinese migrants in Myanmar. But let that pass.

It is in that context that Bangladesh’s decision to close its border, and turning back Rohingyas leaving Myanmar for Bangladesh, is cruel and unjustified, and possibly a violation of international obligations to refugees. Meghna Guha Thakurta, a peace and reconciliation expert in Dhaka told me at the time of the April by-elections which, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy won, that dealing with the Rohingya issue will be a real challenge for her. That challenge has arrived sooner than she may have wanted.

And yet, Bangladesh’s response flies in the face of its own history. In 1971, nearly 10 million people from the land that became Bangladesh fled for India, as Pakistani troops unleashed brutality on an unprecedented scale, to suppress Bangladeshi nationalism. At that time, India opened its doors. Bangladesh has sought humane treatment of Bangladeshis who continue to cross the Indian border illegally since then. Surely its leaders know, then, that they should open their border with Myanmar, so that those who have well-grounded fears of persecution can feel safe.

More than that, Myanmar’s president Thein Sein has to use his imagination and political capital with the same skill with which he is guiding the country’s return to democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi can help, but the government has to reassure the victims first.

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03/16/2012 12:28 MYANMAR - THAILAND PIME missionary in Thailand: Buddhists have helped me better understand Christianity

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» 03/16/2012 12:28
MYANMAR - THAILAND
PIME missionary in Thailand: Buddhists have helped me better understand Christianity
by Piero Gheddo
With the book "Thanks to my Buddhist friends," Fr. Angelo Campagnoli (PIME) speaks of 52 years of priesthood among Buddhists of Myanmar and Thailand. Interreligious dialogue is not a comparison of religious beliefs and the truth of what to believe, but a mutual understanding and the story of shared experiences.

Milan (AsiaNews) - My confrere Fr. Angelo Campagnoli has published a book "Thanks to my Buddhist friends" with the subtitle: "Living with the Buddhists I have better understood Christianity" (Pimedit, Milan 2012, p. 82, Euro 5), in which he does not talk of Buddhism from the theoretical point of view, but shares his life experience with Buddhists, throughout 52 years of priesthood and his missionary life. First in Burma (1960-1966) he was expelled with more than 200 young missionaries (18 Protestants, the rest Catholics) by the military-socialist dictatorship that still regins, and then, after 1972, in Thailand, where Campagnoli was sent with three other brothers to start a PIME missionary presence in the North of the country. From the outset he devoted himself to inter-religious dialogue, attending Buddhist monasteries and universities and then also giving lectures on Christianity at a Buddhist University.

Then the bishop of Chiang Mai, to whom PIME had given their full availability, sent him to the parish of Phrae, the capital town of the province in northern Thailand, where he founded a large school with more than two thousand students for the most part Buddhist and where he has made friends with Buddhist people and monks.

I ask him what this little book means. "In Italy - he says - many feel that all religions are more or less equal, but there are profound differences between Christianity and Buddhism. For example, we are rightly scandalized by the division of the Christian churches, but Buddhism is much less united. In Japan alone there are 18 different schools of Buddhism, each of which says that the others are wrong, and no-one bats an eye-lid".

"Between Christianity and Buddhism, there are many things that appear similar but are fundamentally different. For example, in Buddhism the distinction between good and evil is mechanical, fatalistic, karma; in Christianity man's life is a relationship with God. So although our commandments from the fifth onward are also relevant to Buddhists, you realize however that it's different. Christians know that the commandment comes from God, our merciful father who created us and loves us and that His law is for our own good; Buddhists must not do evil out of fear, because otherwise they will pay for their disobedience to the law of karma in their next reincarnation. That's the difference. Christianity is a relationship with God, it is responding to a love that loved us first, while in Buddhism there is no relationship like this: there is a rule that is karma, the law that has no forgiveness. "

In Phrae Father Angelo was invited by the Buddhist monks to give them courses in Christianity. The abbot said to him: "There are more and more foreign tourists who come to visit our monastery and ask us to teach them about Buddhism. I invite you, you're a Catholic priest well inculturated in Thailand, to explain Christianity, so that we can talk to these visitors appropriately. Campagnoli gave lectures on Christianity to these monks, becoming their friend. And then he adds: "In explaining Christianity, they said that I make a leap. My reasoning is not logical, because I say things I do not explain. I responded that this is faith in God, which means to trust God who loves me. And they said, but we do only what we understand. "

Dialogue with Buddhists, this is the experience Father Angel.  It is a progressive experience and not a confrontation between the religious faiths and truths to be believed, but a gradual and mutual understanding and the story of their shared experiences. They are interested in life not theology. He says: "A belligerent attitude that expresses a determined and aggressive idea is the safest way to remove the other person. If you silence him or her with your argument, you will never see the other person again, they will avoid you: they care deeply for their inner serenity. Never try to prove that your religion is better than theirs: You can speak all you want about the goodness of your faith, never make a comparison. " He tells the story of a Catholic catechist. A Buddhist friend insisted that he tell him what the best religion was: Christianity or Buddhism? The catechist intelligently responded: "And you tell me, which is the better wife yours or mine?". And the conversation ended there. Woe betide him if he had said that it is Christianity, he might have broken the bond of friendship.

"I discovered these things by getting to know Buddhists, says Father Angelo. Inter-religious dialogue is a difficult and delicate one, we are just beginning this journey." He concludes by describing the image that the great guru Buddhadasa used: "The peak that we want and need to reach is one in the same, the paths of ascent are different and each thinks he is climbing the right one". But, I say, Angelo concludes, if He who is on the summit shouts down to me: "Look, this is the main road, the direct route, the guaranteed on," I can only turn back to the friend who is climbing up by another way and transmit to him the cry from above. And if he continues undeterred in his arduous climb, I can only raise my head and cry out to Him who is on the top: "Lord, shout even more clearly down the other path". And with my voice, maybe a little 'strangled, I entrust to the wind of the Spirit, a "See you on top, Buddhist friend." And this is not relativism, but the hope that we will all meet at the end of our journey since we know that Christ's salvation comes to all, even those who do not know Him. "

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Monks end rare Myanmar protest

Home Asia Pacific South East Asia Myanmar Myanmar Protest News

MANDALAY, Myanmar -- Five Buddhist monks ended a rare protest in Myanmar on Wednesday, after they attracted hundreds of onlookers with their demands for peace and the release of all political prisoners.

The protesters called off their action at a monastery in the country's second-largest city of Mandalay  after up to 700 people, most of them monks, gathered to hear an hour-long speech by the main demonstrator.

The rally was thought to be the first since mass protests led by monks in 2007 - known as the "Saffron Revolution" - were brutally quashed, with the deaths of at least 31 people and the arrest of hundreds of monks.

The two-day protest came as ministers at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian island of Bali recommended that Myanmar should be handed the rotating chairmanship of the bloc in 2014.

Hopes for change in Myanmar have grown recently following a series of reformist gestures as the country appears keen to end its international isolation, but pressure is still on for the release of all political detainees.

This was a key demand of the monks, who unfurled banners in English and Burmese reading: "Free all political prisoners" and "Stop civil war now" - a reference to the decades-long conflict between the army and ethnic minority rebels.

Their third demand is freedom of speech for monks.

They had earlier vowed to keep up their protest until Friday, but called it off early after senior religious clerics at Masoeyein monastery asked them not to continue, protest leader Ashin Sopaka told AFP.

He said the rally had been "very satisfying" and insisted this was not the end of the road.

"We will continue working for peace. If our three demands are not fulfilled we must push on with them," he said.

The five demonstrators drew hundreds of people, including many monks and dozens of plain-clothes police, when they started their protest on Tuesday after an expected amnesty for political detainees failed to materialise.

Myanmar's nominally civilian government that replaced a military junta in March has surprised critics by holding direct talks with opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and freezing work on an unpopular mega-dam.

But the release of all of the country's political prisoners, whose exact numbers remain unclear, remains one of the major demands of Western nations which have imposed sanctions on Myanmar.

Activists have criticised the plan to hand the ASEAN chair to Myanmar in 2014, saying it could remove the incentive for more fundamental change in a nation still accused of serious rights abuses.

Authorities had been expected to free some political detainees on Monday before President Thein Sein attends the ASEAN meeting later this week.

But officials said the move was put off at short notice for reasons that remain unclear.

The Mandalay protest came after police in September prevented a planned rally by some 200 pro-democracy activists on the fourth anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the 2007 monk-led uprising.

Another monk who took part in Wednesday's action said: "We would like to say to the president: implement our demands as soon as possible."

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Myanmar to hold grand religious function to mark 2600th anniversary Shwedagon Pagoda

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YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar is making preparation to hold grand religious function to mark the 2600th anniversary of the world's famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the official daily New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

<< Shwedagon pagoda

Renovation work on the Shwedagon pagoda is underway for the event falling on a full-moon day of Myanmar calendar in March 2012 under the supervision of the Yangon region government.

Newly tiling of prayer halls and shrines for convenience of pilgrims, installing of elevators at museum, repository of Buddhist scriptures and archives of the pagoda, building separate staircase to Buddha's Life Museum with landscape gardening, modernized display of life of Buddha at the museum are being done, the report said.

Colorful illumination during the anniversary Buddhist function, offering Lord Buddha with 84,000 pieces of blooming flower and construction of two gateways of grandeur to the pagoda are also underway, the report added.

The Shwedagon Pagoda, enshrining four Buddha hair relics, was built by King Okkalapa and two-brother merchants in B.C. 588, the year when Lord Buddha gained enlightenment.

Over the past 2600 years, the height of pagoda increased from 20 meters to 99 meter through repeated renovations in different dynasties and eras.

Shwedagon Pagoda, a symbol of Myanmar, traditionally remained famous to the world.

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