For a country steeped in Buddhism, Myanmar is accruing terrible karmic debts.
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 fathers 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 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 and purge 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 human beings had somehow derailed into a dark road of rebirth in the lowest levels of hell?
Andrew Lam is editor of New America Media and the 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 short story collection, is due out in March, 2013.
Follow Andrew Lam on Twitter: www.twitter.com/andrewqlam
Robert L. Borosage: Myanmar and the Asian Transformation
Krystina Friedlander: Buddhist Monks Against Humanitarian Aid?
Project Compassion Stanford: The Kindness of Strangers
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/09/09/phyllis-chesler-hindu-human-rights-muslim-islamic-terrorism/
It is nothing new that Muslim minorities are terrorizing the disingenuous population wherever they go.
How come not many news station voice the issue? Because people are being afraid of being accuse of Islamophobia . Attacking the messenger as a way to avoid addressing the issue presented by them and escaping responsibility:
" Politicians and Media avoid the topic Islam, and critics of Islam are ignored at best, but far more often defamed, pathologized and criminalized. We need a factual discussion on Islam in both politics and the Media."
https://www.dialog-ueber-deutschland.de/DE/20-Vorschlaege/10-Wie-Leben/vorschlag_einstieg_node.html?cms_gts=500186_Dokumente%253Dcomments#Inhalt
Myanmar is opening up more to tourism now and it appears to be a beautiful
country with its 5000 plus Buddhist temples.
A villager in Kwe Gomaw Village said, "The authority is not protecting our village right now. So many families are thinking of moving to more safe places like downtown Buthidaung, where many army battalions are stationed."
The village of Kwe Gomaw is located near Nyung Chaung Nasaka outpost in southern Buthidaung Township, and the village was hit by dacoits on 1 January, 2011.
"At 12 pm on 1 January, around 30 armed Muslim robbers surrounded our village. After that the robbers entered our village and robbed property from all the houses one by one. When a villager refused to give over his property, a robber beat him with his gun and injured his head. Properties worth 3 million kyat were taken by the robbers," the villager said.
After the robbers left the village, they hit another Buddhist village in the area, Thein Daung Byint, where many people of the Dynet tribes are living.
During the second attack, the village chairman's wife was severely wounded when some of the robbers opened fire on villagers who were trying to fight back against them. The woman is now hospitalized in Buthidaung in critical condition, although her condition is improving.
All I really have to add is that I've been traveling in SE Asia (not Myanmar) for the last 8 months and have been struck by how Buddhism- so seemingly different in theory than the other major religions is so strikingly similar in practice among the majority of the lay populace. It's really about traditional routine and asking for divine favor, rather than spiritual enlightenment.
BUT, I don't mean this as a disparagement of Buddhism or Buddhists at all. It's just an observation. I should also note the constructive role Buddhist monasteries play in general education where I've been. It's traditional and still commonplace for children from the countryside to leave home and study in a monastery for a time. I've yet to see the slightest sign of any anti-social, intolerant indoctrination in a single person I've met of any age.
Again, while I don't know what's going on in this part of Myanmar, we should be careful about ascribing a religious connotation to any and every violence that goes on around the world.
1. how do u confirm the pictures appeared on the internet posted by Banglis (so called Rohingya) real? As an author, pls do examine the pictures, most of the pictures (claimed to genocide) are fake ones. the pictures are not from myanmar, but other countries such as Tibetan buddhist monks preparing to cremate the victim of earth quake in China in 2010, Thailand , Indonesia, even charred bodies due to islamic bomb from Nigeria, and so on. Do you realize that as a professional author? if not, you are just blindly writing an article without knowing anything. PLS DO EXAMINE THE PICTURES FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING & AWAKENING.
2. Illegal Banglis (so called Rohingya) were lying to muslim world and the world as genocide happening using FAKE photos in order to create religious conflict. what is their intention and agenda beyond that to fool the world without evidence in the first place?
3. How would you understand the pain suffered by local Rakhine people in their mother land as a result of aggression by the illegal guests or recent settlers? Where is human rights for local Rakhine people? how would you say if outsiders come to your home and make problem to your family?
4.To the world and muslim world, pls examine the pictures and don't just jump to conclusion with knowing reality.
New York-based Human Rights Watch called for a strong international response to "atrocities" committed during fighting in June between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. The violence in western Myanmar that left at least 78 people dead has subsided but many tens of thousands remain homeless – mostly Rohingya in need of food, shelter and medical care."
It is misleading to say " innocent blood" nor would I say " in his name" if I were you.
If you have taken the time to better inform yourself before writing this misleading article you would have known that Muslims have been beating, shooting, robbing and raping these villagers one village after another. No Muslims have done or said a thing about it nor does anyone one else had bother to.
When it comes to the villagers taking action it is to protect their families from further attack from Muslims . If your village and family is being harmed by a certain group , even if you have no religion at all the thing for you to do is to take action. I am wondering , how then do you conclude that their action is " in his name".
And just in case you are wondering about what the Buddha would say ,he does not forbid people from protecting their families and relatives . To say that Muslims are innocent is misleading, and totally slandering when claiming that they are doing it " in his name" . This is a survival and safety issue for the Burmese villagers.
monks gone mad. There are three main branches of Buddhism exist. Theravanda or Southern Buddhism, Mahayana or Eastern Buddhism, Tibetan or Northern Buddhism. It like saying All Christan priests are child molesters because a few did. Andrew Lam you should do more research about Buddhism before writing this article. You have no respect for Buddhism like most Christan are.
"The Rohingya separatist tendencies make the Monks insecure about sovereignty of the Buddhist state. Things did not become easy when in 1978, the Palestinian militant leader Abdullah Azzam, who later became a member of al Qaeda, declared Burma one of the countries to be liberated from foreign rule."
"There is no real evidence that the majority of the Rohingyas are inclined towards external forces or violence despite pouring in of Saudi money and intellectual investment by groups such as the Harkatul Ansar, the Harkatul Mujahideen and the Harkatul Jihadul Islami, who have developed links with minor militant groups in Burma and are even trying to link up Burmese groups with others in Assam. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that the Jamatud Dawa in Pakistan has started highlighting conditions of Muslims in both Myanmar and Assam on social media. The South Asian militant cadres also find Myanmar exciting because of the investments made in developing human resources. Reportedly, 350,000 Rohingyas were trained in the past couple of decades in madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan."