EDITORIAL
There was welcome news on Friday that a group of senior monks in Myanmar made an appeal for peace following recent violence there that was divided along religious lines, overwhelmingly instigated by Buddhist mobs against Muslims. It is disappointing, however, that the monks, who spoke at a conference at a monastery near Yangon, stopped short of condemning the wave of anti-Muslim attacks outright.
Also, their contention that reports of some monks being involved in instigating violence, especially in central Myanmar in March, were the result of media attempts to tarnish the image of Buddhist clerics in Myanmar are unconvincing.
Nevertheless, the appeal for peace is definitely a step in the right direction and in line with the true principles of the Buddhist faith, and thus should be encouraged. If senior monks continue to emphasise the need for peace, then monks who do take part in rabble rousing can be branded as renegades. More importantly it will make it much more difficult for people in power to hide and justify their racial and religious prejudices.
Naturally the same principle applies to violence associated with any other religion. We are constantly told that Islam is a religion of peace, and this is no doubt true, but it has long been disturbing that rank and file Muslim clerics have not been more vocal in condemning violence carried out by jihadists in the name of Islam.
Violence carried out by religious extremists is common to every major faith. In India the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) runs paramilitary training camps that allegedly have been involved in terrorist attacks against Muslims. In January Union Home Secretary RK Singh said at least 10 people suspected of being involved in a spate of terrorist attacks had links with RSS.
In the US the notorious Ku Klux Klan sprang up shortly after the Civil War with the goal to "reestablish [white] Protestant Christian values in America by any means possible", and most of their rituals were based on Christian symbolism. The legacy of the Ku Klux Klan continues today in paramilitary right-wing Christian organisations such as The Covenant and the Arm of the Lord.
However, while there are many right-wing, even radical, Christians in the US, those who openly advocate religious or racial discrimination, much less violence, are marginalised. That is not necessarily the case in Myanmar at this time. Witness the recent endorsement from Myanmar's Immigration Minister Khin Yi for a controversial two-child limit for Rohingya Muslims, which reportedly is being enforced in Rakhine state. To her credit, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has denounced the policy, but even the Nobel laureate has mostly been strangely silent on discrimination of Muslims in Myanmar.
The senior monks, as an AFP report said, "distanced themselves from a call from controversial Mandalay monk Wirathu for restrictions on inter-faith marriage", but again, they did not denounce the suggestion outright.
Perhaps what is needed in Myanmar is for the Buddhist clergy to take to the lead in the fight for social equality, as they did during the "Saffron Revolution" of 2007, when they heroically and peacefully challenged the stranglehold of the military junta on the country. They were also in the forefront of demonstrations against land-grabbing by a copper mine at Latbadaung Mountain earlier this year.
The separation of church and state is an accepted axiom in democratic societies, as Myanmar is striving to be, but that doesn't mean religious figures should exempt themselves from social struggles, as long as they remain nonviolent.
Martin Luther King was the leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, one of the most inspirational and successful social movements the world has ever known.
King chose nonviolence not only because of his deep-rooted religious beliefs. He was also wise enough to know that any other path would give ammunition to the movement's enemies.
The situation is vastly different in modern-day Myanmar, and it should not be forgotten how far the country has come in a very short time. But it should also be remembered that as long as one segment of the population is denied equality, the society as a whole cannot be called truly free and democratic.
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Source: http://www.articles.myanmaronlinecentre.com/myanmar-monks-begin-to-take-a-stand/
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