Arakan News Agency
Nationalists monks of the Ma Ba Tha association have rejected accusations of defamation levelled by the National League for Democracy, branding the party’s claims as irresponsible and aimed at destroying its efforts to protect Buddhism.
A statement by the central committee of Ma Ba Tha, the Association for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, has further highlighted how the party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is under fire from radical nationalists capable of spreading their message across the country, whether through social media or the traditional network of temples and monasteries.
Senior NLD officials on September 21 accused Ma Ba Tha groups of using sermons and distributing leaflets and CDs to defame the party and urge people not to give it their vote in the November 8 elections. They named three townships in Ayeyarwady and one each in the regions of Tanintharyi and Sagaing where Ma Ba Tha had allegedly attacked the party.
U Win Htein of the NLD said they had not seen any action taken by the government despite the party’s submission of a complaint to the Union Election Commission about the abuse of religion in politics.
“We have photos and also leaflets published by Ma Ba Tha and we complained to the UEC, but they have not responded yet,” U Win Htein said.
Ma Ba Tha’s statement, issued on September 23, said the group did not follow the instructions of any party or organisation, but worked together with any group for the protection of “race and religion”.
It denied attacking any individual party but promised to “remove” any group or person trying to destroy the state, race or religion.
Comments by NLD senior official U Tin Oo were “irresponsible” and were taken as “aimed at destroying the protection of race and religion”, the statement said.
Ma Ba Tha spokesperson in Yangon, U Pamoukha said the group’s central committee had not issued any instructions to distribute print materials or CDs and it did not take part in politics.
However, he added, “We don’t want people to vote for the person who destroys our race and religion”.
Voters in Yangon and other towns say that Ma Ba Tha, or elements close to the group, are clearly inflaming anti-Muslim sentiments and identifying the NLD as a party close to the country’s Muslim minority and its leader as a Muslim sympathiser.
President U Thein Sein has called on all sides in the election to preserve ethnic and religious stability. But at the same time his office is also tapping into the growing wave of Buddhist nationalism by reminding voters that the government disenfranchised Rohingya Muslims and passed four controversial laws on “race and religion” initiated by Ma Ba Tha.
A crowd estimated at some 10,000 supporters of Ma Ba Tha, including monks, nuns, and young people from philanthropic and nationalist groups, gathered in Nay Pyi Taw’s Tapaung Stadium yesterday to celebrate the passage of the laws.
“We are delighted to have created laws to prevent our race and religion from vanishing. I can’t find any word to express my delight,” said sayadaw U Vilarsa, chair of the Nay Pyi Taw wing of Ma Ba Tha.
The group is conducting a nationwide victory tour after the president signed into effect the last of the four bills in August. The legislative package has been slammed by rights groups for perpetuating religious and gender discrimination.
The celebration was funded by private donations to Ma Ba Tha.
“The government did not provide financial support for the celebration. Nationalist monks contributed K100,000, while Yangon Region’s Ma Ba Tha provided K3 million,” U Vilarsa said.
Ma Ba Tha has said the Moe Hti Moe Mi Buddhist organisation had donated K70 million for the nationwide celebrations, which will circle back to Yangon on September 28, the full moon day of the lunar month of Tawthalin.
U Soparka, a prominent monk, said Ma Ba Tha would not accept any insults against “race and religion” from whoever forms a government after the elections.
“That’s why Ma Ba Tha will exist in Myanmar till the end of the world,” he said.
He said Ma Ba Tha was not acting as a political party, nor with the aim of perpetuating the power of the current government. People in Nay Pyi Taw who loved their “race and religion” needed to choose their leader carefully, he added.
He warned any political party against trying to revoke the 1982 Citizenship Law, which effectively rendered the Rohingya Muslim community stateless.
Source : Myanmar Times
