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COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: <strong>GENOCIDE</strong> <strong>IN</strong> <strong>MYANMAR</strong><br />
differences. You cannot tame Muslim youth because they don’t respect monks like Buddhists do. 191<br />
Sensationalised sermons recount stories of Muslim men forcing their Buddhist wives to convert to Islam,<br />
and reinforce the notion that a Muslim conspiracy, backed by foreign Islamic countries, exists to take over<br />
Myanmar through economic accumulation and interfaith marriage. Sermons claim that Myanmar is at risk<br />
of being overrun by Islam. 192<br />
On 20 and 21 June 2015, Ma Ba Tha held a conference in Yangon to work on policies to protect Buddhism.<br />
They urged the regime to place further restrictions on Muslims, including a ban on girls wearing headscarves<br />
in schools. 193<br />
The Rohingya, many of whom practice a more visible form of Islam than Kaman or other non-Rohingya<br />
Muslims throughout Myanmar, and who reside largely in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, are deemed by these<br />
monks to pose the ultimate threat to Myanmar Buddhism.<br />
The use of music and other cultural forms to stir up hatred, also a common feature of genocide, is<br />
prevalent in Myanmar. A popular song entitled ‘Song to Whip Up Religious Blood’ is often played at 969<br />
rallies. The lyrics refer to people who ‘live in our land, drink our water, and are ungrateful to us’. The<br />
chorus is repeated over and over, ‘We will build a fence with our bones if necessary’. 194<br />
Extremist voices are amplified through traditional platforms such as leaflets and journals, but also through<br />
DVD and online platforms, including popular social media such as Facebook that provide easy and wide<br />
dissemination. The accuracy of the claims made through these media is rarely questioned given the moral<br />
authority of the monks.<br />
Evidence of the influence of 969 and Ma Ba Tha is apparent in statements by members of the public.<br />
An interviewee from a Rakhine village next to a Rohingya village on the outskirts of Sittwe told ISCI:<br />
I think Islam is bad… I watched a DVD from 969… In the DVD Wirathu talks about how Muslims<br />
are bad. He interprets that Muslims are killing cows and if Muslims kill cows they will also kill<br />
Buddhists. The voice of the singing of the Muslims in the DVD is very similar to the voices I hear<br />
coming from the Mosque in that village [neighbouring village],which makes me afraid. There<br />
are many pictures on the CD of Muslims killing Buddhists. I trust Wirathu as he is a senior monk<br />
and I think he is a defender of Buddhism. 195<br />
At a protest in Yangon on 28 May 2015 people gathered to denounce the international community’s<br />
challenge to Myanmar for persecuting its Rohingya minority. Ma Ba Tha-affiliated monk U Pamaukkha ad<br />
191 Interview with prominent Ma Ba Tha monk, 19 November 2014, Yangon.<br />
192 Galache, C. S., ‘Who are the monks behind Burma’s “969” campaign?’ DVB News, 10 May 2013: http://www.dvb.no/<br />
uncategorized/the-monks-behind-burma%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9C969%E2%80%9Dmovement-2/28079. Accessed<br />
11 October 2015.<br />
193 Lewis, S, ‘Buddhist monks seek to ban schoolgirls from wearing headscarves in Burma’, The Guardian, 22 June 2015:<br />
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/buddhist-monks-seek-to-ban-schoolgirls-from-wearing-headscarves.<br />
Accessed 10 October 2015.<br />
194 Kaplan, S, ‘The serene-looking Buddhist monk accused of inciting Burma’s sectarian violence’, The Washington Post,<br />
27 May 2015: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/27/the-burmese-bin-laden-fueling-therohingya-migrant-crisis-in-southeast-asia/.<br />
Accessed 10 October 2015.<br />
195 Young woman, interviewed in Rakhine village, Sittwe, 27 November 2014.<br />
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