COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: <strong>GENOCIDE</strong> <strong>IN</strong> <strong>MYANMAR</strong> This level of religious discrimination indicates complicity, if not intentional approval, on the part of the state authorities to foster religious and ethnic divisions, which in Rakhine state are contributing to genocidal processes. An even more powerful illustration of the role of the state is the treatment of moderate monks who denounce anti-Muslim extremism. In February 2015, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, a government-appointed body of highranking Buddhist monks that regulates the Buddhist clergy, imposed a nationwide ban on the charismatic Buddhist monk U Pinnyasiha for ‘speaking out of line with Buddhist doctrine and not following the instructions of his seniors.’ U Pinnyasiha, also known as Shwe Nya Wa Sayadaw, had previously criticised the 969 movement as anti-Muslim and in 2013 he calmed communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Meiktila. In relation to tensions between Buddhists and Muslims U Pinnyasiha argued: The way of Buddhism is saving people, helping the people, giving loving kindness to all the people. [We should not] take account of the skin colour or the particular religion of people, just give them loving kindness. People who refuse to give loving kindness to certain sorts of people are going against the way of Buddhism. 203 On 2 June 2015 Htin Lin Oo, writer and former NLD information officer, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour by a court in Sagaing region for ‘insulting religion’. 204 His lawyer claims the court was afraid of the monks, given that they, along with nationalist activists, had been demonstrating outside the court demanding a harsh sentence. 205 Htin Lin Oo’s ‘crime’ was to suggest that extreme nationalist ideology was not compatible with Buddhism. A video of Htin Lin Oo’s speech was posted online, encouraging complaints from monks linked to Ma Ba Tha. This prompted the local government’s religious affairs officer to file a legal complaint against Htin Lin Oo, which ultimately led to his sentencing. Such action contrasts starkly with the government permitting the leaders of 969 to deliver provocative sermons in the northern Rakhine state towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw in December 2013. 206 203 Popham, P, ‘Burma’s opposition demands government gives citizenship to Rohingya refugees adrift on the Andaman Sea’, The Independent, 19 May 2015: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmas-opposition-demands-government-gives-citizenship-to-rohingya-refugees-adrift-on-the-andaman-sea-10262125.html. Accessed 10 October 2015. NB the NLD came out a few days later and said this was not their official line. 204 Amnesty International, ‘Myanmar: Guilty verdict for “insulting religion” must be overturned immediately’, Press Release, 2 June 2015: https://www.amnesty.org/press-releases/2015/06/myanmar-guilty-verdict-for-insulting-religion-must-beoverturned-immediately/. Accessed 10 October 2015. 205 ,Lewis, S,‘Nationalism and Religious Conservatism, a Toxic Mix in Myanmar’, Nikkei Asian Review, 18 June 2015: http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Nationalism-and-religious-conservatism-a-toxic-mix-in-Myanmar? page=2. Accessed 10 October 2010. 206 Weng, L, ‘Extremist Monks Hold Talks Throughout Strife-Torn Arakan State’, The Irrawaddy, 26 December, 2013: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/extremist-monks-hold-talks-throughout-strife-torn-arakan-state.html, Accessed 7 October 2015. 66
3. STIGMATISATION AND DEHUMANISATION Rakhine monk on the outskirts of Sittwe, December 2014 67