Suu Kyi must erase the apartheid stain
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, wrote, "When fear
becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous. It
is overwhelming... The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a
prison for us, so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way... We need
the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the
opposite direction... because a change of direction can happen only when there
is a collective awakening... Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am
here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight." [The Art of Power]
These are powerful words. I wish Hanh's own co-religionists
inside Myanmar had heeded to his advice when it comes to collective hatred that
the Buddhists, esp. the Rakhines, continue to espouse against the Rohingyas
whose ties to the soil of Arakan, where they mostly live, is older than
any other race or ethnicity. These unfortunate people have been victims of the
worst kinds of genocide we saw unfolding in this century, not just by a hostile
military government but also by ordinary Buddhists and monks who wanted to
cleanse the Buddhist majority country of any Muslim living there. The national
media inside Myanmar ,
the Buddhist politicians that lived inside the country and even those who lived
a life of exile, plus morally corrupt and bankrupt intelligentsia simply danced
with the drum-beats of ethnic cleansing against this most persecuted Rohingyas.
What a shame! There was hardly any voice of protest from the
soul of Buddhism, outside those of Dalai Lama and a social activist like Dr.
Maung Zarni. Shockingly, many Buddhist leaders cheered for and promoted the
genocidal program against the minorities. Even the fascist Buddhist
organization, Ma Ba Tha - led by the terrorist monk Wirathu who provoked his
countrymen for carrying out ethnic cleansing drives against the Muslim
minorities - received an award in February in Thailand for being an
"outstanding Buddhist peace" organization. The award ceremony was
attended by Wirathu and presided over by an elder from the Supreme Sangha. It
was organized by a group called World Buddhist Leaders Organization, chaired by
Dr Pornchai Pinyapong who is also president of the World Fellowship of Buddhist
Youth (WFBY). Last year, it reportedly donated over a million baht for the Ma
Ba Tha to build two radio stations with the aim of spreading its message of
intolerance to a wider audience. Wirathu was reportedly present to thank the
Thai delegation personally for the donation.
One can only wonder where the religion preached by Siddhartha
Gautam Buddha is heading to! It seems to be hijacked by fascist Buddhist monks
of the sangha -- not just inside Myanmar ,
but also in places like Sri Lanka
and Thailand
-- that reward and endorse violence and hatred over peace and harmony!
So pervasive had been the influence of Ma Ba Tha and the
terrorist Buddhist monks that Suu Kyi and her NLD in the last year’s general election
did not field a single Muslim candidate anywhere – neither in the Rohingya
majority region of northern Arakan (Rakhine) nor in Yangon (Rangoon) where a
sizable Muslim population lives. We are told that the NLD did not want to spoil
its chance of winning the election by giving further ammo to the racist and
bigoted elements within the population. More inexcusable, however, was the pin-drop
silence practiced by Suu Kyi and the so-called democracy leaders in Myanmar when
the Rohingya and other minority Muslims were victims of genocide. They chose to
keep mum when it was a deadly crime.
Far from Hanh’s call, there was no collective awakening
amongst the Buddhists inside Myanmar .
They chose to ignore the obvious crime committed in their name and let
themselves be imprisoned by self-imposed shackles of intolerance and indifference.
Even the Pulitzer-winning journalists like Nicholas
Kristof, writing from the killing fields, failed to raise the Buddhist
conscience to say enough is enough and condemn those crimes against humanity. There
was none to heed!
I have continued to call this genocidal plan against the
persecuted Rohingya a national project of elimination that was endorsed,
scripted and put to practice from the top and carried out by Buddhist lynch men
while the majority chose to either support or condone it nonchalantly. And again,
to the utter shame of Hanh’s ‘engaged’ teaching, there were many such willing
Buddhist neo-Nazi fascists to carry out the heinous national project of
Myanmarism!
In Buddhist Myanmar, as her religio-fascist toxic ideology
of Myanmarism continued to win humanity continued to lose. Her powerful leader
Suu Kyi now inherits an apartheid state that has scores of concentration camps.
The aid groups continue to be barred from many areas, and the systematic
destruction of the Rohingya remains one of the 21st century’s most
neglected human rights catastrophes. That staining specter is simply
unforgivable in our time. To put succinctly, it is a crime against humanity.
And Suu Kyi can make a difference, if she chooses to erase that bloody stain.
I hope that Suu Kyi and her NLD party will take the country
into a different direction than those of the predecessors thereby creating a
culture that is inclusive, integrating and awakening that says boldly that 'We
are here to change for the better for all our people - Buddhists and
non-Buddhists alike.' Myanmar
needs a rude awakening to change its course.
Is Suu Kyi ready for awakening her countrymen?
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