Abbot's Opposition Stalls BGF Plan in Karen State

MAE SOT, Thailand—Approval by the Karen ceasefire group Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) of the regime's plan for a border guard force (BGF) has been stalled because of opposition from the DKBA's spiritual leader.

A DKBA source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Irrawaddy that the influential abbot, Ashin Sujana, “was angry after he learned about the BGF and scolded high ranking officials from the DKBA. He thinks the BGF plan is not good for the Karen people and the development of Karen State.”

DKBA troops parading in the Karen State (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

The DKBA agreed to the BGF plan shortly after the regime announced it in April, 2009. The DKBA source said the group had come under no regime pressure to transform itself into the BGF.

Ashin Sujana (also spelled as Ashin Thuzana), the 68 year-old abbot of Myingyigu Monastery in Karen State, is reportedly in hospital in Bangkok receiving treatment for a long-standing lung problem. Burmese military officials reportedly offered to admit him to  a military hospital in Rangoon, but he chose a private clinic in the Thai capital.

The revered abbot has been active for several decades in the promotion of Buddhism in Karen State and has been responsible for the construction of several pagodas there.

His Buddhist activities won the support of Buddhist soldiers of the Karen National Liberation Army(KNLA), the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU).

The then Christian-dominated KNU leadership led by the late Gen Saw Bo Mya saw the construction of Buddhist pagodas at strategic sites as a threat, sparking a conflict in late 1994 with the KNLA’s complement of about 400 Buddhist soldiers. The conflict led to the downfall of the KNU’s headquarters at Manerplaw in Jan,1995, and to the formation of the DKBA.

Although Ashin Sujana was named as the DKBA's mentor from the time it was formed, he met KNU leaders on the Thai-Burmese border in October 2009  and called for Karen unity.

Ashin Sujana

“He met with the KNU for the sake of the Karen people,” said the source. “He always thinks about peace, loving kindness and the development of the Karen State.” 

Some Burmese dissidents at the Thai-Burmese border said the regime's crackdown on demonstrating monks in Sept, 2007 might have led to the abbot's change of mind on the BGF.

“As a Buddhist monk, he was definitely distressed by the crackdown,” one said. “He might have seen it as an assault on Buddhism.”   

Many of Ashin Sujana’s relatives are Christians. His cousin, Pado Aung San, the former chief of the KNU’s forestry department, who leads another Karen ceasefire group, is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Since its formation 15 years ago, the  DKBA has been used by the regime as a proxy force in its campaigns to control insurgency in Karen and Mon states. The DKBA now controls most of the Thai-Burmese border areas that were previously KNU territory.

The DKBA claims it has 6,000 troops, more than 10 times the number when it was formed, and it has plans to expand its force to 9,000—which would make it Burma's second largest non-state armed group.