Junta Plans to Tighten Controls on Monks

Burma's ruling military junta and the government-backed state monks committee plan to introduce new rules that will further restrict the activities of monks in the country, according to reports in the state-run media.

The official Burmese-language newspaper Myanma Ahlin reported on Saturday that Ashin Kumara, the chairman of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, said he planned to call a meeting of all senior abbots to discuss the new regulations, which he said were aimed at improving monastic discipline.

A group of Buddhist monks in Rangoon wait in line to start their daily collection of alms. (Photo: AP)

The move would help to “safeguard Buddhism,” which had been weakened by attacks on the state monks committee by critics at home and abroad, the senior monk added.

Since the monk-led mass demonstrations of September 2007, monks throughout the country have come under intense scrutiny from the authorities. Observers said it was unusual for the state monks committee to call a nationwide meeting of all the major sects of Theravada Buddhism in the country, and suggested that it could signal a further crackdown on activities deemed political.

“Usually, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee and the heads of the various Buddhist monastic orders hold their meetings separately. The fact that this meeting will include senior leaders of all nine gana [Buddhist sects] means that the State Sangha Committee is planning to take some action,” said Ashin Issariya, a scholar monk from the State Pariyatti Sasana University in Rangoon who is now living in exile.

Observers also said that it was also clear that the government was behind the push to impose tighter restrictions on monks.

“Although the State Sangha Committee is headed by senior monks, it is controlled by the Ministry of Religion,” said Ashin Javana, a former abbot of a monastery in Rangoon who is now a leading member of the Thailand branch of the All Burma Monks’ Alliance.

“The Sangha Committee cannot do anything without ministry approval. The worst thing is that the committee allowed the junta to forcibly disrobe and imprison monks,” said the monk, who was disrobed in 1993 and spent 16 years behind bars for opposing military rule in Burma.

After his release in September 2009, Javana tried to reordain as a monk, but was denied permission by the State Sangha Committee because he had been imprisoned for political reasons. It wasn't until he fled to Thailand late last year that he was able to return to life as a monk.

In 2008, as part of its effort to rein in monks considered a threat to the ruling regime, new ID cards were issued to monks to make it easier for the authorities to keep track of their movements, according to monastic sources.

“Under the new ID process, monks from different divisions and states were given different-colored ID cards,” said Ashin Kaythira, a longtime friend of Ashin Gambira, one of the imprisoned leaders of the 2007 uprising.

Other monks who took part in the mass protests of September 2007 said that the government was not the only source of pressure on monks. Speaking to The Irrawaddy in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, exiled monks said that those still involved in politics inside the country also faced opposition from their families and the abbots of their monasteries.

“Their parents are now asking them to give up the monkhood if they want to join the monks' movement,” said Ashin Naymeinda, a leading monk during the 2007 protests.

“Abbots are also telling young monks to leave their monasteries if they are active in the movement,” he added.