The militant Buddhist perspective in Sri Lanka and Myanmar

In the turn of 21^st century, Asia witnessed horrifying incidents of targeted annihilation and aggression in various parts of the globe. While it is generally assumed that non-violence is central to Buddhism, Buddhist monks have been accused of stirring up hostility against other faiths and ethnic minorities like the Muslim and Tamil minorities in Myanmar and Sri Lanka respectively. Sri Lanka’s long and tragic civil war involved Buddhist nationalism on the part of a Sinhalese majority, resentful of the presence of Tamil Hindus in what was assumed to be the last bastion of true Buddhism. However, it is also important to recognize that it is most often a combination of factors rather than a straightforward ‘religious’ motive that has led to violence.  Myanmar’s long history of exclusion and violence against the Rohingyas has been framed as much by the question of who counts as a legitimate ethnic minority and who is a foreigner as by questions of ‘religious’ identity.

The notion central to the discourse of violence is the idea that Buddhism is under threat in the contemporary world, and efforts to revive and preserve Buddhism against this decline have led to developments in Burmese Buddhism for at least two centuries. Buddhist proponents of anti-Muslim discourses often assert that Myanmar is under threat from Muslims precisely because of the assumption that Buddhism is a uniquely peaceful and tolerant religion. In arguing that the Rohingyas are illegal immigrants who follow an exclusivist and proselytizing religion and are bent on geographical and cultural expansion, it is this distinctively ‘peaceful’ idea that is sought to be highlighted.

It was under British rule that religious identity became overwhelmingly important in South and South East Asia. The British colonial state required that every person should have a single religious identity for the purpose of person law and administration. According to this interpretation distinct and static religious traditions were assigned to each group along with certain distinct characteristics to its believers. One of the characteristics assigned to Buddhists was that they were generally tolerant and pacifist dividing them from the Muslims living alongside them and eventually identifying them as ‘foreigners’. However, there is a difference between assenting to a belief and following its tenants in everyday life. One of the major aggressive incidents that took place in Myanmar in 2014 was allegedly initiated by a prominent Buddhist monk U. Wirathu who talked about a “Muslim Conspiracy” in one of his speeches, triggering hatred in many minds.

The end of British colonialism turned attention towards the minorities in Myanmar. Buddhist monks who had once preached about unity now extolled the youth to fight against the Muslims and Christians. Ethnic tensions increased between the Rohingya Muslims and the majority Burmese Buddhist population. The only justification for the discrimination that was ever provided was that the Buddhist majority shared no common culture with the Muslims and therefore they were foreigners in their lands. The situation worsened when the Buddhist government restricted the religious rights of the Christian and Muslim minority.

A similar feeling of existential threat has been visible in Sri Lanka. In 1908, Dharmapala, father of Sri Lankan nationalism made a very controversial comment that “Buddhism was completely identified with racial individuality of the people”. He mentioned that just like Sri Lanka was for Buddhist Sinhalese, South India was for Tamils. His statements hinted towards an ethnic difference which in future would take a devastating turn.  It encouraged a ‘Sinhala Only’ policy in Sri Lanka with its implied racial and social discrimination. The ‘Sinhala Only’ legally made Sinhalese the official language of Sri Lanka, discriminating against the Tamil population living in Sri Lanka for years.  The policy was considered unfair as it would make the employment, for the Tamils and other racial groups, very limited. Since language was the medium of instruction, the Tamils would be disadvantaged in gaining access to jobs in public and private sectors if the official language was based on the Sinhala majority

Emboldened by similar rhetoric there have been riots in Myanmar in the name of Buddhist nationalism. The army has engaged in military offenses against ethnic groups and Myanmar has become a stronghold for Buddhist aggression encouraged by the monks. The protests led by the monks took a malevolent turn in July 2012 when hundreds were killed and thousands were displaced. These anti-Islamic notions had been deeply embedded in the minds of the people. Persecution and boycott of any Muslim related enterprise has become a common in Myanmar. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, a hunger strike by a powerful Buddhist monk resulted in the resignation of all nine Muslim ministers in the Cabinet. The monk had suggested that they were complicit in the Easter Sunday attacks by Islamic State linked militants on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killing two hundred and fifty people.

Given that Theravada Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities in five countries where their faith is practiced, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, this sense of being besieged is difficult to explain except in terms of the fact that while Theravada Buddhists constitute about seven percent of the global population, their numbers are not expected to grow in absolute numbers over the next few decades. It is in this background that one needs to examine the rise of a new generation of militant Buddhist organizations like the Bodu Bala Sena in Sri Lanka. In addition to its increasingly high profile role in Sri Lankan politics, it has forged links with similar groups in Asia. Asia’s changing geopolitics has also played a role in creating a sense of civilizational encirclement leading to these linkages.  And it is here, that analysts note, lies the dangers of the creation of a new generation of militant organization in Asia.

Swagata Mitra

Intern, AGA

(The views expressed are solely those of the author in her private capacity and does not in any way reflect the views of the organization)