04/02/2013

Buddhist extremists incite riots against Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka

Increasing violence against Muslims in southern Asia

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns about an escalation of violence against Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka and about the religious minority being excluded from public life. "Buddhist nationalists – including many monks – are creating a pogrom atmosphere, spreading fear among the Muslims by calling for boycotts of their businesses and by attacking members of the minority group," said the STP's expert on questions regarding Asia, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Tuesday. "These forms of racism do not fit the acclaimed peacefulness of the Buddhist religion at all." The Society for Threatened Peoples demanded that the governments of Sri Lanka and Burma must ensure the protection of the religious minorities and take serious action against the extremists.

On the evening of Holy Thursday, dozens of Buddhists had set fire to a large clothing store and to several cars owned by Muslims in Sri Lanka, close to the capital Colombo. According to eyewitnesses, the raids were led by Buddhist monks. In Sri Lanka, attacks against Muslims and calls to boycott their shops have increased during the last few weeks. The riots are incited by the Buddhist nationalist movement "Bodu Bala Sena" (BBS, meaning Buddhist Power Force) who are calling for an exclusion of the Muslim minority, following the slogan "Sri Lanka for the Buddhists". Using facebook and the Internet, the BBS is trying to mobilize the people to reject Muslim morals and practices, polemicizing against Muslim food rules and against women wearing veils. "An especially dangerous campaign is trying to label Muslim shops as places where ‘good Buddhists’ should not buy anything," said Delius.

A similar campaign was launched in Burma by the Buddhist nationalist movement "969". At least 40 people got killed during the riots they stirred up between Buddhists and Muslims in the past two weeks. More than 10,000 Muslims were forced to flee. The movement – whose name derives from numerology – accuses the Muslims of trying to destroy the Buddhist society and striving for the ethnic cleansing in Burma. Because the Internet is not widely accessible in Burma, the 969-movement primarily indoctrinates the followers in the 1190 Buddhist monk-schools, where around 100,000 children are educated.

In Burma, the Buddhist nationalists are reliant on support from the authorities, which have refused to recognize the largest Muslim population group, the Rohingya, as an ethnic group to this day. In contrast, a Muslim political party is involved in the government coalition of the predominantly Buddhist country of Sri Lanka – but this government also follows policies of a Sinhala Buddhist nationalism. The Muslims make up about 9.5 percent of the population of Sri Lanka and belong to different ethnic groups. They were also excluded during the civil war between Tamils and Sinhalese (1983-2009). More than 70,000 Muslims were expelled from the north of Sri Lanka by the Tamil freedom movement LTTE.