ICC Note: It is not particularly surprising that a government religious affairs official in a predominantly Buddhist nation has taken no action on a complaint by the Christian community that a Buddhist monk is interfering with their freedom to worship.

By Burma correspondent

10/26/2015 Myanmar (Morning Star News)

An influential Buddhist monk in southern Burma (also called Myanmar) has erected Buddhist structures in a Baptist church compound.

Ethnic Karen Christians in Hpa-An, capital of Karen state, have protested against a Buddhist pagoda and a stupa, a structure containing Buddhist relics, since building began in August. Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw, a revered Buddhist abbot and founder of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), led the building over the protests of the Christian community.

“The stupa and pagoda are almost finished – the monk didn’t listen the Christian community,” an ethnic Karen woman in Hpa-An, Nang Khin Htwe Myint, told Morning Star News by phone. “It is completely inappropriate to build a Buddhist religious project on Christian land.”

The Karen Buddhist community reportedly did not support the monk’s controversial decision.

Local Christian leaders and representatives from the Myanmar Baptist Convention have called on the monk to halt the project without success.

“He used his influential status and built the project,” Nang said. “He ignored concerns and calls from local Christians to halt the project.”

Christian leaders reported their concerns to Soe Win, Burma’s religious affairs minister, who pledged to resolve the dispute, but there has been no progress. The Baptist church has been a functioning fixture at the site since 1919.

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