ICC NOTE: The nationalist Buddhist movement known as Ma Ba Tha conducted a religious conversion ceremony recently which saw 71 individuals become Buddhists. Among those converted was a reported right Christians in Mandalay while the vast majority were local Muslims. The ceremony brought 3,000 witnesses to the event and ire from the local population as well. The religious conversion law which was enacted by the former head of the Burmese government has been criticized as a step backward in terms of religious freedom. Ma Ba Tha has been both a religious and political force in Burma attempting to bring all of Burma into the Buddhist fold. 

5/25/2016 Burma (Myanmar Times) – One such recent ceremony convened in Mandalay drew massive crowds and earned the ire of local residents who accused the monks of trying to enflame religious tensions in a township already haunted by intercommunal violence.

Over 3000 witnesses gathered to watch 71 people convert to Buddhism in Meiktila on May 6, according to ceremony leader U Aggadaja.

The senior Ma Ba Tha monk said his event was the largest religious conversion ceremony held yet in Myanmar. “I never persuade them,” he told The Myanmar Times. “This ceremony is meant to express welcome to those who want to enter Buddhism.”

But for some religious minorities, the ceremony came off as an attempt to marginalise. U San Win Tun, secretary of the Interfaith Association in Meiktila, said the ceremony was unlike anything held in the town before.

Almost all the participants converted by the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion – as Ma Ba Tha is called in English – were Muslim. The event also included eight Christians and five Hindus.

Most of those who converted said they had Buddhist partners. But Daw Khin Than Myint, 52, was born as a Buddhist. She said she converted to Islam before marrying her husband.

She said she knew she wanted to convert back as soon as her family was pushed into a refugee camp following violent riots that erupted in the township in 2013. The conflict, prompted by a shop dispute and fanned on anti-Muslim sentiment, left more than 40 people dead and 12,000 displaced. The two main Muslim communities in the township were razed.

Daw Khin Than Myint said her family stayed at the camp for one month and three days. “Fifteen days after we arrived back home my eldest son entered into the monkhood. And then the whole family, including my husband, entered into Buddhism,” she said.

With tears in her eyes she told The Myanmar Times that her in-laws will no longer speak to the family. “For that loss I feel sad. Since we re-entered Buddhism we stopped having any contact with them,” she said.

Her daughter, Ma Phyu Hnin Thwe, said it was only when the entire family eagerly pressed the conversion that her father agreed to join them in the ceremony. “When we got back from refugee camp we didn’t have even a penny, but had a gold bracelet. We sold it, and with the money we made a Buddhist altar,” she said.

Ma Ba Tha monk U Aggadaja said that so many people wanted to convert in Meiktila because there are many Muslims in the township. “After the ceremony, 22 more people came up to us and told us they also want to convert,” he said.

U Aggadaja said he has no intention of inciting conflict as the previous riots hurt “both sides”.

“On April 27, a rumour came out that unofficial mosques would be repaired and opened. The nationalist youths became quite intense, so we tried to control the situation by making sure the unofficial mosques did not open,” he said by way of explaining his peace-making abilities.

But residents in the community were not impressed by the monk’s fanfare and accused him of trying to alienate, if not provoke, the township.

“This is a personal affair. We never hold a ceremony like this for religious conversion,” said U San Win Tun from the Interfaith Association. He added that the conversion ceremony also appeared to go against Ma Ba Tha’s own law, which makes conversion a legal and administrative affair.

“They announced they would hold a ceremony, but it is not official. Myanmar has ‘race and religion protection’ laws now, so religious conversion requires the involvement of the ministries for religious affairs and home affairs,”U San Win Tun said.

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