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US STATE DEPT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 99



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US STATE DEPT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 99(BURMA)
Posted in 2 parts for easier downloading

Pt I

U.S. Department of State
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999: Burma
 
Released by the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Washington, DC, September 9, 1999


                                   BURMA

 Section I. Freedom of Religion

 Most adherents of all religions duly registered with the authorities
 generally enjoyed freedom to worship as they chose; however, the
 Government imposed some restrictions on certain religious minorities.
 Burma has been ruled since a 1962 coup d'etat by highly authoritarian
 military regimes; since a reorganization in late 1997, the military junta
 has called itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The
 military has governed without a constitution or legislature since 1988.
 The most recent constitution, promulgated in 1974, permitted both
 legislative and administrative restrictions on religious freedom, stating
 that "the national races shall enjoy the freedom to profess their
 religion ... provided that the enjoyment of any such freedom does not
 offend the laws or the public interest." In practice, the Government
 systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human
 rights and political freedom, and, according to multiple detailed
 credible reports, government authorities in some ethnic minority areas
 coercively promoted Buddhism over other religions.

 There is no official state religion; however, Theravada Buddhism enjoys a
 privileged position in practice. Successive governments, civilian and
 military, have supported and associated themselves conspicuously with
 Buddhism.

 Virtually all organizations must be registered with the Government.
 Although there is a government directive exempting "genuine" religious
 organizations from registration, in practice only registered
 organizations can buy or sell property or open bank accounts, which
 induces most religious organizations to register. Religious organizations
 register with the Ministry of Home Affairs with the endorsement of the
 Ministry for Religious Affairs. However, at least one
 religiously-affiliated organization was allowed to open a bank account
 with the endorsement of the Myanmar Council of Churches instead of the
 Ministry of Religious Affairs. The State also provides some utilities,
 such as electricity, at preferential rates to recognized religious
 organizations.

 The Government continued both to show preference for Theravada Buddhism,
 the majority religion, and to control the organization and restrict the
 activities and expression of its clergy ("sangha"). The Government
 prohibits any organizations of Buddhist clergy other than nine
 state-recognized monastic orders, which submit to the authority of a
 state-sponsored State Clergy Coordination Committee ("sangha maha nayaka
 committee"--SMNC) elected indirectly by monks. The Government provides
 guidance and enforcement for the Committee at the national level and for
 its subordinate bodies at regional, township, and local levels. The
 Government funds two State Sangha Universities in Rangoon and Mandalay to
 train Buddhist clergy under the control of the SMNC. The State's
 relations with the Buddhist clergy and Buddhist schools are handled
 chiefly by the Department for the Perpetuation and Propagation of the
 Sasana (DPPS-"sasana" means Buddhist doctrine) in the Ministry of
 Religious Affairs.

 The Government monitored the activities of members of all religions,
 including Buddhism, in part because clergy and congregation members have
 in the past become politically active. Moreover, there is a concentration
 of Christians among some of the ethnic minorities against whom the army
 has fought for decades, although many of the ethnic insurgencies have
 been waged by groups that practice Buddhism.

 During the period covered by this report, security forces detained
 Buddhist monks for nonviolently expressing support for democracy and for
 demanding increased independence of the clergy from the State, and the
 Government continued to imprison monks for efforts to speak and associate
 freely. There were unconfirmed reports that security forces tortured and
 extrajudicially killed Buddhist monks. Government security forces looted,
 damaged, or destroyed Buddhist monasteries in ethnic minority regions,
 evicting their monks and arresting some. Reports emerged that monks
 previously had died in prisons and labor camps. The Government induced
 Buddhist clergy to instruct Buddhist laymen to resign from the leading
 opposition political party.

 At the same time, the Government, apparently in order to promote national
 unity and bolster its legitimacy among the Buddhist majority,
 discriminated against members of minority religions and restricted the
 educational, proselytizing, and building activities of minority religious
 groups. Christians and Muslims experienced difficulties in obtaining
 permission to build places of worship and in importing or printing
 indigenous-language translations of traditional sacred texts. Security
 forces destroyed or looted churches and mosques in ethnic minority areas.
 Security forces in an ethnic minority area reportedly ordered largely
 Christian villages to provide women to become Buddhist nuns and
 restricted assemblies at a Christian pilgrimage site. Government security
 forces continued efforts to induce members of the Chin ethnic minority to
 convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian Chin from proselytizing by
 highly coercive means, including religiously selective exemptions from
 forced labor, and by arresting, detaining, interrogating, and physically
 abusing Christian clergy. Authorities in Chin State continued to remove
 Christian religious monuments and ordered the postponement of a Christian
 religious celebration in January 1999. The Government continued to be
 accused by some Muslim groups of having fomented anti-Muslim riots in
 1991, 1996, and 1997. Inflammatory anti-Muslim literature similar to that
 which reportedly contributed to anti-Muslim violence in 1996 continued to
 be widely circulated, reportedly through a government-sponsored mass
 organization. There were reports that government security forces
 operating in ethnic minority areas had burned mosques and Islamic
 schools. The Government forced persons of all religious communities to
 contribute money or labor to the construction and maintenance of Buddhist
 shrines.

 The great majority of the country's population at least nominally follow
 Theravada Buddhism, although in practice popular Burmese Buddhism
 includes veneration of many indigenous pre-Buddhist deities called "nats"
 and coexists with astrology, numerology, and fortune-telling, which are
 widely practiced and influential. Buddhist monks, including novices,
 number more than 300,000, roughly 2 percent of the male Buddhist
 population, and depend for their material needs entirely on alms donated
 by the laity, including daily donations of food. The clergy also includes
 a much smaller number of nuns. There are minorities of Christians (mostly
 Baptists), as well as some Catholics and Anglicans, Muslims (mostly
 Sunni), Hindus, and practitioners of traditional Chinese and indigenous
 religions. According to government statistics, almost 90 percent of the
 population practice Buddhism, 4 percent practice Christianity, and 4
 percent practice Islam; however, some Christian and Islamic leaders have
 suggested that these statistics, which are based in part on a flawed 1982
 census, may understate the non-Buddhist proportion of the population.

 The country is ethnically diverse, and there is some correlation between
 ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion among
 the majority Burman ethnic group, and among the Shan (Siamese) and Mon
 (Khmer) ethnic minorities of the eastern region. Christianity is the
 dominant religion among the Kachin ethnic group of the northern region
 and the Chin and Naga ethnic groups of the western region (some of which
 practice traditional indigenous religions); it is also widely practiced
 among the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups of the southern and eastern
 regions (many of whom practice Theravada Buddhism). Hinduism is practiced
 chiefly by Indians, mostly Tamils and Bengalis, who are concentrated in
 major cities and in the south-central region (although many Tamils are
 Catholic). Islam is practiced widely in Arakan Division on the west
 coast, where it is the dominant religion of the Rohingya minority, and
 among Indians. Traditional Chinese religions are practiced by the small
 Chinese ethnic minorities. Traditional indigenous religions are practiced
 widely among smaller ethnic groups in the northern regions and persist
 widely in popular Buddhist practice, especially in rural areas.

 Since independence in 1948, many of the ethnic minority areas have been
 bases for armed resistance to the State. Although most armed ethnic
 groups have negotiated cease-fire agreements with the Government since
 1989, active Shan and Karen insurgencies continue, and a Chin insurgency
 has developed since the late 1980's. Successive civilian and military
 governments have tended to view religious freedom in the context of
 threats to national unity.

 In much of the country there is also some correlation between religion
 and social class, in that non-Buddhists tend to be better educated in
 secular matters, more urbanized, and more commercially oriented than the
 Buddhist majority.

 Through the 1990's, the Government increasingly has made special efforts
 to link itself with Buddhism as a means of asserting its own popular
 legitimacy. State-controlled news media frequently depicted or described
 SPDC officials paying homage to Buddhist monks, making donations at
 pagodas throughout the country, officiating at ceremonies to open,
 improve, restore or maintain pagodas, and organizing ostensibly voluntary
 "people's donations" of money, food, and uncompensated labor to build or
 refurbish Buddhist religious shrines throughout the country. State-owned
 newspapers have routinely featured, as front-page banner slogans,
 quotations from the Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist doctrine is part of the
 state-mandated curriculum in all elementary schools; however, individual
 children may opt out of instruction in Buddhism. The Government (DPPS)
 has published books of Buddhist religious instruction. The Union
 Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a government-sponsored
 mass organization in which participation often is not entirely voluntary,
 has organized courses in Buddhist culture attended by millions of
 persons, according to state-owned media reports. During the mid-1990's,
 the Government funded the construction of the International Theravada
 Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU) in Rangoon, which opened in
 December 1998. The ITBMU's stated purpose is "to share Myanmar's
 knowledge of Buddhism with the people of the world," and the main
 language of instruction is English.

 The Government, which operates a pervasive internal security apparatus,
 generally infiltrates or monitors the meetings and activities of
 virtually all organizations, including religious organizations.

 Religious affiliation sometimes is indicated on government-issued
 identification cards that citizens and permanent residents of the country
 are required to carry at all times. There appear to be no consistent
 criteria governing whether a person's religion is indicated on his or her
 identification card. Nationals are also required to indicate their
 religions on some official application forms, e.g., for passports.

 The Government ostensibly promotes mutual understanding among
 practitioners of different religions. Official public holidays include
 some Christian and Islamic holy days, as well as several Theravada
 Buddhist holy days. The Government maintains a multireligion monument in
 downtown Rangoon. It has announced plans to build a new Multireligion
 Square on some of the land that it recovered in 1997 by relocating
 Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim cemeteries in Rangoon's Kyandaw
 neighborhood, although as of mid-1999, construction had not yet begun.
 Despite the ostensible policy of promoting interfaith tolerance, reports
 from various sources alleged that government authorities fomented
 religious violence by Buddhists against Muslims and used force to promote
 Buddhism and discourage Christianity among some ethnic minorities.

 In general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign religious
 missions to operate since the mid-1960's, when it expelled nearly all
 foreign missionaries and nationalized all private schools and hospitals,
 which were extensive and were affiliated mostly with Christian religious
 organizations. However, the Government has allowed a few elderly Catholic
 priests and nuns who have worked in the country since before independence
 to continue their work. Government authorities usually granted foreign
 religious representatives visas only for short stays in the country but
 in some cases permitted them to preach to congregations. Some Christian
 theological seminaries established before 1962 have continued to operate
 with some state funding.

 The Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish and
 maintain links with coreligionists in other countries and to travel
 abroad for religious purposes, subject to restrictive passport and visa
 issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and the government
 monitoring that extends to all international activities for any purpose.
 The Government sometimes expedited its burdensome passport issuance
 procedures for Muslims making the Hajj.

 There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during
 the period covered by this report. However, government restrictions on
 speech, press, assembly, and movement, including diplomatic travel, make
 it difficult to obtain timely and accurate information about respect for
 human rights generally, including freedom of religion. Information about
 abuses often becomes available only months or years after the events,
 from refugees who have fled to other countries, from released political
 prisoners, or from occasional travel inside the country by foreign
 journalists and scholars.

 Religious activities and organizations of all faiths are not exempt from
 broad government restrictions on freedom of expression and association.
 The Government subjects all publications, including religious
 publications, to control and censorship. The Government generally
 prohibits outdoor meetings of more than five persons, including religious
 meetings.

 There continued to be credible reports from diverse regions of the
 country that government officials and security forces compelled persons,
 especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food, or uncompensated
 labor to state-sponsored projects to build, renovate, or maintain
 Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The Government calls these
 contributions "voluntary donations" and imposes them on both Buddhists
 and non-Buddhists. There were reports that in 1998 authorities required
 village households in Wuntho Township in Sagaing Division to pay money to
 renovate a local pagoda. Those who could not pay were required to
 contribute five days of labor. In Twantay Township in Rangoon Division,
 authorities forced villagers to guard the ancient Danoke Pagoda, which
 has been under renovation, and to gather wood, fetch water, and perform
 other tasks for soldiers involved in the project. Villagers were allowed
 to pay money to be exempted from pagoda guard duty. In Bogalay Township
 in Irrawaddy Division, authorities forced villagers to construct 32 miles
 of road between Pe-Chaung village and Kadone village, or else to hire
 substitutes, which cost about $10 to $20 (5,000 to 10,000 kyat) at market
 wages. The road is being built for the use of Buddhist pilgrims at the
 request of the Pe-Chaung monastery. In predominantly Islamic Maungdaw
 District in Arakan State, authorities required villagers to build a
 Buddhist pagoda in Dail Fara; residents of one village said they had to
 provide ten laborers per week. A foreign academic studying urban Burma
 reported in 1998 that she personally had interviewed more than 100
 families from Rangoon and Mandalay who were forced to work during the
 mid-1990's on the construction of Buddhist pagodas, including the
 Buddha's Tooth Relic Pagoda, which was completed in 1996.

 The military Government continued to enforce restrictions on the Buddhist
 clergy's freedom of expression and association, which it has intensified
 since October 1990 in response to widespread support among Buddhist monks
 for human rights and democracy. At that time, monks throughout the
 country were engaged in an unprecedented refusal to accept alms from
 members of the armed forces and their families (a clerical sanction of
 last resort comparable to Christian excommunication). This followed the
 killing of monks and laity by security forces during an August 8
 alms-donation ritual that also protested the government's refusal to
 implement the results of a parliamentary election won in May by the
 National League for Democracy (NLD), which opposed continued military
 rule. The Government had called that election in response to a request
 from the SMNC during the 1988 prodemocracy movement, in which many monks
 were active. In October 1990, the military junta promulgated: Order 6/90,
 which bans any organization of Buddhist clergy other than the nine orders
 constituting the SMNC; Order 7/90, which authorizes military commanders
 to try Buddhist clergy before military tribunals for "activities
 inconsistent with and detrimental to Buddhism;" and Decree 20/90, "Law
 Concerning Sangha Organizations," which imposes on Buddhist clergy a code
 of conduct enforced by criminal penalties. These edicts remain in effect.
 They have provided the Government's stated legal foundation, not only for
 a military crackdown on the Buddhist clergy in late 1990 that ended its
 refusal to accept arms from armed forces members, but also for a
 decade-long increase in the State's material support for and control of
 the Buddhist clergy through the DPPS, which the Government created in
 1990. In 1995 the military Government prohibited the ordination as clergy
 of any member of a political party. This measure, too, remains in effect.
 In April 1997, following widespread riots that involved Buddhist clergy,
 the Government effectively closed the two State Sangha Universities and
 banned for an indefinite period the administration of religious
 literature examinations required for advancement in the clergy.

 Following a July 1998 announcement by the NLD leadership that it would
 again attempt to convene the parliament elected in 1990, the Government
 cracked down not only on the NLD but also on members of the Buddhist
 clergy who expressed support for democracy and human rights. On July 15,
 1998, security forces and USDA members reportedly used force to disperse
 monks in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, who convened at the Bassein
 Pagoda to express support for the NLD's demand that the elected
 parliament be allowed to convene; 20 monks reportedly were detained. On
 July 28, in the town of Myadwaddy in Karen State, security forces
 reportedly detained some members of a group of about 50 monks from the
 Koenawin Monastery who demonstrated in front of the office of the local
 subsidiary of the SMNC, asking that the SMNC cease acting on instructions
 from the Government.

 Reports published in 1998 indicate that on March 21, 1997, in the Kung
 Hein area of Shan State, soldiers of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 524
 killed U Keikti, a 50-year-old man who had been a Buddhist monk for 30
 years, and U Aindaka, a 38-year-old man who had been a monk for 18 years.
 According to one report, U Aindaka died after being interrogated, beaten,
 and tortured at LIB 524's base at Kho Lam. According to a report
 published in 1998, soldiers of LIB 246A arrested the Venerable Yanna,
 abbot of the Kaeng Kham village temple in Kunhing Township in Shan State,
 and interrogated him about his alleged support for insurgents by tying
 him in a sack and submerging it repeatedly in a stream until he died. A
 report published in 1998 also reported that on August 8, 1997, military
 intelligence personnel operating in Sittwe in Arakan State arrested U
 Zayyathami, a 45-year-old man who had been a monk for 25 years, and
 killed him on October 8. The areas of Shan State in which soldiers
 reportedly killed monks were areas of armed conflict between government
 forces and Shan insurgents; the date of the arrest of U Zayyathami in
 Arakan State took place on the ninth anniversary of the climax of the
 1988 democracy movement.

 In January 1998, the All-Burma Young Monks' Union (ABYMU) publicly
 alleged that during 1997 security forces looted, damaged, or destroyed a
 large number of Buddhist monasteries in Karen, Karenni, Mon, and Shan
 States and Tenasssarim Divison (all areas of antigovernment insurgency),
 forced many clergy to leave them, and arrested 60 monks. Based largely on
 interviews with refugees in Thailand conducted by various NGO's, the
 Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) of the National Coalition
 Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), an opposition political group,
 in 1998 published detailed reports that between February and June 1997,
 government soldiers burned, looted, robbed, or searched five Buddhist
 monasteries in Mon and Shan States and in Tenasserim Division.

 On November 23, 1998, security forces in Mandalay reportedly used force
 to disperse demonstrations by Buddhist monks and laypersons demanding the
 end of military rule, the release of imprisoned monks, a public legal
 inquiry into a 1997 desecration of the Maha Myatmuni Pagoda, and
 decentralized administration of the religious literature examinations.
 During the demonstration, police reportedly discharged their weapons and
 some demonstrators reportedly stoned a police station and burned a local
 government office. After the demonstration, security forces arrested and
 imprisoned several monks. The ABYMU published a report that a very
 similar demonstration and arrests occurred in Mandalay on January 21 to
 23, 1999, but Western diplomats who were in Mandalay and spoke with
 Buddhist monks on January 23 heard no such reports.

 There have been reports that security forces arrested or detained
 thousands of Buddhist monks and that the Government convicted and
 imprisoned at least hundreds of monks during the 1990s, mostly for
 attempting nonviolently to exercise freedom of expression or association
 in support of democracy and human rights. More than 100 monks have been
 credibly identified as having been imprisoned during the 1990s, including
 some arrested during the 1998 demonstrations in Mandalay; however, about
 half of these have been released, and there is no reliable estimate of
 the number of Buddhist clergy in prisons or labor camps as of mid-1999.
 As of 1998, monks serving sentences of life in prison reportedly included
 the Venerable U Kalyana of Mandalay, a member of the Aung San Red Star
 Association, and the Venerable U Kawiya of the Phayahyi Monastery in
 Mandalay. There were reports that Buddhist monks have died in prisons or
 labor camps run by the Government's Department of Prisons. In 1998 the
 NCGUB/HRDU published a list of 18 monks whose deaths in state custody had
 been reported by nongovernmental human rights organizations operating in
 Thailand. The NCGUB/HRDU did not specify the dates of these alleged
 deaths. Other sources confirm the deaths of eight monks in State custody
 during the 1990s, mostly in 1991 and 1992; the most recent confirmed
 death of a monk in a prison or labor camp occurred in 1994.

 In late 1998, in response to continuing NLD efforts to convene the
 parliament elected in 1990, the Government initiated a nationwide
 campaign to induce NLD members to resign from the party and to dissolve
 local party organizations. There were credible reports that security
 forces used subsidiaries of the SMNC in this campaign. Between December
 30, 1998, and February 5, 1999, in three detailed petitions to the
 chairman senior abbot of the SMNC, the chairman of the NLD alleged: that
 an abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's township-level
 subsidiaries in Magwe Division was assisting Military Intelligence
 Service officials to induce NLD members to resign from the party and
 urging an NLD member to revoke a bequest of land and a house used by the
 NLD as its office in the township; that two Buddhist monks in other
 townships of Magwe Division were assisting the Military Intelligence
 Service in its efforts to induce NLD members to resign from the party;
 and that the abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's
 township-level subsidiaries in Mandalay Division had sent a government
 employee to summon the chairman of the NLD Township Organizing Committee
 to the abbot's monastery, and, upon his arrival, demanded that he resign
 from his position and dissolve the NLD organization in the township.

 Both Christian and Islamic groups experienced some restrictions on their
 religious freedom and individual Christians and Muslims experienced some
 discrimination by the State.

 Christian and Islamic groups continued to have difficulties in obtaining
 permission to build new churches and mosques, particularly on prominent
 sites. The Government reportedly has denied permission for churches to be
 built on main roads in cities such as Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin
 State. In Than Tlang Township in Chin State, authorities denied a local
 church permission to make repairs and told the church to replace a word
 commonly translated as "church" on its signboard with a term commonly
 translated as "religious center." Authorities in Rangoon have also
 instructed Chin and Kachin Christian worship facilities to use the term
 "religious center" rather than "church." Buddhist groups are not known to
 have experienced similar difficulties in obtaining permission to build
 pagodas or monasteries. In most regions of the country, Christian and
 Muslim groups that seek to build small churches or mosques on side
 streets or other inconspicuous locations rarely have experienced
 difficulty in obtaining official permission.

 Since the 1960's, Christian and Islamic groups have had difficulties in
 printing or importing religious literature. Religious publications, like
 secular ones, remained subject to control and censorship. Translations of
 the Bible and the Koran into indigenous languages could not be imported
 or printed legally, although this ban is not enforced in many areas.
 State censorship authorities reportedly object to existing translations
 of the Bible and the Koran, including some translations that became
 widely used and accepted by some of the country's Christian and Muslim
 groups during the colonial period. According to some reports, the censors
 have objected to the use in Christian or Islamic literature of certain
 indigenous-language terms long used in Buddhist religious literature; the
 censors reportedly have maintained that the use of these terms is
 appropriately limited to Buddhism. According to other reports, the
 censors have objected to passages of the Old Testament and the Koran that
 may appear to approve the use of violence against nonbelievers. Although
 possession of publications not approved by the censors is an offense for
 which persons have been arrested and prosecuted in recent years, there
 were no reports of arrests or prosecutions for possession of any
 traditional religious literature during the period covered by this
 report.

 Non-Buddhists continued to experience discrimination at upper levels of
 the public sector. Only one non-Buddhist served in the Government at
 ministerial level, and the same person, a brigadier general, is the only
 non-Buddhist known to have held flag rank in the armed forces during the
 1990's. The Government discourages Muslims from entering military
 service, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspire to
 promotion beyond middle ranks are encouraged by their superiors to
 convert to Buddhism.

END OF PART I
 

For those who would like the pretty version with the Department Seal etc, the
URL is:

http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/1999/irf_burma99.html


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<html>
<font face="Courier New, Courier">US STATE DEPT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
99(BURMA)<br>
Posted in 2 parts for easier downloading<br>
<br>
Pt I<br>
<br>
U.S. Department of State<br>
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999: Burma<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Released by the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor<br>
Washington, DC, September 9, 1999<br>
<br>
<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
BURMA<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Section I. Freedom of Religion<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Most adherents of all religions duly registered with the
authorities<br>
&nbsp;generally enjoyed freedom to worship as they chose; however,
the<br>
&nbsp;Government imposed some restrictions on certain religious
minorities.<br>
&nbsp;Burma has been ruled since a 1962 coup d'etat by highly
authoritarian<br>
&nbsp;military regimes; since a reorganization in late 1997, the military
junta<br>
&nbsp;has called itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The<br>
&nbsp;military has governed without a constitution or legislature since
1988.<br>
&nbsp;The most recent constitution, promulgated in 1974, permitted
both<br>
&nbsp;legislative and administrative restrictions on religious freedom,
stating<br>
&nbsp;that &quot;the national races shall enjoy the freedom to profess
their<br>
&nbsp;religion ... provided that the enjoyment of any such freedom does
not<br>
&nbsp;offend the laws or the public interest.&quot; In practice, the
Government<br>
&nbsp;systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote
human<br>
&nbsp;rights and political freedom, and, according to multiple
detailed<br>
&nbsp;credible reports, government authorities in some ethnic minority
areas<br>
&nbsp;coercively promoted Buddhism over other religions.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;There is no official state religion; however, Theravada Buddhism
enjoys a<br>
&nbsp;privileged position in practice. Successive governments, civilian
and<br>
&nbsp;military, have supported and associated themselves conspicuously
with<br>
&nbsp;Buddhism.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Virtually all organizations must be registered with the
Government.<br>
&nbsp;Although there is a government directive exempting
&quot;genuine&quot; religious<br>
&nbsp;organizations from registration, in practice only registered<br>
&nbsp;organizations can buy or sell property or open bank accounts,
which<br>
&nbsp;induces most religious organizations to register. Religious
organizations<br>
&nbsp;register with the Ministry of Home Affairs with the endorsement of
the<br>
&nbsp;Ministry for Religious Affairs. However, at least one<br>
&nbsp;religiously-affiliated organization was allowed to open a bank
account<br>
&nbsp;with the endorsement of the Myanmar Council of Churches instead of
the<br>
&nbsp;Ministry of Religious Affairs. The State also provides some
utilities,<br>
&nbsp;such as electricity, at preferential rates to recognized
religious<br>
&nbsp;organizations.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The Government continued both to show preference for Theravada
Buddhism,<br>
&nbsp;the majority religion, and to control the organization and restrict
the<br>
&nbsp;activities and expression of its clergy (&quot;sangha&quot;). The
Government<br>
&nbsp;prohibits any organizations of Buddhist clergy other than 
nine<br>
&nbsp;state-recognized monastic orders, which submit to the authority of
a<br>
&nbsp;state-sponsored State Clergy Coordination Committee (&quot;sangha
maha nayaka<br>
&nbsp;committee&quot;--SMNC) elected indirectly by monks. The Government
provides<br>
&nbsp;guidance and enforcement for the Committee at the national level
and for<br>
&nbsp;its subordinate bodies at regional, township, and local levels.
The<br>
&nbsp;Government funds two State Sangha Universities in Rangoon and
Mandalay to<br>
&nbsp;train Buddhist clergy under the control of the SMNC. The
State's<br>
&nbsp;relations with the Buddhist clergy and Buddhist schools are
handled<br>
&nbsp;chiefly by the Department for the Perpetuation and Propagation of
the<br>
&nbsp;Sasana (DPPS-&quot;sasana&quot; means Buddhist doctrine) in the
Ministry of<br>
&nbsp;Religious Affairs.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The Government monitored the activities of members of all
religions,<br>
&nbsp;including Buddhism, in part because clergy and congregation members
have<br>
&nbsp;in the past become politically active. Moreover, there is a
concentration<br>
&nbsp;of Christians among some of the ethnic minorities against whom the
army<br>
&nbsp;has fought for decades, although many of the ethnic insurgencies
have<br>
&nbsp;been waged by groups that practice Buddhism.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;During the period covered by this report, security forces
detained<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist monks for nonviolently expressing support for democracy
and for<br>
&nbsp;demanding increased independence of the clergy from the State, and
the<br>
&nbsp;Government continued to imprison monks for efforts to speak and
associate<br>
&nbsp;freely. There were unconfirmed reports that security forces
tortured and<br>
&nbsp;extrajudicially killed Buddhist monks. Government security forces
looted,<br>
&nbsp;damaged, or destroyed Buddhist monasteries in ethnic minority
regions,<br>
&nbsp;evicting their monks and arresting some. Reports emerged that
monks<br>
&nbsp;previously had died in prisons and labor camps. The Government
induced<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist clergy to instruct Buddhist laymen to resign from the
leading<br>
&nbsp;opposition political party.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;At the same time, the Government, apparently in order to promote
national<br>
&nbsp;unity and bolster its legitimacy among the Buddhist majority,<br>
&nbsp;discriminated against members of minority religions and restricted
the<br>
&nbsp;educational, proselytizing, and building activities of minority
religious<br>
&nbsp;groups. Christians and Muslims experienced difficulties in
obtaining<br>
&nbsp;permission to build places of worship and in importing or
printing<br>
&nbsp;indigenous-language translations of traditional sacred texts.
Security<br>
&nbsp;forces destroyed or looted churches and mosques in ethnic minority
areas.<br>
&nbsp;Security forces in an ethnic minority area reportedly ordered
largely<br>
&nbsp;Christian villages to provide women to become Buddhist nuns
and<br>
&nbsp;restricted assemblies at a Christian pilgrimage site. Government
security<br>
&nbsp;forces continued efforts to induce members of the Chin ethnic
minority to<br>
&nbsp;convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian Chin from proselytizing
by<br>
&nbsp;highly coercive means, including religiously selective exemptions
from<br>
&nbsp;forced labor, and by arresting, detaining, interrogating, and
physically<br>
&nbsp;abusing Christian clergy. Authorities in Chin State continued to
remove<br>
&nbsp;Christian religious monuments and ordered the postponement of a
Christian<br>
&nbsp;religious celebration in January 1999. The Government continued to
be<br>
&nbsp;accused by some Muslim groups of having fomented anti-Muslim riots
in<br>
&nbsp;1991, 1996, and 1997. Inflammatory anti-Muslim literature similar
to that<br>
&nbsp;which reportedly contributed to anti-Muslim violence in 1996
continued to<br>
&nbsp;be widely circulated, reportedly through a government-sponsored
mass<br>
&nbsp;organization. There were reports that government security
forces<br>
&nbsp;operating in ethnic minority areas had burned mosques and
Islamic<br>
&nbsp;schools. The Government forced persons of all religious communities
to<br>
&nbsp;contribute money or labor to the construction and maintenance of
Buddhist<br>
&nbsp;shrines.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The great majority of the country's population at least nominally
follow<br>
&nbsp;Theravada Buddhism, although in practice popular Burmese
Buddhism<br>
&nbsp;includes veneration of many indigenous pre-Buddhist deities called
&quot;nats&quot;<br>
&nbsp;and coexists with astrology, numerology, and fortune-telling, which
are<br>
&nbsp;widely practiced and influential. Buddhist monks, including
novices,<br>
&nbsp;number more than 300,000, roughly 2 percent of the male
Buddhist<br>
&nbsp;population, and depend for their material needs entirely on alms
donated<br>
&nbsp;by the laity, including daily donations of food. The clergy also
includes<br>
&nbsp;a much smaller number of nuns. There are minorities of Christians
(mostly<br>
&nbsp;Baptists), as well as some Catholics and Anglicans, Muslims
(mostly<br>
&nbsp;Sunni), Hindus, and practitioners of traditional Chinese and
indigenous<br>
&nbsp;religions. According to government statistics, almost 90 percent of
the<br>
&nbsp;population practice Buddhism, 4 percent practice Christianity, and
4<br>
&nbsp;percent practice Islam; however, some Christian and Islamic leaders
have<br>
&nbsp;suggested that these statistics, which are based in part on a
flawed 1982<br>
&nbsp;census, may understate the non-Buddhist proportion of the
population.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The country is ethnically diverse, and there is some correlation
between<br>
&nbsp;ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion
among<br>
&nbsp;the majority Burman ethnic group, and among the Shan (Siamese) and
Mon<br>
&nbsp;(Khmer) ethnic minorities of the eastern region. Christianity is
the<br>
&nbsp;dominant religion among the Kachin ethnic group of the northern
region<br>
&nbsp;and the Chin and Naga ethnic groups of the western region (some of
which<br>
&nbsp;practice traditional indigenous religions); it is also widely
practiced<br>
&nbsp;among the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups of the southern and
eastern<br>
&nbsp;regions (many of whom practice Theravada Buddhism). Hinduism is
practiced<br>
&nbsp;chiefly by Indians, mostly Tamils and Bengalis, who are
concentrated in<br>
&nbsp;major cities and in the south-central region (although many Tamils
are<br>
&nbsp;Catholic). Islam is practiced widely in Arakan Division on the
west<br>
&nbsp;coast, where it is the dominant religion of the Rohingya minority,
and<br>
&nbsp;among Indians. Traditional Chinese religions are practiced by the
small<br>
&nbsp;Chinese ethnic minorities. Traditional indigenous religions are
practiced<br>
&nbsp;widely among smaller ethnic groups in the northern regions and
persist<br>
&nbsp;widely in popular Buddhist practice, especially in rural
areas.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Since independence in 1948, many of the ethnic minority areas have
been<br>
&nbsp;bases for armed resistance to the State. Although most armed
ethnic<br>
&nbsp;groups have negotiated cease-fire agreements with the Government
since<br>
&nbsp;1989, active Shan and Karen insurgencies continue, and a Chin
insurgency<br>
&nbsp;has developed since the late 1980's. Successive civilian and
military<br>
&nbsp;governments have tended to view religious freedom in the context
of<br>
&nbsp;threats to national unity.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;In much of the country there is also some correlation between
religion<br>
&nbsp;and social class, in that non-Buddhists tend to be better educated
in<br>
&nbsp;secular matters, more urbanized, and more commercially oriented
than the<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist majority.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Through the 1990's, the Government increasingly has made special
efforts<br>
&nbsp;to link itself with Buddhism as a means of asserting its own
popular<br>
&nbsp;legitimacy. State-controlled news media frequently depicted or
described<br>
&nbsp;SPDC officials paying homage to Buddhist monks, making donations
at<br>
&nbsp;pagodas throughout the country, officiating at ceremonies to
open,<br>
&nbsp;improve, restore or maintain pagodas, and organizing ostensibly
voluntary<br>
&nbsp;&quot;people's donations&quot; of money, food, and uncompensated
labor to build or<br>
&nbsp;refurbish Buddhist religious shrines throughout the country.
State-owned<br>
&nbsp;newspapers have routinely featured, as front-page banner
slogans,<br>
&nbsp;quotations from the Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist doctrine is part
of the<br>
&nbsp;state-mandated curriculum in all elementary schools; however,
individual<br>
&nbsp;children may opt out of instruction in Buddhism. The Government
(DPPS)<br>
&nbsp;has published books of Buddhist religious instruction. The
Union<br>
&nbsp;Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a
government-sponsored<br>
&nbsp;mass organization in which participation often is not entirely
voluntary,<br>
&nbsp;has organized courses in Buddhist culture attended by millions
of<br>
&nbsp;persons, according to state-owned media reports. During the
mid-1990's,<br>
&nbsp;the Government funded the construction of the International
Theravada<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU) in Rangoon, which opened
in<br>
&nbsp;December 1998. The ITBMU's stated purpose is &quot;to share
Myanmar's<br>
&nbsp;knowledge of Buddhism with the people of the world,&quot; and the
main<br>
&nbsp;language of instruction is English.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The Government, which operates a pervasive internal security
apparatus,<br>
&nbsp;generally infiltrates or monitors the meetings and activities
of<br>
&nbsp;virtually all organizations, including religious
organizations.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Religious affiliation sometimes is indicated on
government-issued<br>
&nbsp;identification cards that citizens and permanent residents of the
country<br>
&nbsp;are required to carry at all times. There appear to be no
consistent<br>
&nbsp;criteria governing whether a person's religion is indicated on his
or her<br>
&nbsp;identification card. Nationals are also required to indicate
their<br>
&nbsp;religions on some official application forms, e.g., for
passports.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The Government ostensibly promotes mutual understanding among<br>
&nbsp;practitioners of different religions. Official public holidays
include<br>
&nbsp;some Christian and Islamic holy days, as well as several
Theravada<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist holy days. The Government maintains a multireligion
monument in<br>
&nbsp;downtown Rangoon. It has announced plans to build a new
Multireligion<br>
&nbsp;Square on some of the land that it recovered in 1997 by
relocating<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim cemeteries in Rangoon's
Kyandaw<br>
&nbsp;neighborhood, although as of mid-1999, construction had not yet
begun.<br>
&nbsp;Despite the ostensible policy of promoting interfaith tolerance,
reports<br>
&nbsp;from various sources alleged that government authorities
fomented<br>
&nbsp;religious violence by Buddhists against Muslims and used force to
promote<br>
&nbsp;Buddhism and discourage Christianity among some ethnic
minorities.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;In general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign
religious<br>
&nbsp;missions to operate since the mid-1960's, when it expelled nearly
all<br>
&nbsp;foreign missionaries and nationalized all private schools and
hospitals,<br>
&nbsp;which were extensive and were affiliated mostly with Christian
religious<br>
&nbsp;organizations. However, the Government has allowed a few elderly
Catholic<br>
&nbsp;priests and nuns who have worked in the country since before
independence<br>
&nbsp;to continue their work. Government authorities usually granted
foreign<br>
&nbsp;religious representatives visas only for short stays in the country
but<br>
&nbsp;in some cases permitted them to preach to congregations. Some
Christian<br>
&nbsp;theological seminaries established before 1962 have continued to
operate<br>
&nbsp;with some state funding.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish
and<br>
&nbsp;maintain links with coreligionists in other countries and to
travel<br>
&nbsp;abroad for religious purposes, subject to restrictive passport and
visa<br>
&nbsp;issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and the
government<br>
&nbsp;monitoring that extends to all international activities for any
purpose.<br>
&nbsp;The Government sometimes expedited its burdensome passport
issuance<br>
&nbsp;procedures for Muslims making the Hajj.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during<br>
&nbsp;the period covered by this report. However, government restrictions
on<br>
&nbsp;speech, press, assembly, and movement, including diplomatic travel,
make<br>
&nbsp;it difficult to obtain timely and accurate information about
respect for<br>
&nbsp;human rights generally, including freedom of religion. Information
about<br>
&nbsp;abuses often becomes available only months or years after the
events,<br>
&nbsp;from refugees who have fled to other countries, from released
political<br>
&nbsp;prisoners, or from occasional travel inside the country by
foreign<br>
&nbsp;journalists and scholars.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Religious activities and organizations of all faiths are not exempt
from<br>
&nbsp;broad government restrictions on freedom of expression and
association.<br>
&nbsp;The Government subjects all publications, including religious<br>
&nbsp;publications, to control and censorship. The Government
generally<br>
&nbsp;prohibits outdoor meetings of more than five persons, including
religious<br>
&nbsp;meetings.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;There continued to be credible reports from diverse regions of
the<br>
&nbsp;country that government officials and security forces compelled
persons,<br>
&nbsp;especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food, or
uncompensated<br>
&nbsp;labor to state-sponsored projects to build, renovate, or
maintain<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The Government calls
these<br>
&nbsp;contributions &quot;voluntary donations&quot; and imposes them on
both Buddhists<br>
&nbsp;and non-Buddhists. There were reports that in 1998 authorities
required<br>
&nbsp;village households in Wuntho Township in Sagaing Division to pay
money to<br>
&nbsp;renovate a local pagoda. Those who could not pay were required
to<br>
&nbsp;contribute five days of labor. In Twantay Township in Rangoon
Division,<br>
&nbsp;authorities forced villagers to guard the ancient Danoke Pagoda,
which<br>
&nbsp;has been under renovation, and to gather wood, fetch water, and
perform<br>
&nbsp;other tasks for soldiers involved in the project. Villagers were
allowed<br>
&nbsp;to pay money to be exempted from pagoda guard duty. In Bogalay
Township<br>
&nbsp;in Irrawaddy Division, authorities forced villagers to construct 32
miles<br>
&nbsp;of road between Pe-Chaung village and Kadone village, or else to
hire<br>
&nbsp;substitutes, which cost about $10 to $20 (5,000 to 10,000 kyat) at
market<br>
&nbsp;wages. The road is being built for the use of Buddhist pilgrims at
the<br>
&nbsp;request of the Pe-Chaung monastery. In predominantly Islamic
Maungdaw<br>
&nbsp;District in Arakan State, authorities required villagers to build
a<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist pagoda in Dail Fara; residents of one village said they
had to<br>
&nbsp;provide ten laborers per week. A foreign academic studying urban
Burma<br>
&nbsp;reported in 1998 that she personally had interviewed more than
100<br>
&nbsp;families from Rangoon and Mandalay who were forced to work during
the<br>
&nbsp;mid-1990's on the construction of Buddhist pagodas, including
the<br>
&nbsp;Buddha's Tooth Relic Pagoda, which was completed in 1996.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;The military Government continued to enforce restrictions on the
Buddhist<br>
&nbsp;clergy's freedom of expression and association, which it has
intensified<br>
&nbsp;since October 1990 in response to widespread support among Buddhist
monks<br>
&nbsp;for human rights and democracy. At that time, monks throughout
the<br>
&nbsp;country were engaged in an unprecedented refusal to accept alms
from<br>
&nbsp;members of the armed forces and their families (a clerical sanction
of<br>
&nbsp;last resort comparable to Christian excommunication). This followed
the<br>
&nbsp;killing of monks and laity by security forces during an August
8<br>
&nbsp;alms-donation ritual that also protested the government's refusal
to<br>
&nbsp;implement the results of a parliamentary election won in May by
the<br>
&nbsp;National League for Democracy (NLD), which opposed continued
military<br>
&nbsp;rule. The Government had called that election in response to a
request<br>
&nbsp;from the SMNC during the 1988 prodemocracy movement, in which many
monks<br>
&nbsp;were active. In October 1990, the military junta promulgated: Order
6/90,<br>
&nbsp;which bans any organization of Buddhist clergy other than the nine
orders<br>
&nbsp;constituting the SMNC; Order 7/90, which authorizes military
commanders<br>
&nbsp;to try Buddhist clergy before military tribunals for
&quot;activities<br>
&nbsp;inconsistent with and detrimental to Buddhism;&quot; and Decree
20/90, &quot;Law<br>
&nbsp;Concerning Sangha Organizations,&quot; which imposes on Buddhist
clergy a code<br>
&nbsp;of conduct enforced by criminal penalties. These edicts remain in
effect.<br>
&nbsp;They have provided the Government's stated legal foundation, not
only for<br>
&nbsp;a military crackdown on the Buddhist clergy in late 1990 that ended
its<br>
&nbsp;refusal to accept arms from armed forces members, but also for
a<br>
&nbsp;decade-long increase in the State's material support for and
control of<br>
&nbsp;the Buddhist clergy through the DPPS, which the Government created
in<br>
&nbsp;1990. In 1995 the military Government prohibited the ordination as
clergy<br>
&nbsp;of any member of a political party. This measure, too, remains in
effect.<br>
&nbsp;In April 1997, following widespread riots that involved Buddhist
clergy,<br>
&nbsp;the Government effectively closed the two State Sangha Universities
and<br>
&nbsp;banned for an indefinite period the administration of
religious<br>
&nbsp;literature examinations required for advancement in the
clergy.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Following a July 1998 announcement by the NLD leadership that it
would<br>
&nbsp;again attempt to convene the parliament elected in 1990, the
Government<br>
&nbsp;cracked down not only on the NLD but also on members of the
Buddhist<br>
&nbsp;clergy who expressed support for democracy and human rights. On
July 15,<br>
&nbsp;1998, security forces and USDA members reportedly used force to
disperse<br>
&nbsp;monks in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, who convened at the
Bassein<br>
&nbsp;Pagoda to express support for the NLD's demand that the
elected<br>
&nbsp;parliament be allowed to convene; 20 monks reportedly were
detained. On<br>
&nbsp;July 28, in the town of Myadwaddy in Karen State, security
forces<br>
&nbsp;reportedly detained some members of a group of about 50 monks from
the<br>
&nbsp;Koenawin Monastery who demonstrated in front of the office of the
local<br>
&nbsp;subsidiary of the SMNC, asking that the SMNC cease acting on
instructions<br>
&nbsp;from the Government.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Reports published in 1998 indicate that on March 21, 1997, in the
Kung<br>
&nbsp;Hein area of Shan State, soldiers of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)
524<br>
&nbsp;killed U Keikti, a 50-year-old man who had been a Buddhist monk for
30<br>
&nbsp;years, and U Aindaka, a 38-year-old man who had been a monk for 18
years.<br>
&nbsp;According to one report, U Aindaka died after being interrogated,
beaten,<br>
&nbsp;and tortured at LIB 524's base at Kho Lam. According to a
report<br>
&nbsp;published in 1998, soldiers of LIB 246A arrested the Venerable
Yanna,<br>
&nbsp;abbot of the Kaeng Kham village temple in Kunhing Township in Shan
State,<br>
&nbsp;and interrogated him about his alleged support for insurgents by
tying<br>
&nbsp;him in a sack and submerging it repeatedly in a stream until he
died. A<br>
&nbsp;report published in 1998 also reported that on August 8, 1997,
military<br>
&nbsp;intelligence personnel operating in Sittwe in Arakan State arrested
U<br>
&nbsp;Zayyathami, a 45-year-old man who had been a monk for 25 years,
and<br>
&nbsp;killed him on October 8. The areas of Shan State in which
soldiers<br>
&nbsp;reportedly killed monks were areas of armed conflict between
government<br>
&nbsp;forces and Shan insurgents; the date of the arrest of U Zayyathami
in<br>
&nbsp;Arakan State took place on the ninth anniversary of the climax of
the<br>
&nbsp;1988 democracy movement.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;In January 1998, the All-Burma Young Monks' Union (ABYMU)
publicly<br>
&nbsp;alleged that during 1997 security forces looted, damaged, or
destroyed a<br>
&nbsp;large number of Buddhist monasteries in Karen, Karenni, Mon, and
Shan<br>
&nbsp;States and Tenasssarim Divison (all areas of antigovernment
insurgency),<br>
&nbsp;forced many clergy to leave them, and arrested 60 monks. Based
largely on<br>
&nbsp;interviews with refugees in Thailand conducted by various NGO's,
the<br>
&nbsp;Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) of the National
Coalition<br>
&nbsp;Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), an opposition political
group,<br>
&nbsp;in 1998 published detailed reports that between February and June
1997,<br>
&nbsp;government soldiers burned, looted, robbed, or searched five
Buddhist<br>
&nbsp;monasteries in Mon and Shan States and in Tenasserim 
Division.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;On November 23, 1998, security forces in Mandalay reportedly used
force<br>
&nbsp;to disperse demonstrations by Buddhist monks and laypersons
demanding the<br>
&nbsp;end of military rule, the release of imprisoned monks, a public
legal<br>
&nbsp;inquiry into a 1997 desecration of the Maha Myatmuni Pagoda,
and<br>
&nbsp;decentralized administration of the religious literature
examinations.<br>
&nbsp;During the demonstration, police reportedly discharged their
weapons and<br>
&nbsp;some demonstrators reportedly stoned a police station and burned a
local<br>
&nbsp;government office. After the demonstration, security forces
arrested and<br>
&nbsp;imprisoned several monks. The ABYMU published a report that a
very<br>
&nbsp;similar demonstration and arrests occurred in Mandalay on January
21 to<br>
&nbsp;23, 1999, but Western diplomats who were in Mandalay and spoke
with<br>
&nbsp;Buddhist monks on January 23 heard no such reports.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;There have been reports that security forces arrested or
detained<br>
&nbsp;thousands of Buddhist monks and that the Government convicted
and<br>
&nbsp;imprisoned at least hundreds of monks during the 1990s, mostly
for<br>
&nbsp;attempting nonviolently to exercise freedom of expression or
association<br>
&nbsp;in support of democracy and human rights. More than 100 monks have
been<br>
&nbsp;credibly identified as having been imprisoned during the 1990s,
including<br>
&nbsp;some arrested during the 1998 demonstrations in Mandalay; however,
about<br>
&nbsp;half of these have been released, and there is no reliable estimate
of<br>
&nbsp;the number of Buddhist clergy in prisons or labor camps as of
mid-1999.<br>
&nbsp;As of 1998, monks serving sentences of life in prison reportedly
included<br>
&nbsp;the Venerable U Kalyana of Mandalay, a member of the Aung San Red
Star<br>
&nbsp;Association, and the Venerable U Kawiya of the Phayahyi Monastery
in<br>
&nbsp;Mandalay. There were reports that Buddhist monks have died in
prisons or<br>
&nbsp;labor camps run by the Government's Department of Prisons. In 1998
the<br>
&nbsp;NCGUB/HRDU published a list of 18 monks whose deaths in state
custody had<br>
&nbsp;been reported by nongovernmental human rights organizations
operating in<br>
&nbsp;Thailand. The NCGUB/HRDU did not specify the dates of these
alleged<br>
&nbsp;deaths. Other sources confirm the deaths of eight monks in State
custody<br>
&nbsp;during the 1990s, mostly in 1991 and 1992; the most recent
confirmed<br>
&nbsp;death of a monk in a prison or labor camp occurred in 1994.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;In late 1998, in response to continuing NLD efforts to convene
the<br>
&nbsp;parliament elected in 1990, the Government initiated a
nationwide<br>
&nbsp;campaign to induce NLD members to resign from the party and to
dissolve<br>
&nbsp;local party organizations. There were credible reports that
security<br>
&nbsp;forces used subsidiaries of the SMNC in this campaign. Between
December<br>
&nbsp;30, 1998, and February 5, 1999, in three detailed petitions to
the<br>
&nbsp;chairman senior abbot of the SMNC, the chairman of the NLD alleged:
that<br>
&nbsp;an abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's
township-level<br>
&nbsp;subsidiaries in Magwe Division was assisting Military
Intelligence<br>
&nbsp;Service officials to induce NLD members to resign from the party
and<br>
&nbsp;urging an NLD member to revoke a bequest of land and a house used
by the<br>
&nbsp;NLD as its office in the township; that two Buddhist monks in
other<br>
&nbsp;townships of Magwe Division were assisting the Military
Intelligence<br>
&nbsp;Service in its efforts to induce NLD members to resign from the
party;<br>
&nbsp;and that the abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's<br>
&nbsp;township-level subsidiaries in Mandalay Division had sent a
government<br>
&nbsp;employee to summon the chairman of the NLD Township Organizing
Committee<br>
&nbsp;to the abbot's monastery, and, upon his arrival, demanded that he
resign<br>
&nbsp;from his position and dissolve the NLD organization in the
township.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Both Christian and Islamic groups experienced some restrictions on
their<br>
&nbsp;religious freedom and individual Christians and Muslims experienced
some<br>
&nbsp;discrimination by the State.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Christian and Islamic groups continued to have difficulties in
obtaining<br>
&nbsp;permission to build new churches and mosques, particularly on
prominent<br>
&nbsp;sites. The Government reportedly has denied permission for churches
to be<br>
&nbsp;built on main roads in cities such as Myitkyina, the capital of
Kachin<br>
&nbsp;State. In Than Tlang Township in Chin State, authorities denied a
local<br>
&nbsp;church permission to make repairs and told the church to replace a
word<br>
&nbsp;commonly translated as &quot;church&quot; on its signboard with a
term commonly<br>
&nbsp;translated as &quot;religious center.&quot; Authorities in Rangoon
have also<br>
&nbsp;instructed Chin and Kachin Christian worship facilities to use the
term<br>
&nbsp;&quot;religious center&quot; rather than &quot;church.&quot;
Buddhist groups are not known to<br>
&nbsp;have experienced similar difficulties in obtaining permission to
build<br>
&nbsp;pagodas or monasteries. In most regions of the country, Christian
and<br>
&nbsp;Muslim groups that seek to build small churches or mosques on
side<br>
&nbsp;streets or other inconspicuous locations rarely have
experienced<br>
&nbsp;difficulty in obtaining official permission.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Since the 1960's, Christian and Islamic groups have had
difficulties in<br>
&nbsp;printing or importing religious literature. Religious publications,
like<br>
&nbsp;secular ones, remained subject to control and censorship.
Translations of<br>
&nbsp;the Bible and the Koran into indigenous languages could not be
imported<br>
&nbsp;or printed legally, although this ban is not enforced in many
areas.<br>
&nbsp;State censorship authorities reportedly object to existing
translations<br>
&nbsp;of the Bible and the Koran, including some translations that
became<br>
&nbsp;widely used and accepted by some of the country's Christian and
Muslim<br>
&nbsp;groups during the colonial period. According to some reports, the
censors<br>
&nbsp;have objected to the use in Christian or Islamic literature of
certain<br>
&nbsp;indigenous-language terms long used in Buddhist religious
literature; the<br>
&nbsp;censors reportedly have maintained that the use of these terms
is<br>
&nbsp;appropriately limited to Buddhism. According to other reports,
the<br>
&nbsp;censors have objected to passages of the Old Testament and the
Koran that<br>
&nbsp;may appear to approve the use of violence against nonbelievers.
Although<br>
&nbsp;possession of publications not approved by the censors is an
offense for<br>
&nbsp;which persons have been arrested and prosecuted in recent years,
there<br>
&nbsp;were no reports of arrests or prosecutions for possession of
any<br>
&nbsp;traditional religious literature during the period covered by
this<br>
&nbsp;report.<br>
<br>
&nbsp;Non-Buddhists continued to experience discrimination at upper
levels of<br>
&nbsp;the public sector. Only one non-Buddhist served in the Government
at<br>
&nbsp;ministerial level, and the same person, a brigadier general, is the
only<br>
&nbsp;non-Buddhist known to have held flag rank in the armed forces
during the<br>
&nbsp;1990's. The Government discourages Muslims from entering
military<br>
&nbsp;service, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspire
to<br>
&nbsp;promotion beyond middle ranks are encouraged by their superiors
to<br>
&nbsp;convert to Buddhism.<br>
<br>
END OF PART I<br>
&nbsp;<br>
<br>
</font>For those who would like the pretty version with the Department
Seal etc, the URL is:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/1999/irf_burma99.html"; eudora="autourl">http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/1999/irf_burma99.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<div>Internet ProLink PC User</div>
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