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US STATE DEPT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 99
- Subject: US STATE DEPT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 99
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 07:09:00
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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
Internet ProLink PC User
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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>
<br>
Released by the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor<br>
Washington, DC, September 9, 1999<br>
<br>
<br>
BURMA<br>
<br>
Section I. Freedom of Religion<br>
<br>
Most adherents of all religions duly registered with the
authorities<br>
generally enjoyed freedom to worship as they chose; however,
the<br>
Government imposed some restrictions on certain religious
minorities.<br>
Burma has been ruled since a 1962 coup d'etat by highly
authoritarian<br>
military regimes; since a reorganization in late 1997, the military
junta<br>
has called itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The<br>
military has governed without a constitution or legislature since
1988.<br>
The most recent constitution, promulgated in 1974, permitted
both<br>
legislative and administrative restrictions on religious freedom,
stating<br>
that "the national races shall enjoy the freedom to profess
their<br>
religion ... provided that the enjoyment of any such freedom does
not<br>
offend the laws or the public interest." In practice, the
Government<br>
systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote
human<br>
rights and political freedom, and, according to multiple
detailed<br>
credible reports, government authorities in some ethnic minority
areas<br>
coercively promoted Buddhism over other religions.<br>
<br>
There is no official state religion; however, Theravada Buddhism
enjoys a<br>
privileged position in practice. Successive governments, civilian
and<br>
military, have supported and associated themselves conspicuously
with<br>
Buddhism.<br>
<br>
Virtually all organizations must be registered with the
Government.<br>
Although there is a government directive exempting
"genuine" religious<br>
organizations from registration, in practice only registered<br>
organizations can buy or sell property or open bank accounts,
which<br>
induces most religious organizations to register. Religious
organizations<br>
register with the Ministry of Home Affairs with the endorsement of
the<br>
Ministry for Religious Affairs. However, at least one<br>
religiously-affiliated organization was allowed to open a bank
account<br>
with the endorsement of the Myanmar Council of Churches instead of
the<br>
Ministry of Religious Affairs. The State also provides some
utilities,<br>
such as electricity, at preferential rates to recognized
religious<br>
organizations.<br>
<br>
The Government continued both to show preference for Theravada
Buddhism,<br>
the majority religion, and to control the organization and restrict
the<br>
activities and expression of its clergy ("sangha"). The
Government<br>
prohibits any organizations of Buddhist clergy other than
nine<br>
state-recognized monastic orders, which submit to the authority of
a<br>
state-sponsored State Clergy Coordination Committee ("sangha
maha nayaka<br>
committee"--SMNC) elected indirectly by monks. The Government
provides<br>
guidance and enforcement for the Committee at the national level
and for<br>
its subordinate bodies at regional, township, and local levels.
The<br>
Government funds two State Sangha Universities in Rangoon and
Mandalay to<br>
train Buddhist clergy under the control of the SMNC. The
State's<br>
relations with the Buddhist clergy and Buddhist schools are
handled<br>
chiefly by the Department for the Perpetuation and Propagation of
the<br>
Sasana (DPPS-"sasana" means Buddhist doctrine) in the
Ministry of<br>
Religious Affairs.<br>
<br>
The Government monitored the activities of members of all
religions,<br>
including Buddhism, in part because clergy and congregation members
have<br>
in the past become politically active. Moreover, there is a
concentration<br>
of Christians among some of the ethnic minorities against whom the
army<br>
has fought for decades, although many of the ethnic insurgencies
have<br>
been waged by groups that practice Buddhism.<br>
<br>
During the period covered by this report, security forces
detained<br>
Buddhist monks for nonviolently expressing support for democracy
and for<br>
demanding increased independence of the clergy from the State, and
the<br>
Government continued to imprison monks for efforts to speak and
associate<br>
freely. There were unconfirmed reports that security forces
tortured and<br>
extrajudicially killed Buddhist monks. Government security forces
looted,<br>
damaged, or destroyed Buddhist monasteries in ethnic minority
regions,<br>
evicting their monks and arresting some. Reports emerged that
monks<br>
previously had died in prisons and labor camps. The Government
induced<br>
Buddhist clergy to instruct Buddhist laymen to resign from the
leading<br>
opposition political party.<br>
<br>
At the same time, the Government, apparently in order to promote
national<br>
unity and bolster its legitimacy among the Buddhist majority,<br>
discriminated against members of minority religions and restricted
the<br>
educational, proselytizing, and building activities of minority
religious<br>
groups. Christians and Muslims experienced difficulties in
obtaining<br>
permission to build places of worship and in importing or
printing<br>
indigenous-language translations of traditional sacred texts.
Security<br>
forces destroyed or looted churches and mosques in ethnic minority
areas.<br>
Security forces in an ethnic minority area reportedly ordered
largely<br>
Christian villages to provide women to become Buddhist nuns
and<br>
restricted assemblies at a Christian pilgrimage site. Government
security<br>
forces continued efforts to induce members of the Chin ethnic
minority to<br>
convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian Chin from proselytizing
by<br>
highly coercive means, including religiously selective exemptions
from<br>
forced labor, and by arresting, detaining, interrogating, and
physically<br>
abusing Christian clergy. Authorities in Chin State continued to
remove<br>
Christian religious monuments and ordered the postponement of a
Christian<br>
religious celebration in January 1999. The Government continued to
be<br>
accused by some Muslim groups of having fomented anti-Muslim riots
in<br>
1991, 1996, and 1997. Inflammatory anti-Muslim literature similar
to that<br>
which reportedly contributed to anti-Muslim violence in 1996
continued to<br>
be widely circulated, reportedly through a government-sponsored
mass<br>
organization. There were reports that government security
forces<br>
operating in ethnic minority areas had burned mosques and
Islamic<br>
schools. The Government forced persons of all religious communities
to<br>
contribute money or labor to the construction and maintenance of
Buddhist<br>
shrines.<br>
<br>
The great majority of the country's population at least nominally
follow<br>
Theravada Buddhism, although in practice popular Burmese
Buddhism<br>
includes veneration of many indigenous pre-Buddhist deities called
"nats"<br>
and coexists with astrology, numerology, and fortune-telling, which
are<br>
widely practiced and influential. Buddhist monks, including
novices,<br>
number more than 300,000, roughly 2 percent of the male
Buddhist<br>
population, and depend for their material needs entirely on alms
donated<br>
by the laity, including daily donations of food. The clergy also
includes<br>
a much smaller number of nuns. There are minorities of Christians
(mostly<br>
Baptists), as well as some Catholics and Anglicans, Muslims
(mostly<br>
Sunni), Hindus, and practitioners of traditional Chinese and
indigenous<br>
religions. According to government statistics, almost 90 percent of
the<br>
population practice Buddhism, 4 percent practice Christianity, and
4<br>
percent practice Islam; however, some Christian and Islamic leaders
have<br>
suggested that these statistics, which are based in part on a
flawed 1982<br>
census, may understate the non-Buddhist proportion of the
population.<br>
<br>
The country is ethnically diverse, and there is some correlation
between<br>
ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion
among<br>
the majority Burman ethnic group, and among the Shan (Siamese) and
Mon<br>
(Khmer) ethnic minorities of the eastern region. Christianity is
the<br>
dominant religion among the Kachin ethnic group of the northern
region<br>
and the Chin and Naga ethnic groups of the western region (some of
which<br>
practice traditional indigenous religions); it is also widely
practiced<br>
among the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups of the southern and
eastern<br>
regions (many of whom practice Theravada Buddhism). Hinduism is
practiced<br>
chiefly by Indians, mostly Tamils and Bengalis, who are
concentrated in<br>
major cities and in the south-central region (although many Tamils
are<br>
Catholic). Islam is practiced widely in Arakan Division on the
west<br>
coast, where it is the dominant religion of the Rohingya minority,
and<br>
among Indians. Traditional Chinese religions are practiced by the
small<br>
Chinese ethnic minorities. Traditional indigenous religions are
practiced<br>
widely among smaller ethnic groups in the northern regions and
persist<br>
widely in popular Buddhist practice, especially in rural
areas.<br>
<br>
Since independence in 1948, many of the ethnic minority areas have
been<br>
bases for armed resistance to the State. Although most armed
ethnic<br>
groups have negotiated cease-fire agreements with the Government
since<br>
1989, active Shan and Karen insurgencies continue, and a Chin
insurgency<br>
has developed since the late 1980's. Successive civilian and
military<br>
governments have tended to view religious freedom in the context
of<br>
threats to national unity.<br>
<br>
In much of the country there is also some correlation between
religion<br>
and social class, in that non-Buddhists tend to be better educated
in<br>
secular matters, more urbanized, and more commercially oriented
than the<br>
Buddhist majority.<br>
<br>
Through the 1990's, the Government increasingly has made special
efforts<br>
to link itself with Buddhism as a means of asserting its own
popular<br>
legitimacy. State-controlled news media frequently depicted or
described<br>
SPDC officials paying homage to Buddhist monks, making donations
at<br>
pagodas throughout the country, officiating at ceremonies to
open,<br>
improve, restore or maintain pagodas, and organizing ostensibly
voluntary<br>
"people's donations" of money, food, and uncompensated
labor to build or<br>
refurbish Buddhist religious shrines throughout the country.
State-owned<br>
newspapers have routinely featured, as front-page banner
slogans,<br>
quotations from the Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist doctrine is part
of the<br>
state-mandated curriculum in all elementary schools; however,
individual<br>
children may opt out of instruction in Buddhism. The Government
(DPPS)<br>
has published books of Buddhist religious instruction. The
Union<br>
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a
government-sponsored<br>
mass organization in which participation often is not entirely
voluntary,<br>
has organized courses in Buddhist culture attended by millions
of<br>
persons, according to state-owned media reports. During the
mid-1990's,<br>
the Government funded the construction of the International
Theravada<br>
Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU) in Rangoon, which opened
in<br>
December 1998. The ITBMU's stated purpose is "to share
Myanmar's<br>
knowledge of Buddhism with the people of the world," and the
main<br>
language of instruction is English.<br>
<br>
The Government, which operates a pervasive internal security
apparatus,<br>
generally infiltrates or monitors the meetings and activities
of<br>
virtually all organizations, including religious
organizations.<br>
<br>
Religious affiliation sometimes is indicated on
government-issued<br>
identification cards that citizens and permanent residents of the
country<br>
are required to carry at all times. There appear to be no
consistent<br>
criteria governing whether a person's religion is indicated on his
or her<br>
identification card. Nationals are also required to indicate
their<br>
religions on some official application forms, e.g., for
passports.<br>
<br>
The Government ostensibly promotes mutual understanding among<br>
practitioners of different religions. Official public holidays
include<br>
some Christian and Islamic holy days, as well as several
Theravada<br>
Buddhist holy days. The Government maintains a multireligion
monument in<br>
downtown Rangoon. It has announced plans to build a new
Multireligion<br>
Square on some of the land that it recovered in 1997 by
relocating<br>
Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim cemeteries in Rangoon's
Kyandaw<br>
neighborhood, although as of mid-1999, construction had not yet
begun.<br>
Despite the ostensible policy of promoting interfaith tolerance,
reports<br>
from various sources alleged that government authorities
fomented<br>
religious violence by Buddhists against Muslims and used force to
promote<br>
Buddhism and discourage Christianity among some ethnic
minorities.<br>
<br>
In general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign
religious<br>
missions to operate since the mid-1960's, when it expelled nearly
all<br>
foreign missionaries and nationalized all private schools and
hospitals,<br>
which were extensive and were affiliated mostly with Christian
religious<br>
organizations. However, the Government has allowed a few elderly
Catholic<br>
priests and nuns who have worked in the country since before
independence<br>
to continue their work. Government authorities usually granted
foreign<br>
religious representatives visas only for short stays in the country
but<br>
in some cases permitted them to preach to congregations. Some
Christian<br>
theological seminaries established before 1962 have continued to
operate<br>
with some state funding.<br>
<br>
The Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish
and<br>
maintain links with coreligionists in other countries and to
travel<br>
abroad for religious purposes, subject to restrictive passport and
visa<br>
issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and the
government<br>
monitoring that extends to all international activities for any
purpose.<br>
The Government sometimes expedited its burdensome passport
issuance<br>
procedures for Muslims making the Hajj.<br>
<br>
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during<br>
the period covered by this report. However, government restrictions
on<br>
speech, press, assembly, and movement, including diplomatic travel,
make<br>
it difficult to obtain timely and accurate information about
respect for<br>
human rights generally, including freedom of religion. Information
about<br>
abuses often becomes available only months or years after the
events,<br>
from refugees who have fled to other countries, from released
political<br>
prisoners, or from occasional travel inside the country by
foreign<br>
journalists and scholars.<br>
<br>
Religious activities and organizations of all faiths are not exempt
from<br>
broad government restrictions on freedom of expression and
association.<br>
The Government subjects all publications, including religious<br>
publications, to control and censorship. The Government
generally<br>
prohibits outdoor meetings of more than five persons, including
religious<br>
meetings.<br>
<br>
There continued to be credible reports from diverse regions of
the<br>
country that government officials and security forces compelled
persons,<br>
especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food, or
uncompensated<br>
labor to state-sponsored projects to build, renovate, or
maintain<br>
Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The Government calls
these<br>
contributions "voluntary donations" and imposes them on
both Buddhists<br>
and non-Buddhists. There were reports that in 1998 authorities
required<br>
village households in Wuntho Township in Sagaing Division to pay
money to<br>
renovate a local pagoda. Those who could not pay were required
to<br>
contribute five days of labor. In Twantay Township in Rangoon
Division,<br>
authorities forced villagers to guard the ancient Danoke Pagoda,
which<br>
has been under renovation, and to gather wood, fetch water, and
perform<br>
other tasks for soldiers involved in the project. Villagers were
allowed<br>
to pay money to be exempted from pagoda guard duty. In Bogalay
Township<br>
in Irrawaddy Division, authorities forced villagers to construct 32
miles<br>
of road between Pe-Chaung village and Kadone village, or else to
hire<br>
substitutes, which cost about $10 to $20 (5,000 to 10,000 kyat) at
market<br>
wages. The road is being built for the use of Buddhist pilgrims at
the<br>
request of the Pe-Chaung monastery. In predominantly Islamic
Maungdaw<br>
District in Arakan State, authorities required villagers to build
a<br>
Buddhist pagoda in Dail Fara; residents of one village said they
had to<br>
provide ten laborers per week. A foreign academic studying urban
Burma<br>
reported in 1998 that she personally had interviewed more than
100<br>
families from Rangoon and Mandalay who were forced to work during
the<br>
mid-1990's on the construction of Buddhist pagodas, including
the<br>
Buddha's Tooth Relic Pagoda, which was completed in 1996.<br>
<br>
The military Government continued to enforce restrictions on the
Buddhist<br>
clergy's freedom of expression and association, which it has
intensified<br>
since October 1990 in response to widespread support among Buddhist
monks<br>
for human rights and democracy. At that time, monks throughout
the<br>
country were engaged in an unprecedented refusal to accept alms
from<br>
members of the armed forces and their families (a clerical sanction
of<br>
last resort comparable to Christian excommunication). This followed
the<br>
killing of monks and laity by security forces during an August
8<br>
alms-donation ritual that also protested the government's refusal
to<br>
implement the results of a parliamentary election won in May by
the<br>
National League for Democracy (NLD), which opposed continued
military<br>
rule. The Government had called that election in response to a
request<br>
from the SMNC during the 1988 prodemocracy movement, in which many
monks<br>
were active. In October 1990, the military junta promulgated: Order
6/90,<br>
which bans any organization of Buddhist clergy other than the nine
orders<br>
constituting the SMNC; Order 7/90, which authorizes military
commanders<br>
to try Buddhist clergy before military tribunals for
"activities<br>
inconsistent with and detrimental to Buddhism;" and Decree
20/90, "Law<br>
Concerning Sangha Organizations," which imposes on Buddhist
clergy a code<br>
of conduct enforced by criminal penalties. These edicts remain in
effect.<br>
They have provided the Government's stated legal foundation, not
only for<br>
a military crackdown on the Buddhist clergy in late 1990 that ended
its<br>
refusal to accept arms from armed forces members, but also for
a<br>
decade-long increase in the State's material support for and
control of<br>
the Buddhist clergy through the DPPS, which the Government created
in<br>
1990. In 1995 the military Government prohibited the ordination as
clergy<br>
of any member of a political party. This measure, too, remains in
effect.<br>
In April 1997, following widespread riots that involved Buddhist
clergy,<br>
the Government effectively closed the two State Sangha Universities
and<br>
banned for an indefinite period the administration of
religious<br>
literature examinations required for advancement in the
clergy.<br>
<br>
Following a July 1998 announcement by the NLD leadership that it
would<br>
again attempt to convene the parliament elected in 1990, the
Government<br>
cracked down not only on the NLD but also on members of the
Buddhist<br>
clergy who expressed support for democracy and human rights. On
July 15,<br>
1998, security forces and USDA members reportedly used force to
disperse<br>
monks in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, who convened at the
Bassein<br>
Pagoda to express support for the NLD's demand that the
elected<br>
parliament be allowed to convene; 20 monks reportedly were
detained. On<br>
July 28, in the town of Myadwaddy in Karen State, security
forces<br>
reportedly detained some members of a group of about 50 monks from
the<br>
Koenawin Monastery who demonstrated in front of the office of the
local<br>
subsidiary of the SMNC, asking that the SMNC cease acting on
instructions<br>
from the Government.<br>
<br>
Reports published in 1998 indicate that on March 21, 1997, in the
Kung<br>
Hein area of Shan State, soldiers of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)
524<br>
killed U Keikti, a 50-year-old man who had been a Buddhist monk for
30<br>
years, and U Aindaka, a 38-year-old man who had been a monk for 18
years.<br>
According to one report, U Aindaka died after being interrogated,
beaten,<br>
and tortured at LIB 524's base at Kho Lam. According to a
report<br>
published in 1998, soldiers of LIB 246A arrested the Venerable
Yanna,<br>
abbot of the Kaeng Kham village temple in Kunhing Township in Shan
State,<br>
and interrogated him about his alleged support for insurgents by
tying<br>
him in a sack and submerging it repeatedly in a stream until he
died. A<br>
report published in 1998 also reported that on August 8, 1997,
military<br>
intelligence personnel operating in Sittwe in Arakan State arrested
U<br>
Zayyathami, a 45-year-old man who had been a monk for 25 years,
and<br>
killed him on October 8. The areas of Shan State in which
soldiers<br>
reportedly killed monks were areas of armed conflict between
government<br>
forces and Shan insurgents; the date of the arrest of U Zayyathami
in<br>
Arakan State took place on the ninth anniversary of the climax of
the<br>
1988 democracy movement.<br>
<br>
In January 1998, the All-Burma Young Monks' Union (ABYMU)
publicly<br>
alleged that during 1997 security forces looted, damaged, or
destroyed a<br>
large number of Buddhist monasteries in Karen, Karenni, Mon, and
Shan<br>
States and Tenasssarim Divison (all areas of antigovernment
insurgency),<br>
forced many clergy to leave them, and arrested 60 monks. Based
largely on<br>
interviews with refugees in Thailand conducted by various NGO's,
the<br>
Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) of the National
Coalition<br>
Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), an opposition political
group,<br>
in 1998 published detailed reports that between February and June
1997,<br>
government soldiers burned, looted, robbed, or searched five
Buddhist<br>
monasteries in Mon and Shan States and in Tenasserim
Division.<br>
<br>
On November 23, 1998, security forces in Mandalay reportedly used
force<br>
to disperse demonstrations by Buddhist monks and laypersons
demanding the<br>
end of military rule, the release of imprisoned monks, a public
legal<br>
inquiry into a 1997 desecration of the Maha Myatmuni Pagoda,
and<br>
decentralized administration of the religious literature
examinations.<br>
During the demonstration, police reportedly discharged their
weapons and<br>
some demonstrators reportedly stoned a police station and burned a
local<br>
government office. After the demonstration, security forces
arrested and<br>
imprisoned several monks. The ABYMU published a report that a
very<br>
similar demonstration and arrests occurred in Mandalay on January
21 to<br>
23, 1999, but Western diplomats who were in Mandalay and spoke
with<br>
Buddhist monks on January 23 heard no such reports.<br>
<br>
There have been reports that security forces arrested or
detained<br>
thousands of Buddhist monks and that the Government convicted
and<br>
imprisoned at least hundreds of monks during the 1990s, mostly
for<br>
attempting nonviolently to exercise freedom of expression or
association<br>
in support of democracy and human rights. More than 100 monks have
been<br>
credibly identified as having been imprisoned during the 1990s,
including<br>
some arrested during the 1998 demonstrations in Mandalay; however,
about<br>
half of these have been released, and there is no reliable estimate
of<br>
the number of Buddhist clergy in prisons or labor camps as of
mid-1999.<br>
As of 1998, monks serving sentences of life in prison reportedly
included<br>
the Venerable U Kalyana of Mandalay, a member of the Aung San Red
Star<br>
Association, and the Venerable U Kawiya of the Phayahyi Monastery
in<br>
Mandalay. There were reports that Buddhist monks have died in
prisons or<br>
labor camps run by the Government's Department of Prisons. In 1998
the<br>
NCGUB/HRDU published a list of 18 monks whose deaths in state
custody had<br>
been reported by nongovernmental human rights organizations
operating in<br>
Thailand. The NCGUB/HRDU did not specify the dates of these
alleged<br>
deaths. Other sources confirm the deaths of eight monks in State
custody<br>
during the 1990s, mostly in 1991 and 1992; the most recent
confirmed<br>
death of a monk in a prison or labor camp occurred in 1994.<br>
<br>
In late 1998, in response to continuing NLD efforts to convene
the<br>
parliament elected in 1990, the Government initiated a
nationwide<br>
campaign to induce NLD members to resign from the party and to
dissolve<br>
local party organizations. There were credible reports that
security<br>
forces used subsidiaries of the SMNC in this campaign. Between
December<br>
30, 1998, and February 5, 1999, in three detailed petitions to
the<br>
chairman senior abbot of the SMNC, the chairman of the NLD alleged:
that<br>
an abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's
township-level<br>
subsidiaries in Magwe Division was assisting Military
Intelligence<br>
Service officials to induce NLD members to resign from the party
and<br>
urging an NLD member to revoke a bequest of land and a house used
by the<br>
NLD as its office in the township; that two Buddhist monks in
other<br>
townships of Magwe Division were assisting the Military
Intelligence<br>
Service in its efforts to induce NLD members to resign from the
party;<br>
and that the abbot serving as chairman of one of the SMNC's<br>
township-level subsidiaries in Mandalay Division had sent a
government<br>
employee to summon the chairman of the NLD Township Organizing
Committee<br>
to the abbot's monastery, and, upon his arrival, demanded that he
resign<br>
from his position and dissolve the NLD organization in the
township.<br>
<br>
Both Christian and Islamic groups experienced some restrictions on
their<br>
religious freedom and individual Christians and Muslims experienced
some<br>
discrimination by the State.<br>
<br>
Christian and Islamic groups continued to have difficulties in
obtaining<br>
permission to build new churches and mosques, particularly on
prominent<br>
sites. The Government reportedly has denied permission for churches
to be<br>
built on main roads in cities such as Myitkyina, the capital of
Kachin<br>
State. In Than Tlang Township in Chin State, authorities denied a
local<br>
church permission to make repairs and told the church to replace a
word<br>
commonly translated as "church" on its signboard with a
term commonly<br>
translated as "religious center." Authorities in Rangoon
have also<br>
instructed Chin and Kachin Christian worship facilities to use the
term<br>
"religious center" rather than "church."
Buddhist groups are not known to<br>
have experienced similar difficulties in obtaining permission to
build<br>
pagodas or monasteries. In most regions of the country, Christian
and<br>
Muslim groups that seek to build small churches or mosques on
side<br>
streets or other inconspicuous locations rarely have
experienced<br>
difficulty in obtaining official permission.<br>
<br>
Since the 1960's, Christian and Islamic groups have had
difficulties in<br>
printing or importing religious literature. Religious publications,
like<br>
secular ones, remained subject to control and censorship.
Translations of<br>
the Bible and the Koran into indigenous languages could not be
imported<br>
or printed legally, although this ban is not enforced in many
areas.<br>
State censorship authorities reportedly object to existing
translations<br>
of the Bible and the Koran, including some translations that
became<br>
widely used and accepted by some of the country's Christian and
Muslim<br>
groups during the colonial period. According to some reports, the
censors<br>
have objected to the use in Christian or Islamic literature of
certain<br>
indigenous-language terms long used in Buddhist religious
literature; the<br>
censors reportedly have maintained that the use of these terms
is<br>
appropriately limited to Buddhism. According to other reports,
the<br>
censors have objected to passages of the Old Testament and the
Koran that<br>
may appear to approve the use of violence against nonbelievers.
Although<br>
possession of publications not approved by the censors is an
offense for<br>
which persons have been arrested and prosecuted in recent years,
there<br>
were no reports of arrests or prosecutions for possession of
any<br>
traditional religious literature during the period covered by
this<br>
report.<br>
<br>
Non-Buddhists continued to experience discrimination at upper
levels of<br>
the public sector. Only one non-Buddhist served in the Government
at<br>
ministerial level, and the same person, a brigadier general, is the
only<br>
non-Buddhist known to have held flag rank in the armed forces
during the<br>
1990's. The Government discourages Muslims from entering
military<br>
service, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspire
to<br>
promotion beyond middle ranks are encouraged by their superiors
to<br>
convert to Buddhism.<br>
<br>
END OF PART I<br>
<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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