There are fresh reports that hundreds of Buddhist monks marched in Yangon on Sunday, calling for the deportation of Rohingya Muslims from Burma. The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority considered to be foreigners in Burma.
Earlier this year a Rakhine woman was found raped and murdered (the Rakhine are the mostly Buddhist ethnic majority in western Burma). Blame fell on the Rohingyas, setting off waves of rioting and mob violence between Rakhines and Rohingyas. The Burmese military has been accused of atrocities against Rohingyas by international human rights organizations.
It's distressing that Buddhist monks are visibly supporting the apparent oppression of the Rohingyas. There is no excuse for that. However, some questions have gone unanswered in news stories --
One, do we know where the majority of Burma's approximately 500,000 Buddhist monks stand on this issue? It may be that the group marching in the street on Sunday is not representative of the majority of the Burmese monastic sangha.
Second, are Burmese monks not observing Vassa? Vassa doesn't end until late October. Maybe the group who marched got some kind of dispensation to leave the rains retreat for a political rally. Maybe if Vassa weren't going on, even more monks would have marched.
Before condemning the entire Burmese monastic sangha, I'd like more information.
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