A religious boycott against Myanmar’s military regime has spread to 20 townships in four regions since its launch in Sagaing Region’s Chaung-U nine days ago following the junta’s slaying of a senior Buddhist monk.
Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, 78, an abbot and prominent teacher and author, was shot dead on June 19 as he traveled by car through central Mandalay Region.
State media initially blamed his killing on the resistance. Regime boss Min Aung Hlaing, however, was forced to publish an official apology after the junta’s cover-up was exposed by another monk who was traveling with the victim when he was killed.
On June 23, Buddhist monks from Chaung-U Township declared a boycott over the killing of the monk, who was also a retired member of the State Sangha Nayaka Committee, the highest Buddhist authority in Myanmar.
Known as “pattanikkujjana” in Pali, a Buddhist monks’ boycott involves refusing alms from those who have committed offenses against the Sangha (clergy) or religious principles, while also denying them religious services likes funerals and weddings.
As of Thursday, the protest had spread to 19 other townships, including Sagaing’s Depayin, Salingyi, Taze, Kani and Ye-U, Mandalay’s Myingyan, Taungtha and Natogyi, and Magwe’s Seikphyu.
Monks in Tanintharyi’s Dawei took to the streets shouting, “No to the terrorist military destroying the country and Buddhist teachings,” “No to Min Aung Hlaing’s army that kills the Sangha,” and “No to Sitagu, who helps evildoers.”
Sitagu Sayadaw, one of Myanmar’s most influential monks before the coup, has come under fire for his close ties to junta boss Min Aung Hlaing. The 87-year-old leader of Shwe Kyin, one of Myanmar’s nine Buddhist monastic sects, attracted fresh criticism after urging fellow monks to “forgive and forget” the regime’s killing of the monk.
Myanmar has witnessed two other major religious boycotts since 1988 – in 1990 after soldiers beat monks on the anniversary of the 8888 uprising and in 2007 when they unleashed a brutal crackdown on monks leading demonstrations against price hikes, in what became known as the Saffron Revolution.
