Buddhist monks launched a boycott of the Myanmar regime after the recent killing of a senior monk.
Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, 78, a prominent teacher and author, was shot dead on June 19 as he traveled by car through central Mandalay Region.
It was the last straw for many monks in a more than three-year campaign of terror by the junta.
State media initially blamed his killing on the resistance.
Min Aung Hlaing, however, was forced to publish an official apology after the junta’s cover-up was exposed by another monk who was with the victim when he was killed.
Min Aung Hlaing’s apology did not work. Instead, it triggered outrage among monks and laypeople. The junta boss shifted blame on to the slain monk – a retired member of the State Sangha Nayaka Committee, the highest Buddhist authority in Myanmar – saying the vehicle he was in failed to comply with security regulations.
On Sunday, monks from Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region declared a boycott in response to the junta’s killing of Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa and other monks killed, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the junta since the 2021 coup.
The boycott quickly spread to Depayin, Salingyi and Taze townships in the resistance stronghold. Participants urged fellow monks across the country to join their boycott.
Known as “pattanikkujjana” in Pali, a boycott by Buddhisft monks involves refusing alms from those who have committed offenses against the Sangha (clergy) or religious principles, and refusing to perform religious rites, like funerals and weddings, for them.
The junta has killed at least 43 Buddhist representatives, mainly monks, since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. It has also arrested more than 100 other Buddhist representatives, including prominent monks, the association’s verified data shows.
Shwewaryaung Sayadaw U Za Nay Ya of Chaung-U Township told The Irrawaddy: “We have no reason to forgive. That’s why we have launched the boycott.”
Historic Boycotts
All religious boycotts in Myanmar since 1988 – in 1990 and 2007, and now in 2024 – have taken place under military regimes. Thousands of monks joined boycotts in 1990 and 2007, with the latter giving rise to what was named the “Saffron Revolution.”
The military beat and shot monks during an alms donation ceremony in Mandalay on Aug. 8, 1990, to mark the second anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
The crackdown triggered a mass boycott by monks in Mandalay. Hundreds of monks were detained and jailed in subsequent raids on monasteries.
Monks in Yangon also joined the boycott. One of the monks detained and jailed was U Tilawka Bhivamsa, who later led the nationalist movement and served as the chair of the ultra-nationalist Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, better known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha.
Monks did not end their boycott despite a crackdown by the State Law and Order Restoration Council of the previous regime led by Senior General Saw Maung.
In 2007, monks took to the streets in protest against price hikes under the previous military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council.
On Sept. 5, 2007, military troops forcibly broke up a peaceful demonstration in Magway Region’s Pakokku city and beat three monks who had been tied to lamp-posts. This severe violation of Buddhism provoked a mass protest of monks that saw them take to the streets to chant sermons.
The regime responded with a crackdown. According to the association of political prisoners, 52 monasteries were raided and nearly 600 monks were arrested countrywide.
The crackdown was led by then police chief Khin Yi who is now the chair of the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.
What’s next?
It is important to note that the latest boycotts are limited to the resistance strongholds of Sagaing and Magwe regions and have not yet spread to other parts of the country in a way that could intimidate the regime.
Junta leaders who call themselves defenders and protectors of Buddhism will not sit idly by. They view monks who join protests as political dissidents. They will label them terrorists disguised as monks before cracking down on them.
Given such possible crackdowns, a mass protest by monks in cities, like the one in 2007, is highly unlikely now. The monastic community is polarized: one group supports the Myanmar military and another opposes it.
Still, the number of townships where monks are boycotting the junta expanded to eight as of Friday, including Pakokku – the township in Magwe Region is where the Saffron Revolution began. Thousands of monks live there.
Whether or not the boycott spreads to more townships and regions is as hard to predict as a miracle.
Prominent anti-regime monk Sayadaw Min Thu Nya said: “Monks have launched religious boycotts in Chaung-U, Depayin, Salingyi and Taze. I urge monks to join it. If we bravely stand by the people and justice and revolt together, the military dictatorship will end, and we will soon be free of these miseries.”
The people of Myanmar are waiting and watching to see if their monks will side with the regime or those, who on a daily basis, give all they can in alms to the monks who seek them.
