Myanmar’s military turns to Buddhism in bid for legitimacy
Generals court country’s monks to try and win respect in an environment where ‘almost everybody hates them’.
A plan is underway for Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar’s military and leader of last year’s coup, to build the biggest sculpture of a sitting Buddha in the world – part of his attempt to forge a legacy as a protector of Buddhism.
But, in the last year, soldiers directly under his command have killed nearly 1,500 people in a crackdown on the military’s opponents that violates Buddhism’s first and most important principle: to abstain from killing.
”Their Buddhism is a fake show, they don’t deserve to be called Buddhists. We don’t kill other people. What they are doing right now is all opposite of Buddhism,” said Agga Wantha, a 30-year-old monk from Mandalay who has been leading protests against the coup.
“They are just saying that they are Buddhist but they are doing this just to get a hold of the country.”
Min Aung Hlaing has turned to methods used in the past to try and claim some kind of legitimacy in this 90-percent Buddhist country that has been under military control for most of the past 60 years.
That has meant alliances with high-profile monks and regular reminders of the high-ranking officers’ devotion to the Buddha, despite a continuing campaign of violence.
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