Burma (Myanmar) has been under the military dictatorship since 1962, the first one being a one party authoritarian socialist regime, followed by non-ideological military juntas until 2010. The military was perceived as the public enemy due to its inhumane treatments against the population, poor economic policies, and authoritarian politics. The majority Buddhist population in Burma considered the Buddhist monks as the communal leaders and the Buddhist monks also shared the views of considering the military dictatorships as the public enemy.
Understanding the context: 8888 Uprising
The 8888 Uprising (also known as the 1988 Uprising) was a moment in the history where the population created a myth revolutionary figure out of their demand for a universal idealism of democracy in Hegelian sense. Hundreds of thousands of monks, students, workers, and people across different social classes joined together and protested against the government beyond the identities of religious affiliations, ethnic affiliations, and class affiliations. Aung San Suu Kyi, who at that time had no interests in politics came back to Myanmar for her mother, and was adopted by the people as their national icon. Even though the 8888 Uprising couldn’t meet its maximum demands of dismantling the military dictatorship, it indeed pushed for several regime changes even though the military dictatorship system survived. Since then, National Democratic League, the political party founded by Aung San Suu Kyi had become a hope of democracy and federalism for the people in Burma. Monks who were politically active were pro-democracy and pro-NLD during these days. Thousands of people were imprisoned and murdered as a result of the 8888 Uprising. Some student groups, and left-wing activists fled to Thailand-Myanmar border and started the armed struggle. Even though the struggle never ended after 1988, the popularity for the revolution gradually faded away.
Understanding the context: 1990 election and the pro-democracy monks
To put a halt to the 8888 Uprising, the military dictatorship promised an election at 1990. The military dictatorship promised to give away their power to the winner of the 1990 election and put an end to the military dictatorship with the resurrecting of multi-party parliamentary system. However, in reality, a large number of the killings happened within the prisons, where prisoners of conscience were denied access to basic supplies including food, water, medicine, and sanitary facilities in addition to being subjected to cruel torture. In addition, the leaders of the NLD party, non-partisan pro-democracy activists, academics, artists, students, and human rights campaigners were unlawfully detained and imprisoned for decades by the military dictatorship when NLD won the election with majority seats in 1990 elections. Thousands of monks, students, workers, and people across different social classes once again joined together and protested against the military dictatorship. Unlike 1988, the protests were mainly led by students as the main revolutionary class and monastery where monks live were used as the encampments. Buddhist monks stood in solidarity with the students when the military dictatorship tried to suppress the movements. The pro-democracy Buddhist monks endorsed a nation-wide movement of boycott against the military dictatorship (called Patthanikkūjjanakam as per Buddhist scripture). The military dictatorship indeed suffered a setback given the social influence of Buddhist monk as a clerical social class.
As a response, the military dictatorship arrested some influential monk leaders such as Venerable Yaza Dhamma, Venerable Kovida, Venerable Dr. Sumangala and other monks such as Venerable Bhaddanta Yewata as well as Venerable Kaviṅda (Media, 2015). Venerable Yaza Dhamma was the patron of Ma Soe Yein monastery (one of the most influential monasteries among Burmese Buddhist monks) at that time. Venerable Kovida was once the patron of Ma Soe Yein monastery and the patron of Sasana Moli (the International Burmese Monks Organization) an alliance of more than 50 monks from the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Canada, and Malaysia (Senauke, 2008). Venerable Dr. Sumangala was one of the only four qualified orators of Tripitaka (Tipiṭakadhara Dhammabhaṇḍāgārika). Venerable Bhaddanta Yewata was the chairperson of Saṅghasāmaggī, a coalition of sangha (monks) against the military dictatorship (Naing, 2007). Venerable Kaviṅda also was the chairperson of Coalition of Strike Force from Ma Soe Yein monastery. Monks, sons of Buddha, were being tortured and treated inhumanely upon in interrogation centres, in prisons, and in forced labour camps.
Generally, Buddhists humbly showed their respects to the monks by lying down in front of the monks with a traditional posture. However, in the prisons, things were in reverse. The arrested pro-democracy monks including the most respected, educated, intelligent, influential, and senior monks had to beg for the soldiers to show sympathy to them. The photos of soldiers stepping on the heads of the monks were leaked. These were the biggest and the most dangerous information that put hatred to the hearts of the Buddhists against the military dictatorship.
The birth of 969 movement as pro-democracy, nationalist, and anti-military movement
Since then, the Ma Soe Yein monastery was considered as the most revolutionary Buddhist monastery for radical pro-democracy monks by the military dictatorship and its intelligence services.
Venerable Wirathu, who was later called by Time Magazine as the Burmese Bin Laden, at the time was a pro-democracy and Theravada fundamentalist. To understand the 969 movement, it’s important to use Venerable Wirathu as a central figure since he indeed was the central figure to the 969 movement.
He was educated in Ma Soe Yein monastery since 1991 and became a Dhamma lecturer at Ma Soe Yein monastery since 1999. So, he witnessed the whole situations during the time. Around 2000, with his increasing popularity and influence, he struggled against the reformist movements and the cults within the vipassana movements. He published a book called “The Battle for Theravada” in 1999, against an unorthodox vipassana cult led by Tantkyitaung Sayadaw which sparked a national level debate among the most influential vipassana teaching monks. With his book “The Battle for Theravada”, he was expecting the “State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee” (State Buddhist Council), a government-appointed body of high-ranking Buddhist monks that oversees and regulates the monks in Burma (Myanmar), to stop the Tantkyitaung vipassana cult.
Given the history of Burma and Theravada Buddhism oppressing the unorthodox Buddhist sects, Wirathu acted as his senior Theravada Buddhist fundamentalists acted against other progressive reformist sects. However, to his surprise, State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee refused to do so against Tantkyitaung Sayadaw. So, he published another book called “The Culprits of History” and started the anti-establishment narrative against the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee and the military government as a grassroot young monk (Visittarbivamsa, 2017).
He authored another book called “Golden scale of the scriptures” in 2000 against the unorthodox vipassana cult led by Tantkyitaung Sayadaw and other meditation monk teachers who were defending Tantkyitaung Sayadaw. He submitted to the State Buddhist Council for book publication but it was ignored by the State Buddhist Council. He published the book “Golden scale of the scriptures” in 2002. At that time, Venerable Wirathu was a pro-democracy, anti-military, but yet Theravada Buddhist fundamentalist monk.
The controversial history of Wirathu
According to his testimonial written on 2013 and published via “MoeMaKha” media, a local left-wing magazine founded by sympathizers of Communist Party of Burma, Venerable Wirathu started to spread anti-Muslim rhetoric in 2001. He witnessed one interfaith marriage where the wife is Buddhist and the husband is Muslim. The wife had to convert to Muslim for some reasons not specified and couldn’t attend her father’s Buddhist funeral due to her her husband’s Muslim faith. He started to feel threatened by the Muslim faith that way and started to spread the political talks about protecting Buddhism and Buddhist identity (Wirathu, 2013).
Venerable Wirathu was arrested he was sentenced to 25 years in prison at 2003. The reasons for his arrested were the incitement of hatred according to an article in Guardian (Hodal, 2013). There were indeed some reports that Wirathu was responsible for at least 10 Muslims who were killed in Kyaukse communal riot according to a U.S. State Department report (Szep, 2013). However, according to the records, he was arrested for his books against the State Buddhist Council, for founding of 969 movement, for blasphemy, and for the incitement of hatred. (Wirathu, 2013).
2007 Saffron revolution
Even though Venerable Wirathu was arrested in 2003, he used that experience as a protest against the military dictatorship. He wore the prisoner uniform as a white saffron, and started to challenge the military about their faiths in Buddhism for arresting a monk. In 2007 June, he wrote a manifesto called “The White Saffron Robe Manifesto”. In his “White Saffron Manifesto”, Venerable Wirathu was radically anti-military dictatorship and pro-NLD, exposing the military dictatorship as the enemy of Buddhism, exposing the tokenism of military dictatorship when it comes to minority religious riots, and highlighted political oppressions.
Photo of Venerable Wirathu in 2013 with white saffron robe (Image: https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1003916_326735517469963_462568100_n.jpg)
Soon after the release of Venerable Wirathu’s “White Saffron Manifesto”, All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA) was founded on 9 September 2007 and acted as the vanguard of 2007 Saffron revolution. The ABMA presented the ruling State Peace and Development Council (the military junta of that time) with a number of significant demands, including the release of political detainees like Aung San Suu Kyi, a drop in fuel and commodity prices, an official apology to the Sangha, and communication with pro-democracy (Schober, 2011). Venerable Sitagu, who was well-known for his pro-democracy activism and close to NLD at that time, called Wirathu as his comrade during his visit to Insein prison.
The prison release of Venerable Wirathu
The military dictatorship introduced a new constitution which was meant to protect them after they gave up their power in 2008. Also, in accordance with that 2008 constitution, the general elections were held in Myanmar on 7 November 2010. The NLD party (National League for Democracy) boycotted the elections due to their opposition against the 2008 constitution. As a result, the puppet party of the military dictatorship, Union Solidarity and Development Party won the party in their own sham election. The quasi-military government USDP government introduce several reforms which includes the release of thousands of political prisoners.
Venerable Wirathu was released in 2012 along with many other political prisoners. All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA), the vanguard of 2007 Saffron revolution, along with the fellow monks Ma Soe Yein monastery went to the prison entrance and picked Wirathu back to his Ma Soe Yein monastery. The video documentary can be found here.
After being released, Venerable Wirathu decided to stay with the white saffron robe for quite a while. ABMA Journal Volume 3, No 2, which was published in 21st January 2012 featured the photo of Venerable Wirathu and his interview on the same day he was released. ABMA Journal had the record of featuring influential pro-NLD student activist leaders like Min Ko Naing and even NLD leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi in their journal.
Photo of the front page of ABMA Journal Volume 3, No 2 (Image: Screenshot)
ABMA was aware of the controversy around Wirathu for Kyaukse communal riot. ABMA Journal Volume 3, No 2 featured an interview article about Kyaukse communal riot. The student monk of Venerable Wirathu, Venerable Janitābhivāṃsa who was also sentenced to prison along with Venerable Wirathu answered the interview, claiming that both he and Wirathu were innocent and set up by the military dictatorship.
Soon after Venerable Wirathu was released from prison, he was active among the pro-NLD, pro-democracy, and anti-military circle. He visited to a fundraising event for political prisoner organised by NLD party Mandalay division and donated some money according to ABMA Journal Volume 3, No 2. Venerable Wirathu even delivered a pro-NLD and anti-military speech at the Mandalay division headquarter of NLD party.
Venerable Wirathu and the Left
The Kayan New Land Party chairman, Than Soe Naing, invited Venerable Wirathu in 2012 to speak and impart information on nationalism, self-determination, federalism, and democracy. The Kayan New Land Party (KNLP) and the Communist Party of Burma have been close allies since 1979. It even embraced the Maoist “people’s war” tactic that the CPB has been implementing since 1979. The central regional command was established in 1983 by the KNLP, the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, and the Shan State National Liberation Organization under the direction of CPB. This command existed until CPB was driven underground as a result of an internal rebellion by its Wa and Kokang cadres.
The video of Venerable Wirathu speaking at Kayan New Land Party about nationalism, self-determination, federalism, and democracy can be founded here.
969 Movement and the Left
Venerable Wirathu worked along with the 88 generation pro-democracy activists, left-wingers, and ABMA. Venerable Shwe Nya War, an influential monk who was a hardcore NLD supporter was ordered by the State Buddhist Council to leave his monastery. At first, Venerable Shwe Nya War defied the order and showed the passive resistance against the quasi-military government (BBC, 2011). Popular political figures of 88 generations such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and several pro-democracy organisations also showed their solidarity with Venerable Shwe Nya War. However, Venerable Shwe Nya War considered Wirathu as his closest comrade and seek his opinion. Wirathu requested Venerable Shwe Nya War to follow the order of State Buddhist Council.
The poster of Free Ye Min Oo Campaign (Image: https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/547796_192978867517694_1246179122_n.jpg?w=768&h=323)
Photo of Venerable Pammokha and Wira Ye Min Oo
Ye Min Oo, the secretary of the All Burma Federation of Student Union, the secretary of the Federation of Students Union of Organizing and a member of Arakanese Youth Network was arrested in 2013 for his role in 2007 Saffron revolution (AAPPB, n.d.). However, according to DVB, Ye Min Oo was arrested for with the two charges, one of them for anti-Muslim riots (DVB, 2013). Later, the leaders of 969 movements along with some student unionists launched a nation-wide campaign called “Free Ye Min Oo”. The campaign was led by a 969-monk named “Venerable Pammokha” (DVB, 2013). Major Nay Myo Zin, a former soldier, well known for his radical pro-democracy activism and anti-military, joined the “Free Ye Min Oo” campaign along with the monks led by Venerable Pammokha. Venerable Pammokha became one of the leaders of Patriotic Association of Myanmar (MaBaTha), the far-right ultranationalist monk led pro-military and anti-NLD association, in the future. Ye Min Oo, the secretary of the far-left student union (ABFSU) was also known as Wira Ye Min Oo due to his close association with the Venerable Wirathu.
Photos of Nay Myo Zin and Venerable Pammokha during Free Ye Min Oo campaign
The upper Burma division of All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) invited Venerable Wirathu, Ashin Ariyawuntha Biwunsa (Mandalay Myawaddy Sayadaw), and other monks as the honourable guests for the founding ceremony in 2012. The same upper Burma division of All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) invited Venerable Wirathu as a special guest to host an event in 2013 to memorialize the student union leaders who were killed by the military in 1988.
Venerable Wirathu with ABFSU Student Union in 2013 (Image: All Burma Federation of Student Unions Upper Burma Working Committee Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=258888344248481)
AMBA (All Burma Monks’ Alliance), ABFSU, CPB-affiliated militant groups such as KNLP, and far-left CPB sympathisers from publications like Moe Ma Ka can be seen working closely in 2012. The red-brown alliance between the nationalist 969 leadership and the far-left student unionists, along with pro-democracy activists can be seen apparently during this period.
The peak of 969 movements
In 2012, Wirathu met with several religious leaders from Christian community, Muslim community, and Hindu community to advance the cause of interfaith movement. However, a Buddhist woman was sexually raped in Arakanese in 2012 by a group of male rapists who were of Muslim religious and ethnic backgrounds, specifically Rohingya. After the police arrested three individuals, they were bused to a nearby jail. A mob attacked a bus in a nearby city, maybe believing that the ten Muslims who had been killed were some of the assassins on board. An estimated 90,000 people were displaced as a result of the violence, and 2,528 houses were set on fire; 1,336 of them belonged to Rohingyas and 1,192 to Arakanese (BBC, 2012).
This “2012 Rakhine State riots” had a major role in the development of the 969 movement in Burma. The Burmese Buddhist community showed their solidarity to the Arakanese Buddhist community. As a result, they viewed the Rohingya and the Muslim community as their enemy due to the active propaganda of 969 movements. 969 movement called for the nation-wide movement of boycotting the Muslim businesses and services (Oo, 2013). Soon, “2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots” happened in several the cities across the whole country which includes Meiktila, Okkan, Lashio, Kantbalu, and Thandwe. Wirathu along with pro-democracy monks such as Shwe Nya War Sayadaw, Venerable Dhammaduta Chekinda, and Venerable Sandādhika went to Meiktila to solve the situations (Kuhn, 2013). Pro-democracy 88 generation leaders such as Min Ko Naing, and other NLD members joined the convey too. U Win Htein recalled that during the half hour he stayed there, seven people were killed before his eyes. Despite being an influential member of NLD party, he couldn’t remediate the situations (Mérignac, 2013). U Win Htein narrated “Someone took my arm and said be careful or you will become a victim,” (Szep, 2013).
Ironically, Wirathu received a “freedom of religion” award by The NOX & Nan Amara Music Group (HINDSTROM, 2013). The year 2012, 2013, and 2014 were the best years for the 969 movement. They managed to build one of the strongest grassroot movements (after 2010s) in Burma, mainly consisting of Burmese Buddhist working class and poor peasant class.
Possible Entryism by the military
Around 2011, Dhammaduta Chekinda and U Thein Sein (the president of quasi-military government) met to talk about how to approach the Burmese monks. Following his conversation with Dhammaduta Sayadaw, U Thein Sein and his paramilitary government began to formally promote ultranationalism and political Buddhism. Some sangha council members who spearheaded the 2007 Saffron Revolution were approached by Dhammaduta Chekinda to support their nationalist cause over the pro-democracy movement (Irrawaddy, 2022).
A lot of political careerists who nowadays use the title as human right activists came out of this school of thoughts organised by Dhammaduta Chekinda. Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a daughter of a crony military general, who considers herself as a pro-democracy, anti-military, and anti-NLD progressive human right activist, can be seen leading a strategic meeting of Myanmar Youth Forum at Dhammaduta’s headquarters owned by Chekinda. Similarly, Thet Swe Win, the founder of Synergy – Social Harmony Organization, used to work under “Centre for Youth and Social Harmony” and “Myanmar Youth Forum”. He worked together with Khin Waing Kyi, one of the most hard-core nationalist politicians and supporters of the 969 movement from National Democratic Force (Myanmar, 2015). Khin Waing Kyi used to work as a youth organization committee member of Burmese Socialist Programme Party (the original military dictatorship) and a joint-secretary general of trade unions during 1988 Uprising.
Thet Swe Win, seen along with Khin Waing Kyi, a nationalist racist politician in Myanmar Youth Forum Press Conference (Image: Myanmar Youth Forum Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=291989050916780)
Along with “Myanmar Youth Forum”, Myanmar egress, a now-defunct political think tank that stated “nationalists committed to state building through working relationship with the government and all interest groups” was considered as one of the main drivers of nationalist alternative to NLD. It was apparent that the military tried its best to practise entryism into both pro-democracy movement and nationalist movement with its own anti-NLD agenda.
Enemy of my enemy is my friend
Until Time Magazine published an article about Wirathu with the name “The Face of Buddhist Terror”, Venerable Wirathu was generally perceived by the public as an anti-military nationalist monk. The grassroots working-class people who were not fully informed about Venerable Wirathu led several campaigns and protests locally in defence of Wirathu with the sponsorship from the crony capitalist class with ties to the military autocracy. Pro-democracy activists and nationalists worked together when it comes to anti-military activism during 2012 and 2013.
During this period, even though there were a minority anti-NLD fraction within 969 movement, Wirathu’s fraction of 969 movement practised united front with pro-democracy activists, left-wing groups, and NLD party until 2014. Wirathu delivered several political and Buddhist speeches to NLD youth wings across the country in 2012 and 2013.
On the other hand, only the petit-bourgeoisie class who had access to English language media and internet literacy understood the dangers of the racism and reactionary politics of 969 movement. With the international media coverage towards the 969 movement especially Wirathu, the human rights activists and international NGOs considered Wirathu as a public enemy. That makes NLD leadership to be a bit sceptical towards the 969 movements and Wirathu, effectively making them staying natural on the international media campaigns against the 969 movements and Wirathu.
Photo of the front page of 969 propaganda magazine (Image – Screenshot)
Out of the blue, President Thein Sein of the quasi-military government spoke out in defence of Wirathu and denied the existence of political Buddhism in Burma in response to the international media campaigns against the 969 movement. Also, the Ministry of Religious Affairs published the statement condemning the article from Time magazine. The military didn’t bother to soften the “2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots” conflict but made good use of it and endorsed political Buddhism.
Interfaith-Marriage Bill
Nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu, along with his 969 monks, the pro-military monk Dhammaduta Chekinda, academic monks such as Dr. Dhammapiya as well as lawyers prepared a bill for interfaith-marriages (Marshall, 2013). This proposed law would require any Buddhist woman seeking to marry a Muslim man to first gain permission from her parents and local government officials. Any Muslim man who marries a Buddhist woman is required to convert to Buddhism (Weng, 2013). Khin Waing Kyi, a MP from NDF party, worked together with 969 movement and submitted the proposal for the religious conversion and population-control bills to parliament (The Irrawaddy, 2015).
The bill caused a tremendous split within the NLD party and the pro-democracy movement. Some human rights group and progressive NGOs called out the bill for its discriminatory agenda and the violations of human rights. Whereas some emphasise on the specific cases of interfaith marriages where forced conversions done towards Buddhist women by Muslim fundamentalist males. The bill was passed with 524 votes in favour, 44 against and eight abstentions (The Irrawaddy, 2015).
Some MPs from NLD party publicly supported the interfaith-marriage bill whereas some members criticised it as being racist and discriminatory. Venerable Shwe Nya War, an interfaith leader and a pro-democracy monk, declaring his support for the bill was indeed a surprise to the progressive youths and the international media (RFA, 2013).
As a progressive and human rights activist, myself who believes in intersectional social justice, also as an individual who was born into a mixed religious and mixed ethnic family where I witnessed my Buddhist mother forcefully converted to Islam by the Muslim father’s family, I would demand a bill that criminalised the individuals who practice or preach force conversion rather than this interfaith marriage bill which essentially practised force conversion to Buddhism. Force conversion to Islam is wrong as much as force conversion to Buddhism in the lights of universal human rights.
It’s important to note here that the NLD party, the so called progressive third alternative political forces, the NGOs, and the human rights groups at that time failed to endorse an alternative bill that could challenge the interfaith-marriage bill proposed by the 969 movement.
The Final Split: NLD and 969
Wirathu became the target of a bomb blast on July 21, 2013; however, he was unharmed. A novice monk was among the five persons who suffered minor injuries in the explosion. According to Wirathu, the blast was an attempt by radical Muslim men to stifle his criticism (Asia, 2013).
From then on, the whole 969 movement became more and more close to the military and started to view NLD government and the international media as their enemies. Given the international media attention to Wirathu and 969 movement, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee outlawed the 969 movement in September 2013 for drafting civil rights rules intended to restrict the number of Muslims in the country (Reuters, 2013). After the 969 movement was banned, the 969 movement established the Patriotic Association of Myanmar, also known as Ma Ba Tha.
Patriotic Association of Myanmar
Ma Ba Tha was founded by the 969 movement on 15 January 2014. While 969 movement was more of entryist based mass movement, Ma Ba Tha took the vanguard party approach. Ma Ba Tha was led by a central committee comprising 52 monks, including nationalist and senior scholar monks. The chairperson of Ma Ba Tha was Ywama Sayadaw Ashin Tilokabhivamsa, an influential monk, popular for strict and orthodox monastic education whereas Wirathu still maintained his population as one of the most prominent members of its leadership. Ma Ba Tha members started an anti-Ooredoo campaign in 2014 when the Qatari telecom giant moved into the nation to develop its cellular network.
The quasi-military government started the campaign of fear mongering stating that Rohingya are demanding themselves as the sole indigenous community of Arakan. The politics has reached to a level of the question on how Rohingya is indigenous or not to the Arakanese nation. Arakanese who considered themselves as the sole indigenous ethnic community to the Arakan state, considered Rohingya as post-colonial Bengali settlers. At first Aung San Suu Kyi kept her silence on the matter. Even though she is a Nobel peace prize winner, she didn’t stand in solidarity with Rohingya community. She even followed the Ma Ba Tha and Arakanese nationalist narrative of avoiding Rohingya as term and used the “Muslim community” while referring to the Rohingya community (New York Times, 2016). Dr. Aye Maung, a senior member of Arakan National Party, said “We need to be like Israel” while being asked about how to respond to the Rohingya (Rosenthal, n.d.)
Anti-NLD Campaigns of Ma Ba Tha
Given the international pressure, Aung San Suu Kyi started to act on the issue. In 2014, Yanghee Lee was appointed as a special rapporteur of the UN on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Ma Ba Tha analysed Yanghee Lee as a defender of Rohingya rights. Arakanese nationalist groups like Arakan National Party agreed with the analysis and united with Ma Ba Tha.
Ma Ba Tha turned anti-NLD and started to view Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD as the defenders of Rohingya community since then (The Economist, 2017). Wirathu publicly called Yanghee Lee, a special rapporteur of the UN, derogatory words such as “whore” and “bitch” (Hume, 2015).
Ma Ba Tha started their anti-NLD campaign amidst the 2015 election, accusing Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD party, as Islamist useful idiots. Arakan National Party collaborated with Ma Ba Tha and started their anti-NLD politics during and after the 2015 election. On March 23, more than 500 ANP supporters congregated in Sittwe, the state capital of Arakan, to protest the NLD government.
ANP suffered the split into two camps, one being pro-NLD with the analysis of reforming the 2008 constitution in alliance with NLD, and the other being anti-NLD with the analysis of anti-NLD (Myanmar Frontier, 2016).
The Downfall of 969 movement
The 969 movement suffered a tremendous setback once they decided to go after Aung San Suu Kyi. Even though the 969-movement managed to get support from the Buddhist working class and poor peasant class, the same majority of Buddhist working class and poor peasant class didn’t think twice to turn 969 movement down when they had to choose between Aung San Suu Kyi and 969 movement. The majority of working class and poor peasant class across different religious affiliation considered Aung San Suu Kyi as their national myth icon and addressed her as “Mother Suu”. The decision of 969 leaders to defame Aung San Suu Kyi indeed was one of the biggest political suicides they committed.
International Network of nationalists
While being nationalists, members of Ma Ba Tha, 969 movement, and Buddhist nationalists managed to affiliate with fellow nationalists all over the world. The 969 movement had a stable connection with Bodu Bala Sena (BBS, also known as Buddhist Power Force) from Sri Lanka. Some intellectuals made the mistake of understanding the ideology of 969 movement as Buddhist sectarian nationalists. On the contrary, Wirathu once expressed his admiration for English Defence League, a far-right anti-Muslim racist group, founded by Tommy Robinson (Daily Mail Australia, 2013). Moreover, the 969 movement can be seen protesting across Burma in solidarity with Thai monk Phra Dhammachayo who was arrested by Thai authorities for money laundering (The Irrawady, 2017). Venerable Sitagu who gave a speech at the national conference of the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, organised by Ma Ba Tha, visited to Iran several times, meeting with those who had drafted the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Venerable Sitagu inspired how Iran adopted Islam as their state religion, and wanted to apply the same phenomena with Buddhism as the state religion to Burma. Similar position of political Buddhism had original links to the policy that was adopted under Prime Minister U Nu in August 1961 (Frontier Myanmar, 2015). Venerable Sitagu found how the religious supreme leader has a higher status than the president according to their constitution. It’s beyond irony for a leader of Patriotic Association of Myanmar, the group that is well known for its so-called Islamophobia, to have inspiration from political Islam of Iran. Political Buddhism indeed has a lot of inspiration from political Islam and holds similarities in both ideological development and organising methods.
The Downfall of Ma Ba Tha
In May 2017, Ma Ba Tha was considered as an illegal organisation and ordered to disband by the State Buddhist Council under the leadership of NLD’s government. Even though Ma Ba Tha had been anti-NLD since 2014, Ma Ba Tha officially endorsed pro-military position around 2017. Since then, Ma Ba Tha renamed itself as Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation. Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun donated 30 million kyats in June 2019 to Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation (Zaw, 2019).
Wirathu stated “People should worship military MPs as if they are worshipping Buddha” and accused Aung San Suu Kyi as a prostitute sucking up to foreign. In May 2019, an arrest warrant was issued for that speech (MM Times, n.d.). A week prior to the 2020 general election in Myanmar, he turned himself in to the authorities in Yangon after a year and a half of eluding capture (France24, 2020). Ma Ba Tha was considered debatably dead after Wirathu was arrested and considered illegal.
After the coup
After the 2021 coup, the preposition of anti-military junta and pro-democracy monk were the lowest compared to the previous revolutions such as 8888 Uprising and 2007 saffron revolution. Within one month of the coup, approximately five dozen influential monk leaders with decades-long portfolio of anti-military and pro-democracy monks including venerable Shwe Nya War were arrested. Venerable Shwe Nya War was released in 2022 (US Department of State, 2022).
The military junta dropped the sedition charges against Wirathu in September 2021, and he was released as a result (The Irrawaddy, 2021). One of the highest national awards with the title “Thiri Pyanchi”, was awarded to Venerable Wirathu in November 2022 by the military junta (Myanmar Now, 2023).
U Soe Tun Shein, a Burmese business tycoon, donated just over 1.6 kilograms of gold, worth of approximately $70,000 USD to Ma Ba Tha. In November 2019, Soe Tun Shein was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Myanmar (The Irrawaddy, 2019). In July 2024, Wirathu and a handful of prominent monk members of Ma Ba Tha can be seen visiting to the court for U Soe Tun Shein under the military government.
Venerable Ariawuntha, also known as Pauk Ko Taw is a pro-military militant monk who organised his own militia to struggle against the People Defense Forces of NUG exiled government. They worked closely with the military junta. He used to be a member of both 969 movement and Ma Ba Tha organisation. Pauk Ko Taw can be seen along with Wirathu in a YouTube video uploaded by Ma Ba Tha YouTube channel. During the 2024 flood crisis in Burma, Pauk Ko Taw can be seen donating money to the victims through Wirathu.
Photo of Wirathu and Pauk Ko Taw (Image: WIrathu’s website)
Venerable Vasava is another pro-military militant monk who organised his own militia to struggle against the People Defense Forces of NUG exiled government as well. He actively called for and took part in war crimes against the unarmed populations and PDF members in the warzone.
Summary
It seems that even though there were some pro-military elements (for example Dhammaduta Chekinda) who were installed within 969 movement around 2012, some fraction of 969 movements (that had decade long portfolio of anti-military and pro-democracy activism since 2000s especially Wirathu) became pro-military only after these incidents of them being targeted by the international media for their racist and anti-Muslim bigoted views.
The 969 movement can be used as a case study on how pro-democracy and anti-authoritarian forces can still be reactionary with the racist views and narrow-minded xenophobia. Also, it can also be used as a case study of how red-brown alliance politics can deviate the working-class from the genuine cause of democratic rights and class struggle towards the scapegoat politics of counter-revolutionary racism and xenophobia. ABFSU and ABMA indeed played vital roles in bringing Wirathu, Wira Ye Min Oo and nationalist activists into the highest ranks of their organisations. The querfront politics of 969 nationalists, and far-left activists working together under ABFSU and ABMA were ignored by the international media for some reasons.
969 movement and its political Buddhism had little to do with genuine Buddhism, yet more to do with Arakanese nationalism and Burmese nationalism along with xenophobic anti-Muslim bigotry. Even though 969 movement had significant fractions of membership with pro-military politics, it was not always the case. 969 movement until 2014 was indeed anti-military, and pro-democracy. For that reason, 969 movement and its political Buddhism is here to stay even after the downfall of Myanmar military junta.
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