[Tee tiong huat]

Dictator’s Favorite Monk Leads Propaganda.

China Clamps Down on Ethnic Armies & More.

Prominent ultranationalist monk Sitagu Sayadaw, a favorite of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, donated US$ 10,000 for flood victims at a propaganda event in Naypyitaw on Tuesday. The stage-managed donation was received by junta No.2 Soe Win at Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Soe Win told monk, the flood death toll had climbed to 419, claimed regime had earmarked 30 billion kyats ($14.3 million) for relief and rehabilitation efforts. That claim came amid reports regime is suppressing relief efforts in areas controlled by resistance forces, where it is escalating airstrikes on civilian targets.

The influential monk has voiced support for the 2021 coup & called Min Aung Hlaing responsible for a brutal military crackdown that has killed over 5,000 civilians, “a ‘king’ of great generosity 
wisdom.” The junta boss has rewarded 87-yr-old with honorary titles, a political appointing as a chief of Shwe Kyin, one of Myanmar’s nine Buddhist monastic sects.

Sitagu Sayadaw played a leading role in construction of the giant Maravijaya Buddha statue in Naypyitaw, commissioned by Min Aung Hlaing as part of yadaya rituals to ward off misfortune...
https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/junta...-more.html