[Tee tiong huat]

Junta Boss Gifts Mercedes to Senior Monks. 

Min Aung Hlaing, proclaims himself protector of Buddhism in trampled on yet another core Buddhist value. Sunday he handed over Mercedes & other vehicles to senior Buddhist monks at a ceremony in Yangon, vehicles are intended as “national-level vehicles” for members of State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, committee of Myanmar’s highest Buddhist authority, is known by Burmese acronym Ma Ha Na. Min Aung Hlaing, explaining purpose of his donation.

Ceremony concluded senior monks including Ma Ha Na chairman Thanlyin Min Kyaung Sayadaw, the abbot of Thanlyin Min Kyaung Monastery, sprinkling scented water on the cars and leaving the venue in their new wheels. Thanlyin Min Kyaung Sayadaw became Ma Ha Na chair in March after his predecessor Bhamo Sayadaw passed away in March last year.

Min Aung Hlaing offers a Mercedes to a Ma Ha Na monk on June 9, 2024. / MWD
Buddhism views material desires as the root of human suffering, but high-profile monks, especially those with ties to the regime, are amassing wealth even as the Buddhist-majority country burns in the midst of a civil war.

Sunday’s donation sparked outrage on social media, as millions across Myanmar go hungry and have their lives turned upside down thanks to the junta’s indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations. It also comes close on the heels of two recent massacres in which dozens of villagers were killed in Sagaing Region and Rakhine State.

Ma Ha Na has done virtually nothing to stop Min Aung Hlaing’s campaign of terror against Myanmar people over the past three years. The sole exception was on one occasion when it spoke out against the junta’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in the aftermath of the 2021 coup—and that was just a request that Min Aung Hlaing exercise restraint.

Following in the footstep of his predecessors, Min Aung Hlaing has sought to establish his legitimacy through Buddhism. One way he tries to do this is by bribing monks with honorary titles, status and cash.

Among the monks who have formed beneficial partnerships with the regime is Sitagu Sayadaw, who has become the chief of the Shwe Kyin sect, one of Myanmar’s nine Buddhist monastic sects, with Min Aung Hlaing’s blessing.

Similarly, Ashin Cekinda has been made the head of the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University.

At the same time, Min Aung Hlaing is benefitting from his other alliances among the Buddhist clergy. Pauk Sayadaw is running a propaganda campaign on social media in support of his regime, and nationalist monk U Wasawa is recruiting for Min Aung Hlaing.

Despite having reconsecrated several pagodas since the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing never hesitates to order air raids on monasteries where he suspects resistance fighters are hiding. Many displaced people have died in those attacks. Countless religious buildings including monasteries and churches have been damaged.

Yet, Ma Ha Na has remained silent.

It was also silent when a monk who served as the secretary of the Madaya Township Sangha Nayaka Committee in Mandalay Region was abducted and killed by the regime in late 2023. His body was dumped by a roadside.

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According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the regime has detained 106 monks, seven of whom were killed.