Journalist
Sydney
Buddhist monk Wirathu, at Masoeyein monastery, Mandalay, says Muslims pose a serious threat in Myanmar. Picture: Anthony Klan Source: News Corp Australia
He is the face of the anti-Muslim sentiment that has sparked the Myanmar Rohingya regional refugee crisis and left Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi silent and exposed, as international calls mount for the human-rights champion to speak out.
Buddhist monk U Wirathu is the leader of Myanmar’s nationalistic 969 Movement, which seeks to “defend” the country from a perceived threat of Muslim domination.
The creeds of 969, spread via DVDs and social media in a nation where the internet was banned until 2011, have won wide support and have fuelled violent conflicts that have left hundreds dead, mostly the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
Speaking exclusively with The Australian at his Masoyen monastery in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Wirathu said Muslims posed a serious threat to the country, claiming they refused to deal with non-Muslims, forced Buddhist women who wed Muslim men to abandon their religion and waged “jihad” in areas where they were strong in numbers.
“One Myanmar Buddhist girl (who married a Muslim man) who was six months’ pregnant was beaten by her husband when he found out she had been visiting the Buddhist monastery,” Wirathu said. “Another girl was offering flowers to Buddha and she was killed by her (Muslim) husband.”
Anti-Muslim tensions are a major concern for Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, with a November election expected to be called on Monday.
The 969 sentiment is gaining increasing support from influential Buddhist monks, who are pitting their cause against Ms Suu Kyi’s party, which they believe has not stood up for Buddhists in Rakhine state against perceived Muslim atrocities.
Ms Suu Kyi has been absent in commenting on the refugee crisis.
Yesterday, several hundred Buddhist nationalists, including members of 969, rallied in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, to protest against international pressure for the nation to accept some of the boat refugees.
Ms Suu Kyi did not respond to requests for comment from The Australianyesterday.
Wirathu said non-Muslim majority countries, such as Thailand, Myanmar and Australia, should not be obliged to take the refugees — many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations.
“These people should be taken in by Muslim countries — Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei,” he said.
He said he supported Tony Abbott’s stance on refugees and a nation’s rights to sovereignty. “He (the Prime Minister) says if you want to set out for a new life, come openly and through the front door,” Wirathu said. “There are two types of refugees: some are real refugees, some are fake.’’
Wirathu was sentenced in 2003 to 25 years’ jail for handing out anti-Muslim pamphlets that incited riots in his home town.
He was freed in 2011 amid an amnesty for political prisoners, aided by the work of Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD.
