Buddhist nationalists are urging Myanmar’s government to prohibit students from wearing the burqa in public schools, saying “criminals” have used the Islamic veil to escape the authorities.
Ma Ba Tha, one of the biggest hardline Buddhist groups in the country, made the recommendation at the end of its second annual conference on Sunday in Yangon, which was attended by some 6,000 people. They also want a ban on the slaughter of animals during an Islamic holiday.
“We will demand seriously from the government to ban Muslim students wearing the burqa in government schools and to ban killing innocent animals in their Eid [holiday] day,” Ma Ba Tha, an acronym for the Association to Protect Race and Religion, said in a statement.
The demands were part of a list of 10 “points” that also called for more Buddhist education and for the reporting of crimes by non-Buddhists to Ma Ba Tha’s Central Committee.
However, another point dealt with “rule of law” and asked that Buddhists not resort to extrajudicial means to solve grievances.
Muslims make up about 5 percent of Myanmar’s population but discrimination against them has been on the rise since the government transitioned from military rule in 2011.
With the support of Ma Ba Tha, four so-called Race and Religion Bills that observers say restrict the rights of Muslims, women and religious minorities are practically sailing through parliament with little meaningful resistance.
U Maung Maung, a member of Ma Ba Tha’s Central Committee, said in an interview on Monday that the burqa, which some Muslim women use to cover their face in public and which is similar to the niqab, “was discussed in the very first day of the conference and I also discussed about this issue.”
“The whole globe is worrying because they are committing violence by wearing the burqa,” he said. “In history, Thakhin Soe, a communist rebel [in Myanmar], escaped by wearing the burqa. In this moment, kalars [which can mean “foreigners” but is derogatory in this context] from Mandalay escaped by wearing burqas during the violence in Mandalay. So, it looks like a cover for criminals.”
Maung Maung was referring to religiously-motivated riots in Myanmar’s second biggest city that left two people dead last year.
The government has not formally responded to the 10 points. Ye Htut, Minister of Information and government spokesman, could not be reached on Monday.
The recommendation on animal slaughter pertains to the Islamic holiday Eid Al-Adha, when Muslims around the world sacrifice an animal to commemorate a Koranic story in which Allah gives Ibrahim a lamb to kill just as he is about to sacrifice his own son Ishmael. The festival occurs after Ramadan and will be observed this year in September.
Myanmar would not be alone in drawing a line against Islamic dress in government-funded schools, a practice that France has adopted for years despite widespread outrage.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said that Ma Ba Tha’s “disgusting campaign” of discrimination and incitement against Muslims “apparently knows no bounds.”
“And now their intolerance has reached what schoolkids can wear in class,” he added. “The Burma government should ignore the Ma Ba Tha’s demands and reaffirm it’s commitment to ensuring government supported, secular education where children of all faiths are welcome to learn in the same classroom.”
A Muslim woman who works for an NGO in Yangon and declined to be identified due to the subject’s sensitivity, said she was against the proposal, alleging that it violates “freedom of choice.”
“A person can wear whatever he or she likes…so they [Ma Ba Tha] are against Human Rights.”
Photo of Buddhist nationalist protest in May / Coconuts Media
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