Myanmar: Soldiers Trying to Reduce Monk’s Influence · Global Voices
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The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a non-profit news organization and one of the few places where the news from Myanmar still trickling in has posted a report in Burmese on soldiers trying to get the monks to give up their religious life.
Some 300 monks who were arrested a few days ago were delivered to a garage just out side of Insein GTI College. The soldiers are reported to be trying to force the monks to ” give up the secular life, to disrobe – become a layperson and no longer honour the ethics of being a monk.”
It is considered to be a sin to just give up being monkhood without valid reasons. The soldiers are trying to significantly lower their influence on people down, to shame them.
DVB also mentioned that soldiers ordered the “most senior monk in Insein” to come over and read pali scriptures that will begin the process of “shaming the monks” to make monks change into laypersons. However, the monks, who are supposed to repeat the pali scriptures read by the senior monks, refused to repeat them and after a while, the senior monk said that he can't convert them into laypersons and that it just won't happen and refused and supposedly left.
There are reports that the soldiers are also beating the monks in Insein. When a plumber came to fix the water pipes in the place, a monk looked up to see him and a soldier is said to have hit him with his belt.
There was also a report that when the army truck with these monks passed by cars on the street, one driver made the mistake of honking (probably in fear) and the soldiers stopped the truck and arrested the driver who honked.
There are also reports that a monk with wounds on his feet was brought to the general hospital and the soldiers ordered the doctors to not treat the monk until he converted back to a layperson. The monk then replied that he will not revert to become a layperson and preferred to die from his wounds.
Apparently, the hospital staff had to get the permission of the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Mya Oo to be able to finally treat the monk.
Witnesses report that soldiers have surrounded the entrances and exits of the general hospital and are interrogating everyone who is visiting.