Ashin Wirathu
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Wirathu ( my, ဝီရသူ, pi, ; born 10 July 1968 in
Kyaukse Kyaukse ( my, ကျောက်ဆည် မြို့, ) is town and capital of Kyaukse District in Mandalay Region, Myanmar. Lying on the Zawgyi River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Mandalay, it is served by the Mandalay-Yangon (Rangoon) railway ...
,
Mandalay Division Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Sagaing Region and Magway Region to ...
,
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
) is a Burmese Buddhist monk, and the leader of the
extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...
969 Movement The 969 Movement () is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist ...
in Myanmar. He has been accused of supporting the
persecution of Muslims in Myanmar There is a history of persecution of Muslims in Myanmar that continues to the present day. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country, with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. While Muslims served in the government of Prime Minister U Nu ( ...
through his speeches, although he claims to be a peaceful preacher and not to have advocated violence—which is disputed by others.
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
banned his page on the charge of spreading religious hatred towards other communities, after repeated warnings to not post religiously inflammatory content.


Background

Wirathu was born in 1968 in Myinsaing village,
Kyaukse Kyaukse ( my, ကျောက်ဆည် မြို့, ) is town and capital of Kyaukse District in Mandalay Region, Myanmar. Lying on the Zawgyi River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Mandalay, it is served by the Mandalay-Yangon (Rangoon) railway ...
, near Mandalay. He left school at the age 14 to become a monk. In 2001, he became involved in the
969 Movement The 969 Movement () is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist ...
. Two years later, in 2003, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his sermons, but was released in 2012 along with many other political prisoners. Since the government reforms of 2011, he has been especially active on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and other forms of social media.
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
banned his page on the charge of spreading religious hatred towards other communities, after repeated warnings to not post religiously inflammatory content. Wirathu had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for inciting a deadly anti-Muslim riot in
Kyaukse Kyaukse ( my, ကျောက်ဆည် မြို့, ) is town and capital of Kyaukse District in Mandalay Region, Myanmar. Lying on the Zawgyi River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Mandalay, it is served by the Mandalay-Yangon (Rangoon) railway ...
, Mandalay Region, and released in 2012.


969 Movement

Wirathu led a rally of monks in Mandalay in September 2012 to promote President
Thein Sein Thein Sein ( my, သိန်းစိန်; IPA: ; born 20 April 1944) is a Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the eighth President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister ...
's controversial plan to send Burmese
Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
Muslims to a third country. One month later, more violence broke out in Rakhine state. Wirathu claims the violence in Rakhine was the spark for the subsequent violence in Myanmar's central city of
Meiktila Meiktila (; ) is a city in central Burma on the banks of Meiktila Lake in the Mandalay Region at the junctions of the Bagan-Taunggyi, Yangon-Mandalay and Meiktila-Myingyan highways. Because of its strategic position, Meiktila is home to Myanmar Ai ...
, where a dispute in a gold shop quickly spiralled into a looting-and-arson spree. More than 14 people were killed, after monasteries, shops and houses were burned down across the city. At least two people, including a Burmese Buddhist monk, Shin Thawbita, and a Muslim man were reportedly assaulted and tortured by mobs in Meiktila on 5 March. Wirathu is mentioned on the cover story of ''Time'' magazine as "The Face of Buddhist Terror" on 1 July 2013. "You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog," Wirathu said, referring to Muslims. "If we are weak," he said, "our land will become Muslim." Referring to Muslim violence and domination in neighbouring nations and the example of the
spread of Islam in Indonesia The history of the arrival of Islam in Indonesia is somewhat unclear. One theory states that Islam arrived directly from Arabia as early as the 9th century, during the time of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Another theory credits Sufi trav ...
, Wirathu claims that his Muslim opponents labelled him the "Burmese Bin Laden" after the ''Time'' article incorrectly reported he described himself in this manner. He said he "abhorred violence" and "opposes terrorism". Wirathu has expressed admiration for, and a desire to follow the example of, the
English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...
by "protecting the public."
Thein Sein Thein Sein ( my, သိန်းစိန်; IPA: ; born 20 April 1944) is a Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the eighth President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister ...
accused ''Time'' of slandering the Buddhist religion and harming the national reconciliation process by accusing the outspoken cleric of stoking anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar. Describing him as a "son of Buddha", the president defended Wirathu as a "noble person" committed to peace. "The article in Time Magazine can cause misunderstanding about the
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
religion, which has existed for millennia and is followed by the majority of Burmese citizens," Thein Sein said. In an interview with DVB, Wirathu accused ''Time'' of committing a "serious human rights violation" by refusing to present his views in a verbatim question and answer format. "Before I had heard umoursof the Arab world dominating the global media," he said, "but this time, I've seen it for myself." Wirathu openly blamed Muslims for instigating the recent violence. Wirathu claimed that Myanmar's Muslims are being financed by Middle Eastern forces, saying, "The local Muslims are crude and savage because the extremists are pulling the strings, providing them with financial, military and technical power". On 21 July 2013, he was the apparent target of a bomb explosion, but he remained unscathed. Five people were slightly injured in the blast, including a novice monk. Wirathu claimed that the bombing was an attempt by Muslim extremists to silence his voice. He has called for restrictions on marriages between Buddhists and Muslims, and for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses. However, not everyone from within his own faith agrees with his teachings.
Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
Arriya Wuttha Bewuntha of Mandalay's Myawaddy Sayadaw monastery denounced him, saying, "He sides a little towards hate nd this wasnot the way
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
taught. What the Buddha taught is that hatred is not good, because Buddha sees everyone as an equal being. The Buddha doesn't see people through religion."
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
explained what they see as his extremism as little more than due to ignorance, although his views do have influence in Myanmar where many businesses are "run successfully by Muslims". Burmese pro-democracy activist Maung Zarni denounced Wirathu's 969 Movement for spreading hate speech and argued that EU countries should take the matter seriously as Myanmar is a "major EU-aid recipient country".


Activities after the ban of the 969 movement

The 969 movement got banned by the
State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee The State Saṅgha Mahā Nāyaka Committee ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် သံဃာ့မဟာနာယကအဖွဲ့, abbreviated Mahana or in Burmese, SSMNC in English) is a government-appointed body of high-ranking Buddhis ...
in September 2013, for having drafted civil rights laws to limit the Muslim population. But shortly after, in January 2014, people formerly involved in the 969 movement established the
Patriotic Association of Myanmar The Patriotic Association of Myanmar ( my, အမျိုးသား ဘာသာ သာသနာ စောင့်ရှောက်ရေး အဖွဲ့), abbreviated Ma Ba Tha () in Burmese and variously translated into English as Ass ...
, known by its Burmese initials Ma Ba Tha, that carried on promoting the ideas of protection of race. This association again renamed to the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation in 2017 after a similar ban. Wyrathu reacted to these bans by pointing that the Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee was controlled by the military and took its decision "under the gun". Although Ma Ba Tha is led by a collegial committee, Wyrathu is described as the outspoken leader of Ma Ba Tha. As such, he participated in Ma Ba Tha's campaign in favor of laws limiting the civil rights of Muslims, and preventing them to have multiple wives, to marry Buddhist women or to have large families. In January 2015, Wirathu publicly called United Nations envoy Yanghee Lee a "bitch" and a "whore" after she publicly reacted to the legislative lobbying campaign, and invited her to "offer your arse to the ''kalars''" (a derogatory term for Muslims). Wirathu led a prayer and protest at the Mahamuni Buddha Temple in Mandalay on 23 February 2017, to condemn the Thai government's raid on the Wat Phra Dhammakaya in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
. Ayeyarwady Region's religious council, the region's Sangha Maha Nayaka, banned Wirathu from preaching in the region on 10 March 2017.


Arrest and release

After the ban ended, he continued his religious alertness speeches. He hinted at overthrowing
Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
by trying to drive a wedge between her and the military according to the ''Myanmar Times'', "People should worship Tatmadaw (military) MPs as if they are worshipping Buddha...", and further likened Su Kyi to a prostitute sucking up to foreign interests at a speech in Myeik that went viral. An arrest warrant was issued for that speech in May 2019 on grounds of sedition and slander. After a year and a half of evading arrest, he surrendered to the police in
Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
a week before the
2020 Myanmar general election General elections were held in Myanmar on 8 November 2020. Voting occurred in all constituencies, excluding seats appointed by or reserved for the military, to elect members to both the upper house - Amyotha Hluttaw (the House of Nationalitie ...
, and got arrested. In September 2021, the sedition charges against Wirathu were dismissed by the
military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
, and he was subsequently released. In November 2022, he was awarded the title of ''
Thiri Pyanchi This article considers the religious, military and civil orders, decorations and medals of Union of Myanmar. Religious honorary orders Before and after Myanmar's independence, governments presented two religious orders, Abhidhaja Maha Ratht ...
'', one of the country’s highest honors.


See also

* 2013 Burma riots *
969 Movement The 969 Movement () is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist ...
*
Thich Huyen Quang Thích is a name that Vietnamese monks and nuns take as their Buddhist surname to show affinity with the Buddha. Notable Vietnamese monks with the name include: *Thích Huyền Quang (1919–2008), dissident and activist *Thích Quảng Độ (192 ...
*
Bodu Bala Sena Bodu Bala Sena, (, abbreviated BBS) is a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist and extreme nationalist organisation, which is a break-away organisation from the right-wing nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya organisation. The BBS generally opposes pl ...
*
Patriotic Association of Myanmar The Patriotic Association of Myanmar ( my, အမျိုးသား ဘာသာ သာသနာ စောင့်ရှောက်ရေး အဖွဲ့), abbreviated Ma Ba Tha () in Burmese and variously translated into English as Ass ...
* South Thailand insurgency


References


External links


The Face of Buddhist Terror

A Burmese Journey Q&A With Ashin Wirathu (English subtitles)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirathu 1968 births Critics of Islam Burmese prisoners and detainees Burmese Buddhist monks Theravada Buddhist monks Living people Anti-Islam sentiment in Myanmar People from Mandalay Region Buddhism-related controversies