Contesting Buddhist Narratives 19 created in response to them that have been in place for decades (Nyein and Nyein 2013). In late-1930s British colonial Burma, BuddhistMuslim riots broke out, in part, due to Buddhist concerns that women who married Muslim men were forced to give up their spousal rights. However, several laws were enacted to explicitly protect the rights of Buddhist women, and those who claim that this is a serious problem facing Buddhist women do not provide any evidence beyond nonspecific anecdotes. Many Buddhists not only believe that Buddhism in Myanmar is under threat from Islam, but they are also frustrated by Western dismissals of this threat and by the perception that the global community is demonizing Buddhism and is only acknowledging Muslim While international media grievances. They point to media publicized the plight of Rohingya coverage from the Islamic world and the West critical of “BudMuslims, Rakhine Buddhists dhist terrorism” in Myanmar and feel their own impoverished describing Muslims as innocent victims of violence (Dolan and conditions are ignored Gray 2014). While the plight of the Rohingya has received the bulk of international media coverage, Rakhine Buddhists have felt that their own conditions of poverty and denial of rights have been ignored. Additionally, Buddhist fears in Rakhine state and elsewhere are not simply fueled by fears of Muslims, but also by experiences of repression and suffering under former military regimes. In an interview with one of the authors, U Wirathu mentioned the fact that one reason why people are afraid is that “the police do not make them feel secure.”20 Although to outside observers, fear that Muslims could come to dominate in Myanmar may seem preposterous, it is important to note the ways in which demographic and geographical differences can make this fear more visceral and understandable in Rakhine state. While Rakhine Buddhists in the state are a majority, estimates of the total Muslim population (including Rohingyas and Kamans) run as high as 1 million people (out of an estimated 3.1 million), and a sizeable population of Burman Buddhists adds to the demographic insecurity (The Economist 2012). According to the Rakhine State Commission report, two townships that border Bangladesh, Maungdaw and