Terrorist Threat Tied to the narrative of illegal immigration is one of Myanmar facing a jihadist threat. Despite the conspicuous absence of any organized Islamist terrorist history in the country, Ma Ba Tha monks are avid consumers of news and graphic imagery from the Middle East, particularly those pertaining to ISIS atrocities. These are regularly used to warn their readers of the threat that jihadists pose and are inter-mixed with regular reminders of pro-Rohingya statements made by foreign terrorist organizations including alQaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyaah, whose leader Abu Bakar Bashir is reported to have issued a call for jihad against Myanmar in April 2013.104 In addition, various Pakistani militant groups, such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba 105 106 and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, have Image 14: Ma Ba Tha’s statement addressed the Rohingya issue107 allowing Ma Ba Tha narratives to equating the world’s fight against equate the Burmese Buddhist plight to extremist terrorist threats terror to Myanmar’s Rohingya experienced by other countries around the world. On January 26, issue 2015, a copy of a Ma Ba Tha Central Committee statement signed by Chairman Ashin Tiloka released on Facebook in English stated that powerful Western countries are “anxious and defending their national securities in their own way due to dangers of extremist terrorism.”108 It then stated that Myanmar cannot accept the Rohingya in their country and that “[they] encourage that powerful and developed countries to understand and sympathize the difficult Myanmar for those situation.”109 The fear of terrorism in Myanmar is a convenient myth to justify the Muslim threat narrative, but it appears highly disproportionate to the actual threat at best. One of the most pervasive assumptions is that there are significant armed Muslim movements in Myanmar. There is little evidence to support this claim, but the belief is widely propagated and several references to Muslim movements are often used. These include the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, a militant group that is widely regarded to now be defunct, but is still presented as a significant threat.110 In more recent months, there has been significant online buzz around a group that allegedly calls itself the “Myanmar Muslim Army,” or MMA. As seen on the right, one typical Facebook post by a major identified hate speech account claims that the group was established in 2014 with the intention to wage jihad in Myanmar.111 The post additionally states that terrorists from Muslim countries are slowly infiltrating the country, and that no one knows how many groups are in Myanmar or how many training sessions have occurred inside mosques. Finally, it warns that, “Myanmar will soon be seized by ‘Muslim Dogs.’” 112 The images with the post include the organization’s supposed logo, pictures of an alleged training camp in the jungle, Image 15: Hate speech account and a significant amount of weaponry. At least one picture is timewarning readers of the dangers of stamped from October 2014.113 Many of the images appear to be the “Myanmar Muslims Army” from other incidents in Kachin and outside of Myanmar. Nonetheless, the post was shared and liked almost 3,000 times.114 The government has seized on the myth to make arrests of supposed terrorists linked to the MMA, but international terrorism experts have voiced strong skepticism that the group even exists.115 18