The Ma Ba Tha is officially led by a 52-member Central Committee that is sub-divided into the Central Executive Committee, and then further divided into eight Managerial Departments. Researchers were able to identify 42 out of these 52 individuals with a high probability, including by cross-referencing lists and news compiled by local journalists.156 The identified Central Committee members include several of the founding 969 monks, in addition to some of Myanmar’s most influential and respected mainstream Buddhist monks, who add significant legitimacy to the organization from the perspective of laypeople. These monks represent a diverse range of opinions on the “Muslim issue” and some would even be considered moderate relative to their colleagues; however, most, if not all, agree that ‘race and religion’ are under threat, and primarily by the Muslim minority. The Ma Ba Tha Central Committee, particularly through its official ‘head office’ at Ashin Tiloka Bhivunsa’s Insein monastery, oversees a powerful communications apparatus that includes newspapers, magazines, journals, cable broadcast deals, and conferences. Access to this media apparatus provides individual monks significant national public profile, and by extension, significant donor funding as well. Through this apparatus, the Central Committee is able to widely disseminate and, to some level, control the core Ma Ba Tha message. The Chairman of the Central Committee is Ashin Tiloka Bhivunsa, who leads the eight-member Central Executive Committee. Also known as Insein Ywama Sayadaw, Ashin Tiloka Bhivunsa is the 76-year old157 Abbot of Insein Ywama Monastery.158 He holds the title Agga Maha Pandita,159 one of the highest honorifics in Theravada Buddhism and oversees a monastery school in Yangon with 1,000 students.160 The Vice Chairman Sitagu Sayadaw (also known as Ashin Nyanissara) is also an Agga Maha Pandita, and is one of Myanmar’s most popular and influential monks.161 Sitagu Sayadaw is the most prominent moderate associated with the Ma Ba Tha. He has publicly spoken out against the violence in 2012162 and traveled to Tehran in December 2015 as part of an inter-faith dialogue,163164 but has also publicly voiced several popular prejudices associated with Burmese Muslims.165 166 167 Other monks on the Central Executive Committee are prominent hardliners, such as Deputy Chair Ashin Kawi Daza, the Abbot of Mae-Baung monastery in Karen state. Kawi Daza was one of the most senior monks associated with the 969, and is among the most aggressive anti-Muslim propagandists in the country. In September 2012, a Buddhist nationalist group based at his monastery issued one of the first antiMuslim boycott orders, circulating leaflets in the Hpa-an township instructing Buddhists under threat of “serious effective penalty” to immediately cease selling or renting property to and buying goods from Muslims.168 The leaflet also forbids Buddhist women from marrying Muslim men.169 Under the Central Executive Committee, there are eight “departments” that are led by “managers” and staffed by a total of 23 identified “members.” Several of the managers and members are prominent “younger” monks, many of whom were formerly associated with the 969 movement.170 Wirathu, who now manages the ‘Education and Propagation Department,’ is the most prominent. Also among the members is Ashin Wimala Biwuntha from Mawlamyine in Mon State, who is considered one of the leaders of the 969,171 and Ashin Thaddhamma, who is said to have designed the 969 logo.172 Several of these monks continue to associate themselves with the 969 logo, despite its ban by the Ma Ha Na. For example, Ashin Wimala is seen in 2015 at a public rally with printed banners that display both the Ma Ba Tha and 969 logos.173 However, the Ma Ba Tha is more than just a rebranded 969, and has monks who were not formerly associated with 969. For example, Ashin Sopaka, who oversees the ‘Research and Historical Archives’ Department, is seen in imagery as closely associated with the aforementioned monks, but has no history with the 969. Instead, he is a former student of Ashin Tiloka, who started his own monastery in 2005 that became quickly popular.174 Several of these aforementioned monks, as well as other Central Committee monks, continue to voice anti-Muslim sentiments that come dangerously close to hate speech, while several are engaged in 24