8/12/22, 11:06 AM Everyday ethnic tensions in Myanmar - New Mandala “All Muslims are not good or bad, just as all Buddhists are not good or bad,” Htoo Lay began. “There are always good people and bad people.” Here he was repeating for the group a point he and I had previously agreed upon. Everyone at the table concurred, and then earnestly set out to explain to me why it is impossible for Buddhists and Muslims to coexist peacefully in Myanmar. These are the arguments they set forth, retroactively grouped into five sets by me: Interfaith tensions: Muslims are disrespectful of Buddhist traditions. For example, they butcher animals during festival times when they should not do so. They get angry when people eat pork; Buddhists who are vegetarian are not rude to others who eat meat. (“On my ship, the Muslim seaman rudely threw away my pork curry before I had finished it.”) Economic grievances: Muslims only hire Muslims and only shop at Muslim shops. Buddhists don’t do the same. Muslims receive outside funding from other countries that gives them an unfair advantage against Buddhist shops. They pool taxes to their Mosques to bribe government officials and politicians to take (undefined) actions that give them a collective market advantage. (“For this reason, it is okay to put a 969 sticker on your shop if you are Buddhist.”) Fear of a ‘Muslim takeover’/loss of Buddhism: Muslim men marry Buddhist women and then force them to convert; Buddhist men who marry other religions do not force them to convert. (“My father is Buddhist but my mother is Christian. If my father was Muslim, this could not be.”) Muslims have many children deliberately so that they will outnumber Buddhists. Muslims in Burma would like to break away and form their own Muslim country. Islam is inherently violent: Islam is a religion that teaches one to follow without thinking. Islam promotes violence so that Muslim men can go to heaven where they will meet young women. For proof, one should look to other Muslim countries and see that there is much violence and war. You are an American, and so you should know this because of 9/11. International media, foreign countries and western NGOs are untrustworthy and biased: Media only reports on violence against Muslims, not violence committed by Muslims (here the criticism was specifically levelled at Al Jazeera coverage of violence Rakhine State; notable because no one who was at the table speaks English). Western NGOs provide most of their aid to Muslims. In order to seek out this aid, Muslims deliberately destroy their own homes in order to receive free food and money. Three hours later, we had not come to any agreement. But Htoo Lay interrupted another friend at the table and ended the conversation abruptly – our friend Tin Win was approaching with his wife and son. Tin Win is Muslim, his wife is Buddhist; the table looked at me with eyes full of pointed significance. And then the conversation shifted to an infected injury on Tin Win’s hand. Would he be able to swing a hammer tomorrow? He was supposed to work on a job with Htoo Lay’s brother. https://www.newmandala.org/everyday-ethnic-tensions-in-myanmar/ 4/6