IN a monastery in central Myanmar, a Buddhist monk, Wathawa, rallies his militia with a cry: “What’s our spirit like?”
“The spirit of iron!” shout a group of rifle-bearing men, loyalists of the military junta that seized power last year, now fighting to crush fledgling pro-democracy groups.
The scene, from a video posted online by army-linked media, would have seemed unimaginable to previous generations in the overwhelmingly Buddhist nation. Now, it underscores the close alliance the military has forged with the Buddhist hierarchy.
Myanmar’s Buddhist clergy previously sought to topple successive military dictatorships that kept citizens impoverished and isolated. Monks were part of the 1988 uprising that brought Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to prominence. Thousands thronged the streets during 2007 anti-government protests known as the Saffron Revolution.
Many are now supporters of the new junta.
The change reflects a years-long effort by the military to build stronger ties with Buddhist leaders by lavishing them with gifts and cultivating a shared ultranationalist and often Islamophobic vision, according to 11 people familiar with the monastic system, including three current or former monks and four researchers. Three spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of military reprisals.
In recent years, ultranationalist monks incited violence against Muslims in Myanmar, including riots that killed 25 people in 2013 and army-led attacks against the Rohingya minority.
As the new junta suppresses opponents, religious leaders have been largely absent from the widespread resistance to last year’s army coup, which ended the decade-long democratic experiment that brought Suu Kyi to power.
Some monks, like Wathawa, who claims to have thousands of armed followers, are serving to rally militia fighters against armed pro-democracy groups that emerged after the military crushed peaceful protests with deadly force.
Troops have burned more than 100 villages and killed civilians in attacks the United Nations has called probable war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In public comments and state media broadcasts as recently as November, the military has acknowledged forming militia in some villages “based on their demands”, but has denied arming monks. It denies targeting civilians, saying its operations are against “terrorists.” A military spokesman did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment about its relationship with the militia.
Engineering a separation
Wathawa and other ultranationalist monks have appeared marching alongside soldiers, carrying weapons, in images published by local media and verified through open-source investigation by UK-based monitoring group Myanmar Witness, which also geolocated militia training happening at his monastery in Kantbalu, in central Myanmar.
Wathawa, who like many monks goes by one name, confirmed his leadership of militia fighters in a phone interview with Reuters, calling resistance forces “a bunch of thugs”.
He said he founded the militia, which operates out of Kantbalu, to stabilize the region and protect locals. Accusing resistance forces of killing civilians, including monks, and “doing nothing but destructive things”, he said, “I am doing what I can. It is not wrong that I founded the militia.”
Pro-democracy forces acknowledge killing suspected military informants, but deny targeting civilians.
“There is no guarantee for our lives,” Wathawa said. “Even though I’m talking to you today, tomorrow might be the day I die.”
Not all of the country’s several hundred thousand monks support the junta. Almost every week, dozens gather to protest in monasteries in the Buddhist heartland of Mandalay, despite surveillance and crackdowns. Several disrobed and joined armed resistance groups.
Htavara, a monk who led Saffron Revolution protests and now lives in exile in Norway, said monks who participated in the violence against the junta’s opponents were violating the first precept of their religion.
“Killing living things is an unforgivable crime in Buddhism,” he said.
The country’s top Buddhist authority, known as the Ma Ha Na, has been silent on the crisis. Its chairman met with army chief Min Aung Hlaing shortly after the coup. The organization did not respond to a request for comment about militant monks and whether it supported the junta.
Among the venerated religious leaders loudly backing the junta is Sitagu, a once beloved figure who took part in the 1988 uprising. Now he is a regular companion of Min Aung Hlaing, whom he calls “benevolent king”, flying with him to Russia. During the military’s 2017 expulsion of the Rohingya, he justified the killing of non-Buddhists in a sermon that asserted their lives were worth less.
In one recent video from a trip to Russia – President Vladimir Putin is one of the junta leader’s few remaining allies – Sitagu can be seen beating drums alongside Russian monks and chanting, “Peace and glory to the great country of Russia.”
In a message to Reuters, Sitagu said he was “deeply saddened by the current situation in Myanmar, especially by the difficulties that people are facing.” He said he did not favor “any parties” and that it was his desire that “the people and the nation prosper.”
