During a recent visit to Hpa-an, Karen State, military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing met with a leading Buddhist monk within the ultranationalist Patriotic Association of Myanmar, widely known as Ma Ba Tha.
Junta-run newspapers confirmed the coup leader’s May 31 visit with U Kawidaza, an abbot at Zwegabin Buddhist Monastery in the Karen State capital.
The abbot was known to have officiated anti-government and pro-military activities in line with Ma Ba Tha’s campaigns against the National League for Democracy (NLD) during the elected administration’s five-year tenure.
In 2019, he reportedly became the chairperson of the Buddha Dhamma Parahita Foundation. The organisation succeeded Ma Ba Tha and was founded days after Ma Ba Tha was disbanded by the NLD government in May 2017 for deviating from the basic rules of the Sangha, or the Buddhist monastic community.
Following a decision by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee—a regulatory body for Buddhist clergy—the now ousted NLD government also disbanded the foundation in July 2019.
In addition to meeting Kawidaza on May 31, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing also reportedly made donations to and met the abbots of Lamin Pariyatti, Maebaung, Moekae, and Taunggalay monasteries during his visit to Hpa-an, according to junta-run newspapers.
At least one of the monasteries he visited, Maebaung, is known to be close to the military. As doctors and health workers participate in a general strike in accordance with the Civil Disobedience Movement aimed at toppling Myanmar’s coup regime, Maebaung opened a charity clinic on March 15 supported by military doctors.
A Buddhist monk from a prominent monastery in Mandalay told Myanmar Now that the military chief’s trip to the Hpa-an monasteries was not out of the ordinary, noting that members of the military met with Ma Ba Tha leaders often.
Thet Myo Oo, a known ultranationalist who has been active in the Ma Ba Tha movement, described Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Hpa-an as an opportunity to recognise military supporters.
“Not all people are protesting. There are people who don’t want [the military coup council]. But there are also people who do want it,” he told Myanmar Now.
On Wednesday, the junta chief also paid a visit to Wimala Buddhi, the abbot of Myazedi monastery in the town of Mawlamyine in Mon State, according to the state-run newspapers.
The Myazedi abbot, a former boxer, is the general secretary of Ma Ba Tha and is notorious for making hateful speeches against Myanmar’s Muslim minority as well as anti-military political groups in the country.
In 2015, he threatened political parties with reprisals for not supporting racist bills, including one penalising marriage with Buddhist women and men of other faiths.
Ma Ba Tha has stayed largely out of the public eye since the February 1 coup. Prominent Ma Ba Tha leader and ultranationalist monk Wirathu—who was charged under Section 124a of the Penal Code in 2019 by the NLD administration—remains in prison.
