Myanmar’s commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has launched a charm offensive against members of the country’s religious minorities in recent weeks, visiting over a dozen mosques, churches and Hindu shrines and meeting faith leaders.
The visits follow renewed criticism from UN experts over reports of military abuses against minority groups in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states and elsewhere.
The most high-profile of the meetings was with the Reverend Dr Hkalam Samson, who was threatened with a lawsuit after thanking US President Donald Trump for his administration’s recent sanctions against Min Aung Hlaing and other top generals.
The US had called on the military to withdraw the case, but Min Aung Hlaing said the decision had nothing to do with outside pressure.
The reverend told Myanmar Now following the meeting last week that he believes the military is “really willing to change.”
On Monday, Min Aung Hlaing visited the mausoleum of India’s last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, a pilgrimage site for Muslims in Yangon.
Aye Lwin, a trustee of the mausoleum, said he raised the issue of mosques being shut down across Myanmar with the Senior General during the visit.
“I asked him to help reopen closed mosques,” he told Myanmar Now.
Min Aung Hlaing also paid a visit to the Saint Michael Church and the U Kyay Mosque in Pyinmana, near Naypyitaw.
The visits stand in stark contrast to the military’s support for Buddhist nationalists who have expressed animosity towards Myanmar’s Muslims and Christians.
In June Major General Thet Pone, the head of Yangon Command, donated 30 million kyat to the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation, a group formed to replace the disbanded nationalist group Ma Ba Tha.
The military-owned Myawaddy television channel aired footage of Min Aung Hlaing’s visits to religious shrines on Monday.
