Ultranationalist monks declare readiness to take up arms in support of Myanmar junta

Buddhist nationalist monks known for their staunch alignment with the Myanmar military said at rallies in various Myanmar cities this week that they might leave their monastic orders and arm themselves to fight alongside the army against anti-junta forces. They declared these intentions at public demonstrations held on Thursday in Mawlamyine, Mon State and Lashio, northern Shan State to denounce the ethnically Kokang armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), just over a week after the Kokang group’s capture of the town of Laukkai on the China-Myanmar border. When a video circulated online purportedly depicting an MNDAA fighter using a hammer to vandalise a Buddhist temple near Laukkai on Monday, it came to the attention of the Patriotic Monks’ Association, whose membership includes monks formerly in or closely associated with the ultranationalist monks’ group Ma Ba Tha, which was disbanded by religious authorities in 2017 after spreading anti-minority messages. Ma Ba Tha’s members and other hardline monks formed the Patriotic Monks’ Association and other organisations to continue promoting ultranationalists aims in spite of the ban. The Patriotic Monks’ Association and connected ultranationalist religious groups reacted with outrage to the video showing a Brotherhood Alliance damaging the temple, organising demonstrations in Yangon, Mandalay, Mawlamyine, and Lashio. Ultranationalist monks’ demonstrate against the Kokang ethnic armed organisation MNDAA in Yangon on Wednesday. On January 11, a few monks and some 100 laypeople participated in an anti-MNDAA demonstration held on the Strand Road in the Mon State capital of Mawlamyine, led by Buddhist monk U Pyinnyathami of the Mon State Patriotic Union, one the religious ultranationalist groups. “Say it out loud, the monks are ready to give up their robes and pick up the gun if necessary," shouted U Pyinnyathami to the gathered crowd. U Pyinnyathami speaking at a rally to support the army in Mawlamyine in November of 2023. He added that this is the same stance taken by ultranationalists monks’ groups in Karen and Mon states and Yangon and Mandalay regions, and that they number more than 200,000 in total. “In order not to allow the erosion of the country’s sovereignty, we have requested that the state allow us to renounce our robes, take up arms, and be ready to fight and attack enemies alongside the Myanmar army,” he said. He did not say when such requests had been made or what the military regime’s response had been. U Pyinnyathami, also known as Zawpyan Sayadaw, is known for his long-standing support for the military. He organised a previous anti-Brotherhood Alliance rally in support of the army in Mawlamyine in November of 2023. "I want to give an ultimatum to the ‘Three Monkeys’ and challenge them face to face, once and for all,” U Pyinnyathami told pro-junta outlet Myanmar National Post after the demonstration, referring to the Brotherhood Alliance by a pejorative nickname. The founder of the Myanmar National Post news agency, Naung Taw Lay, is a close associate of both the ultranationalist monks’ associations and the junta, who has led a previous anti-China demonstration and rally against Operation 1027 in Naypyitaw. Naung Taw Lay also led street demonstrations against the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation–a minority rights advocacy group–during the tenure of the elected National League for Democracy party. He served a six-month jail term in 2017 for holding an unlicensed demonstration in front of the American embassy, where he delivered a message disparaging Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority. Demonstrations against the MNDAA are also reportedly being planned in Naypyitaw, the junta’s administrative capital, in the coming days. “The abbot told us to cooperate with and fight alongside the military and fight together,” an unnamed monk from Lashio said, referring to U Pyinnyathami in an interview published in the Myanmar National Post. Shwe Phee Myay, a news agency based in northern Shan State, quoted residents saying junta officials had compelled civil service personnel and other laypeople to attend a demonstration organised by the ultranationalist monks in Lashio's Independence Park. The military council has yet to issue any public statements responding to the claims in the Shwe Phee Myay report. Regime-run media and pro-regime propaganda channels on social media also commented on the demonstrations, circulating photos of people in crowds holding the national flag and religious banners and symbols. U Warthawa, a monk and member of the junta-trained Pyu Saw Htee militias, seen at a military training course in Sagaing Region. (Photo – Anya Tha Lay) U Warthawa, another ultranationalist monk and leader of the junta-trained Pyu Saw Htee militias, is involved in recruiting and training militia members in the town of Kanbalu, Sagaing Region. The Brotherhood Alliance’s offensive against the Myanmar military, which has resulted in the surrender of scores of military outposts and the fall of around a dozen towns to the alliance’s fighters, began less than three years after the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and deployed its forces throughout the country. Following its seizure of power and ouster of the elected civilian administration, the military shot peaceful, anti-coup demonstrators in the streets.

Ultranationalist monks declare readiness to take up arms in support of Myanmar junta

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